Minimizing Excess. My journey to minimalism.
The title of this may have you thinking I am crazy or may have you intrigued as to why I would sell something that represents my (very loving) marriage.
Earlier this year God really convicted me about the excess in my life. I mean I always knew it was there and I knew I was spending too much money on things that I don’t really need but I liked “sparkly things”.
New clothes, makeup, hair and skin care products, home decor, jewellery. You name it I bought it.
I never thought much about purchases, I wanted to look nice, have my home look nice and I enjoyed shopping.
I enjoyed shopping a little too much. I found I was always heading to Winners or Homesense for some retail therapy.
This only became worse when I became a foster parent and had to kill 2 hours twice a week while my kiddos had visits with their biological family. It was the next city over so I didn’t have time to go home, so I might as well kill that time shopping right?
The time killing combined with all the emotions I was experiencing as a new foster parent was the recipe for a perfect storm.  Feel bad?..shop… feel bored? Shop. This became just what I did.

This post probably contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

The purchase of something new would always give me temporary contentment. But then I would go home and my husband and I would get into an argument about how I was spending too much. I would be in a bad mood because I was constantly cleaning and organizing stuff and still feeling like my house was a mess. I wasn’t spending time on what truly matters.
My house was always a mess of clutter everywhere. Spilling out of closets and dressers. Every surface was cluttered with pictures and knick-knacks and I am not exaggerating when I say every wall in my main living areas was a collage wall. Pictures and more knick-knacks.
God reminded me of some major goals my husband and I have and how unattainable they seemed with our current situation. He reminded me that there are people all over the world living without the basic necessities and here I was dropping money like nothing on new picture frames and fake eyelashes.
The way I looked at everything changed.
Now I still like to look nice but the thought of spending money on certain things… Total excess.
I still wanted my home to feel like my home and decorating is part of how I express my creative mind but did I really need 157 picture frames?
I like wearing a ring to represent my marriage but did it really need to be an expensive diamond?

I started slowly room by room clearing out the excess. If it wasn’t useful or it didn’t bring joy to my life it was gone.
My diamond “excess” still sitting in the back of my mind…I was thinking, if I sold it would I regret it?
I am just starting phase 2 of my minimalism journey and going back around to redo each room again.
It is crazy how the momentum just keeps going, I started seeing so many positive changes in my life. It is so much easier to let go of things. It is so freeing.
So I was thinking it was time to let go of the ring. I was thinking of getting a silicone ring to replace it when I opened an email from a company asking me to pick any ring I wanted on their site and review it on my youtube channel.
This was my sign it was time and there was no way I was going to regret it. I was able to pick a ring and get it engraved “G + K Forever”.

The new ring was

My wonderful husband Greg had the first ring custom made for me, with love and a big diamond trying to impress his future bride. It certainly did the trick.
But our marriage has grown and he no longer tries or needs to impress me with material things, our love for something so much more had flourished. We made the decision together to sell the diamond to save for our future. We are trying to minimize excess as much as possible.

A future of following God’s call for our lives. A future with goals that matter.
Materialistic things are not important, and as I let go more and more each day I have such a peace. We are caught up in a consumerist world. We have so much information flashing at us all day long to buy buy buy.
Our society is in major debt, we want the next new thing and we want it immediately.
Are you like I was? Purchasing to fill a void? Getting caught up in “keeping up with the Jones’?”
I urge you to take a look at what brings value to your life. What do you truly love? Who are you trying to impress? Do you see areas in your life where you can minimize excess?
I chat more about this in a recent YouTube Video, I would love for you to check it out.  If you want more information I have an Intentional Living Playlist with how my journey started. I am by no means an expert but I finally feel in control of my excess, my house stays clean and I have so much more joy in my life.