How we got started

Baby steps

 Necessity.  Learning about needs versus wants for us started with our first house.  We purchased a small run down house during the peak of the real estate boom in Seattle.  We were barely making ends meet and the needed house repairs compounded our problems and put great strain on our lives.  Not to be a victim, we decided to not only fix the house, but restore the house to a market value and get out of our unsustainable mortgage.  At first our goal was selfish- we wanted a nice house that people would judge our success on, but it quickly became apparent to us that we were perpetuating an unsustainable cycle.  To accomplish our goal I started collecting reclaimed and recycled materials.  I looked at salvage companies, befriended contractors and worked with King County to secure used and leftover building materials.  We removed all the original hand split cedar shakes on the house, trimmed the edges and reattached backwards, exposing the original old growth clear cedar.  We had our trees felled on the property, split the wood (while my wife was 9 months pregnant), and sold the firewood to pay for the cost of the trees dropped and the new materials we couldn’t source.  Sounds ambitious, but we worked on it gradually over 3 years- every night, day and weekend.  We solicited our parents, neighbors, friends, colleagues and even the passing Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon elder.  It worked and we were able to sell and start fresh, even though at that point we didn’t understand the destructive consumerism cycle that drove us to want more than what we had.

Breaking Point

I cannot pinpoint an exact point that can be defined as a breaking point, but I was working 12-14 hours a day, traveling out of town on business for at least a week per month (sometimes for 3-4 weeks at a time), and my 3 year old daughter didn’t acknowledge me as a parent (she finally did about 10 months ago).  I remember I was in San Jose for a weeklong business trip that was just extended an additional 3 weeks.  I called my wife and she agreed.  I quit my job 15 minutes after I hung up the phone with my wife.  For us, this was the beginning- us breaking the unsustainable cycle of our life.

Creating Pain

After uncontrollable fits of fear and feelings of regret, I accepted our decision and started a game plan of changing our behavior- a radical shift of thinking for our family.  We decided that we needed a shock and awe strategy to refocus us and force us to think, breathe and live a sustainable life.  Everyone needed to purge our stuff.  We started with our car.  We had two cars, one was mine that I no longer commuted in and the other was an expensive family car that we drove daily to the park and ride and back-  2 miles or so a day.  Ironically you had to pass the bus stop within walking distance of our house on the way to the park and ride.  Next we attacked pet projects.  If we hadn’t used or worked on it in 6 months, it had to go.  Everyone in the family had to contribute and it couldn’t be easy stuff.  Old clothes or damaged items didn’t count.  We looked at specialty books, collector’s books, autographed books, out of print, first editions- collector toys…stuff.  We sold everything we could and reduced our debit.  By creating pain, we were also working on becoming financially sustainable as well.