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JayPee
10-17-16, 1:48am
Hello!

My name is Jay Pee, I just turned 40 an live together with my wife an two little kids in northern Germany.

Our simple lifestyle came a bit by accident. Too much work, too much debt, too much clutter, not enough money and no time. Quite often we went to the City on a Saturday just shopping, spending money we did not have for things that were cheap, but did not make us happy for a long time. We had to do something, so we stopped purchasing new stuff, only food and really importand things like replacing worn out shoes. With the kids, we switched to more to activities like hiking with a picknick instead of shopping trips and replaced stuff by experiences. I also started to declutter our home, selling what was possible and not really needed.

First, I expected it to be hard giving all these things away, including a lot of my hobby items. Actually, it wasn't. Leaving all this stuff behind really gave me a kind of freedom. We still do have a lot of stuff. Especially growing children leave a lot of worn out clothes, and it takes a lot of time to get them sold or given away. But buying less an spending money more consiously reduces our debt, actually we will be out of debt at the end of the year.

When I started this process, I searched the internet for some tips and hints. Quite fast I found some blogs about simple living and minimalism that were a huge inspiration to me. Great to know that I am not the only one who does not want to run faster and work harder and longer just to spend more money for stuff you don't really need.

So I am really looking forward to some interesting discussions here.

Regards
JP

rosarugosa
10-17-16, 5:14am
Welcome, JayPee. Glad to have you on the Forums!

greenclaire
10-17-16, 6:45am
Welcome JP. I'm relatively new here too and so far everyone here seems friendly so I hope you stick around :)

razz
10-17-16, 9:14am
:welcome: You have made the hardest decision which is to reduce, declutter and live simply. Congratulations!
What are you now finding is the biggest challenge for you? Designing a friendly healthy menu within a budget? Saving for the future? So many topics trigger a lot wisdom from this site. Enjoy!

Float On
10-17-16, 9:25am
Welcome!!

Teacher Terry
10-17-16, 1:24pm
Always glad to have new members. welcome!!

CathyA
10-17-16, 2:37pm
Willkommen! I worked one summer many years ago, on the Insel Fohr. I'm sure Germany has changed a lot since then, but it was beautiful.

freshstart
10-17-16, 4:32pm
welcome!

JayPee
10-18-16, 1:25am
Thanks for the warm welcome. Although I made a start in simple living, there is still quite a lot to do and learn. So I'm happy to be here...