What is Power Ingredient of the Week?

April 17, 2016 by Sarah

I’ve decided to do a series highlighting a new power ingredient each week.

What is a power ingredient?

Think superfood but a little broader.. foods that have something compelling to offer us.

At the start of the week, I will briefly introduce the new ingredient – what it is (including its health benefits) and where to find it. Some will be more common than others, but I’ll be sure to provide a background of the star ingredient.

Then I’ll discuss its uses in a compilation post where I show many different ways to utilize the particular ingredient for all sorts of categories and meals. This will get your foodie gears grinding and the creative kitchen juices flowing. It’s a fantastic opportunity for you (and me for that matter) to learn very unique and intriguing ways to incorporate more variety into your diet.

Next I will do a few follow-up posts showing recipes I’ve made, tweaked or created using the ingredient. I too need a good excuse to continually expand in this area as well as challenge myself in bettering my food photography!

With this series, I really want you to feel empowered. Expand your feelers a bit. Discover new ways to switch up your same ‘ol same ‘ol. It’s very easy to get caught up in a monotonous routine or get stuck when it comes to food. Even though we have the world wide web at our fingertips, the amount of information out there is overwhelming. I’m hoping this can be a condensed and useful resource so you’re able to put together new combinations or dishes. Because of an expanded knowledge, you will hopefully have the freedom and power to be inventive instead of feeling the need to strictly follow a recipe or prepare food in a meticulously precise way. Different from baking, I want you to be able to branch out and consistently prepare nutritious food everyday that suits you!

Let’s embrace food creativity, shall we?

This Kind of Pantry Will Help Motivate you to Eat Healthier

November 23, 2015 by Sarah

Very happy to finally be getting around to doing this post. I’ve been wanting to do it since we’ve finished because I do think it’s a really important one so here we go!

Not too long ago our pantry looked like this when ‘organized’:

And although there were many gems in there, it was so difficult to find everything! We like to buy in bulk so we had so many little plastic bags with twist ties! Now that we’re in our new place, we figured some hard core pantry organization was in order, which I believe we were able to accomplish! I really do believe that organization and variety is necessary when trying to add more whole foods to your diet.

Sooo first, I’d like to reveal our new Mason jar pantry shelf organizer. Then I’d like to share with you what everything is in the jars and what we use the ingredients for. Lastly, I’ll tell you how to get one of these in your own home!

So here it is:

What foods are in those jars?

I’m just going to do this briefly as there are endless uses for many of these. As you’ll see, many of the uses overlap, which is why this kind of pantry helps so much with eating whole food dishes. Everything is organized and very easy to grab, use, and put away.

I labeled everything in this picture so identifying which was which would be much easier. I’ll start at the top and work from left to right.

Oat Bran – Just recently got this and started adding it to things like raw cereal, baked oatmeal, or any other breakfast thing with milk. You could even add it to a smoothie to give it a little more heartiness.

Coconut Sugar – I LOVE this stuff. Used in place of conventional sugar for anything. We also have sucanat (sugar cane natural), which we use as a sweetener as well.

Hemp seeds, Black Sesame seeds and Raw Sesame Seeds – Add to salads, smoothies, dishes for lunch/dinner, energy balls/bites

Cacao Powder – Used in banana ice cream, smoothies, desserts, energy balls/bites

Millet – Grain similar to quinoa, but we haven’t really used this yet. Still looking to experiment with it, possibly for breakfast as a porridge, in baking or granola, on salads or below sautéed veggies.

Sucanat – See Coconut Sugar above.

Flax Seeds – Grind in a coffee grinder before using, but good source of Omega-3s and fiber and great for adding to smoothies, baked goods and breakfast foods

Stevia – We don’t use this a whole lot, but it’s another natural sweetener.

Polenta – (All of our corn products are organic) We’ve only ever used this as a side for dinner, but there are many tasty recipes out there.

Carob Powder – Similar to cacao powder, but is caffeine-free. Same uses though.

Brown Rice – I don’t think this needs much explaining 🙂

Chia Seeds – I use these with hemp seeds a lot. They’re also crucial for chia pudding!! You can also add them to drinks or kombucha if you don’t mind the texture. You can also mix them in when making a fruit sauce or compote.

Coconut Flour – Great for baking and used in place of whole wheat flour. It takes some experimenting with this because I’ve found it to be more absorbent than wheat flour. The best thing I’ve made with coconut flour so far are coconut flour pancakes.

Quinoa and Red Quinoa – Another grain that can be used in place of rice. Good for adding to salads or putting in soups.

Walnuts – With the other nuts, great for raw cereal, snacking, bars, baked goods and salads.

Popcorn Kernels – We loooove our homemade popcorn. We use an air popper (that was only $20), but you can also cook it stovetop too. Homemade popcorn is much, much better for you than the microwave kind, and it tastes better, in my opinion.

Shredded Coconut (sweetened is from Trader Joe’s) – Great for adding to smoothies, breakfast dishes, baked goods, energy bites/balls, banana ice cream. I like to use the sweetened one for food pictures because of how it looks compared to the other shredded coconut.

Oats – Can get these gluten-free. Very similar to shredded coconut uses above.

Cashews – In addition to walnut uses, these are good for raw cream sauces (including this addicting cheese one!) and desserts!

Rice Flour – We’ve been using this in place of whole wheat flour lately.

Hazelnuts – My boyfriend recently made a chocolate hazelnut spread and we dipped apples into it. It was very yummy so we decided to get some more!

Almonds – Like walnuts

Raw Peanuts – I tried making peanut butter with these and it didn’t turn out the best. We don’t use these a lot, but they’re great for crushing and sprinkling on any sort of thai dish we make.

Corn Flour – Just got this because we are trying to phase out of using gluten. Going to use this as an alternative to whole wheat flour again.

Baking Powder and Soda – No need to explain much.

Cacao Nibs – Great for adding to raw treats, raw cereal and banana ice cream

Arrowroot Powder – Used to thicken things like sauces and soups. Also used in homemade deodorant.

Buckwheat groats – I use these in chia pudding or raw cereal mainly.

Sunflower seeds and Raw Pumpkin Seeds – Can be used in raw dressings and on salads

Goji Berries – Great for snacking on a few or in chia pudding, raw cereal or in smoothies. You can always soak them in a little warm water to make them softer. This chocolate elixir also looks good!

Brazil Nuts – I snack on one of these from time to time. They are a good source of Selenium and other minerals. They are said to help boost testosterone.

Nutritional Yeast – Used as a vegan substitute for a cheesy flavor. This sauce is the BEST, but we also like putting it on popcorn sometimes!

Tapioca Flour – We’ve just recently started playing around with this one too. We’ve been adding it to gluten-free recipes to help with binding and texture. It’s very similar to arrowroot powder and can be used to thicken sauces and soups. Here is a great resource that explains some of the differences between the two and some recipes as well.

How do I get one?

If you’d like one of these shelf organizers for your own home, you can purchase the shelf here: Mason Jar Pantry Shelf Organizer. We also bought one case of each size Mason jar – 8 oz., 16 oz., 24 oz., and 32 oz. – to put on the shelves. There is still extra room to add more jars if need be, but a case of each is pretty sufficient for filling it up.

I so hope this post gives you some inspiration about what whole foods you can add to your pantry! How is it going for you? What’s your biggest challenge so far with acquiring these kinds of ingredients? What have been your best storage solutions? We’re still trying to think of a good way to organize all of our spices 🙂 Would love to know what success you’ve had!

Love always,

4 Outstanding Resources a Natural Foodie Will Appreciate

August 10, 2015 by Sarah

I love supporting companies that share the same values as I do as far as food goes. I’m really into farm-to-table restaurants, and I love buying stuff from local health foods stores and farmer’s markets. These resources will help you find good, local food around where you live, including places you maybe were not aware of! These websites are also great for traveling. When I visit a new city, the first thing I do before going is look up all the good places to go out to eat or get food. I seriously plan my trips around eating and which restaurants I want to try 🙂

Also, if you’re planning on moving, it’s good to know what’s in the area to help you decide where exactly you want to settle. I was thinking about moving to a different state this fall, and the first thing I researched when looking up locations was what’s in the area as far as farms, CSAs, markets, health food stores, and farm-to-table restaurants. Having those options available is something that is very important to me. I thought I would share some of the ways I find these places because if you’re anything like me, you’ll love being able to pick something nearby that you feel good about eating and supporting.

Eat Well Guide

I’ve been using this website for a little while now. It’s such an awesome resource that lets you search any city and then informs you of the local farms, markets, and hand-picked restaurants in the area. It’s very easy to navigate and color codes different pinpoints on a map to show you where everything is at.

Know Where Your Food Comes From

This is another incredible website I have recently encountered that is very comprehensive. It shares dining options, farmer’s markets, local foods and co-ops, where to get seeds, and craft bakeries. It has a section dedicated to listing all of the CSA’s in your area too. There are also other goodies you can see along the menu bar that might be fun to check out!

Local Harvest

You can utilize the search bar at the top of the page to see farms, CSAs, and farmer’s markets in your area. They also have the results color coded and pinpointed on a map. I have found that this website has the best list of CSAs in the area.

Happy Cow App

When I’m on the go, especially just in a new city for the day, I’ll do a quick search on this app to scope out some of the options that I might be interested in. The free app includes restaurants and health food stores in its listing, which is really pretty convenient.

I hope these help you on your food endeavors now and in the future. Are there any other resources that you love that I haven’t discovered yet? I’d love to know!

With love,

Are You Missing Out on this FREE Summer Treat?

July 6, 2015 by Sarah

Do not miss out on this awesome little berry this summer! I can’t tell you how excited I get when I find some free organic fruit that I can pick. Check to see if there are Mulberry trees in your area because they are in full bloom!! 🙂 I went on a walk and saw two trees at the park and then found out my dad has a huge tree right in his backyard! I went to town. I even put some in the freezer to have for smoothies.

Mulberries provide a good amount of iron and vitamin C that may help with circulation and immune function. They also contain reservatrol, which is a flavonoid antioxidant that can positively affect blood pressure. You can read more about the benefits of mulberries here. Although it’s rare, some people may be allergic to the berries so it’s always smart to consume a few and see how your body reacts.

Why You Should Consider Investing in a Food Processor

July 3, 2015 by Sarah

I try to show love to all my handy helpers in the kitchen, but let’s just say my food processor gets a little extra attention. In my own personal humble opinion, I think investing in a food processor is a smart thing to do if you would like to eat healthier by cooking more from scratch or making homemade versions of store-bought favorites. You might be thinking:

I already have a blender, why would I want a food processor too?

Great question. Let’s talk about the different blades that can come with food processors to demonstrate this:

The ‘S’ Blade – this is used to chop, dice, crumble, and puree the contents you place in the prep bowl. Great for chopping nuts and dicing veggies.

The Dough Blade – kind of self-explanatory; used to make dough (homemade bread, pie, pasta or pizza what! what!) I love this because you can make these delicious foods using all whole ingredients!

The Shredder – easily shreds things like cheese, beets, cabbage, zucchini, carrots and other tough vegetables

The Slicer – Want to make homemade chips in a jiffy? You’re going to want to use this guy! This is used to make slices of foods like potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, beets, peppers, etc.

Depending on what blender you have, you may or may not see the perks of a food processor being all that special. If you have a very expensive blender like a Vitamix, you can do many of the things a food processor can do as far as blending foods into a smooth mixture and other things done using the ‘S’ blade. However, you can’t really do much besides a consistently smooth mixture with most blenders. I’ll say that blenders are better for smoothies and you should leave liquid stuff for the blenders, but because of the other blades, food processors can be used for so many more things. Additionally, the cheaper your blender is, the wider the gap gets between things you can do with your blender and the things you can do with a food processor.

Because of the way food processors are designed as opposed to blenders, they can take on many different kinds of jobs because of a bigger blade and wider container, which also happens to make it easier to scrape stuff down the bowl if you need to help it along. You also don’t need to add as much liquid like you do with blenders so foods you make in a blender can have a thicker consistency when made in a food processor.

Which one I recommend:

The only one I’ve really had experience using a lot and appreciate more than ever is my Cuisinart Prep 9-cup processor. My mom has an 11-cup one, which is really nice for a family. It’s not only affordable, but the quality for the price is not something to be overlooked. I have three words for this processor: durable, reliable, and efficient! Durable in the sense that it isn’t prone to breaking, reliable because it takes on every job without hesitating and efficient because you don’t have to spend time monkeying with something that does half the job. Think of a junky blender. You sit there starting and stopping the thing about 12 times to get it to blend something. NOT efficient, am I right?

You skip any sort of hassle like that with this processor because of its design; sharp blades and a great powerful motor. You will not be frustrated with the performance of this blender for all your food needs! If you don’t have a lot of extra money, I highly recommend waiting until you can save up and get a food processor like this or better because cheaper ones can sometimes be a hit or miss. My boyfriend got a Cuisinart Blender and Food processor all-in-one, and the food processor is pretty awful and so loud! You can also get little ones for only like $50, but in my opinion, I would just wait and get the larger one so it can be used for so much more.

What are some of the delicious things I can make with a food processor?

Homemade Banana Ice Cream – This is one of my favorite things to make! In a nutshell, straight frozen bananas are processed into an ice cream, and this takes a hefty processor to take on that job! Mine hasn’t failed me yet, and that’s why I love it so much!

Avocado Pudding

Applesauce – You can make this raw. The nice thing about using a processor over a blender for this is that you don’t have to add as much water or lemon juice to get it to blend

Flour – You can process oats or almonds into a finer meal/flour

Homemade Nut/Seed Butters – t ahini, peanut butter, almond butter (just process almonds!), cashew butter, sunflower seed butter

Shredding and Slicing – add veggies to any meal quickly by shredding or slicing them in the food processor! Great for salads, homemade pizza, pasta with veggies, sautéed vegetables, veggies to scramble with eggs, homemade chips, homemade coleslaw, sliced vegetables for snacking and dipping

Nut/Date Crusts and Crumbles – these are perfect for making raw treats and crumbles to put on things like cobblers and pies

Whipped Cream – You can either use organic heavy whipping cream or full fat coconut milk – I’ve used both and they’re so easy and tasty with a little vanilla extract and maple syrup added

Fruit, Nut and Seed Bites/Bars – like these sesame bars, PB & J bars, apricot cashew, chocolate berry superfood, goji energy, blueberry nut & seed and salted almond chocolate are a few good ones! You can also make a nut/fruit/seed mixture and stuff it in some pitted dates (as shown in the picture at the beginning of this post!)

Sauces, Dips, Spreads, Dressings – like pesto, miso tahini, avocado green sauce (something like avocado, mixed greens, herbs and spices, lemon juice, olive oil)

Salsa – There are so many recipes out there; anything from black bean and corn to original to mango – you name it

Hummus – Check out an entire beginner’s guide here

‘It seems great to have, but I still can’t afford it right now’

I get it. I get it. Trust me. I wanted one of these babies for quite a while before I actually got it. And guess how I got it? For Christmas! It was perfect. I was so thrilled that the present fit me so well and that I fell in love with it so much.

Soooo ask for it as a gift! Holidays, birthdays, showers, whenever it’s your time to be blessed, don’t be afraid to ask for something that would help you immensely on your journey to healthier living. Using a food processor helps facilitate the use of fresh, whole foods into your diet – and what a great little gift that is! 🙂

Now over to you – have you ever thought about getting a food processor? What would be your favorite thing to make?

Happy Fourth to you all!

Stop Thinking This and Start Taking Control of your Life

June 21, 2015 by Sarah

This has been an ongoing struggle for me for quite some time. I guess I remember it being the strongest when I was in college, but I still find myself resorting back to this thought: I’ll do the things I want to do when some condition is more favorable for that action to take place.

Or more simply:

I’ll _______ when ________.

I call it the comfort card. This statement literally gives you comfort. In the moment. You feel all warm reassuring yourself that you ARE going to be healthy, ripped, fit, flexible, responsible, happy, successful – whatever you desire – in the near future. It’s a way of making yourself feel good about what’s yet to come, but it’s also just delaying taking action. What’s not comforting, and probably more frustrating than anything, is when that time comes and you are still not doing what you truly want to do.

Here are some examples from my own life:

I’ll stretch and practice handstands more when I move to a new place (college apartment=nasty carpet=no way am I putting my body on/face close to that)
I’ll post more blog posts when I have more free time (I’ve given myself more, and it still hasn’t happened)
I’ll eat better when it’s summer and I have more time (definitely used that during some of the college years)
I’ll read more when I’m done with school (was out for almost a year before I even finished a book, which was only because of my reading challenge 🙂 )
I’ll work out more when it’s nice out (Michigan winters… don’t even get me started)

It took me some time to realize that people who are doing the things I want to do are NOT saying this or thinking this to themselves.

You are not going to be anything you desire if you keep delaying what could be done now. You’ll never get any sort of results without putting in the work. And you’ll never put in the work if you keep making excuses about why it’s not an ideal time or situation to put in the work.

And what even is ‘ideal’? I feel like it’s just something we simply make up in our heads because we think it’s going to be more conducive to our efforts, but maybe it’s not actually as great as we think it would be. Or maybe it’s just your perspective that something is better, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. Don’t waste the time waiting for your conjectured ideal time to take place, because for all you know, something ELSE may be in your way when you are in what you thought would be your ideal situation!

Understand this: there will always be something in your way in regards to some facet of your life that you’re trying to improve. Hopping OVER that something or finding a way AROUND it is what is going to help you grow even more so than if your situation was ‘ideal’ in the first place. I have seen so much growth in myself by quieting the voice that says, ‘I’ll _______ when _______.’ All it takes is a choice (and maybe some creativity). You have to stop that thought before you even begin to entertain it. Although it seems more comfortable, you have to decide that now is as good a time as any! Maybe the way you do it will have to be revised a little or isn’t AS effective as you’d like, but you’re still DOING it. And I’m talking about doing the things that mean a lot to you. It seems difficult and maybe even unnatural to decide to stop playing the comfort card and do something about it in the present, but the best part is that it gets easier with practice. In time, your mind will more easily recognize when you are resorting to this idea and once that happens, you have the power to redirect your thoughts.

Here’s what a real life situation looks like for me:

I want to be more flexible and be able to do handstands. For some reason, I’ve wanted it for a long time, and it means a lot to me. I guess it just makes me so happy, helps me build strength, and I feel accomplished when I do it. I don’t like to stretch at the apartment so instead of thinking I’ll stretch when I get a new place (with clean floors!), I’ve been finding places to stretch outside in the grass. Guess what? That’s not an ideal situation for me either; we have NO YARD whatsoever. That could be another excuse, but instead I just seek out other places. And yes, sometimes it’s itchy or I get bit by mosquitoes or cars driving by see me practicing my forearm handstands in the grass, but I don’t care. I feel so content being outside, and I ALWAYS feel so great after getting in some good stretching and handstand practice. It’s kind of a blessing in disguise too because ever since my nature challenge, I have a newfound love of the outdoors. Now I think I’m more excited to stretch outside than in!

Obviously there are limiting factors that can make something very, very hard for us to do, and I don’t think you should beat yourself up over things you have no control over. Sometimes things don’t work out at certain times for more serious reasons, and it’s always important to practice self-acceptance and self-love in those times. However, I do think it’s a great skill for anyone to have to be able to recognize when we are actually making excuses and playing the ‘I’ll ______ when _______’ game because I’m willing to bet that that’s the case more often than not.

What do you think? Do you find yourself thinking like that? How do you stop yourself and redirect your thoughts to take action?

Also, one thing I recommend to kickstart your ‘take action now’ campaign is to start doing some 30-day challenges. When you have something you strive to do everyday no matter what, you begin to see that you can stomp all over excuses and make a way when there doesn’t seem to be one 🙂

Be Sweet, but Don’t be a Sweet Head

January 17, 2015 by Sarah

When I watch a documentary about something I care about, I take notes. Lots of notes. Like word for word as they’re speaking. I can only thank four years of college for being able to type that quick.

These were some of my favorite points that were brought up in the Fed Up documentary. The documentary really focused on our over-consumption of sugar as a nation. I thought these points were either thought-provoking or good for spreading awareness.

Yes, the documentary was said to be controversial, but I’m not here to discuss that. We all know the obesity epidemic is complicated, but that doesn’t mean little steps to change it aren’t appreciated! I believe it had some gems and here they are:

-At the start of the obesity epidemic in 1977, people were encouraged to buy more food with less fat. All sorts of products were re-engineered to be low fat. What happens when you take the fat out of something? It doesn’t taste good! So what did they do to make things more palatable? Add sugar! And since 1977, Americans have doubled their sugar intake.

-Artificial sweeteners: they make you crave more. Because they are non-nutritive, they trick your body into thinking that sugar is on its way. They’re dangerous and disease-producing. Disease doesn’t just happen in one meal, but one thousand (which isn’t all that much since sugar is at every meal!).

-“Processed food is much more powerful than we ever realized. We now have the science that shows that you can make food hyper-palatable, which makes us come back for more and more.”

-Sugar is addictive. This is known. You brain lights up in the same way it does with cocaine. Cravings can outweigh will power. Start kids early on sugar and they’re going to be addicted! The food industry knows this too and they know how to appeal to them with things like colors, toys, cartoons and songs!

-How we market food to children: it’s not fair to sway children with messages that create ideas of what food is and create buying patterns for life. Marketing to kids really took off with processed food and corn syrup (which was cheaper so they had more money to spend on advertising).

-If you’re thin, you’re healthy…this is NOT TRUE! You can be thin on the outside, but fat on the inside.

-95% of people will be overweight and obese in 20 years if we keep up at this rate and 1 in 3 will have diabetes. The financial aspects of this are STAGGERING. So much money goes to healthcare. The healthcare impact of obesity is a huge burden we are placing on our children.

-We have to change the diet of America – the way we produce and consume food. Cook real food! You don’t have to worry if it’s a product with a bunch of processed ingredients because it’s from nature.

-Change has to be about the food and not the weight and diets. It has to be sustainable.

-Do a sugar detox and remove all processed food from your home for one week.

The last point is a good one because I believe it is something many people can do that would be highly beneficial for them. I don’t have any processed food in my home so I didn’t really focus on eliminating that, but I did take the sugar part seriously.

I realized from this movie that we (in general as a population) like things too sweet. And we don’t have to! We can CHANGE our taste preferences. I did this myself by just not adding sweeteners, even though they’re natural, to the things that I make. I use sweeteners very sparingly now, and I can tell it’s made a difference. Especially with breakfast foods. There is no reason why breakfast foods should be so sweet. Most of the time fruit sugar can be enough!

For example, that is some steel cut oatmeal I made for breakfast last week. Now it wouldn’t be abnormal if I added some raw honey or raw sugar to it with whatever other flavor ingredients I added (in this case currants and shredded coconut). However, since I’ve actively been trying to eliminate extra sweetness, I only added a small handful of currants. And guess what? It was still really tasty! There was just a hint of sweetness, and it was totally sufficient. I could have added some nuts too, and that would have been a nice little breakfast right there.

So try that last point or if you’re like me, try eliminating natural sweeteners when you can and train your taste to stop liking dishes so sweet. I’m not saying cut out all sweeteners for good (because balanced indulgence is not a crime), but try it more often than not.

I’m glad I watched this documentary because it really helped me change my perspective on all things sweet. I’m telling you: I used to be a total sweet head. I mean I liked everything sweet sweet. Now, I really don’t. I’ve seriously trained my taste to stop wanting foods like that. The best part is that it’s worked, and it’s something you can do too!

So the moral of this post is this: be sweet, but don’t be a sweet head (like I was) 😉

Have fun training your taste, and leave a comment below telling me how it goes!

4 Questions to Help You Spend Less

December 30, 2014 by Sarah

Let’s face it, some of us just have so. much. stuff. How much of it do we even use or need? I feel like there many people in our society (including myself) that are driven by this ‘stuff’ mentality where we just want more and more things for whatever reason at all. I can find pretty much any justification to buy anything. A long while back, my sister and I decided to call this ‘justifying our purchases’ because it was something that happened on a regular basis while shopping. Something like this:

I have a good brown purse already, but this one is saddle brown. It matches with black better.

Oh my gosh, it’s getting colder out, and my closet is not up to the challenge of keeping me warm this winter. I gotta ‘winterize’ my closet more.

I know these posts are a little off the cuff, but I believe achieving balance overall in life and finding areas to reduce spending will help you prioritize and free up money you think you don’t have to spend on things that are highly beneficial for your health or well-being. And just think, if there are ways you can cut spending, you may not have to work as much to pay for all those purchases you might not actually need. There was a post I found on the Minimalists’ website that changed my view on stuff completely. It’s called the Minimalistic Paradox, and this is all it says:

“Minimalists don’t avoid material possessions; we avoid excess. Paradoxically, by owning less, the things we own bring greater joy to our lives.

In other words, all of our things are our favorite things. Otherwise they are in the way.”

Let me repeat that last part because it hit me so hard, and I will never forget it: “All of our things are our favorite things.”

I had a huge enlightenment on this whole idea after reading that post and sentence.

Instead of having five different varieties of one object that are just okay to you, why not just have one (or maybe two) that is/are your absolute favorite(s).

Recently, since I’ve been reading more about minimalism and what it entails, I’ve been inspired to create questions for myself when I am out buying things. I’ve significantly reduced spending on myself this year as I’ve been been paying school loans because I want to become debt-free as soon as possible, and this has definitely helped me recently. I have zero interest in buying or acquiring anything that is just going to end up as clutter.

So here they are. Some of them you may already ask yourself, but there may be some you’ve never thought about:

Will it become one of my favorites? This one is my go-to question. Do your research so you’re finding something that really suits your needs and will be worthwhile. If it’s apparel, make sure it’s versatile! If it will be your favorite item in a certain category, say a purse or watch, then buy it. And use the heck out of it! Which leads to a follow-up question: is it good quality? Spend within your means, but buy less and you will have money to invest in higher quality products that last longer and you may just love more. Think about how good it feels to have something you love and every time you use or wear it, you feel awesome or appreciative because you just flat out love dat thang. I’ll explain more about what I mean under question #3.

Do I need it or am I justifying the purchase? Not as easy as it seems to answer. It’s not hard for me to convince myself that I need many things I really don’t. Again, that’s where the ‘justifying the purchase’ comes in to play; essentially creating a need that is not really there.
Will I use it for a long time? Or ‘will I even use it at all?’ may be a better question. Will it become clutter? Don’t buy things you think have the potential to just sit in a closet or shelf and rarely be used. Another question to consider is: will I be able to use it for a long time?’ This tags on to #1; make sure it’s good quality if it’s something you see being very useful. For example, work shoes. Every time I bought those black Payless ones they would rip, and they weren’t very supportive. When working a lot, I would go through them every five or six months. This year, I found some awesome-looking all-black Nike Frees, and I love them more than anything. Every time I put them on, I just say, ‘yesssss’ pulling down my fist like Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. I may not want to start my shift sometimes, but at least I like to put my shoes on for it 😉 They look great, feel great and aren’t close to falling apart four months later. They were three times the price, but so worth the investment and will last much longer then those Payless ones ever have or will. Sometime higher quality purchases like this can actually save you money (and time really) in the long run.
Will I want to bring this with me if/when I move someday? Right now, I’m in a transitional period in my life. I know I will be moving within the next year so I ask myself, ‘do I really want this to be one of the items I drag on a U-Haul to my new destination?’ Even if you don’t plan on moving, would it be something you would want to bring along if you did?

Obviously, these questions don’t work for everything and may not be for everyone, buy they may be useful when you find yourself in a predicament deciding what to spend your money on. I keep them in a note on my phone for reference when I’m out and about 🙂

Have a beautiful day!!

With love,