It's weird being a part of new marketing sector. Pregnant lady, new mom. So far the ads in my facebook and online haven't been super targeted at pregnancy yet, but I have a pregnancy app that has some ads in there, and I got a huge packet of coupons from shopping at a maternity store once, and while I get that some products are nice, it seems like, by and large, most of it is unnecessary. I don't need a whole new wardrobe full of maternity clothes (but I should probably get a second pair of the maternity jeans I got because I wear them like every day...). My newborn doesn't need a closet full of cute outfits.
Moving has been a huge process of getting rid of stuff. So much stuff. So much stuff we don't need. And we don't even have a big house. When we were house hunting I think we looked at one house that was 2000 sq/ft, twice as big as our current house. I can't imagine how much more stuff we would've had with that much room to fill! I'll admit, I love stuff. I love stuff a lot. I like making spaces cozy and styling things to look lovely. I like having art on my walls and pretty furniture and such. But still, it's amazing how much unnecessary stuff accumulates without even noticing.
I'm looking forward to creating a cute, cozy space for our new babe, but I also don't want to end up with a ton of stuff again. It's so hard to be mindful and intentional about bringing stuff into our house. That was one thing I really loved about living in the Brave. You really don't have any space for stuff you don't need. I loved that simplicity. That clarity. I crave it, but at the same time I crave having a beautifully styled home full of stuff I love. Where is the balance between having enough stuff and cultivating a simple and clear life? It seems like maybe a push and pull.
Ironically, right now the Brave is actually full of some of our excess that is in storage. We sold some stuff, took a ton to the thrift store, tossed some, and what doesn't suit us at this stage in life (like my burlesque costumes) we stored with the Brave.
I still dream of life on the road full time in the Brave. I really adore the lifestyle, I adore the people you meet on the road, I adore seeing new beautiful places each day, experiencing new local cultures, new small businesses. For now the Brave is in storage. Maybe, hopefully, someday we will get to pick up that dream again. Some of my favorite memories of childhood happened in RVs and on longterm trips. I love following full-timer families on Instagram, homeschooling their kids, showing them new things and teaching them through their travels.
For now, I'm trying to keep from acquiring too much stuff and cluttering up my life again. Moving is a huge pain, but it's also nice to have something like moving force you to do one of those purges. I should institute a quarterly purge to keep this simple intention. Seasonal purges. As someone who loves thrifting, it can be easy to acquire cool things that I don't actually need and that don't actually serve a purpose, but having a set time to get rid of that stuff could help with it piling up.
I know I'm about to be in the midst of an onslaught of marketing to tell me that I need a thousand new things to be a mom. I think I will be happy to keep the stuff acquisition to a minimum and to DIY the shit out of as much as I can.
