Simple Abundance, Minimalist Living & Slow Travel Inspiration

Aloha everyone! While we have been adjusting to the changes brought on by impending parenthood; namely incredible emotional highs paired with quite a bit less energy; our slow cooking, Kauai loving friend Travis Pizel has launched his blog; Our Journey to Zero; chronicaling his family's step  by step plan out of debt.  You'll find alot more personality driven fun over there than just debt related info.  Travis' writing style; something we always enjoy as he shares a post with our readers once a month; is transparent and humorous, you can plan on great reads and thought provoking motivation.  We have really enjoyed getting to know Travis, Vonnie, Tristan and Tori through Travis' posts here and via the Community One My Journey out of Debt feature.  We've found it such a blessing that while we live on an isolated island in the middle of the South Pacific we've found great friends, people of like minds and heart in places as far flung from us as Minnesota. (And Ohio, Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Florida, California, Wisconsin, Georgia, Brazil, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand & Australia to shout out to a few of our reader/friends; you know who you are! :)  We are rooting for the Pizels on their race to the finish line of debt free living and hope that a side benefit will be a family vacation of their own over to this island we all love so we can meet such great people in person.  Keep up the great work, guys, you're inspiring many!
 
Now we know this is a quicky post from the islands, we're still working on that whole energy thing and trying to get back into the swing of writing and creativity.  Did we mention we think that our little Baby Aloha may have highjacked his or her Mommy's creative/writing brain cells, at least some of them?  The Doctor assures us they'll be returned, but in a couple of years you might just find the occasional post here by Baby Aloha him/herself!  :)  Check back soon as our blog roll will soon feature Our Journey to Zero! Congrats Travis!!

The True Meaning of Vacation

What does the word VACATION mean to you? If you are like me, between working full-time and parenting I have very little time if any throughout the day that I can truly say is mine. In addition to my major responsibilities with work and being a single mom life’s daily routine is hectic and those little tasks take time something there never seems to be enough of. You know what tasks I am referring to; going to the grocery store, cleaning the house, making dinner,
paying bills, etc.  

The daily grind as it is often referred to can sometimes leave you feeling run down, emotionally drained, and ready for a vacation. 

So what exactly is a vacation? 

The text book definition of a vacation is leisure time away from work devoted to
rest or pleasure. However, the misconception with vacation is that it requires physically leaving your everyday life and flying off to a tropical island or mountain resort, not true.  A true vacation relaxes you, brings your focus back, and eliminates the daily stressors so you can recharge your batteries. This can be achieved by slowing down and spending time with your family, friends or by yourself right in your own backyard! 

In my younger years a vacation meant packing as many exciting activities as I could into a short period of time; often times leaving me feeling I needed a vacation from my vacation. As I have aged vacation comes with new perspective; relax, read a good book, sleep, walk, etc.  After
all it’s not wasting time it’s a vacation!

Here are 9 things you can do on your next vacation to re-charge your batteries, even if it’s in your own backyard!

1. Ditch the electronic devices that connect you to your daily life…all of them.  No cell phone, smart phone, laptop, put them all to rest!

2. Tune out the world.  For some of us this may be easier said then done, but tuning out the TV, and skipping your daily dose of on-line news can help you re-gain your inner peace.

3. Just say NO to social networking.  Without your smart phone and lap top this is a no-brainer! Instead consider personally catching up with an old friend or relative.

 4. Enjoy the weather...whatever it may be.  An evening rainstorm or a sunny afternoon spent outdoors help to put you in touch with nature.

 5. Get lost in a book.  It is not often I have the time to get lost in a good book. Use your vacation as a perfect excuse to read whatever you like—no memos, blog posts or news articles just good old fashioned reading for the pure enjoyment of it.

 6. Go for a stroll.  Enjoy the world around you whether it’s in your neighborhood, a local park, to the coffee shop or on the beach—take the time to enjoy your  surroundings.

 7. Sleep, sleep, sleep.  I love to sleep and never seem to get enough during the daily grind. Take an afternoon nap, go to ed early or sleep in late—no alarm clock.

8. Do what you WANT as the mood strikes. 
Skip scheduled activities; instead do what you feel like doing on your own schedule.

9. Don’t over schedule.  Just because you are on vacation and have the “time” to clean out the garage and a closet or two doesn’t mean it is the right time to do so. 

Wherever your vacation takes you use these tips to ensure you come back feeling relaxed and refreshed, not like you need a vacation from your vacation.

What does vacation mean to you? What tips do you have for truly making a vacation a vacation?

Editor's Note: Today's post is shared from a favorite guest here at Ha Nui Loa; Travis Pizel. It's rare that a guest post or any post pulls off the subject of finances and making more deliberate choices in life while managing to incorporate Hawaii, Travis' post does just that and we think you'll really enjoy it!

Introduction: The following is written from theperspective of my nine year old daughter, Tori. It is her journey to save for a rather expensive toy that topped her wish list.


I always get the mail for my Mom and Dad on the way home from the bus stop.  On a cold January day the mailbox contained that month's catalog for my favorite kind of doll.  There was something new on the cover so I rushed home to take a closer look.

Inside the magazine I found pictures of a new doll named Kanani. She is from Hawaii, and she is available for this year only!  I instantly rushed downstairs to show my parents.  They just looked at each other and smiled.  My mom and dad always act goofy whenever someone mentions Hawaii. When asked why, they tell me that they brought me home from there.  I don't understand what they mean, though, as I don't remember ever being to Hawaii, and their visit to the islands was a full nine months before I was even born.

All I know is that Kanani was the most beautiful doll I had ever seen.  She has long, golden hair to her waist, a colorful dress, sandals and really cool accessories.  The only thing is, she costs $100.  Using my $8 per week allowance ($1 for each year of my life), my dad says it would take me little over 3 months to save up for her. 3 months? It might as well be 3 years, there's no way I could ever wait that long!

I asked my dad if he could borrow me the money and I could just pay him back.  He told me that my credit application was denied due to lack of credit history.  I don't know exactly what that means, but I got the impression that I wasn't getting my doll.

I decided to give this “saving up for my doll” thing a chance.  It didn't go very well at first as it always seemed like there was something else that I would decide to spend some of my money on.  My savings was growing, but not nearly as fast as I had hoped.

I turned 9 on April 14th, and I got several gifts of money.  Counting my birthday money in addition to what I already had in my purse I had $82.  My goal finally seemed within reach!  Only a few more weeks and Kanani would be mine.

Two weeks later I counted the bills in my purse again. Since I had turned 9, my allowance was now $9 a week.   Finding that I had $101,  I excitedly told my dad that I had enough money and would now like to order my doll. He shook his head and said that there was tax.  
 
Tax?  What is tax?

Apparently every time you buy something, you have to give the President some money for schools and stuff. I don't know why a nine year old girl that is just trying to buy a doll should have to pay for schools.  I don't even like school.

When I got the next week's allowance, I declared to myfather that I was ready to order my doll. Again my dad said I didn't have enough money.  He explained that there was another charge called “shipping and handling.”  Kanani would be coming from Hawaii, so she would have to ride on a ship.  Plus, she would get lonely so someone would have to play, or “handle” her. That at least made sense, but it meant I had to wait another week.

The next Friday when I received my allowance I counted $119.  My dad now agreed that I had enough money to order my doll.  I helped him order the doll online, and the e-mail confirmation told us that it would take about a week for her to arrive.   I had to wait another whole week?  My dad said I could have her sent on a faster ship, but it would cost more. 

UGH!

About a week later, as I got off the bus and started walking towards my house, my mom came out the front door and yelled, “She's here!  She's here!” I sprinted home, burst through the door, and saw the box sitting on the kitchen table.

Kanani was finally here! My mom helped me open the box and take Kanani and her accessories out of the box. As I carefully picked up Kanani for the first time, I was beaming with pride.  I had waited so long for this day to come.  I thought of all the times I had to make my  bed, water the plants, and put away my laundry to save enough to be able to purchase my new doll. I asked my mom questions about how to brush her hair, and what we would do if her clothes got dirty.

I had worked too hard, and waited too long to not take care of my new doll.  I had lost sight of my goal at times along the way and spent some of my money instead of continuing to save. But I kept at it, now she's finally here. It was definitely worth the wait.

Editor's Wrap-up: The lovely couple pictured above are the proud parents of Tori, whom they brought home from Hawaii; we're pretty certain there wasn't even an extra luggage charge for her! ;) Travis, besides imparting financial wisdom to his children as the occasion arises blogs on the Care One Community as Debt Chronicles; which follows his journey out of debt.

Aloha to all of our curious and patient readers.  We have had a rather life altering bit of a development in the last few weeks that quite frankly stood our world on its end.  We shared last week with our decidedly smaller subscription readership and a very few online friends what we are still wrapping our minds around. 

I had a really bad season physical health wise for a couple of years before getting to the bottom of the diagnosis, having surgery and subsequently taking my health back here in the islands; by working out, living out of doors at every possible moment, swimming, hiking, bicycle riding etc.  It was this health scare that led us to reevaluate everything about our lives and realize we felt a ‘call’ to simplify, minimize, and relocate to the islands full time.  We are still so grateful we made that change that words usually fail us besides to say just that; we are incredibly grateful.

Back in January of this year a few old symptoms cropped up out of the blue, slightly rattling us, were my troubles back? How would we handle the exhaustion and lack of energy, not being able to feel like I was living again?  We held our breath to be honest, prayed for another miracle (back when I underwent surgery I went in with a cancer diagnosis and came out without the doctors being able to find any trace!)  We took a wait and see attitude through February and March and quickly discovered that even working from home the blog and writing for travel publications and a couple guest posts here and there were really taking a toll.  Slowly I added more guest posts here and cut back where I could to survive.  

April arrived with no real changes except another couple of pesky symptoms that frankly had me stumped.  We decided some tests were in order five tests later we discovered that not only was cancer or thyroid problems not to be blamed but after 22+ years of miscarriages and infertility we were in fact, going to be parents!  

Most of you who read this blog know we advocate a Go Slow kind of life where you slow down, savor your life and really live it instead of live on a treadmill of speedy existence only living.  Well to say we took the slow road to parenthood would be the understatement of our lives.  We had three miscarriages and were both informed at various times that we weren’t going to be able to have children. 

Whatever your belief system I can tell you honestly that only our faith in God and a sense that He was still in control kept us moving along.  Fast forward another fifteen years and we had made peace with  being Uncle and Auntie to a wonderful group of nieces and nephews, to some ‘adopted’ family friend’s children as well, and not parents of our own children.  

We moved on, lived as full a life as we could still mindful come Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, really at every holiday, that ours was a very different life, one that we realize some people choose.  It’s a little different when it’s not your choice. We grew immune to friends and family bemoaning that we would make the best parents, we looked into adopting a child from a troubled family only to learn the hard way (twice!) that the system still favors the parents at all cost even when it puts the child in harm’s way.  After that final second closed door, we were simply done.

Quick on the heels of that revelation came my mounting health problems and that brings us back full circle to where I sit today; at the beginning of my second trimester.

We’ve known for three weeks now.  The first week was a numb, overwhelming, ‘we-are-in-shock’ experience. We progressed to awe and giddiness week two.  Week three has brought us the comfort of an ultrasound where we saw our little miracle kicking, moving their head to tuck behind his or her arm and we both saw and heard the 150 beats per minute heartbeat.  Each of those firsts was more than we can describe as we usually found out we were expecting via a
miscarriage.  Needless to say we went back to a combination of numb and awe. 

My body, while more fit and stronger than in probably my entire adult life, has nonetheless been high-jacked by a little baby.  I am at once amazed and slowed even further.  We waited to share with family on the mainland and now here on our blog until we had the confirmation of a better due date and visual proof to share over the miles.  We should be welcoming our little keiki (Hawaiian for children/child, sounds like cakey) late fall just in time to enjoy our first holidays as a family of three.  Our hearts are fuller than we can really express.

What does this mean for Ha Nui Loa?  Well first off, be assured this is not turning into an all baby all the time blog. We live on island time for a really good reason.  We’re minimalists for other really good reasons.  We look forward to keeping the whole baby experience simplified and more minimal, if we discover things along the way that speak to family style minimalism we might pass it along.  On the whole though we will be still focusing on simple, minimal, island style living and slow travel. 

There are a few interesting things we are discovering about expecting in the islands that we would never have thought about before.  Maternity clothes in the islands are nearly nonexistent so I am trying my hand, slowly, at sewing a few sundresses and simple baby things.  As my energy further perks up in the second trimester we’ll be back to a more normal schedule around here.  I look back at me being under the weather in February and March and realize now it was 'with child' not under the weather, still that did slow things up around here.  I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things.

Mahalo for your patience, we hope you will all rejoice with us and if you have struggled with infertility, know that we feel your pain and lived with it for 22 years.  Our story is unique and still unfolding but we offer it up as hope not to give up hope. 

If you join us next year for the Go Slow Summit, you’ll get to meet our addition to the Ha Nui Loa family.  You can expect a pretty laid back kiddo already as hooked on sand and surf and island life as we are. :)

Aloha and Hugs from Hawaii from a couple overwhelmed by the gift of life!

I was excited to write this guest post for Jeff and Gena -- Hanuiloa is my favorite oasis when I'm feeling frazzled and need to become calm and centered. The writing here always helps me realign my priorities and focus on what truly matters in this life. Hanuiloa gives me permission to slow down and relax.

Before my husband and I decided to head down the road toward adopting a more minimalist lifestyle, we were focused entirely on our finances.  With two young sons to provide for, becoming financially fit was a top priority for us. What we have found along the way is that a simpler, slower, freer life sounds like exactly the life we are looking for.

What started as a quest for financial independence quickly became a springboard into a non-consumerist, simpler way of life. We discovered rather quickly that the less we need and owe right now, the sooner a life of freedom would be ours.

When I say a life of freedom, I mean a life where our time is our own. A life where we don't need as much money to live comfortably, and we work on things we're passionate about -- regardless of the level of pay.

By cutting our expenses, and paying down our consumer debts as quickly as possible, we're setting ourselves up to need much less monthly income than before. This means during times that our income is higher, we can save and invest like crazy. And during leaner times, we'll still be just fine.

So, what does a simpler life look like for a family of four? 

The following list illustrates some of things we're regularly doing to simplify and frugalfy our lives (What? You mean frugalfy isn't a word?).

• Eating dinners at home.


• Enjoying  free entertainment whenever possible.


• Packing school and work lunches.


• Limiting extracurricular activities for our oldest son.


• Selling  the crap we don't need to accelerate  our debt repayment.


• Cutting expenses (cable, water and utility usage, etc.).


• Saying no to invitations sometimes.


• Washing our dishes by  hand.


• Putting every single penny we can come with (above and beyond our retirement    
  savings and monthly commitments) towards our debt
  repayment.

These things don't make much of a difference individually, but combined, they've completely transformed our budget and our lives!

The more we cut, the more we find we can do without and not even miss. The more money we save, the more we realize how much we were blowing before. The more unnecessary items we prune from our lives, the cleaner and less cluttered our very existence becomes.

Without all the noise and excess, it's easier to focus. It's easier to dream. It's easier to live.


How has minimalism changed your family’s finances?


 

Aloha everyone, we are excited to feature a guest post from Ted Hunter; author of our recent book review selection; Money Smart.  Stay tuned for the winner of our first contest here at Ha Nui Loa; though all of the entries were so great we're considering a Hawaiian treat for everyone who entered, we'll need addresses for those of you that we don't have as yet so pop us off a connect form.  We also want to let you know we will have a major and very exciting announcement in a couple of weeks that will explain our recent slower posting schedule, worth the wait as is the post we're working on for the big reveal.  We appreciate all of our readers and want to thank you for being patience as we get a couple of kinks out as well as get these new ducks in a row.  Till then we have another great guest post next week and a Go Slow Summit update planned for the first week of May.  We'll be catching up on blog reading and connecting with you all soon.  With no further delay here is Ted!

I want to thank Gena and Jeff here at Ha Nui Loa for inviting me to do a guest blog. Being a fan of their blog and a fan of the slow life, I connect strongly with the choice of simplicity and the desire to shape a life you truly value.  It is from that place I was motivated to write Money Smart.

I have seen money mismanagement destroy lives. I have witnessed many people work endlessly toward creating a life that they, sadly, never achieve.  I wrote Money Smart because I believe anyone can create financial freedom for themselves no matter what their situation.  I know this from experience, because I have made millions, lost it all, lived out of a suitcase, and fully rebuilt myself from the ground up.  One of the important things I learned from that experience is that money isn’t the most important thing in life—living the life you truly desire is.  I wrote Money Smart to give people the tools to manage their money, create their own financial freedom and build the life they want to live now.

To me, financial literacy begins with a question.  What are your hopes and dreams, your goals and desires? You might think this is a strange question to ask if you desire financial freedom. It’s not, and in fact, it is probably the most important question you need to answer if you truly want to take control of your financial life. What in your life matters most to you?  Is it spending time with family and friends? Traveling the world? Designing a dream house? Living simply in your current community? Eliminating debt? Retiring sooner?

Take the time to answer the question. Really answer it. Identifying hopes and dreams can be difficult, but you are not to get the things you wish for unless you first identify what they are.  Every expenditure you make is a trade that requires you to give up something else.  Is an impulse buy at the electronics store more important than saving for a family vacation? Is taking that higher paying job worth the extra hour commute, costing you time away from your family? It's critical to become consciously aware of the trades you are making.  Only after you have clearly identified what it is you want from your life can you make good decisions regarding money and the role you want it to play in your life.  
 
Everything in life is a trade. Once you learn to manage your money you can achieve financial freedom.  Don’t make the mistake of trading away the things that matter most. It’s just not a trade worth making. Life is too short not to live the life of your dreams.

Ted Hunter is the author of Money Smart;  a native of the New York City area, he now lives in Davis, California, with his wife, Suchit, and their daughter, Kat. He is also the proud father of three adult sons: John, Dave, and Dan.

His real world experiences and success over 60 years have given him insight into the myths, and, in some cases, the outright lies told to Americans seeking financial advice, and the conviction that they can and must manage their money themselves.  He wrote the book Money Smart to share his knowledge and help people take control of their money and create financial freedom.

It's Saturday afternoon, and the phone rings.  Our good friends ask if we want to go out to dinner and a movie that evening. We had an unexpected automobile expense during the week, so my wife and I had agreed that this weekend had to be an inexpensive, stay at home weekend.  But our friends are going to our favorite restaurant, and there's a new movie out that we really want to see.   

What should we do?

Obviously the right answer is to decline due to lack of funds.  Just a simple, “We'd love to go, but it just isn't in our budget this weekend,” would suffice.  They would certainly understand.

But why is that such a hard thing to say? 

People are often defined by how much money they have, or how much money they are perceived to have. If a person is perceived as not being able to buy and accumulate material possessions, they are viewed by many as a failure.  This kind of pressure can make someone feel embarrassed and inadequate if they cannot spend what they want, when they want to.

Jenny, @exconsumer, wrote a great post recently discussing the collision between her digital world, and her physical world.  She described what some of the people in her life think of her new lifestyle, and it wasn't all positive.