like everyone else, i’ve been trying to come up with my goal for 2016. eat healthy, drink water, hike more, spend less time on facebook. obviously i’m not too different from anyone else. however i wanted at least one big thing to stick to. some kind of challenge. and in the first two weeks of being back in Taos, settling into my new room, it became blatantly clear.

stuff. being mindful about stuff was going to be my personal challenge this year.

i got back with a trunk full of useful things from the Northeast. books. jars. kitchen stuff. art supplies. only a small portion of the things i had horded into my parents basement. my two months back there had me pouring over these things, figuring out what was useful and what was excessive.

there was a time and a place where i was spending a lot of “extra” money on things. clothes. books. furniture. i was consuming to try and fill something that was missing inside of me. i was consuming because i was trying to create a home that i wanted. but maybe i was trying to force it. because in the past year i realized a home in Massachusetts wasn’t necessarily what i was looking for. and stuff wasn’t going to make me happy- just more stressed out.

my Worcester apartment, right before i left for New Mexico.

so now i’m in Taos, with two jeep-fulls of stuff i lugged across country. and after helping a friend of mine clear out his storage unit and pair down his life, suddenly i acquired more stuff. which was very useful. saved me from buying furniture for my new room. i got some cool hand-me-down clothes. but it was still more stuff.

i want to have a home in Taos. a piece of land and a place i know i can always come back to. i know i want a tiny home. i already know i thrive and excel in a small living space. i resonate well with the ideals of simplifying, and minimizing what you need and enjoy in life.

so while i know i can’t get all the money needed to have a tiny home in 2016 (at least not without some kind of generous gifts), i can start laying the hypothetical foundation for it. i can pair down my life. i can stop spending money on stuff. i have acquired enough. and anything else i may need beyond that usually turns up.

i’m still working out the rules and restrictions but it should shape up for an interesting journey.