Living with Less

You know, moving to a new country with just a few suitcases is not a bad idea.  At first I was quite upset that we only had the option of storing our things or shipping them.  Having been here in Indonesia for 3 months now, our family has found that we don't really miss the things we left behind. The kids are actually quite happy with the few toys we brought.  We just brought the clothes that we wore most often, and everyone seems quite happy with that as well.

Being here in Jakarta has made me or actuallly all of us realize that we can live with much less and still be quite happy.  We actually didn't have much to begin with.  When the packers came to assess our things for storage, we found that we didn't even come close to filling up the 40ft. container we were allotted.  The lady that assessed our things said that our 2700 sq. ft. house would have to be bulging at the seams to fill up the container.  If we were shipping our things, we were allotted up to 40,000 lbs. of stuff.  They estimated that we only had about 10,000 to 12,000 lbs. worth of stuff and that was before we purged and got rid of couches, tables, dressers, etc.   We estimated that we definitely had much less than 10,000 lbs. by the time everything went into storage.

We arrived in Indonesia with 10 large suitcases weighing 40 lbs each.  That means we brought only 400 lbs. worth of stuff.  Deciding what to bring was a bit of an ordeal at first, but we are happy with the end results. 

For toys, we ended up bringing things like dress-up clothes, play food, play cookware, tea set, dolls plus clothes and accessories, legos, army men, a few little people sets, puzzles, and some card games.  These toys provide lots of room for imagination and creativity.  The kids have had endless fun with the toys even though what we brought was a fraction of what we had back in Texas.

We brought the kids' bedding because we wanted them to have something familiar.  They also brought a few of their special stuffed animals.  My youngest brought her 3 favorite security blankets.

We had a ridiculous number of books, but we narrowed it down to one small suitcase of favorites. The kids have been happy with their books.  We are also able to check out books from the International School's library.  The school has also sponsored book swaps and discount book sales so we have had additional opportunities to have some variety in our reading choices.

We brought a few other things like tylenol and vitamins.  We also brought some snacks for the kids to make their transition a little easier til we figured out where people shopped for groceries and what was available.  We also brought the kids' favorite cups and plates. We tried to allot most of the suitcases to bring things the kids would want and that would make their transition to living in Indonesia easier.

A lady came over to the apartment the other day and asked why we didn't have any things.  We told her that we just came with a few suitcases.  People always seem surprised that we would bring our entire family to a new country without shipping our things from home.  Honestly, I would have thought we were crazy too, but now DH and I have discussed how we really like the simplicity of living with less.

We are actually able to spend more family time here.  Instead of watching TV or watching movies, we go play tennis or swimming with the kids.  We take the kids out to ride their bikes or walk around the apartment complex.  The kids have play dates with other kids that live in the apartment complex.  Although we have less material things, we feel like the quality of our lives has actually increased.

My son had a project at school where he had to make a collage depicting needs vs. wants.  I was pleased to see that he had put home, bed, shoes, and food under needs.  He put junk food, Wii games, and toys under wants.  I guess even at age 6 he does know the difference between needs and wants.

I hope that if nothing else, the kids learn that we can be happy by spending quality time together and by making do.  Most importantly, I hope that they will learn that happiness is an attitude and choice and that it can come from being thankful for the things that we have.  It definitely does not come from having more things.