As you might know, we’ve been making some big changes and are on an adventure with our life. We’ve moved across town to the West side of Paso Robles. We’ve made a conscious decision to downsize, which basically means getting rid of a bunch of stuff in an effort to simplify and free ourselves of a lot of the things that can tie you down.
So, to say that this has been a challenge would be a huge understatement. The house we moved into is old. It’s cute, quaint, has lots of cool little historical trimmings, but it’s OLD. (Now, we definitely aren’t prejudiced about things that are old.) The house we moved from was about 6 years old, this house is more like 60 (or more) years old. What this means is that we’re learning about what we value in our day to day life. Sure, we can walk downtown and wander around the park or grab a glass of wine and then be back home in an 8 minute walk, but this is all coming with some pretty interesting trade-offs. Mind you, we’ve made these choices consciously, well aware of what we were doing.
Do you like your dishwasher? Yeah, us too…but it’s gone. Do you take your central heat for granted? Yeah, we did too, now that we’ve got a floor vent that spits out dusty warmth. How do you feel about your plumbing? Well, we’re coming to love this Paso Robles hard water and low pressure. Find it easy to do a load of laundry? We’ve had challenge after challenge getting our washer and dryer to play nice with the gas line, ventilation, and water drainage.
Now, don’t misunderstand, this is all good change…but change can push you outside of your old box, forcing you to build a new box. All this is definitely pushing us to revisit some of our priorities, and we’re learning new limits of patience. We’ve questioned whether we’ve just been spoiled, or if it’s a matter of modern conveniences that we can’t live without. While staying positive, feeling like Mr. and Mrs. MacGyver, and constantly shifting our priorities, we’re learning; learning about ourselves, and our environment will inevitably make us stronger and more resilient people. Right? The other thing we’ve confirmed is that having WINE makes it almost all better!!!
LOL Love that you two are living downtown. We have thought about doing the same thing. So, here are a few suggestions. 1. Buy a space heater, they are probably more energy efficient anyway. 2. Buy paper plates they can be recycled. 3. Washing clothes is over rated. Pick up a pair of Jammie Jeans…nuff said. 4. Buy a big box of Wine, it kinda goes with the whole vibe…..
“Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.”-Benjamin Franklin
No wonder he invented electricity, he couldn’t read the label on his wine bottle.
Cheers! Have fun downtown.
HAHA, Kendall! Thanks for the suggestions…we’re learning the art of wearing partially clean clothes! Jammie Jeans for both of us are in the mail…and on my way to Target to get us a couple boxes of wine! It’s definitely awesome over here…come on over! Cheers!!! P.S. Dinner soon?
Once you’ve lived in the luxury of “forward”….It’s kind of frustrating to have to move “backward”. It’s definatley one thing to not have a dishwasher, or to have low water pressure, but old drains and pipes can become a bigger issue altogether!
Good luck guys…and, it’s a good thing Matt is handy around the house. Maybe you can send him to Home Depot to buy a water softener! He could hook it up in no time!!
Love you, xoxoMomo ;D
Hey Mo, thanks for the encouragement! Put it this way…we’re learning all kinds of cool old tricks! Things like: how to cook a whole meal with one utensil and one pan, how to pour water from a Brita filter into a Dasani bottle without spilling, and more appropriate times to drink wine instead of water!
Wow, my house is old too, (been here 30 years) and I don’t have a dishwasher, or central A/C either. I couldn’t take the heat in the summer time any longer so we bought a waterless A/C that stands on the floor and vents through the window (got at Home Depot for five hundred dollars expensive but it was worth it and cools the livingroom). Other than that I’ve learned to live without all that luxury all my life but now it’s time for our change for comfort and hopefully we can afford to remodel so I can retire in the next six years with comfort/ease. You’ll do fine, you can always change back later in life. Cheers!
Way to go, Bev! You’re a strong lady! I don’t think it’s that we can’t learn to live without modern conveniences, but just need to decide if we’re willing to! Good luck with the remodel…that’s exciting!
There’s a period of transition when moving from one house to another. Wine definitely helps with that! 🙂 I lived in one home for 10 years without a dishwaher, and now my current home has one. Do I use it?…not much, maybe about once a month because I have to run it! I usually put clean dishes in my dishwaher to dry!
Hi Pat, we’re definitely transitioning…but settling in now for sure. I’m okay with no dishwasher, just need to keep lots of hand moisturizer around! That’s funny about your dishwasher habits…I think it’s just all about what you get used to. Keep the wine flowing!!!