Do you ever think about just living with basics?

I actually think about that alot. I think I would love to try to live that way for a while.

I often fantasize about giving away about half of our belongings.

No, because that's all I have now, nothing extravagant. I often think about living an extravagant life though.....how nice it would be to not struggle and live on my own, my own place, my kids have there own room. *sigh* ...someday...

You'd like Alaska, its on discovery. Its about a few families that live without running water and hunt for food. They do it because they like the way of life.

I dont feel like my family lives an extravagant life. My dh works in a factory making freight liners. I am in college (almost done) and a party lite consultant so I can be here for my kids. It is important to me that they have a parent at home for them at all times. Because of that we dont have as much as we could if I worked full time. We have a home to live in, electricity, cable, water, food, pets, and yes a couple extras like a pool, and toys outside and inside for the kids. But I garden in the summer to save money. I came from a home where they lived extravagantly and it never brought them any happiness.

I feel like that's exactly what I'm doing now. I went from being married to an ass & living in a 3250 sq ft home in a gated community, to being divorced, struggling with finances & having my girls and I live in a 980 sq ft apt. I lost all of the good furniture in the divorce too, the price I paid to get him to stop prolonging the proceedings. So, I have the old stuff we bought before we had money. But, I did manage to get the big plasma flat screen & most of the kitchen stuff. LOL, still yeah, I've definitely gone basic.

Yes we're pretty basics but my dh is the one who wants to live like the Jonesess me not so much Im easy ;)

I've been downsizing on everything and I hardly notice a difference. Makes me wonder how much I buy based on habit and marketing.