Another weekend ahead for us to enjoy. I hope your week has been a productive one and you're ready for some rest and relaxation. Thanks for all the wonderful comments this week. I often want to reply as they come in but lack of time and not wanting to be on the internet too long prevents me. But please know they frequently make me nod my head and smile.

I've had a big week here too, doing three talks about simple life at our local libraries where I met quite a few readers. It's great to be able to put faces and personalities to the names I see here. The talks continue in the following weeks; I have nine altogether.

Enjoy your weekend. I'll see you again next week.

"Change, he says, is going to come from “people at the bottom” doing things differently." from Wendell Berry, American Hero

It's perfectly clear that we're not all the same. We're different ages, with children and without, married, single, straight and gay. And within all those differences, there are the personal preferences we all have. So given all that, why would there be only one way to live a simple life. The truth is there is probably a version of it for everyone who wants to live it.

This is the question I'm asked more often that any other. How do I start to live a simple life? I can't tell you that, no one can. This way of life doesn't follow a formula, that's one of the beauties of it. But even if I can't tell you how to start, I can help you get started. Take some time out by yourself and:

What you're trying to do is to find happiness in your daily life by modifying the simple and ordinary things you do everyday. Some of the things that will help you do that is to: cut back on your spending and identify what you need as opposed to what you want; pay off debt; cut harmful chemicals from your food and from whatever you bring into your home; home produce what you can; respect the land you live on; try to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses you're responsible for; become a part of your neighbourhood and community. There will be other things that are important to you, but those I listed are often a part of everyone's list.

More than anything else, I am a mother and a worker. Shane and Kerry were 20ish, about to leave home to build their own lives, and although I'd continue being a mother, that hands-on parenting part of my life was over. What was left was a worker so I guess it made sense to return to the work taught to me by the person who gave me my working class values. My mother showed me the true value of work, and through that, how to be reliable, punctual and ambitious. Now that I look back, I think she must have almost given up on me many times because I was the worst student. However, I did remember most of what she taught me and when I needed it most, a few years after she had died, I remembered how to create a home and look after it.

Thanks Mum.


Luckily Hanno is a worker too and with him at my side, I wanted to create a workable system that would allow us to retire. I wanted us to leave paid work but to continue working to grow and home produce whatever was possible. I didn't want to be self-sufficient. I knew that was impossible with the amount of land we had, and our ages. Besides, I didn't want to isolate us, I wanted to be part of a community, helping when I could and being helped when we needed it.  Self-reliance was my aim. I wanted to take back the power that advertising and shops had over me and become independent again.

When I told Hanno my plan, he thought I'd taken leave of my senses.  Plan B - back to stealth mode.


By the time I mentioned it again, a few months had passed by, the kids were gone and although I was still taking the same amount of money out of the bank for housekeeping, I wasn't spending it. With my new method of shopping, home production, increased fruit, vegetables and eggs from the backyard, I was spending a fraction of what I used to spend. Hanno was out working at the shop every day so he didn't know what I was doing. When I showed him the savings, he started believing that maybe we could do this. A few months later he closed the shop and joined me at home.


When all this was happening I hadn't heard of simple living and it was only when I went online to research thrift and the frugal lifestyle that I discovered it was a real movement. I started reading books that I bought from America but I was disappointed that the way I was living this life wasn't mention in those books. My life was centred on work in the home and backyard and how that could support a simple life. I realised that I had to make my own rules and eventually I'd start writing about what I was doing. And that is how our lives have evolved since then - if it fit into our life and suited our values, we did it. We found that one thing would lead us to the next and by following that road less travelled, we discovered what worked for us, true happiness and each other. Again.

Changing your mindset is the most difficult part of changing. You have to be convinced that what you're doing is right and even though it involves a lot of changes, it will benefit you in the long run. I have no doubt that we can only change ourselves. You can't make anyone else change. We can show others what is possible but it is up to them to be convinced and to change themselves.  Giving up $200 haircuts for $25 haircuts and $800 dollar handbags for homemade tote bags takes strength and commitment but it's doable and it will help you with the other changes that follow. Actually, I think those changes are the easy ones, it's committing to daily change that can be difficult because you have to make that commitment every day. Happily, those daily tasks soon become habits and start to form your simple life.

Tomorrow - how to start living simply if you're 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5 years younger than Rhonda. :- )

So far we've gone through listing our values and working out what our priorities are, claiming our home and some of the financial matters that might concern us and help us live within our means. Today I'd like to talk about my next step towards simplicity. And I'd like to remind you again that I don't expect anyone to live as I live, I'm not saying that what we do here is the right way, or the only way, it's just how we did it ten years ago and how we continue to live right now. I hope you'll add a comment about your early days too.

When I closed down my business, I was burnt out and I guess I was stressed. I didn't know it then but  now that I look back I see the signs. In those first few days of being at home, after years of working hard and being raised in a working class family where work was what we did, I floundered. If work had defined my life, what was I supposed to do now? What would happen if I didn't earn my keep?

I began a new phase of life. I woke up in the morning and got my family organised. Hanno was working in a little shop we owned in Montville, Shane was at university studying environmental science and Kerry was an apprentice chef. And then there was me. Me alone in this house that I'd never really thought of as a home. I love the land here, that is what made me fall in love with being here, but my home felt alien to me.

I'd never really kept house like my mother and grandmother had but I remembered what they did and I started doing that, mainly because I had nothing else to do. After a couple of days, I decided there were a few things I could change. I started enlarging the vegetable patch and decided we needed more chickens. I also changed a few of the spaces in the kitchen and laundry because they were quite difficult to work in. Those changes made a difference to how I worked and how I felt about working. It started to feel good, I was beginning to see a purpose.

There was a slow, gentle pace that helped me eased my way through those early days and even though I'd lived there for a few years, I felt like I'd just moved in. I was seeing everything with new eyes and I liked what I saw and how it made me feel. All of a sudden, new possibilities opened up and those possibilities were as exciting to me as any big contract I won when I was running my business. I could see freedom and independence ready for the taking and all I had to do to claim it was to work in my home with the same energy that I used to work for money. I'd still get paid for the work I did but my payment would be better than money, I'd be rewarded with satisfaction, opportunity and self-determination.

In those first couple of weeks, I realised that if I could make the most of the money we had and what Hanno was making in the shop, we'd be fine. A saved dollar was worth more than a dollar earned because we didn't pay tax on those saved dollars. Every dollar we made was taxed about 30 percent, so it was worth 70 cents. Every one of our saved dollars was worth one dollar. It was so clear to me, saving what we had was the key.


I realised the modern way of housekeeping, cooking and buying everything we needed cost a lot more than it did when I was younger. And the increased cost wasn't only because of the passing years, it was because thrifty ways of cooking and efficient systems had been replaced by convenience. I thought about that while I was working in my home, I thought about it while I sat on my verandah with a cup of tea. I decided I would examine the work I did in my home and change everything I could that would cut the cost of living.

So there we were, living on the Sunshine Coast, about to move into the 21st century and I was planning on returning to a slower pace and a gentler time. I was about to reinvent myself as a housewife! I kept it quiet though. My family and friends already thought I'd lost it when I closed down my business, how could I tell them that I wanted to make myself and all of them happy with hot bread, warm soup, fresh eggs and vegetable gardens. No, in those first few months, I had to kept this a secret. I went into stealth mode and started developing a plan.

... to be continued.

In addition to the challenge, I'd like to talk about paying off debt today. If you have more than one debt - maybe a couple of credit cards, a car loan and a mortgage, or something similar to that, I think using the snowball method will help you pay that debt off. Dave Ramsey is credited with coming up with the snowball method but there is a very good example of it on Wikipedia here.

I know, because I've done it myself, how difficult it is to pay off debt. It goes on for years. I think the trick is to keep looking for different ways to pays it off so you feel like you've got control of it and you're doing something. So all these little bits and pieces take your mind off the length of time it takes and focuses you on all the small ways there are to pay it back.

Don't forget it's always a good thing to start a change jar and collect your change at the end of the day. I have about $100 in my change jar at the moment but one of my sons outdid that. He deposited $500 from his change jar last week. He's been collecting it in a big tin for about six months. The good thing about this way of saving is that you don't really miss it and unless you break into it and spend it, it's a great way of saving a few tidy amounts that can either go into your savings account or to make an debt payment.

Go back to your tracking records too and see what non-essential spending you're willing to give up. That can be added to your debt payments. It's really satisfying to see the amounts you owe go down every month. The banks don't want you to do it, because it means much less interest for them, but you can do this, it will make a real difference to your life, so stick with it.

As you're paying off your credit cards, the bank might write you a lovely letter saying you're such a good customer they're raising your credit limit. RESIST! Write back and thank them, but ask that the limit is reduced instead. That will make a difference too - you'll feel in control of your money. When the cards are paid off, I think it's a good management strategy to keep one card - the one with with smallest interest rate and get rid of the rest. Interest rates and how they're applied vary in each country so it's a good thing to google your local interest rates and see how much they are.  Here is an extra payment calculator which vividly shows how much difference extra payments make. Here are a number of different calculators set to Australian rates. Have a play around with them with different repayments and times and I'm sure you'll be surprised at how much difference some changes can make.

Of course, it is you who has to put in the effort here. I can talk about it till the cows come home but if you're the one with the debt, it is up to you to make that first step towards accelerating your payments. There is only so much time you can sit in front of your computer and think about making a difference  at some point you either have to do it, or decide that you can't and be okay with that.

What have you done with your own loans? If you have some ideas on ways to pay back loans, please share them in the comments section.

Morning tea with opa.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!

We'll continue our simple living series on Monday when I'll have a challenge for everyone. I think it will make you see money in a new light. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

It will take at least a month to get an accurate idea of what you're spending on non-essentials. It's worthwhile putting the time and effort in to do it though because it will give you real figures to work with instead of guessing it and being wrong. When you're dealing with your money, you need to work with reliable figures. And for that reason, I encourage you to be truthful, no matter what that truth is. You also have to be thoughtful and kind. If you're doing this exercise with your partner and one or both of you have been overspending, blaming each other does no one any good. Start your budgeting in a positive frame of mind, agree that there will be no blame, you're doing something about your financial situation and that's the important thing.

Now you're ready to take control of your finances and you do that by creating your own budget.

To create a budget, you have to know all your annual expenses. If you have access to last year's bills you're in a good position. You need to know how much you spend on internet, phones, TV, electricity, water, rates, rent/mortgage, insurance, health, education, clothes, food, petrol, entertainment, pets, gardening and anything else you pay for during the year - either once or many times.

On a piece of paper or a spread sheet, work out what your categories are and list them according to whether they're paid in cash or in response to an invoice or bill. You'll have three lists:

1. what you pay for services like insurance, phone, electricity etc.
2. items you pay for in cash - groceries, petrol etc.
3. a third list of items you don't need every month but still have to put money aside for

When you make up your lists, you'll need to work out how much you spend every year on each of these items, then divide that amount by 12 to give you a monthly figure to put aside. You don't have to have a monthly budget, set your up according to how you are paid. If it's monthly, do a monthly budget. If it's fortnightly, do up a fortnightly budget - for this you'd add up your yearly expenses and divide them by 26, because you'll be paid 26 times a year. If you get paid weekly, divide your yearly amounts by 52.

Tracking your spending
Now, why did you track your spending? When you write out your budget you may find you don't have enough money to cover your expenses. If that happens, go to your tracking records and see what you spent on non-essential spending. Hopefully, that will cover your budget short fall. If it doesn't you'll have to reduce what you're spending in other areas so you can live within your means. Look at items such as groceries - maybe you can cut ten dollars from that. Look at phone bills. Do you need an expensive phone? Do you need a phone at all? Look at entertainment, you may have to cut down on that until you get your budget sorted out.

For example - your list may be similar to this or different. 

Monthly bills

Monthly Cash

Extras are not needed every month, but money has to be put aside to pay for these items:

When you have your three lists you'll need:

• money in the bank to pay your bills
• cash in hand to buy groceries, petrol etc
• either money in the bank or cash to pay for your extras

I'm tired today, too tired to write anything sensible, so I'll leave our budget post until tomorrow.  Yesterday Hanno and I took the day off and wandered around Brisbane, ending up at the State Library. We'd been invited to attend a function to celebrate the books published by Queensland authors last year. The Minister for the Arts Ian Walker was there along with about 150 authors, readers, librarians and members of the Queensland Writers Centre. We got home around 8, I think I was asleep at 8.30pm. 

Photos above taken last night at the State Library.

Today I'll organise the workshop bookings and send out another email to those of you who have booked. I'll take some time this afternoon to do a general cleanup, and now that the rain has stopped, check out the garden.  See you tomorrow!

Let's talk about money today, specifically how we spend our money. Most of us know how much money we make in a month but very few of us know exactly how much we spend, or on what. When I first started taking control of my money and had to make every penny stretch as much as I could, I found that tracking my money was the best way to discover two important things:

1. what I was spending my money on;
2. what my non-essential spending was.

How to track your spending

Every time you go out - every . time - record exactly what you spend and on what. You can do that in a number of ways:

1. Take a small notebook and pen with you and write it down as you spend.
2. Collect every receipt and when you come home, add them up and record the totals.
3. Use a smartphone app. The one for Australians on the government's Moneysmart website is very good. You can download it here. The data you enter into your phone can later be transferred to an Excel spreadsheet. It also allows you to set your limit and will track as you go and show you where you are in relation to your limit. You can download My Spending for Android phones here or Expense Tracker for iPhone and iPad here.

Sandy made a good point in her comment the other day when she said: We saved and budgeted hard years ago and cleared the mortgage. That is what helped us to live 'easier' now. But easier doesn't mean you give up 'simple'...it makes living 'simply' easier!  That hit the nail on the head for me and it helps to clarify the point that simple life isn't only about frugality and paying off debt. Money isn't, and shouldn't be, the main focal point of life. However, if you have debt it will stop you living the life you want because your efforts will be directed towards paying off your debt instead of living your life fully. Debt reduction and not gaining more debt is part of simple life, but it's just one of many parts that make up how we live.

Hanno and I bought our home on a 20 year mortgage and paid that mortgage off in eight years. Had  we still been in debt when I realised I was burnt out and wanted to stop work, I would not have been able to do what I did. I would have continued working until it was paid off. Luckily we were debt-free, so I had the self-indulgent luxury of giving up work to find a better way to live.

Hanno took control of our debts from day one of our mortgage. He paid the mortgage fortnightly instead of monthly and we paid extra payments whenever we had spare cash. Now that I look back, it wasn't easy but it was much easier than stretching it out to pay over 20 years and, as a consequence, paying so much more in interest payments. By knuckling down to pay that mortgage off fast, we literally saved ourselves tens of thousands of dollars.

You have to be strong to do something like that but I have to tell you I didn't feel strong while we did it. I only recognised our fortitude and strength much later, with the benefit of hindsight. Imagine this: we're both working hard, we have a young family, we're living in an isolated town to maximise our earning potential and friends ask us to to join them and their family for a weekend on a tropical island. It took guts to say no, but that's what we did. It was with trepidation at first but later it got easier. We didn't always say no to invitations but we did it enough to make a financial difference. Over those years we did take our boys off on camping trips, on a trip to Tasmania and to see our national capital - Canberra. But we also focused on our debts and paid them off. When we saw that debt total slowly decrease, it became easier and we knew we were doing the right thing. We didn't realise then what I know now - that paying off debt lifts the weight of the world from your shoulders and gives you the luxury of freedom.

And you never know what that freedom will be used for. It could be for an early "retirement" such as mine, to cut back full-time work to part-time to have more time for the family, it could be to divide your time between work and study. It could be anything. The important thing is that freedom and independence it will be there waiting there for you too.

Tomorrow we'll talk about various strategies you can use to pay off debt.  In the meantime, I'd love you to share your thoughts with us on paying off debt.

The end of another week and time to take it easy for a couple of days. I hope you have that opportunity too. We'll come back stronger for it next week. On Monday we'll continue with our series and start with an important subject, budgeting. Thank you for your comments this week, as usual, they add a lot to what I'm writing about. I hope you have a lovely weekend.  xx

These two photos were taken at the Beerwah CWA rooms when I had my recent talk there. The top photo shows the vintage tea cups waiting to be filled with morning tea and the table cloth is a hand embroidered cloth showing the branch members names. The pineapple embroidery depicts an important local crop - pineapples. So sweet.

Why I haven't been flying much. David Holmgren

Kate at Purple Pear gave me Cecelia Macauley's name as one who has been writing about applying permaculture principles to our homes. Here is her blog.

Don't mess with the knitters

How to enjoy a food market

25 predictions for a future world

Hettie Brown