My journey to simplicity

As promised, here is The ultimate "should we live together" questionnaire . These are questions I thought Mr. Romantic and I should answer and discuss before deciding if we want to live together. I think they put us in a better position to make a more informed decision. In my opinion, having answers that don’t match doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live together. It just means we have more to discuss. They're meant to help us learn more about each other. I’ve made a few edits to take away the more personal aspects of these questions and made them a bit more universal for any of you to use if you’re thinking of shacking up with your sweetie. Perhaps you'll think that some of the questions are a little negative or morbid, but in my opinion they're important nonetheless. Maybe they can help you make the important decision of living together. A little work before might mean a simpler life together afterwards. Relationship Why should we live together? W

Remember when I wrote about my reflections on romantic relationships ? In that post, I mentioned that I wasn't sure if I could or would want to live with a partner again. I had also said that there was no need to make up my mind at the time because it wasn't a decision I was faced with. Well, I'm now faced with that decision. Mr. Romantic and I have been together for over 6 months now and we've come to a point in our relationship where we're considering moving in together. It's a decision not to be taken lightly, especially because kids are involved. I have a 16-year-old who's not living with me currently, but may come back. He has a 10 and 6-year-old that live with him every other week. If it was just the two of us, it would be an easier decision with less possible complications. Also, as you know, I consider myself a minimalist. Mr. Romantic considers himself a borderline pack rat. So this should be interesting... We've recently had several little disc

The day I got my new leased car, my daughter asked if we could go for a drive up to the Champlain lookout in the Gatineau Park. So off we went - my daughter, Mr. Romantic and I. As we were on our way up there, I was reminded of the lovely hiking trails . Last year I hiked the King Mountain Trail with Dr. T.. Although I struggled and had a hard time catching my breath during my hike, I really enjoyed the experience and definitely wanted to do more. So I had planned to hike the other trails this year Luckily for me, Mr. Romantic also likes hiking and he's always willing to go whenever I am. On the May long weekend, I had plans for us to hike three of the Gatineau Park trails. Having a car makes getting to these types of activities easier. We just pack up and go whenever we feel like it. Although all of the trails I wanted to hike were rated easy, it was a little ambitious of me to plan to do all of them in that weekend. Still, I wanted to set that goal, but I was open to the

Can I still be called a minimalist if I don't want a tiny home? Of course I can!! Is there a rule that as a minimalist we should automatically want to live in a tiny home? Nope! Even though I don't want to live in a tiny home (less than 500 square feet), I don't want a mansion either. The bigger the house, the more time it takes to maintain it. Who really wants to spend a whole weekend cleaning up and maintaining things? Not me, that's for sure! In my current two-bedroom apartment, which is approximately 850 square feet, when I decide it's clean up time it usually takes me a little over an hour, two at most if we've been a little messy that week. That includes dusting everything, vacuuming and washing the floors. What I want is a home with enough room for the things I decided to hold on to and with room to spare. Not so I can add stuff to the home, but so that I have room to just be. I like open spaces. Think of an art gallery. I like how they leave room b