Every Monday I post Real Life Minimalists, a profile of one of my readers in their own words. If you’d like to participate, click here for details.
This week, I’m pleased to feature Jen with SV Perry. She and her family have embraced minimalism to help realize their dream: living and traveling on a boat! Read about their adventures on their blog.
Jen writes:
Nine months ago, we sold our house and almost everything in it to buy a boat and travel with our family of four. Our goal was to simplify, live closer to nature, and spend time with our children while they are still young and want to be around us. We felt that if we didn’t make a change, we would continue to spend our foreseeable future in a daily grind of work, school, homework, and chores. Brief vacations and other breaks would provide some relief but before we knew it, our young sons would be grown and gone and the majority of our lives would have been spent in an office.
Although some aspects of living on a boat are not minimalist (the need for safety equipment, repairs and maintenance creates its own category of stuff that you can’t just run out and replace when needed), we pared most of our personal possessions down to the essentials. Unloading the house and most of our things was incredibly freeing. And more importantly, while going through the process of selling, giving away and donating our possessions, we were able to focus on what we really need to be happy. For us, it is surprisingly little. Even the children let go of many of their toys without much argument, which is good because they have even less space now than they did before. They also probably had fewer toys than many American children to start. They each have their own room (“cabin”) yet they want to have sleepovers with each other, so they are adjusting to the smaller space just fine.
The past few weeks have been spent getting the boat ready in Ft. Lauderdale. We have settled into an easy rhythm of waking after the sun rises, eating when we’re hungry, and falling asleep to the sound of lapping water and shrimp nibbling at the boat. The days of bleary-eyed waking in the cold darkness and rushed breakfasts seem like the distant past. As we prepare to start our journey, we are a mixture of hopeful, happy and anxious. We miss our family and friends but we can’t wait to start our journey.
{If you’d like to learn more about minimalist living, please consider reading my book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide, or subscribing to my RSS feed.}
Is this real life minimalist story, a repeat? I could have sworn her story had been up here before. So many lines seemed eerily familiar. The Déjà vu lines were:
“spend time with our children while they are still young and want to be around us”
“Although some aspects of living on a boat are not minimalist (the need for safety equipment, repairs and maintenance creates its own category of stuff that you can’t just run out and replace when needed)” and
“They each have their own room (“cabin”)”.
Tell me I’m not going crazy.
I don’t know about the quotes, but there is another family that sails: http://www.missminimalist.com/2012/06/real-life-minimalists-bethany/
There was a story of another family that lived on a boat in the summers while living on land during the winters in Michigan. I don’t recall seeing this exact story, though I could be wrong.
Yeah, I’ve been away for awhile, but I’m glad I found this! We live aboard part-time, but we’re hoping to make the switch to full-time next fall! ;-) I will DEFINITELY be checking out your blog.
I hope this will soon be our story too! We have been working towards this same goal for awhile now and will hopefully be purchasing a boat soon. Thank you for sharing your story.
MarieG LifeSimplyBalanced.com
Beautifully written. Thanks for the link.
I am wholeheartedly inspired. A beautiful story, one which I want to know more about. Popping over to your blog now.
Good for you! Spending time with our little ones is so very important. You will never regret these years of love and focus.
Wow that is a moving story.
I think it sounds amazing!!! And makes the idea of settling down with a husband and a family seem so much more exciting! I think you’re creating a little bit of heaven for them to carry through out their lives. Who knows maybe if you really liked home schooling them you could do it for ages?
Either way, I love your story and find inspiration in your dedication to the life you want,xx
Dear Jen, this is so inspirational! It’s just the right post at the right time. I’ve seriously been contemplating about downsizing into a smaller house. I am not as adventurous as you are, but I am hoping to move to a new city with a much smaller house within the U.S.A It’s a hard decision as we prefer to stick with the familiars such as a stable job and the home that we have lived in for 7 years. I need to get more inspirations from people like you as role models….
Moving smaller always seems like a good idea to me. My husband wants more furniture and more hobby stuff. I have some furniture I hope to give my son when and if he gets his own place. Some chairs and a bookcase or two. Maybe a dresser. I also have dishes and silverware to give him. My in-laws had so much and I kept a few things for my kids.
I am looking forward to much less stuff. I keep cleaning out closets and drawers and giving away hobby and art supplies. I have fewer pots than I’ve had in years. Even though my husband likes to go out to eat, I try to cook supper a few times a week. It saves money and uses less salt and sugar if I cook from scratch. I am trying to lose a few pounds and being minimal definitely helps.
Giving away more stuff every week. Since most of the cupboards are half empty, I don’t know where it all comes from. Having a small wardrobe is key to my weight loss plan– since my needs are small, every 20- 30 lbs I can get something new that fits properly and get rid of something over 10 years old as it becomes much too big.