Our story It began in a foreign country in Western Europe. It was the summer of 2018. We made a move and later, another decision that would change our lives f o r e v e r. The city was Berlin. The year was 2017, in the … Read more...
Let’s make this year about challenges!
We have been throwing some challenges at you this year: Veganuary and volunteering. Perhaps you are ready for more? Choose few below!
Here are the challenges we have added to our lives before, and will challenge ourselves more in the future. Added is also an extended list of our recommendations! We hope you’ll choose a challenge, excel and add more as you can.
Minimalism
Minimalism is the lifestyle of having only things that bring value to your life: a focus on less is more, so you can focus on what matters in life. The things we have, have taken up a lot of room in our lives – not only in our physical space, but also our mental, and spiritual.
Why try minimalism?
You want more time to do things you love
Having more things is distracting. It takes time to take care of your things, put them away. Many people can agree that managing things is never-ending. It takes away valuable time that you’ll never get back. Would you rather spend your time on the activities you love or on managing your overflowing things?
You want to focus on relationships rather than things
It is an understatement to say that Western society values things over, people. What else can we expect when the corporations that sell us things value profit over people?
Your mind is cluttered
Out mind is easily cluttered when we are surrounded by things. This causes low-level stress that we can’t escape. Try studying for a test, or writing a book while in a cluttered, untidy space. Our mind creates our reality and vice versa. The more things you have around you, the more distracted you are.
You want to work less
Most people exchange money for things, and since money doesn’t grow on trees (as many of our hardworking parents have overused and annoyed us with), we trade our time for money. We then use our priceless time for things. The problem is things don’t make us happy, nor will we leave this Earth with but a few (unless cremated).
You want an organized space
It is harder to keep your space organized if you have a lot of things. Just notice any hoarder’s home. The things take over and have a life of their own. Hoarding can be linked to loneliness, although things can’t keep you company or give you a social-emotional connection. It can also be linked to old age, as many hang on to things for the memories they hold.
Buying organizing boxes to organize things is another trap we fall into. The more we have, the more we need to get to keep our things organized.
There are countless benefits of minimalism. Are you ready to take the minimalism challenge?
Pantry challenge
Have you ever looked into your pantry and closed it immediately exclaiming that there’s nothing to eat? Try again! Open it again and really let your creativity flow – ”hmm, what can I make with these peas and onions? Instead of going out and buying more, take the pledge to use what you have. it will feel satisfying to clear your pantry as much as you can before running to the store to buy more. It will not only make you more creative but also more grateful for what you have. As a bonus, gratitude will bring you more of what you want! Win, win!
Are you ready to take the pantry (and fridge) challenge?
No artificial sugar
Sugar is more addictive than cocaine! Can you believe this? Companies are forever advertising sweet treats to children, and yet, sugar is as addictive as other drugs. We vote with our purchases, so if we keep buying sugary things, we are saying that it’s okay to support this billion-dollar industry.
No buy challenge
No-buy November which is a challenge that takes place in the month of November is not the only time to challenge yourself not to buy anything. What if your budget included just your fixed basic expenses? Housing, transportation, and food?
Before this challenge, make sure you have weather-appropriate clothes abs shoes for the season, then get on this! In the case of a real emergency, you may break this challenge and return to it. Even if you fall prey to your impulse buying, hop back on the challenge.
No gluten
Gluten affects your stomach and digestion. Many agree that the wheat today isn’t like before, that many are sensitive to gluten. Whether this is you or not, cutting gluten has other benefits:
- Cutting bread out of your diet can help weight weight-loss
- Avoid bloating from glutinous food that expands in your stomach
- Feel lighter and healthier
- Reduce belly fat
- Improve your digestion
- Focus on consuming vegetables and low-sugar fruits (limit high sugar fruits)
- Prevent foggy brain
Conclusion
We are super excited to get some of this challenges on again this year. They prove to be a nice change in your everyday lives. These challenges come especially handy during these times, when all your favourite restaurants, movie theatres and concert venues are closed. That doesn’t mean that we have to stop enjoying our lives. Please share your experiences on any other challenge you have taken in your life. Looking forward hearing from you!
Want more information? Read these resources to find out more about your challenges!
November – no spend month!
Some call it Morevember, we call it no spend November! In other words, we decided not to spend any money, but the universe had other plans!
We like challenges and we always like to take new steps to help our Earth in crisis. Most of the food we get on these days is free. We try to avoid plastic packaging and supermarkets. Our means of transportation is public or bike. We swap our clothes instead of buying them. So it should be no surprise that we decided to call November a no spend a month.
Why did I spend on wafer i.e. failing on the first day
Well, after a long day I found myself starving and heading to a grocery store. I usually do not buy food from stores like that, but I was in a pickle and needed to grab something. My first pick would have been a banana. Love these and they come package-free. But unfortunately, they were really green, so this option was out.
Secondly, I was looking at a Stollen. I never had that, though I have purchased it as a present for the family for Christmas. I realized that it was actually vegan. Sure, I wanted it! But since it was wrapped in a plastic wrapping and deeply covered in powdered sugar, I decided to pass. I couldn’t imagine myself biting into it and walking in the streets while carrying heavy bags. Then I saw the package of four wafers, similar to the world-famous Austrian Manner wafer, packed in an alu foil. It seems that this is a bit better material than just plain clear plastic. The price was wonderful at 0.99 cents. So this was the first purchase we did on the 1st day of no spend November.
Money is spent, but for the others
The failure on the first days was made up nicely, as we didn’t buy anything for ourselves for weeks. Money was still spent, as we entertained a few times and needed some groceries bought. If we wouldn’t have had anybody coming over, we wouldn’t have bought those items. I am not going to list them, as they were a whipped cream for a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie we baked, some potatoes, bok choy, etc.
Groceries for others: 15,22 €
Most of the money we spent on others was due to approaching the Christmas holidays. Since it will be for some time the last Christmas we are going to spend with family, we wanted to pamper then this time. Then again, if you look at the number below it is not much. But it is not final, some items have to be added.
Presents for others: 138,20 €
We are not materialistic people and we do not put so much value on the fancy stuff people usually are. Like no iPhone gadgets will be gifted or some brand names bought. We had names drawn and so we each make presents based on the list of that person had written down. We will add come little items, we know they want for sure.
What we spend on ourselves
The total of money spend, except the tickets we had to buy to commute to work, was 16,95 €.
Items bought:
- 0,99 wafer 1.11 – kind of necessary
- 2,79 Veganz cookies 18.11 – unnecessary
- 1,99 vegan ice cream for the date night 26.11 – kind of necessary
- 2,40 € sweets to share with our friend, when she was visiting 29.11 – not really needed
- 2,49 € toilet paper 30.11 – ran out, could have used the extra free tissue we had obtained…
- 6,29 € surprise present for Eve – I could have waited for December to buy it, so unnecessary
Eating out: 21 €
10 € for a shared vegan meal combo, while meeting a friend
11 € on Black Friday, when we were out with friends and got some little things for family, we both had burrito bowls.
Conclusion
As you can see we didn’t manage to avoid not spending any money. 16,95 € is not a whole lot of money shared between two people but could have definitely avoided. We just gave in to our needs. Sugar craving crept in. This is another subject we will try to manage after the holidays. Eating out twice during the holiday season wasn’t that bad as well. It probably will happen again.
We will definitely try to spend no money in 30 days again. It was fun and it was refreshing. Most of all I liked the idea of not going to any stores and not needing anything. Hopefully, we can try this again in January, as we have still lots of food at home, which we can make many meals out of. This will also inspire saving food from canteen and food sharing. This would be the main place to get out fruits and vegetables.
That leaves us just the toilet paper issue…