This is the first one (and Forced Minimalism Part One).

Hey y’all, I’m Beth. TL;DR I made this post (see pics) on Facebook in a group about minimalism. Within 24 hours, I had 1,000+ 👍❤😮 and 150+ comments – most requesting to see my blog if I had one.  So, now I do. 

OK.  So now here goes the long version:

I’m still not quite sure what I want this blog to be about.  I guess minimalism as seen through  the eyes of #TeamLindsey???  (That’s  what I call us on Facebook. **UPDATE** There’s a link to my Facebook page for this blog at the bottom of the blogsite somewhere). 

Right now,  minimalism looks like this for us: we live on an 18-Wheeler that he drives and everything  we own fits on it except for a Hope chest and a car.  Our cousin keeps those for us (thanks,  hun).  How did we get here?  What led us to this?  How are we so dang happy with so little stuff and constant change????  OK y’all,  put your boots on – there’s a little mud in this chunk of my life (but I’m from South Mississippi where they teach ya that mud riding is fun)….. 

On July 3, 2012, we got married at 9am in a courthouse (yep, there’re pics).  It was supposed to be 8:30, but the judge was late!  🙃 Anyway,  within the month,  boss man (nickname for the love of my life,  Marcus;  more on “us” in a different post) got a new job with better pay and I began my pre-reqs semester that I needed to apply for the BSW (Bachelor’s  in Social Work) program. We were having a great life.  Like normal folks,  we opened up a credit card,  put our honeymoon on it,  and lived by the philosophy  that if we could pay our bills it really didn’t matter where the rest of our money went. Oh but we were “smart.” We learned how to juice,  worked out,  studied our Bibles,  took marital counseling,  gave to those in need,  and worked our butts off at our jobs. 

Fast forward 8 months from Wedding Day,  and you’ll see a big mess in which Marcus thought he had a better job opportunity,  then he didn’t,  then he had no job.  Fast forward 2 more months and you’ll see an even bigger mess in which a lady told me (at my job)  that I gave her a fake $100 when she cashed her check, so I gave her a good one, the district manager wanted to make an example of me, and my 7 1/2 years worth of a clean record at my job ended with me being fired. Long story short,  I knew she was right. You should read my tag line on my homepage — honesty.  Fast forward 2 more months and you’ll see FORCED MINIMALISM TIME #1.  Yep,  that’s us you see – having a yard sale for everything we own – on our 1st anniversary. 

Now we’re homeless.  Everything we need fits into Vera the (trusty)  Nissan Versa. Everything we can’t sell is stuffed into a 10×10 storage unit. And some friends are letting us stay with them for 3 months.

I got a job. He got several jobs that never seemed to work out.  We didn’t get along with our friends with whom we were living anymore (probably from extreme stress levels;  if you’re reading this then I promise we love you and there’s no hard feelings).  I had to ask my boss for extra breaks because Marcus might call.  It was Monday and I didn’t know where I’d be sleeping Friday night. A few friends let us use their floors and couches for a couple weeks. Then a miracle happened.  Marcus’s  best tennis* friend’s  girlfriend had a 1br/1b apartment that she didn’t need anymore. She was moving out, but didn’t want to break her lease early.  We lived there until he started truck driving. (*I say “tennis” because obviously I am his REAL best friend 😂)

Two months pass and we realized we had one car, but needed two full-time jobs.  So,  he applied for trucking jobs and offshore jobs.  Trucking called first.  In 3 days he was on a bus to Denver.  Because of CDL school,  job orientation,  training,  and opportunities  for bonuses,  I didn’t see him for 4 months. He didn’t have a phone and I had a “dumb” phone borrowed from my in-laws. So yeah,  we barely talked and I cried – like,  a lot. 

Then  homegirl’s lease ended and turns out, Marcus had a cousin that lived down the street who had a spare room. *Insert rough start to a now beautiful friendship here* It’s Marcus’s old apartment and so the landlady knew me. I got to have a place to stay,  an address,  and I didn’t have to pay rent (which I couldn’t afford anyway). I spent the Winter of 2013-14 working,  saving,  and missing the hubs. In February,  we got a duplex in the same complex and started rebuilding our home and our life. 

WHEW! GEEZUM PETES!  That’s a lot to unpack. So,  I reckon I’ll just make this a “Part One”, freshen it up,  edit it,  and finish the story on a different day. Feel free to comment with what you wanna know more about and what you found interesting /humorous/etc.

Bye for now! ✌