book review – Page 18 – Mackenzie Carose

The Joy of Less: A Book Review

January 24, 2017 By Mackenzie 10 Comments

Less, less, less. 2017 is all about less. Less clutter, less nonsense, less of what no longer serves a purpose.

The Joy of Less: A Minimalist Guide to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify by Francine Jay was a book that I was super excited to delve into because I had heard quite a bit about her in the minimalist circles and her book lived up to the hype! 🙂

Can we just pause and give thanks for libraries? Because seriously, without them I would be lost! ♥

So back to the book… the author Francine Jay runs the popular website missminimalist.com and her book is chock full of awesome tidbits. I really love how she opens the book with the term “philosophy”. We have to change our mindset and change our relationship with stuff in order for this whole minimalism thing and life without excess to work. Our stuff exists to serve us, not the other way around.

“A container is most valuable when it is empty. We can’t enjoy fresh coffee when old grounds are in our cup and we can’t showcase our garden’s blooms when wilted flowers fill the vase. Similarly, when our homes -the containers of our daily lives- are overflowing with clutter, our souls take a backseat to our stuff”. – Francine Jay

Ms. Jay had an interesting passage in the book about “aspirational stuff”. Basically these are items that we bought to impress others or indulge in our “fantasy selves”. You know, the one who is 20 pounds thinner, the one who has fabulous cocktail parties, the one who, well…you get it. Human beings have a tendency to acquire many of their possessions in order to project a certain image. Clothes, cars, etc… Ready for some minimalistic truth?

Products will never make us into something we are not.

High-five, Ms. Jay. High-five.

Less stuff equals less stress and I completely agree. In the book, it is pointed out that:

We stress about not having stuff.
We stress about how to acquire the thing we want.
We buy the thing and now have to be responsible for it and take care of it.
Then the item inevitably breaks and now we are stressed about our broken item and now… THE WHOLE PROCESS STARTS ALL OVER AGAIN.

Ugh, what a cycle!

Less stuff equals more freedom. Things can be anchors and tie us down. They keep us from exploring new interests and developing new talents. They can drain our energy and sense of adventure.

“Too much clutter can weigh on our spirits. It is like all those items have their own gravitational field and are constantly pulling us down and holding us back. We can literally feel heavy and lethargic in a cluttered room, too tired and lazy to get up and accomplish anything”. – Francine Jay

We want to be able to actually enjoy and live our life, right? Living simply, buying only what we truly need, and learn the joy of having enough.

Other brilliant tidbits:

Life is the space between our things.
We need space for our ideas and thoughts- a cluttered room usually leads to a cluttered mind.
By creating space in our homes, we put the focus back where it should be: on what we do, rather than what we own.
When we clear our homes of all the excess stuff, we can devote our space, time, and energy to the people we love.

Friends, I really loved this book and I recommend it to anyone looking to start their minimalist/decluttering journey and I also recommend it to those of you already well on your way in your simplifying journey. My point is, this book is for EVERYONE! 🙂

“When we become minimalists, we strip away all the excess to uncover our true selves. We take the time to contemplate who we are, what we find important, and what truly makes us happy”. – Francine Jay

What truly makes us happy…that sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? 🙂

The Money Saving Mom’s Budget: A Book Review

January 10, 2017 By Mackenzie Leave a Comment

You’re never stuck-unless you choose to be. – Crystal Paine

If you have read any personal finance blogs in the past 7 years or so, you might have heard of Crystal Paine, a.k.a. The Money Saving Mom. When I was a new mommy and completely overwhelmed with feedings, diaper changes, and oh yeah, finding time to wash the dishes and do seven hundred loads of laundry, I stumbled across her blog and it saved me. Literally. Crystal’s blog helped me with time management, meal planning, and taking some time for me, and still giving my all to my precious newborn. Seriously, I am forever indebted to Crystal ♥

That being said, I couldn’t wait to crack open her book The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, when my library finally notified me that my requested reserve was in 🙂 Let’s dive in, shall we?

Crystal’s advice, although geared primarily towards families, can also be utilized for the single crowd. Being financially solvent applies to EVERYONE, amiright? And what she writes makes total sense and leaves you thinking, wow I can totally do this!

For example, she talks about the “$60 Principle”, which is in a nutshell, try to challenge yourself to save $60 a year. For some people, they might be like, whatever, I can totally do that, piece of cake. But for others who are barely scraping by, $60 is quite a bit of money. Crystal breaks down the challenge into easy steps and helps you see that it can be doable. She advocates to try and save $5 a month which breaks down to just $1.25 a week. Crystal states: “$60 isn’t going to make a significant dent in your debt payoff but the mentality behind saving the money will help you get there. Moving forward is better than standing still or moving backward”.

Because this book is all about saving money, she has many tips for doing just that:

Learn to meal plan
Use coupons when you can
Go plastic-free and try using just cash
Eat more meatless meals
Utilize your crock pot
Instead of going out to the movies, rent a movie from your library for free
Learn to batch-cook
Sell your junk

The parts of the book that I enjoyed and that appealed to my minimalist heart were the pages concerning organization, stream lining, and getting rid of clutter.

“If your life and home are not in order, you are just going to make things harder for yourself and likely end up frustrated and overwhelmed” – Crystal Paine

Can I get an amen? 🙂

Some tips, you can totally do today! Eliminate paper clutter. Unsubscribe from those catalogs, yo! Organize that pantry. What is actually in there? Know what ingredients you have on hand to start that meal planning, stat! Create a filing system for bills and receipts. If you are more of a digital person, scan those things and put ’em on your computer and get everything in order!

I think it is important that Crystal does emphasize practicing the art of contentment. If you are not happy with what you have, credit cards will be there to soothe you and skyrocket your debt at the same time. She advises for us to count our blessings and to focus on what we do have, not what we don’t.

“A cheerful attitude can go a long way in less than ideal situations; you can either complain about the thorns or you can savor the roses that bloom in their midst” – Crystal Paine

All in all, this is a great book for anyone needing to overhaul their financial picture but just don’t know how to get started. But make sure you go to the library and check it out because #frugal 🙂

As The Page Turns: October Edition

November 6, 2016 By Mackenzie Leave a Comment

Books, books, books! Yay for book posts! Get ready fellow booknerds, I read some awesome books this month 🙂

What I read in October:

Young Elizabeth: The Making of a Queen by Kate Williams

Oh my goodness, this book was fantastic! I loved learning about Elizabeth and the abdication of the throne by her uncle, which ultimately led to her father becoming King of England and subsequently when he died, Elizabeth inheriting the throne. Fascinating account of Elizabeth and her sister Margaret’s young lives and going all the way through to Elizabeth becoming Queen. I can’t recommend this book enough! 🙂

Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get From Broke to Badass in Record Time by Anna Newell-Jones

Guys, this book was so good and chockfull of so many interesting tidbits! Anna created and runs the popular blog andthenwesaved.com for the non-personal finance crowd and her book was such an easy read. No confusing info, no berating because you too have bought one too many things under the influence of emotional shopping. Anna has been there and describes her journey of getting out of debt which gave her the freedom to follow her dream of becoming a freelance photographer. Definitely give this one a read!

Uninvited by Lysa TerKeurst

This book, um wow, all the feelings! I loved it. ♥ I don’t want to get too deep with this, but this book was awesome. Definitely a good read!

The Moor by Laurie R. King

This book revolves around the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles with a 1920’s twist and Sherlock Holmes himself is brought back to Dartmoor to solve this latest incarnation of mystery.

Halloween Party by Agatha Christie

Y’all know I had to throw in an Agatha Christie novel and what better one to read for October than Halloween Party? Bobbing for apples takes on a whole new meaning when one of the party guests is found dead in the tub of apples. Who did it and why? That is the question…bet you’ll never guess who did it! 😉

What did you guys read in October? I need some new books to dive into!