Before we jump in, I would like to explain something. Some readers thought I meant that my family and I are literally going Amish. I want to reassure you we are not moving to Pennsylvania or learning Dutch anytime soon. Although that would be super cool for a year or so! This journey for us is about slowing down, simplifying our lives, and getting back to the basics. We still have our phones and our cars, for now. I apologize for the confusion I may have caused anyone.

Zachary and I sat down a few nights ago and talked all of this out. We can't be almost Amish overnight so we wrote down everything and broke them into phases. Actually, when we had everything written down, we noticed that we are pretty close to an Amish lifestyle. We aren't up to date on any technology, we make most things inside our home, and we have the lowest electricity bill out of everyone we know. So we aren't starting from the very bottom trying to get to the top, we've already gotten a good head start.

Going Amish is broken down into phases. These phases are chapters of the book, Almost Amish. It's an incredible book that has inspired this lifestyle change and I strongly encourage you to read it. You don't have to pledge to turn Amish, although that would be awesome, but it's a great read and very inspiring if you like that type of stuff. Some of these phases we have a hold on while others need more attention. These phases aren't made to be followed one at a time in any order, but instead they are here to guide us. I think we will be more successful by trying things at a slow pace instead of completely changing our lives in a day. That never works out for me. We have developed a saying around here, W.W.A.D., what would the Amish do? Hopefully saying this throughout the day will help us stay on track. Does anyone make custom bracelets??

Phase 1- The Home

We will make our home simple. I am over having too much stuff. There are so many people who need my stuff a lot more than I do. We are decluttering, cleaning out, and simplifying. I will make it a priority to keep a clean and orderly home. I fail at the clean part a lot. My job as a stay at home mother is to raise our son and keep our home running. There have been some days when my husband woke up for work and didn't have clean clothes. This is super embarrassing and hopefully will never happen again. Being a wife/mother/cook/driver/shopper/cleaner/organizer/therapist/doctor is a pretty hard job, and please don't get me wrong, I will not beat myself down for not ironing a shirt or having dust on the ceiling fans, but I will make an intense effort to keep our home more clean and orderly than I have been. The Amish think of it this way, the outside reflects the inside. If you saw our kitchen right now you would think I am aboard the hot mess express. 

I have a lot to work on when it comes to our home, however we do have some things in common with the Amish already. Just like the Amish, we have invested in quality furniture that will be passed down to our great-great-great-grandchildren one day and our kitchen is the center of our home. With the appetite my husband and son have, of course our kitchen in the very center. 

Phase 2- Technology

Our house has two Iphones, two Ipads, one computer, and two televisions. Oh, and we have a camera. When it's written out, it makes me think that's a little too much for two adults and a baby. But when it's compared to the average household in America, we have next to nothing. So what do we do? We aren't getting rid of anything yet, but we are limiting our usage on everything. So far we've done a pretty good job, however, we want to reduce it to almost nothing and maybe even get rid of a few things. Technology will no longer rule as a master in our home, it will serve only as a tool. 

Phase 3- Finances

Zachary and I started serious debt elimination at the beginning of the year. Ever heard of Dave Ramsey? We are mostly following his plan for financial peace. We watched his videos last year and took up some of the habits until Zak was in the hospital, we had a baby, we took some trips, a car deal went wrong, and so and so. We messed up and it's okay. We are on a great plan now and we will have our debt tackled in no time. 

The Amish spend very little on what they need, don't buy extra, and save the rest. Could you imagine the shape our country would be in if we followed financial advice from the Amish?!? This is what Zak and I are working hard to get to. We need peace in our finances.

We also put the energy/water portion under this phase. These are things we still spend on that could be reduced even more. 

Phase 4- Nature

We live in a small, somewhat dangerous, unfriendly neighborhood and have a tiny fenced in backyard filled with wasps and red clay. Getting outside is a bit rough around here. Given our circumstances, our city is filled with tons of beautiful parks and walking paths. After a long day at work for Zak and a long day at home for me, it's hard to get motivation to pack up the baby and the dogs and drive somewhere just to walk. North Carolina weather makes it a bit hard too. We are either in a cold and windy monsoon or a humid and hot drought. I can literally count the amount of "perfect" days we have a year on one hand. But, the Amish don't care about rain or heat, they are drawn to the outdoors. So The Boobers will work hard on being drawn to the outdoors.

Phase 5- Simplicity

Bigger is not better, Zachary and I can attest to that. We rarely support "big" anything anymore. We will support small and local over big and everywhere any day. Nothing good has ever came out of something big, unless we are talking about my KitchenAid mixer. They can take my money all day. That was a joke, kind of. My jewelry from local small shops have always lasted a lot longer than pieces I've gotten from JcPennys. The same goes for Zak's knives and most of the things we own. Small and local are a much better quality. Once we really simplify our lives completely, we will be happier and saner people. 

Phase 6- Service

We serve each other very well, but when it comes to others, Zachary and I could both step our game up. We used to have such servants hearts that somehow faded away after marriage, a house, and the baby. Life gets busy, but that doesn't give us any excuse not to be servants. We donate things and help out people in need sometimes, but like the Amish, we should serve others every chance we get. We will make an effort to serve God more, serve in our church, serve our neighbors, and serve our community. We have so many skills and so much extra love that people desperately need and it's so selfish of us to keep that from them. We long for our servants heart back.

Phase 7- Security

Zachary and I need to trust more that our real security comes from God. No amount of money in the 401k (whatever that is) or amount of canned food in our closet will sustain us like God can and will. Although having money saved up and food stored away are great things to prepare us for trying times, they aren't the only things we should put our trust in to. We have a hard time with that. For us, the Amish way of security will be to rely on God first and then build stability, have a routine, and keep traditions. 

Phase 8- Community 

We are not involved in our community at all. If you know where we live, you know why. If you don't know where we live, I don't go anywhere on our side of town without my husband and his gun. It's really that bad. Just the other day the bank on the corner got robbed at gun point and the robber fled on foot towards our road. That is seriously an almost every day occurrence. Our neighbors are so rude and so mean. Our yard is constantly filled with trash from people around us, exceptionally loud music bumps every second of every day, the people behind me abuse animals and the people in front of me fight in the road and invite cops over every week, and I've heard more gun shots living here the past two years than I have my entire life put together. It's not a good place and there is no way I will be a part of this neighborhood community. 

Our city community is awesome and we would love to join in on some things soon. We will be moving next year, you better believe this house is going up on the market the very second it is able to, and we are looking to move to a very small tight-knit community where we can be active and be able to rely on our neighbors for things. Ya'll, I seriously cannot even ask my neighbors for a cup of sugar. How sad is this?? We need a place we can ask someone for sugar. Organic fairtrade raw cane sugar of course. We need that community and we will get it one day.

We can definitely make more of an effort to connect with friends more often and to also make new friends. Friends are perfect company and I know everyone is busy with their own lives, but we have some awesome friends and we will start making them a priority.

Phase 9- Family

When I refer to family I am speaking of Zachary, Zaylen, and myself. We have the pretty ideal Amish family already so we won't have to make a lot of adjustments in this phase. We share meals together and we have defined roles in the home, but I'm sure there's more to it than that.

Phase 10- Faith

Zachary and I will continue to strengthen our faith. God brought us together, He has given us more than we could ever deserve, and we should worship Him like so. Sometimes we forget to thank God. Sometimes we forget to call on Him first. We are human and we fall short every day, but like I said in my previous post, lately we have been crawling backwards towards God when we should be running for Him and searching Him with every thing in us. Our faith will grow stronger and we will make a huge effort to make God the absolute number one in our lives!

I'm already breaking our Amish rules by being up this late with technology, so I'm going to cut this part short. I will go in depth on each phase individually and share what steps we are taking to complete that phase and incorporate it into our every day life. I hope you keep following!! 

Cursty