My passion was my children. I LOVED being a mom, I loved watching them grow from helpless infants to the wonderful adults they've now become. Once they were grown, I felt sort of lost. Now I have grandchildren...and amazingly enough, they're even MORE wonderful!
it's easy to not accumulate stuff...no credit cards, no debt, our "newest" car is 11 years old. We have empty rooms in our house and our garage will hold the three cars it's built for. For every one new thing that comes in the house, two old things have to leave. I've scanned all the family pictures and sorted them into electronic albums and sent them to the kids. I'd rather have the time and money to do what I want to do than be a slave to "stuff". My mother had two walk in closets FULL of clothes that she maybe wore once...I share a walk in closet with my husband that has ROOM. There's no way I want that much stuff in my life.
I was raised by an Air Force flight line crew chief. He ran the house like he ran his flight line. I raised my children much the same way. When my older son went to boot camp, while the rest of the recruits were having fits over the drill instructor's yelling and the way they were treated, my son calmly told them that his mother could make the DI cry. As far as he was concerned, boot camp was a breeze. My kids have grown into self-disciplined adults. Now I see the next generation (their children) being raised much the same way. Even my 2 year old grandson knows to put his toys away when he's done with them and doesn't have to be told to do it.
I asked my husband what his favorite part of being married to me was...his answer...everything! My favorite part of being married to my husband? Knowing that he loves me, warts and all, that I'm his best friend. We've been through a lot in our years of marriage yet every trial brings us closer. We've reached the point where we often are thinking the same thing. We're a team!
I've done this for years. All my clothes except socks and underwear get hung up in my closet. When we moved this time, i did the same with my husband's clothes. It made it easier to purge clothes that were out of fashion, didn't fit, were too beat up (like my husband's jeans) and make room for new clothing. Also, for every one article of clothing or shoes I bring in, I get rid of two. My wardrobe has three sections. Casual "play" clothes, work clothes and Sunday/formal clothes. The rest of my house is the same way. Ruthless purging regularly. It doesn't hurt that we move every couple of years so I have to keep the house contents so that they will fit inside a 22' truck.
The hardest part is to be ruthless. At first that was hard for me, but now it's second nature. The last time we moved, I went ahead to start working. I could fit all my clothes, shoes, make up and hair stuff in the back of my Mustang (which doesn't have a whole lot of room).
I live in a fairly large house. We have the basic furniture, however our garage is EMPTY (except for the cars), there is NOTHING extra in my house. I purge regularly. A rule of thumb is for every item brought in two have to go out. I detest clutter in any way, shape or form. I keep the house straight during the week and take Saturday mornings to clean up. Now that my son and his family have moved in, they help out too. I refuse to have a nasty home. I grew up in one (my mother was a hoarder) and I won't live in one ever again.
Just interested in knowing whether or not you'd suggest the couple live on a poverty level when the wife can bring in enough money to support the family as opposed to staying home and doing nothing productive to help the family.
I do many of those things along with working full time...I don't want to try to live on my husband's SSDI...there's no way I'd accept living below poverty level when I have the ability to live far above it.
what if you're an empty nester? Then what? Do you just stay home all the time?
There are a lot of people who do not buy into the consumer culture. Most of my friends, Christian and non-Christian have turned against that culture. We all live simply, have no debt, and prefer to use our time, talent and treasure for the benefit of others. Its not that hard to get off the consumer merry-go-round. Living simply and inexpensively is very freeing.
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The Retired Navy Wife 
Experiment