Starting again..........

**Englishlady** · 09-08-2005, 06:52 AM

I know Katrina has changed life for some many people and I have cried buckets watching the News reports..........praying those poor people can find the strength to carry on with their lives.

It got me to thinking about starting over and without trivializing the devastation caused by this catastrophe, what would I do differently if I had to start over with nothing at all?

Firstly I would try not to clutter up my life with"things".

Try and get the SMALLEST house I can that would function well for my needs.

On getting a new home I would look at each room and see what is the LEAST furniture /items I can put in this room?

Looking at my lifestyle I would try and create a smaller and more versatile wardrobe of clothes with as few individual items as I could cope with.

I would try and establish which Kitchen items were VITAL to me creating healthy and interesting Home made meals ( I am thinking of my Multi- mixer, I use it a lot to make Veggie Burgers and such like)

I would stop buying ANY commerically made cleaning products.

A bed to sleep in and a table to eat from would be my first priority items, when buying furniture.

I would try and be more Spiritual and less material

Try very hard to make my needs few and my wants, occaisonal and practical.

I am sure there are a lot more but, that's al I can pull out of the gap in my head right now

What would you do/change?

Karen

**homesteadmamma** · 09-08-2005, 09:21 AM

If I had to start all over, I would:

~pay with cash only (except for a home of course)

~I would buy the smallest home that I could.

~I would have more empty space in my home

~I would garden more, not just for food but for pure enjoyment of the color of flowers

~I would purchase top quality furniture, however less of it. All furniture would be antiques, not cheap furniture that falls apart after a few years.

~I would make sure I had all energy efficient appliances

~I would work at taking better care of the environment within my own home

~I would start my journey to inner simplicity a whole lot earlier than I did. This is one area I wish I had learnt at a young age rather than in my late 40's.

Great question!!

**PrairieRose** · 09-08-2005, 10:37 AM

I'd spend a lot of time of thinking about the changes I want, before jumping into any purchases.

I'd buy only quality items that I could use forever.

I'd buy from garage sales and thrift stores, everything that I could to make my money go further and get the best value for my $.

I'd work very hard on myself not to focus on me all of the time.

I'd make my home my sanctuary and very easy to keep. (to clean, etc. )

**Mamaw** · 09-08-2005, 09:28 PM

I would pay with cash

I would own less "things" to free up time for more "people"

I would work on resisting the urge to buy for the simple sake of buying

**psjkmom** · 09-08-2005, 10:58 PM

I'd certainly buy a smaller house. I really love my furniture - it's fairly simple already, so not much to change there. I'd buy very versatile, simple, well-made clothes (if money were not a problem). And, I'd buy my children simple toys - those are the ones they play with more than once anyway. I'd buy only white sheets and towels. They are easier to clean, sort, and coordinate. I still wouldn't be stingy about buying books. Some things are worth spending on.

**SHOPGIRL** · 09-08-2005, 11:43 PM

I agree with all of the above. We're such a consumer society. We tend to buy things we really don't need. Living with less, and saving more is what I would do.

Currently, I live in a small house. However, I really have too many things. When you think about it, we probably use about 20% of what we have daily. The other 80 % just takes up space.

**Lori Biever-Launder** · 09-09-2005, 01:07 AM

Most of our furniture is old--I am still using nightstands and a vanity that are approaching 70 years old that I bought twenty five years ago!

I don't know how much I'd do differently. I love my home. It's old (1902) by American standards. We haven't taken up any precious farmland to build a new home on and we reuse as much stuff as possible. We aren't fancy people, but do like having our kids around (even when they drive us nutso with noise). I pray they will always live near by, so that we can always enjoy them.

Sooo, I guess I'd have to say I would have fewer things (I have thousands of books!--literally) and hopefully more time with DH (he has a long commute and an even longer work day).