Maximum Gratitude, Minimal Stuff

As we enter the New Year, we start thinking about what we want the upcoming days to hold.  Many people make resolutions for self-improvement, and even if you choose not to codify your desires in that way, you probably still have some.  Maybe you want to lose weight, gain physical fitness, or save for a trip.  Whatever you're planning, the idea of a fresh start is exciting and hopeful. I've seen criticisms of minimalism that insist that it dampens your sense of progress and any desire you might have to grow and achieve beyond what you currently have.  One post I read by blogger Jack Waters included this reproach: Wanting things is the fabric that holds our society together.  If I don't want the promotion, or the better house, or the Porsche, then what am I working towards? His complaint is that if minimalism makes you satisfied with less, you stagnate.  By controlling desires and being comfortable with a simpler life, he argues, humans would cease creating....

My oldest grandson just had his 10th birthday.  Double digits!  It's a milestone.  His younger brother lost his first tooth not too long ago.  And the youngest of all is so proud that he's now out of diapers. Change is the one constant in life.  It's the one thing we can count on. Some changes are within our choice, such as beginning a new habit, starting a new job, buying a bigger house or downsizing to a smaller one.  Others are out of our control, such as births, illness, aging, or economic booms and downturns.  But even when circumstances are not of our choosing, we still decide how we'll respond and what our attitude will be. Of course, not all change is progress.  Many people immediately assume that any new technology or social movement must be an improvement, but that's not always the case.  Others assume that new trends or innovations are inevitably bad – which is also untrue. A new job can mean more opportunities and higher pay, but ...

Did you know that the second Friday in January has been dubbed "Quitter's Day"?  This year, that's January 9th.  The timing is rooted in the observation that most people abandon their New Year's resolutions by this date.  It's the date when initial enthusiasm fades and actual commitment and discipline become necessary. What will 2026 look like for you?  Instead of making elaborate resolutions that you'll probably fail at, try something that gives you more focus and more chance of success. I don't say this judgmentally, because I've failed as often as anyone.  So I want to talk about how to get past Quitter's Day and find success with some important goals in the New Year. Change the meaning Instead of letting Quitter's Day mean defeat, why not see it as a checkpoint to recommit to your goals?  And to make those goals achievable, let's streamline them and figure out how to reset our intentions over and over. What I find helps in achieving...

Welcome to the final post of 2025!  This is #104 for the year, and #753 for the blog, all created by me over the past 7+ years. Once again, I'm so grateful to you , my readers.  Nearly 90,000 of you visit each month, and there are 50% more of you subscribing compared to last year at this time. I also appreciate those of you who take the extra time to email me directly (karen@maximumgratitudeminimalstuff.com).  Not only are you kind and supportive, but you often bring up interesting points I haven't considered, which inspires me to think, research, and write some more.  Thank you so much!  It's wonderful to join with you on the journey toward a simpler life. I'm also thankful to all of you who purchase items I recommend and link to on Amazon.  Since I haven't allowed ads on this site, I count on the small commissions I receive every time you make a purchase.  They add up!  I never link to anything I wouldn't buy and use myself, so I'm happy to pass...

My dad was a history buff, so I'm pretty sure my interest comes from him.  I always think of him at this time of year, since his birthday was the day after Christmas.  When I was a kid, we always put away all holiday decorations (except for the tree) on the morning of December 26th so we could have birthday balloons instead.  Apparently, my dad's birthday was never really celebrated when he was young because of its proximity to Christmas, and my mom wanted to make up for that. If you're at all interested in history, and especially the way it applies and informs us today, don't miss the limited series Death by Lightning on Netflix, with fantastic performances by Michael Shannon, Nick Offerman, and English actor Matthew Macfadyen, who manages to sound convincingly like a Midwesterner. Shannon portrays the reluctant 20th U.S. President James Garfield , a Civil War general and U.S. representative from Ohio, who was staunchly anti-slavery and pro-suffrage.  Perhaps if hi...

My family and I are long-time fans of J.R.R. Tolkien's work, especially The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings .  My husband Jon and I had each read and loved those wonderful books more than once before we left college.  When our children were 9 and 12, we embarked on a very ambitious project.  In anticipation of the release of Peter Jackson's film, The Fellowship of the Ring , Jon and I wanted to reread the entire four-volume work, and also give our kids the chance to experience it as Tolkien created it, before their imaginations were influenced by the film interpretation.  So we committed to spend approximately one hour each evening, all through the summer and fall of 2001, reading aloud that massive and beautiful saga.  The kids clamored for more every night, and this became the high point of our family life at that time. However, none of us had ever seen or heard of Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas ,* written and illustrated for his own children from 1...