A T T H E P A R K ' S

Happy 2019 you guys!! This is my first post of the new year so I thought I'd start off sharing eleven lists that you can use to help you get your life in order for 2019. You may have read my post on creating a Home Management Notebook  years ago. It was great at the time, but I thought I'd update you on what I use now to simplify our lives and keep intentionality as the focus. Over the years I've tried bullet journaling, as well as just using a monthly planner. To be honest, the bullet journal was fun but it was a lot of work. It didn't make my life simpler and took too much time to create every month. Using a planner worked fine, but for the most part, I only used my planner for scheduling appointments. Now I can schedule appointments on my phone and take advantage of the super useful reminders. My current system seems to work best for me, so I'm excited to share it with you today. These eleven lists can be written down in a notebook, on your iPad, l...

With the new year right around the corner, I thought I'd share a little bit about what we've stopped buying since downsizing and simplifying our lives. We're heading towards a zero waste lifestyle as well, so you'll see some alternatives to items we have previously used. Before I share this long list with you, let me give you some insight into some of the questions we ask ourselves when we go shopping. By choosing to live with intention, life is much simpler and we save a lot of time, energy, and money when we do go shopping. So, let's get started. Is it on our list? Do we need it? Can we afford it with cash? If we're using a credit card, it must be an absolute emergency. Our general rule of thumb is this: if we can't afford it, we don't buy it. Why do we want this? Do we want this because someone else thinks we need it and says it is a "must-have" item? How long will we use it for? Is it a one-time use item? Do we have something similar...

Hi friends, for those of you who don't know or are new to the blog, my husband and I (and our golden retriever) live in a 39-foot 5th wheel/toy hauler on some family property just outside of Bend, Oregon. As a minimalist living in an RV, I thought you might be interested in seeing how I spend my mornings with intention, before heading off to work. For as long as I can remember, I've always been a morning person. A few years ago, I was getting up as early as 4am to go to my CrossFit class before heading off to work. While I don't rise quite that early now, I still enjoy waking up before the rest of the world. And really, I feel my very best and am the most productive between 5-10am. If you are the same way and you'd like to know what I do to have a more joyful and productive morning, just keep reading. And, here are a few tips to help you get started. Tip #1: Get up early You must allow yourself time to accomplish the things you want to accomplish. If y...

Over the years, I've found that if I buy a tote bag, I'll likely fill it to the brim. If I purchase a cross body bag or even a clutch, I'm forced to carry only the essentials. It's the same in a physical space like our homes and it's the same in our digital space.  Today I'd like to share with you steps you can take to simplify and declutter your online life. Recently I came across the term digital minimalism from  No Sidebar  and thought the term was perfect for what I was trying to encapsulate. Digital Minimalism is a mindset of questioning which digital communication tools are necessary for your happiness. Whether it be email, social media, or general internet consumption, the purpose of this philosophy is to question whether or not they add value to your life. -No Sidebar What I'm about to tell you might shock you or even cause you to have pity on us. JP and I got rid of our smart phones in April of 2016 and we haven't looked back...

As we're nearing the RV move-in date, I am preparing and planning where we will store our belongings and what we'll need on a regular basis. Once we get settled into the RV, we'll need everything, but mainly the kitchen, to be incredibly streamlined. Since we won't have a dishwasher in the RV, we'll be hand washing everything and we'll need quick access to soap. So of course I headed to Pinterest to get some inspiration and as usual, was not disappointed. I found this little DIY from Almost Makes Perfect and wanted to replicate it. In all of the DIY projects I've done, this is my favorite. And the easiest. Sometimes the simple ones make the biggest impact! Let's get into it! BOTTLES STICKERS Make sure your bottles are clean before adhering the stickers. Just like Molly (from Almost Makes Perfect ), I used D for dish soap and H for hand soap. One thing I will say is that I found glass bottles to use rather than ...

Since sharing what's in my minimalist purse , and my minimalist makeup bag , I've had a few requests to share my shoe collection. At this point,  I certainly don't feel like I have reached "minimalist" status with my shoes but I have definitely slim-lined what I consider to be my essentials. This is a journey of sorts and what works for us may not work for you.  Also, for some, the amount of shoes I have may seem very large and for others, very small. When we first started decluttering, I had forty-two pairs of shoes in my closet. Most of them rested on my storage rack getting dusty because they were simply uncomfortable and never got worn. For some, I simply didn't like the style and color any longer. Once I was diagnosed with a bone spur in my ankle a couple of years ago, the orthopedist prescribed that I stop wearing heels all together. So, once I made the decision to start decluttering, it didn't take much time to whittle down my collection. ...