What I Hope To Learn From Moving and Living in a Small Townhome

Living in a small townhome has been quite an adventure.  We lost almost 1000 square feet when we moved into this place and of course we lost our yard.  It has been an adventure to try to fit everything into this space and to fit our daily activities and our people into smaller quarters.  I realize how much I used our old yard, especially when the kids were getting on each others nerves or needed something to do, I would just send them outside.  We are finding a different rhythm here.

This is a temporary experience for us.  We know that we will be getting into a bigger home on our 10 acres here in a few months, we know this will only last for a short period of time.  Though I am catching glimpses of how living in a small home can have so many amazing advantages, I see why many people choose to live this amazing lifestyle.  In this time in our townhome there are a few things I hope to learn.

I hope to learn how to let go of more stuff.  When we were moving and packing up our old home Steve exclaimed during an intense session of packing  that he just wanted to pack everything up and take it to the Goodwill.  This was after months of me going through and purging a lot of our stuff.  He had always been supportive of getting rid of things, but we had differed a bit on the amount to let go of, so I was happy he was able to see the enormity of the stuff that we possessed.  We are hoping to use this time in our townhome to go through and get rid of even more.  During the move Jakob let me know that he felt like we had way to many boxes of books and craft supplies.  Those are most definitely my territory of stuff, and I knew he was right.  I would like to go through and try to get rid of even more and our few months here will be a great time to do that.

I hope to learn and to define what we truly need in our kitchen.  We have a much smaller kitchen space and it is making me evaluate what we use on a daily bases and what we use weekly or monthly.  It is making me reassess where I store items.  It is making me questions if I should even own certain kitchen items.

I hope to learn to meal plan more efficiently.  With less room in the kitchen, I also need to focus on how we store our food.  I like how I have meal planned seasonly but I have a plan to store our food differently that will complement our meal planning.  It is still in my head right now, so we shall see how it will work in practice.

I hope to learn to plan and schedule my days more consistently.  With less to juggle and more time (hopefully) once the kids are in school, I hope to be more consistent about following a schedule.  I especially need this now that I'm doing the books again for Steve's business.  I need chunks of my day for different things so I'm not overwhelmed by them every moment of the day.  The strategy of everything has its place works well for me for daily tasks and action items.

I hope to learn to enjoy where we are at right now.  Something that is a life skill that is sometimes hard to remember.  Right now we live super close to a lot of shops, a movie theatre, a deluxe bowling alley and arcade, and so many restaurants.  These are all in walking distance from where we live.  We are excited to live so close to so many fun things, especially considering we will not have these options on our 10 acre property.  We are enjoying spending less time cleaning and more time with each other.  We are enjoying new adventures as we have switched up which children share rooms.  We will enjoy our weekday commutes to our new school with more time to listen to books on cd and enjoy chats in the car together.  We will enjoy the opportunity to be a member of our local recreation center.

I hope to learn that change is good.  I've been super nervous about moving my children, but with each step forward, I see growth in them.  They have matured through these changes.  They have risen to the challenge as they have embraced this new adventure.  They have had courage as they have put themselves out there and dealt with the sadness of leaving old friends, schools, and church and heading into unknown and new experiences.

I hope to learn that it is always better to embrace life, to be that girl who says the glass is half full, to look for the good in all things.  At times this can be hard, but I know that every time I look for the good my spirits lift and my perspective changes.  Life is good.  Life is full of surprises and changes.  The amazing rises to the surface as we embrace all that is good and worthy.