Ramblings of a Travelling Minimalist

I glanced around the one bedroom hotel suite that all five of us were using as home base for two nights in Vancouver late last week.  
"How many square feet is this hotel room?" I asked Craig.  
"Oh I don't know maybe 400? 350?" He guessed
I wondered if we could all live in a small space like this?  Could we ever get to a point that we have so little that we could live in a wee cottage of a house?  I don't even know if that's something I want to turn into a goal.  Tiny houses both fascinate and horrify me.  

Anyway here's what I learned about our family's minimalist tendencies on our mini vacation:

Our kids understand the 1 in 1 out policy

Hudson actually made a deal with us one evening, "If I get rid of 7 toys could I buy 1 new toy with my own money?"  How could we pass up such an amazing bargain.  So before we left both Hudson and Meadow dutifully purged their toys.

Cutest mama lemur stuffy you ever did see!

The kids market on Granville Island is crazy overwhelming!

With Christmas money still burning a hole in their pockets we took our kiddos to the Kids Market... there are like a bajillion stores with tiny toys and stuffies and puppets and books and dolls and magic tricks and candy and dress up costumes and... my head was spinning.  Hudson managed to chose a magic trick and some crazy cool silly putty type stuff, Delaney was tickled pink with the purchase of a stuffed Pinky Pie, My Little Pony. Meadow left disappointed that the Elsa dolls and costumes were not in her budget, but I was proud of her for not settling and just buying what she could afford so she would have something new.

Sidenote: I did manage to tear myself away from the Harry Potter paraphernalia with out a snitch or a sorting hat!

It's OK to see something on sale and buy it without an intentional search for that item.

After Granville Island we spent a ton of time at Science World.  We intentionally chose to spend money on going to the Omnimax theater and enjoying that clutterless experience.  We also intentionally chose to exit Science World through the gift shop.  "What in the world were you thinking!" you may be exclaiming at your computer screen right now... but I assure you it was all rational thought.  Our children still had some money and we were there to guide them away from glow in the dark stars toward more educational products. Although we did let Delaney squander her funds on 2 stuffed Lemurs... she's 3 and it's open ended imaginative play right?

Isn't it lovely! Decompose a banana in 10 days!

Right there in the discount bin is where I first laid eyes on my semi impulse purchase. A compost observation kit.  Oh yes!  Every homeschool mom's dream and it was 50% off!  And if you want to borrow it when we're done with it I'm totally cool with that (as long as you are local).

We did really well!

Did we come home with more than we left with? Yes!  Were we prepared for that? Yes! Did our purchases overwhelm us? No! Was this trip a success in terms of maintaining minimalism?  I think so!

How do you handle travel spending and souvenirs?  

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