How?

In April, 2009, DH left his job to stay home with our newly adopted daughter (details about that at And Baby Makes Eight). We brought her home in September, 2008 and I was on leave until December. DH was on leave until March. We put her in daycare for a month. But we both wanted her home with us. We did the math and acknowledged that the second income wasn't doing much more than paying for childcare. It just didn't make sense.

But before it started paying for childcare, the second income was paying the mortgage. So something had to change. We decided we needed to sell our house and commit ourselves to a more frugal life. One that our single income could support. We moved closer to my office, into a small two-bedroom rental. To get there we had to downsize in a BIG way. We were leaving a fabulous 4-bedroom house in the suburbs, complete with double car garage, swimming pool, and gardens and fruit trees out back. It was a dream house. And we loved it. But we didn't love the monthly housing expense, which had always consumed a greater portion of our income than housing ever should have.

Summer of 2009 was spent freeing ourselves from the house and the things we had filled it with. We held multiple yard sales. Craigslist became my new best friend. And things went to the Goodwill. Some days it felt like we were never going to be finished giving things away. We started by selling and giving away all those things that we no longer wanted. That part was easy. The second yardsale was a little bit harder. It included things I really liked having - power tools, garden equipment, canning jars. But they were also things I knew I wasn't going to be needing at our new (tiny, urban) place. And my resolve was still strong. So I said goodbye to these things with a 'fare thee well', knowing I would miss them but happy they were off to a new and happy home. Then we were down to the things I didn't want to part with. They were still things we didn't need, but things I wanted none the less. The last yard sale included things that hurt to give up. Intellectually, I knew they were just things and it was still just stuff. But emotionally it felt like pieces of me being pushed out the door. It was hard. I grieved, but I let them go. I knew I wouldn't miss them in the long run. (And honestly, I can't tell you today what those things were!) It was hard, but we did it.

By September our new life was in full swing. I was (and still am) walking to work and back each day. DH and our littlest blessing were home together all day, and #2 son was settled in to a new Montessori school. We had a roof over our head and a new adventure in simplified urban living ahead of us. And the best part? We were finally truly living within our means.