Welcome!, 1.31.23

Well, here we go! Juli, here 😊 Welcome to a new blog space to share our family's journey towards minimalism and to document my personal journey towards financial freedom as I near retirement. 

Our background: 

I, Juli, am a wife, mom, Bibi (grandma), a high school art teacher, yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner. My goal is to retire in a couple of years and focus on teaching art and yoga from my home studio. I've dreamt of living a minimal life for years, but have never been able to put it into practice until recently. In 2019, my husband and I greatly downsized our home. We dabbled in tiny-house living as we lived in our RV while we renovated our home. That was a first big step. Recently, I completed a 100 day dress challenge via the clothing company Wool& . It was such a fun challenge, but what was even more important was the lesson it taught me in the way I dress, how many clothes I have (and don't need), how much laundry I have each week (and don't want to have!) and, finally, how much money I spend on what is termed "fast fashion" (clothes that are inexpensive, usually poor quality and many times, quickly discarded.) So, here I am. Ready for the next challenge with the help of the co-authors of this space, my son Colbey, his wife Carly, and my daughter Chelsi (hopefully her husband will be on board one day, too!) Each of them have their own special talents that will help us all simplify our lives. (I will let them introduce themselves as they begin to contribute, as I could go on and on, gushing about how awesome they all are, as I am a very proud momma!) 

Left to right: Chelsi, Carly, Colbey and Juli
Simply Schusters 😊

To begin, I'll share my 100 day dress challenge video (each day had to be documented). I wore the Wool& Audrey Dress in Black Heather, styled differently almost every day. In the next post, I'll share my capsule wardrobe progress, along with my Instagram inspiration!

Until next time! 

Simply, Juli