Financial Goals

I am constantly trying to find more ways to reduce our spending. We have lived on very little income before and yet we always had enough, we might not have saved anything but the bills were paid and I wasn't always worried about buying things we wanted or needed. I was content with less. We didn't eat out because we did not have the money for it. We didn't buy new clothes or books because there wasn't any extra in the budget. I cooked simple from scratch meals and checked out books from the library. We had four or five outfits per person. I only "had" to do laundry every few days and I always hung it on the clothesline.

Fast forward four years...
Our life now is so much different than before. Looking at our income we should be saving so much more money and living so much better. We have no car payment, our rent is the same, our grocery budget is the same, so why aren't we living better and saving more? Why do I feel like I deserve so much more now than I did then? I was content to have a few outfits per person and now I buy clothes every time I go to a yard sale or a thrift store!! In our leanest times our two (then) children had just a few toys and they were from yard sales or hand-me-downs. Why do we need rooms full of toys now?
Why was I content to be at home and now I run around somewhere every single day??

I don't know the answers to these questions....or maybe I do and I just don't want to admit them. I'm becoming more like the world and as I do I become less happy and less content with what I have. I have hundreds of books in my house yet I have a list a mile long of more books I want to buy. I have furniture but it doesn't match so I want new chairs. I complain about the clutter but yet I keep buying junk! I long for a simple life.

How have you been able to simplify your life? Join me as I find my way back to a simple life.