Once, Tammy Strobel and her husband were living a normal middle-class lifestyle: driving two cars, commuting long distances, and living well beyond their means. Now they are living the voluntary downsizing — or smart-sizing — dream. In this book Strobel combines research on well-being with numerous real-world examples to offer practical inspiration. Her fresh take on our things, our work, and our relationships spells out micro-actions that anyone can take to step into a life that’s more conscious and connected, sustainable and sustaining, heartfelt and happy.
Author: Tammy Strobel
Product Code: 80832
ISBN: 978-1-60868-083-2
Pages: 224
This book was very interesting and I want to show you how small or how big (depending on how you want to look at it) this house is before I go into my thoughts on Tammy's book. Watch the video below.
My thoughts: When I was asked if I would be interested in reviewing this book I thought "why not it sounds very interesting, how does a person simplify to become happier?" When I first started the book I will admit I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish because of all the quotes and statistics. I am horrible with remembering stats and I enjoy more of a book that talks about stories of the writers life and how to accomplish what they did, not stats of the US. After I got past the 28th page I was hooked and finished the book in a couple days. Tammy is a blogger who decided with her husband, Logan to downsize their things and apartment to reduce their debt, find more time and become happier. By reducing space and debt one can usually work less and find more free time to spend building relationships.
Over the last couple years I have been trying to find a balance for everything in my life. I feel people and kids are really over scheduled and we don't have enough family time. We also don't have enough time to sit and just read or even getaway for the weekend in the wilderness. Tammy was in the same boat. She talks about the world being very materialistic and how we are owned by our stuff. This is very true, if you are using credit cards to buy things and only paying the minimum payment they we don't really own those items. We then have to work longer and harder to pay for the finer things in life. Does this really make us happier in life? It does make us happier for a while but it is more of a quick fix.
Tammy talks about volunteering and becoming more involved in community relationships. By simplifying their life, getting rid of debt, working less, and living with less (which means easier to clean up and stay clean) you will have more time to do things that really make you happy.
I'll admit I have too much stuff and I was very materialistic when I was younger but over the last couple years I have not shopped like we used to and usually only buy when we need it. Now my goal is to simplify my belongings and reduce clutter in our home by using some of the Mirco-actions along with building better relationships. I highly recommend checking out Tammy's book if you are interested in a simple life or even if you are just interested in seeing how Tammy and others live in tiny houses, she has done her research on the topic and has included some great interviews of others living similar lives.
~*Disclaimer: This post was written by Genuine Jenn on behalf of New World Library. I received the above book for review purpose. All opinions are honest and my own.*~
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