Stephen, Kandice, The Boy, The Girl, Eddie

Month 1, Day 1

I want to start this by thanking Kerry. I am so grateful for the opportunity to take over The Simple Year. In fact, I’m stoked (this is a technical term). And in a week, truth be told, I will also probably be mortified. Like when you see all of the junk we’ve accumulated.

A little background

In a nutshell, my husband, Stephen, and I have spent the last 14 months thinking about our priorities as a family. On March 18, 2012, I was seriously injured. Basically, I fractured my spine. As in snap, crackle, pop, collapse. Spine surgery and an agonizing recovery soon followed. I’m still recovering, actually.

But, there is a silver lining there. Because of that experience, we have been thinking about what is important to us. Before I got hurt I worked a crazy job with awesome people for 60 or so hours each week. Despite the hefty salary and bonus that went with it, I started to question whether it was worth it. Managing our household became increasingly difficult and I was functioning via a cocktail of Lexapro, wine, caffeine and Ambien. Up, down, up, down. Not exactly the picture of health. Fast forward 14 months: with the help of weekly physical therapy sessions, I’m becoming stronger. I’ve also had a lot of time to think. Which leads me to our project.

The Project

We’re spending the next 52 weeks on a full-scale frontal assault on our crap. An excess of household items isn’t all we’re purging. The big house, the luxury cars, the cable TV, clothes, schedules, commitments, frivolous expenditures and relying on other people to maintain our home are all up on the chopping block. In our little pocket of Dallas, entitlement, materialism and luxury are everywhere. Instead of staying on the treadmill of consumption and keeping up with what everyone else is doing, we are choosing to focus on what we find meaningful.

We aren’t just de-cluttering our home. We’re de-cluttering our lives. As the physical possessions decline in number, the plan is to redirect the time and money spent caring for them on family adventures.

The beginning of our Simple Year will focus on the nitty gritty stuff we have in our home. As we continue, we will focus on bigger picture items – the house, the car, our family obligations.

Our hope is that during our Simple Year, we’ll identify what we really, truly need. We’re going to put into action what we have been saying in name only for far too long: that our family and relationships are what we value. Not our possessions. We’re going to focus on living a life free from all the stuff that, in the end, means nothing.

We hope you’ll join us.