After receiving a dozen emails in the past day or two about starting a simple life, and having many new readers join us over the month, I thought it was a good time to write about that subject again. So how do you start living simply? The complex answer is to develop a set of simple values you want to live by and fashion your life around those values. The simple answer is that you've probably already started. If you're here looking for encouragement, ideas and motivation, I'm guessing the idea is already in your head, you just need to work out a practical way of developing your idea of simplicity.
When I started living this way, I started with myself and my home and I tried to simplify everything I could. I wanted to make my home as comfortable as possible so my family and I felt nurtured just by being at home. I wanted to rid my home of as many chemicals as possible and start cleaning with less harmful 'old-fashioned' products like vinegar, bicarb and soap. I wanted to stop serving foods containing preservatives and artificial flavourings. I wanted to return to my home in every sense and reskill myself in the arts of the homemaker. I wanted to develop my frugal living skills, cut back and modify how we lived so we wouldn't notice or care that I wasn't working. I wanted to slow down but feel more alive than I ever had. I needed to lose the person I had become while working for a living and rediscover my true self. And I hoped that living a more simple life would help me achieve all those goals.
I am happy to report that I was able to do all those things, and much more.
It will be a great help to you if your partner and family are working towards simplicity with you, but when you start, you will probably be the only one in your family who thinks it's possible. That's okay! When I started along this path, Hanno thought I'd lost my marbles. And maybe I had because I was going against the tide of everything I'd lived with and believed in the previous 50 years. But that didn't make it difficult, it make it more exciting. I felt I had a real purpose. Now my life was more than working to pay for stuff I didn't need. Now my focus was in creating a good and decent life that would sustain and nourish my family. And I wanted to do that when I had just closed down my business and I had less money than I ever had.
I love a challenge.
While acknowledging that we are all different and all have different priorities, the items in this list are those that might need your focus:
When you do have to shop, look for bargains, ask for discounts, plan your shopping and try to buy good quality appliances that will last. Look after what you own. Learn how to mend and clean properly so you can make what you have in your home last as long as possible.
Look critically at what you do and stop waste. That might be wasted food, fuel, fabric, water, electricity, money or time. Prudent planning and watching what you do will help you minimise waste. Learn how to store food correctly.
Never stop learning. Learning new skills will help you in the coming years and whether it's learning how to bake a loaf of decent bread or how to plant a vegetable garden, it will enrich your life and make things easier for you. Pass on your skills to your children.
Never limit yourself. Life and the people around you will try to limit you, so limit what you spend but don't limit yourself.
Look after yourself, take time for yourself, get enough sleep and slow down. You will get more done.
Give to your community. A healthy community will help you thrive, so make sure you give time and effort to help your town/area develop. Give more, expect less and then stand back and watch your life change because of it.
I could continue writing much more but this post is getting way too long. So my challenge for you is to decide what it is you will change about your life right now. Don't click out of my blog today and go about your normal activities. I would like you to think for a few minutes about how you could make a simple change that will make a difference to your life. Then I want you to do it. It could be as simple as "I will sweep the floor instead of vacuuming.", "I will stop procrastinating and will go and plant those tomato seeds right now.", "I will walk to work.", "I am going to write up a budget.", "I will start collecting materials for my compost.", "I will make morning tea and ask my partner to join me.", "I will cook tonight's meal from scratch", "I will stop nagging and start encouraging.", "I will think about what values I want to live by." or "I will spend more time with my family." Whatever it is, whatever commitment you make right now, carry it out as best you can and make it part of how you live from now on.
Simple living is never fast, it is a small steps process. But over the months and years to come, by adding one thing at a time, by changing how you see yourself and others, by doing your best, by taking responsibility for yourself, by slowing down and becoming the person you know yourself to be, you will change your life and be happier for it.
When I started living this way, I started with myself and my home and I tried to simplify everything I could. I wanted to make my home as comfortable as possible so my family and I felt nurtured just by being at home. I wanted to rid my home of as many chemicals as possible and start cleaning with less harmful 'old-fashioned' products like vinegar, bicarb and soap. I wanted to stop serving foods containing preservatives and artificial flavourings. I wanted to return to my home in every sense and reskill myself in the arts of the homemaker. I wanted to develop my frugal living skills, cut back and modify how we lived so we wouldn't notice or care that I wasn't working. I wanted to slow down but feel more alive than I ever had. I needed to lose the person I had become while working for a living and rediscover my true self. And I hoped that living a more simple life would help me achieve all those goals.
I am happy to report that I was able to do all those things, and much more.
It will be a great help to you if your partner and family are working towards simplicity with you, but when you start, you will probably be the only one in your family who thinks it's possible. That's okay! When I started along this path, Hanno thought I'd lost my marbles. And maybe I had because I was going against the tide of everything I'd lived with and believed in the previous 50 years. But that didn't make it difficult, it make it more exciting. I felt I had a real purpose. Now my life was more than working to pay for stuff I didn't need. Now my focus was in creating a good and decent life that would sustain and nourish my family. And I wanted to do that when I had just closed down my business and I had less money than I ever had.
I love a challenge.
While acknowledging that we are all different and all have different priorities, the items in this list are those that might need your focus:
- How you deal with money
- Budgeting and paying off debt
- Time management
- Cleaning
- House maintenance
- Shopping
- Cooking
- Food storage and production
- Home production of basics
- Looking after yourself
- Contributing to your community
- Reskilling in those areas you are lacking
When you do have to shop, look for bargains, ask for discounts, plan your shopping and try to buy good quality appliances that will last. Look after what you own. Learn how to mend and clean properly so you can make what you have in your home last as long as possible.
Look critically at what you do and stop waste. That might be wasted food, fuel, fabric, water, electricity, money or time. Prudent planning and watching what you do will help you minimise waste. Learn how to store food correctly.
Never stop learning. Learning new skills will help you in the coming years and whether it's learning how to bake a loaf of decent bread or how to plant a vegetable garden, it will enrich your life and make things easier for you. Pass on your skills to your children.
Never limit yourself. Life and the people around you will try to limit you, so limit what you spend but don't limit yourself.
Look after yourself, take time for yourself, get enough sleep and slow down. You will get more done.
Give to your community. A healthy community will help you thrive, so make sure you give time and effort to help your town/area develop. Give more, expect less and then stand back and watch your life change because of it.
I could continue writing much more but this post is getting way too long. So my challenge for you is to decide what it is you will change about your life right now. Don't click out of my blog today and go about your normal activities. I would like you to think for a few minutes about how you could make a simple change that will make a difference to your life. Then I want you to do it. It could be as simple as "I will sweep the floor instead of vacuuming.", "I will stop procrastinating and will go and plant those tomato seeds right now.", "I will walk to work.", "I am going to write up a budget.", "I will start collecting materials for my compost.", "I will make morning tea and ask my partner to join me.", "I will cook tonight's meal from scratch", "I will stop nagging and start encouraging.", "I will think about what values I want to live by." or "I will spend more time with my family." Whatever it is, whatever commitment you make right now, carry it out as best you can and make it part of how you live from now on.
Simple living is never fast, it is a small steps process. But over the months and years to come, by adding one thing at a time, by changing how you see yourself and others, by doing your best, by taking responsibility for yourself, by slowing down and becoming the person you know yourself to be, you will change your life and be happier for it.
