The After-holidays-hangover

So I made a few new years resolutions:

First: Get started with this blog again. I keep on coming with excuses for not writing here. If I'm not doing it now then when?

Second: Start to live more healthy. I got my second child in last October and now it’s time to get rid of my wobbly belly by starting to run and basing my diet on something else than chocolate. Both own these resolution have also bigger meaning because they are there to keep me sane especially during these hard winter months when I'm trapped alone in the danish countryside with two small children while the man of the house is mostly at work. So writing will make me feel like I have someone to explain my thoughts. And running and living healthy just make me happy.

Actually I have a third resolution too. Fight against the throwawayism. By this I mean the shopping oriented culture where more and more shortlived products pass through my family’s life and home. It comes with the mentality where we no longer value the materials that go into products or the labor that built them. Neither do we really care where the products end up after we have finished using them as long as it’s out of sight, out of mind. The culture that is constantly trying to lure it’s way to my home “because it’s so easy, fun and convenient and especially desiged and targeted for families with children”.

Let me tell you first why I'm interested in this right now. Because of my every year worsening after-holidays-hangover. And this hangover has nothing to do with drinking or eating too much, it’s the stuff, the garbage bags filling with wrapping papers, packages and Christmas decoration, and kids crying for more and better gifts. Every year Christmas leaves me with the same empty feeling after all that proving your love with stuff and consumption. And as if Christmas wasn’t enough, then comes the new year which we welcome with another consumption peak of disposables. “Here’s a garbage and trash thrown in the sky for five seconds joy, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!”.

I’ve been battling with my anxiety every year but now that I have children it’s worse since I can’t pretend like there is no Christmas. Could I celebrate Christmas on my own way without so much emphasize on the material? Sure, but how to do it when everything around them says “the more material, the more fun”.  Even disturbingly many Christmas programs has the same message where the children’s holidays were ruined and souls left with everlasting scars if they wouldn’t get Christmas presents! And I know it will get even harder as the kids grow up and they’ll learn to compare the amounts and sizes of their gifts and money spent on them. Even though I’m talking about Christmas here I’m also talking about the mentality children learn for the rest of their life. Children learn that you can show your love with stuff. They learn that they can show worthiness with stuff. They learn to patch emptiness with stuff. They build their identity on stuff. They learn that you are the stuff you have.

So hereby with this new year’s resolution I declare to try to get my children to appreciate immaterial in their everyday life before it’s too late and I will try my best to avoid selling my soul to consumerism. I will also try to come up with new ways to reuse things and to avoid disposables. And yes, I’m doing this despite the obvious risk of becoming the embarrassing party pooper who lectures about the environmental effects of a plastic drinking cup and the evil monster who steals children’s gifts and party decoration :)

Happy new year and patience to all those in my near family circles! Here's an inspiring video to start year 2014 :)

The dream of a tiny home

I wonder if this house has a guest bathroom

There is this rather entertaining american program that is always aired when normal active people are definitely not in front of tv. It's called Property virgins and apparently I'm the only one watching it. Property virgins is s a reality series where in each episode they help to find a house or a flat to some North-American first-time homebyers. And this is what I have learned from Property virgins:

• There excists a word called “masterbedroom” and no matter how small your house is the masterbedroom has to be massive and include a bathroom.
• You cannot take seriously a flat/ a house with only one toilet.
• Something called “My stuff” needs at least the same space as two extra persons living in the house would.
• There is always preassumption that as soon as it’s economically possible people will buy something bigger and more spectacular. 

    The housing demands in Scandinavia are a little bit more modest. For example it’s usual that there’s just one room dedicated for the entire household’s bowel movements and personal hygiene and the houses in general are smaller. Here the high heating costs set the biggest limitation for building mansions and especially living in them. But I guess the mainstream trend is the same, we need more space and more room for more stuff. It’s  normal that in some point of our life the purpose of living is just to pay back the house, the car, the boat, maintain them and buy some more stuff. Instead of you owning them, your house and things start to own you.

Surprisingly below the mainstream dream there is a strong opposite movement of radically downsizing your living space. Apparently the idea of being able to fit yourself and all your belongings in a small treehut is something that seems attractive and liberating for more and more westerners. Many people have realized that less space and possession equals to more time and money spend on better things than maintaining, cleaning and worrying. Smaller houses are more ecological, enhance familybonds and are way easier for stuff management. Some of them with the passion to shrink their life have more philosophical approach and say that that less space and possession provides them with mental clarity and peace of mind.

If you are looking for more simplicity and minimalism, I urge you to watch the inspiring documentary below and for further small house-dreaming check out this link.