by Patti Miinch | Feb 7, 2022 | downsizing, furniture, gifts, moving, my year of less, shopping, simplifying, week 5
Week 5 was an interesting mix of an ice & snow storm and the busy-ness of moving back home. And my year of less became a bit more interesting . . . Week 5 RecapSpending: Again, I purchased food and gas, and I noticed that gas prices had gone...
by Patti Miinch | Jan 31, 2022 | my year of less, needs, table & chairs, wants, weeks 3 & 4, year of less
Life has been incredibly hectic the past two weeks, as I pack and begin moving for the 3rd time in three years. Unfortunately, I was so busy last Monday that I didn’t have time to write and publish a Year of Less post; fortunately, last week and this week are very...
by Patti Miinch | Jan 17, 2022 | apartment, balcony, gifts, my year of less, planters, plants, shopping, stash, stuff, week 2
Two small but interesting situations arose last week that raised questions about my goals to purchase only necessities and gifts and to not shop at any big box stores.First, I remembered that I still had Christmas money — a gift from a relative — that I had not yet...
by Patti Miinch | Jan 10, 2022 | amazon, big box stores, buy it now, my year of less, stash, stuff, temptation, week 1
1 week down, 51 to go.Shopping— in the traditional sense of driving to stores, going in, and purchasing something — is not something I typically enjoy, so as I contemplated this challenge in late 2021 I didn’t think refraining from that type of spending would be a...
by Patti Miinch | Jan 6, 2022 | don'ts, dos, family, friend, grief, pain, serve, suggestions
In the last 18 months, several friends and family members have faced very difficult life circumstances, from devastating health diagnoses to the death of a child, grandchild, or spouse. I’ve given significant thought to how I can best serve those family and...
by Patti Miinch | Jan 3, 2022 | big box stores, gifts, groceries, my year of less, necessities, pre-week, shopping, year of less
Inspired by (what else?) a couple of books I read in 2021, I’ve committed to a 2-part, 52 week challenge. In 2022, I will: 1. Purchase only necessities and gifts 2. Refrain from shopping in big-box storesI’ll share an update every Monday, and I hope that you’ll join...
by Patti Miinch | Dec 28, 2021 | 2022, 52 weeks, a year of, big box stores, happy new year
Last January I read The Year of Living Biblically, an interesting book by a man who decided to spend an entire year obeying all the commands in the Bible. When I shared with a friend that I’d enjoyed that book, she suggested I read Shonda Rhime’s Year of Yes, which I...
by Patti Miinch | Oct 26, 2021 | 000 words, 50, blog, NaNoWriMo, novel, rough draft, social media, writing
In six days, NaNoWriMo 2021 will kick off. For those who aren’t familiar with NaNoWriMo, it is a yearly, November challenge in which people around the globe attempt to write a 50,000-word-minimum rough draft of a novel. As the founder and current...
by Patti Miinch | Oct 12, 2021 | conspiracy theories, Facebook, no facebook orinstagram or whatsapp oh my, outages, Patti Miinch
Facebook was down for six hours last Monday and again for a couple of hours several days later. Unsurprisingly, reactions to the outages were mixed.There were the inevitable conspiracy claims; more than a few skeptics claimed that the outages Monday were linked to a...
by Patti Miinch | Sep 28, 2021 | composition, craft, motivation, passion, professor, published, teach, why I write, write
Last week, an author shared on social media that they received an email from a new fan. It wasn’t an “Oh, I discovered your book and loved it; I am going to buy every one you have ever written or will write in my lifetime” missive. Instead, it was an “I bought your...
