Day 10: 31 Days of Living Well & Spending Zero!

Day 10! Still in LA today I've tried as much as possible to not spend any money on unessential things. I was thinking a lot about traveling inexpensively today and how Brady and I have gotten really good at being frugal travelers and how much of a difference it made when we traveled to Europe. So I thought I would tell a little about our experience...

A little over two years ago Brady and I lived in France for about 8 months. We were living off our savings and the little income Brady was making as an English teaching assistant. We rented the least expensive place we could find that had a properly locking door. The door to our place was at the top of a narrow staircase and it looked like a small closet door.

Stair leading up to our apartment

Our apartment door

But we had the necessities... running water, bathroom, kitchen sink, hotplates, a "click clack" that was our couch when guests were over and our bed the rest of the time. It was little but we really enjoyed living in such an inexpensive place because we were able to use that money to travel all over Europe.

Our living space. On the left is the kitchen. The stairs to the right lead to a very icky loft we only used to put our suitcases. 

Our "Click clack" and to the right you can see our kitchen sink. 

And there you have it...

Our apartment was on the top floor. I loved those windows and the light they let in.

Since there were two of us most of the time it was cheaper to rent a car rather than go by train. We always took detours around toll roads and we mainly just bought our food at the grocery store. We would also stay at places that had a kitchen so that we could make our and it saved us a bundle. Staying in hostels was also a money saver. We did this a few times when we traveled through Germany with our friends. If you are with a group you can get a private room and it's sorta like staying in a hotel because we had our own bathroom.

My favorite trip we took was to the Cote d'Azur and we camped almost the entire time. Even after buying a tent and sleeping bags we were able to save a lot. We got to see so many things and learned how to not over extend ourselves. It's not the most convenient way to travel but it becomes easier if you practice.

My personal blog has a lot about our trip to Europe so if you want to check it out here's the link to the Briggs Blog.

If you are keeping up with the assignments on this challenge today's task is to clean and organize your kids' rooms. Luckily for me Jack's room is pretty much organized so it won't take too much time to completely organize and tidy it up a bit more.

I usually try and keep Jack's toys and clothes organized it when it comes to my things when it's a problem. I have a closet in Jack's room that I keep all my crafts and sewing things in. It's almost impossible for me to get in there and organize because Jack always wants to get into everything and then when he's asleep I can't go into his room. So this assignment is going to need a little help from my husband or grandma so I can carve out a nice chunk of time to get it all nice and tidy. I also need to finish some of the projects I started in Jack's room like putting up shelves and finishing the shades on his window and also above his closet to hide away our storage.

How do you keep your kids’ stuff organized? Do you regularly sort and purge, or is it something you normally avoid? What is for you the hardest part of getting rid of things? For more about today's assignment check out the 31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero site.