Simplifying and living more of a life with less

You know dear reader there's something I've come to understand over the last year or so of my life and that is that quality time is a million times better than all of the money in the whole of the universe.

On the bus, Holly and I have adventures every day because we both love to go out and about

When I had my children and started my business I really wanted to provide them with everything they would ever need in life but I've always spoken up for spending simple quality time as a family together and this has become so much more important over the last year or so.

At the moment I am in the process of trying to simplify my life so that I can live a better life albeit with less than I've had for a while.

Single parenting is hard but it would almost seem easier to just keep working and ploughing ahead to be able to provide the things the kids need, but that's just it isn't it?  The kids actually don't need that much physical stuff, what they need is love and experiences which help them to grow in life and love and their own wellbeing.

Since last September I've cut down on the hours I work, I've cut down on the number of weddings I photograph every year and I've cut down on the amounts of photo shoots I'll do in one day.  It's made a huge difference in the amount of quality time I have but it hasn't impacted too badly (quite thankfully) on my finances, well not enough for me to panic about, yes it means less stuff but then what is stuff, it's the things you collect and then throw out, it's not experiences or time spent doing things which actually don't cost much at all.

I bought myself a flask this week and a food pod thing so that when I'm out with Holly I can have my soup and coffee and a wee picnic and then I find it just doesn't cost much at all for a whole day out just wandering and enjoying the company of my woofy best friend (and the kids when they choose to come along).

I think for me now my goal is to do more writing, more travelling, more time spent having experiences with Holly and with the kids and I am going to simplify my life.

this little pumpkin has taught me so many lessons about how we all should be living.

Look I'm not saying we should all just give up the work that we do because obviously I know that there's a basic fundamental need to pay the bills and also to have a little extra for the fun things but what I am saying is that I am giving up the life of being a mad old workaholic who would do 20 photo shoots in a weekend, have them edited by the Monday and prints posted out by the next Friday.

I love my work that I've chosen to do, my blog, my Etsy store, my photography business and I can't ever see a day when I would give that up but my days of working 17 hours a day are most definitely behind me!

So what's ahead now?  days out, holidays, adventures, more writing, more photography and more importantly lots of love, time and attention for everyone in my life who is so important to me.  Why don't you see which ways you can simplify your life today so you can live more with just a little less.