I experienced a massive shift in my thinking this weekend, I've been on a documentary kick and watched a film called 'Minimalism' on Netflix. It was a push I needed to "rethink" how I lived, purchased, and spent my money.

I ran errands to pick up some groceries & headed to Big Lots for candles and to see what I could get at a discount. Typically I walk around and see what else I could “possibly” need. Then I realized, “need” was arbitrary. I didn’t need anything, other than my groceries. I instantly saw Big Lots as a bunch of “wants” and just grabbed the food for the week I wanted and yes a couple of candles.

It was like a switch flipped in my head and a booming voice shouted (pretty sure it was my dad’s).

“Do you REALLY need that?”

I instantly had a flash of all the times I went to Target or Big Lots or IKEA and just spent money to fill my home with “things”.

It was a liberating feeling.

Still, lots of research to do regarding how to create this travel lifestyle on a budget while maintaining my job, which requires reading in my “spare” time, which seems to be shrinking INCREDIBLY fast!!! 

I do know that I need to simplify my life, clean it of clutter and unnecessary items that only collect dust.  Since I do not have a garage for a "garage" sale. I will create an apartment sale.

I don’t have a big place and will have to keep the items separated, but I will start and will place tags on the items I will be selling, so if anyone ever comes over, they can shop.

My plan for keeping it organized.

• Bedroom = Keep

• Living Room = Sell

I know as I go through this process, the items I choose for keeping will change and have to be reduced again but I have to start somewhere. Once I get this completed and items priced, I‘m planning on holding an apartment sale; first telling my friends and neighbors so they can browse and shop. Then I will open it up to the public. I figured I may have to do this a few times to truly clean out the clutter. I would like to honestly get down to what I would have in a small studio apartment.

This is a good place to truly start determining what I need in my life.