Starting a more simple life

I received a comment on my last post from Kellylynn who wants to know how she can start living a more sustainable, simple life. This is part of her comment:

I'm 45 yrs.old. We are a one income family, have no savings, pantry's not stocked. Living pay-check-to-pay-check. We do own our home and have almost a 1/4 of an acre to work with. I long to help us live a sustainable, simple life. Comfortably prepped for growing old. But I feel so overwhelmed with where to even start. Feeling short on time and upset for not beginning so much earlier in life. Will your book(s) help with steps on where to start coming from zero? If so, which should I start with?

You start with NOT buying my books. Stop all spending. From now on buy only essential items. You should only spend on food and transport. If you absolutely need clothing or shoes, yes, but within reason.  That's all I'll say on money at the moment, I'll get back to it later when we discuss your budget.

Kellylynn, there are no set rules about starting or living your simple life. Every person and every family is unique.  I can give you some general suggestions but you must customise those suggestions to suit your circumstances and allow you to make a start that will be meaningful and relevant.  The best way is to start with what is urgent. That could be debt payments, learning how to create a budget, decluttering, organising your home, starting a garden or, in your case, house maintenance.  If you have spare cash, make sure your home is in good repair and if you have to replace part of the roof, find the cheapest materials you can, or look for recycled materials.

Home maintenance is an important part of simple life.  Generally our homes are about security, safety and a sense of familiarity and comfort but they're also our largest purchase so it's vital to look after them. If you do ongoing maintenance, a bit at a time, you don't get to the point of having to repair or replace. Some of us will live in our homes for many years and possible until the end, others will need their home to be in good repair because you may decide to sell and move elsewhere.

Then, make a list of the following ...

• look at your family life and work out if you have specific needs you have to plan for
• work out what is important to you
• identify what you don't want to change as well as those things you're longing to change
• identify a few easy things you can do now

You probably won't find one big change that will make a big difference.  It will be a series of small things.  And that's good because they're easier and your transition will be gradual instead of overwhelming.

On a daily basis, what you're trying to do is to modify and simplify your daily tasks. Try to make as much as you can at home - laundry liquid, soap, bread, jams, preserves, sauces, biscuits and cakes.  If you can do that, you'll not only save a lot of money, you'll also significantly reduce the preservatives, artificial additives and harmful chemicals you have on your home.

What does simple mean?

Other things to look at include:

Are you wasting too much food? Start menu planning, set up a stockpile, stop shopping so often, clean out your fridge and pantry and start from scratch. Shopping link here.  Stockpiling link.

Do you want to buy organic food and can't afford it? If you have a back yard, start setting up a vegetable garden. I shop for fresh and local over organic - it's fresher, it supports your local community and usually it's cheaper.  Food link.

Stop buying disposables. Start knitting or crocheting cotton dishcloths that can be washed and reused over and over again. Look on YouTube for videos showing how to knit.  This is the most simple kind of knitting and it doesn't really matter if you make a few mistakes when you start, your dishcloths will still be useable.

Expect your family to help. Teach the children how to cook and do certain chores, and expect them to be done every day. This teaches them that they're an important part of your family and not just special princes and princesses that have everything done for them.  Growing up knowing how to look after yourself is a gift, but they won't know that until much later.

You have to organise your money. You're in the fortunate position of owning your home. No mortgage, that's a massive bonus! Now you have to make the most of it.  Start by tracking what you spend. Here is an old post of mine about how to do that.  This is a post about changing your attitude to money. You should read it.  When you've tracked your money for a month and you're thinking about money in a different way, it's time to create a budget. Here is a link to show you how to do that.  Money is not the most important part of life but it's something that impacts a lot of what you do, so you have to know what you have, what you owe and what you can save. When you have control of your money, you'll gain an understanding of how to spend wisely and save for tomorrow and your future. I hope you'll be able to save some money and start putting it aside to build an emergency fund.

Go over all your bills, such as utility, phone, internet, insurance etc. and see if you can get a better deal.  This is something you can do every year or two and if you do your research well and put a polite proposal to the companies you deal with, you might be surprised at the savings you can make. Link to living on one income.

Simple living is as much about feeling comfortable, happiness, respect and kindness as it is about good bread, growing food and being productive. Don't try to be perfect, just do your best. If you can say that you did your best every day, you're on the right track. Nothing will change quickly, but keep going and when you look back, you'll notice changes, you'll realise you've been changed and you can prepare to go into the future, continuing to take these small, but significant, steps.

ADVICE AND SUPPORT NEEDED
Kellylynn is homeschooling two of her children and I know there are many homeschooling parents here. I hope you're able to offer her some support and advice about future resources and curriculum.  I'd also love our regular readers here to share the tips and tricks that help you live the way you do. If we can give Kellylynn useful advice, things that are tried and true and work on a daily basis, we'll have another family living the good life.

Kellylynn, I've added a lot of links here so you have something to explain each concept. I hope you have time to read them and start making your own plan.  I've been writing here for 11 years so I think I've covered just about every subject I could think of.  Just search the blog from the search bar if you want more reading.  I hope this gets you thinking about what your life can be. I wish you the very best and hope a bright new future is about to open up for you.