Voluntary Simplicity

I have gotten very interested in the Voluntary Simplicity movement of late, and have been doing research into it. Very interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_living

Not saying I'm ready to give away my house and live out of a bus or anything ... but for the last few years I have indeed been asking, "Is this it? This is what I worked for, for so long?" I kind of feel stuck ... trapped by everything I own and am responsible for. Does that make any kind of sense to anyone, or do I just need a chocolate and a Prozac?

Wondering if anyone else on PT is interested in and/or participating in Voluntary Simplicity, to any degree?

In some ways I want to simplify things.

Wood stove, solar water heater (in the summer) wood stove water heater in the winter, in floor heat from the wood stove. I live in a fairly windy so a windmill to generate electricity would be nice to keep my bills down would be nice. If I had a stream or river nearby Ild look into a hydro generator.

Ild like to limit useage of the electric grid but also limit my usage of heating oil or natural gas if its ever available on my street. Heating with wood is much cheaper and is a renewable resource. Using solar panels to heat water is completely free if done right, minus the initial expense.

While Ill simplify parts of my life I do want to keep my computors, interweb, and digital entertainment.

Or am I misunderstanding the topic.

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Originally Posted by blue

Or am I misunderstanding the topic.

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Nope, you got it. :)

I think it would be wonderful to someday live in a house completely off the energy grid ... solar, wind and a well! I especially think this when I pay the natural gas or electric bill. :mad:

I think I already am.. I could have bought a lot bigger house but figured when I retire, I wouldn't be able to afford to heat/cool it. I live simply, always have. I am not one that NEEDS to have bigger, better and finer, there is no one I need to impress. I prefer to have what I have paid for instead of living fine and owing everybody.

Most of the clothes in my closet came from used stores, my house is energy efficient so my month to month costs are pretty low.

I know completely what you think- I sometimes wonder if we could not all work less and have more time. We buy cars and buy another one some years later and the old one is still good. One of the problems of the car industry now is that there are too many nicely running cars in the world- nobody needs new ones.
I have enough clothes to be decently dressed for half a century.
But still- we have 6000 books at home and it feels very difficult to resist nr. 6001.
I know that when I was a child the grown-ups had more time, time to walk home amd have lunch at home, time to play with kids, time to work in the garden, time to make home-made jam and bake cakes.
But on the other hand I read a book now about East end London and in the 18th centuries, the dockers worked 16 hours, some of them in wheels (like human hamsters) which operated the cranes- so I think our rat race is still less cruel than that.
This is the first time in history that someone with my family background (miners, farmhands, small farmers) and who is female can go to university, have friends in the US whom she meets regularly and have a not-so-simple job and interests.
But yes- I like the idea of voluntary simplicity. It would be great if we could sit together in discuss it in more detail :)

I often feel this way, especially around Christmas time. I get so tired of being told by companies that the only way I will lead a happy life is by buying or receiving one of their products. Life would be easy if one could really find fulfillment from buying a $10 Old Navy sweater...it all seems a bit ridiculous. Especially when many people seem to buy just to buy.

It's easy to get caught up in accumulating stuff, but it's something I try to be mindful of. Now that I am having a baby, I am conflicted in many ways about what to buy and how much to buy, because I already feel like my unborn baby is a consumer-in-training. Go into a baby store and you will see what I mean- anything you could possibly want and more, and you are told you are a bad parent if you don't have it or want it.

So, do we need a chocolate and a prozac? Possibly. :) But I know how you feel and I agree that it would be nice if our society didn't place so much importance on stuff. I don't want to live like a monk, but I do think living more simply is a good thing.

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Originally Posted by blue

Wood stove, solar water heater (in the summer) wood stove water heater in the winter, in floor heat from the wood stove.

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I love my wood stove :D it heats the house wonderfully and it's great to curl up in front of, just ask the dogs :p . We just cut a tree down, split it and hauled it back to our wood shed. I can't wait for it to dry out so I won’t have to buy wood any more!

A lot of people here use Solar panels and I think that is a wonderful idea. As far as living simply, I do not have TV or internet access at my house by choice. I walk everywhere but work because it's normally too cold for my once-upon-a-time Atlanta Georgia blood to walk the half hour home at night. Once it becomes summer and we have sun shine all the time I plan to cut out my car completely. Basically I would say since moving here I've learned to live more simply, wood heating, no TV, no internet and basically no car.

Ashley

I've been trying to live in simplicity for a few years now.

Honestly, I get more than a little disturbed by how much weight some people put on physical possessions. Through the beauty of financial aid, I am able to go to a swanky-ish private school, one where a vast majority of the kids are absolutely ignorant about finances and money. And being around these folks has made me astoundingly aware of my own personal finances and the true value of living in simplicity. I'm also a bit of a eco-nut, so I espouse recycling, reusing, and reducing.

Though I definitely feel a societal pressure to buy material objects and utilize fashion and clothes as symbols of how well I "fit in" with my peers, I've really divorced myself from that mindset and that naivete. Especially with my age, I often liken simplicity with maturity :) Maybe it's just my odd justification for why I don't follow trends LOL

Edit: But, hey, if you need a Prozac, Ivy has a 3-month supply! ;)

I find this subject to be really neat. :)

People tend to poke fun of me for being a minimalist. They think that because I don't have my life stockpiled with meaningless things means that I am just stingy with money. Really, I just don't like having a lot of possessions to keep up with.

I am interested to stepping this up a notch once I get out of college and get a place of my own.

Thanks for your replies, everyone.

I really started thinking about this when my father passed away in February. It was, far and away, the most horrific loss and emptiness I have ever experienced. I had to clean out his house and get rid of his lifetime of possessions, and it was so incredibly difficult. He really didn't buy a lot of things at any one time, but he never got rid of anything, literally. Every item my parents ever purchased since they bought their house in 1961 was still there. It was daunting, to say the least. And, every day I spent looking at all the things he accumulated, then came home to all the things I had accumulated in my house ... and none of it mattered. All the "stuff" we both spent so much time working to afford - none of it could bring back my daddy. That time would have been so much better spent going for a walk together, or going fishing.

So I started getting rid of stuff in my house I don't need. I thought I didn't really have a lot of stuff - I've never been much of a shopper - but it was surprising how much I actually did have. Surprising and disheartening. But I'll tell you, every item that I donated to charity felt a little bit lighter and more free. My husband thinks I'm nuts ... he is Mr. Acquisition. On an almost daily basis, he talks about what he wants to buy .... a new car, a motorcycle, a camper, a boat, a bigger house, etc. I am leaning the exact opposite direction.

I wanted to say first, Twister, I'm so sorry for the loss of your Dad.

But Wow, I love this topic. I've kind of been going through these thought processes, too.

This past fall, we had our roof re-done, and the contractors left us with a HUGE garbage dumpster that was less than 1/3 full. They told us we could fill it as much as we wanted for the same price. I hauled through this house, and we filled that baby up. We have been married just 10 years, and i couldn't believe some of the stuff that we kept! :rolleyes: So ever since then, everytime I go 'shopping', i always think about that, and it has changed my thinking sooo much. "Is this going to end up in the attic or a closet? Does it have a purpose? How long will I use it for? Will it end up in the dumpster?" And 9/10 times I don't buy whatever the item is.

We have so much STUFF. It feels so great to be getting to a place where I know what I have, and it all has a place that it belongs.