How Simply Do You Live?

[Rippin508]

I got this idea from another forum. I chose to post it in the "Green Living" section because the things I am doing to live simply go hand-in-hand with trying to become more "Green."

In the past few years, I have tried to live a more simple life and at the same time be more Green. To me, living simply is not just about having few possessions, but simplifying my lifestyle. Although having our first child on the way is going to challenge this, but it is a challenge I am looking forward taking on.

I am not a cheapskate by any means, but simple living can save you some money. I do enjoy nice "things," but I make a conscious effort before I buy something and the impact on the environment.

Here are some examples:

* I never have been much of a reader. The few books I have owned I have either sold on Craigslist/yard sales or donated to the local library. The way I see it, the library holds it for me until I want to read it. The "green factor" is that these books stay out of the landfills. Also, I have canceled or not renewed all my magazine subscriptions. This means no more paper being wasted to create a new magazine for me. Plus I can go to the library and read them for free. Also, I have noticed a lot more magazines being available online as a .pdf file.

* I have been slowly paring down my DVD and CD collection. Most of these have been sold or donated. Again the green factor is that these stay out of landfills. We have been using the library to rent DVDs for free. Also, we were given a Netflix subscription as a Christmas gift. So we are saving money and not wasting gas going to Blockbuster every time we wanted to rent a movie.

* We currently own two tvs. Both of these are the old tube style tvs and are starting to show their age. Once they go, we will have them recycled and purchase just one new tv that is much more energy efficient.

* I have never been one to care too much about my wardrobe. If I could have my way I would wear sneakers, jeans and a t-shirt all the time. But with my work I have to dress business casual. I do own one suit. Whenever I but a new piece of clothing, some thing from my closet has to go. The green effect is that the old clothes are either donated or get used as rags. This again limits how much goes to the landfills.

My long term goal is to become a one car family. I would like to find a job that is within biking/walking distance from home or even a telecommuting job. With a child on the way and the job market the way it is, I will wait a little longer before making this leap.

So there are some of my examples on how I am trying to live more simply and at the same time becoming for green.

So I ask you, how simply do you live while becoming more "Green"?

[akolb]

I have a blog about this!! home, life, blog./ Our Little Green…
* I have started hanging our laundry outside to dry
* We are trying to cut back on eating out/grocery shopping so much. We already try to eat less processed food and NEVER buy premade cookies etc...I <3 baking!
* We buy our produce from the farmers market or from organic/free trade grocery stores. We also started a veggie garden.
* I don't waste my time shopping for fun anymore. No more aimlessly driving around to waste money on something we really don't need
* We don't use disposable dishes/utensils or paper napkins and paper towels anymore! I am very proud of this one. Friends are always amazed.
* By next spring we will have our own chickens! Until then, we buy our eggs from local chicken-ers!

Our Earth Day celebration is coming up Sunday and I hope to encourage others to commit to make "one small change" to be more green!

My hope is that living simply will be second nature by the time we have kids!

[baxjul]

We live pretty simply. We stay home more than we go out, which is hardly ever.
We don't buy any paper products, except for TP and tissues.
I make my own cleaners, and soaps.
We eat more fresh food, instead of convenience foods.

[jas]

Great post to get me thinking and on the ball! One thing mentioned is I want a clothes line. Almost every weekend I give the hint to dh. We live in a deed restriced neighborhood and you don't many, if any. My yard is fenced and I don't really think it should be a problem. Just this past weekend I wanted to air out a big comforter and was like if I had a clothes line I could hang it up and it would have that great fresh smell!

I need to evalutate what we do and see how we can do better.

[IntlMom]

great question....

Living simply is simply great!

My favourite tip to "live simply" is to not buy a bunch of "stuff" that will do nothing but fill your house and clutter your life. I like a simple, clean life.

[joyofsix]

Bike or walk as much as possible or batch trips.
Air dry clothes outside or inside on racks.
Grow our own veggies (no chemicals) or buy farmers market.
No paper products except TP.
Use the library for books, papers, cd's and dvd's.
We have 1 TV and 1 computer. We play lots of games/sports outside as a family for entertainment.
We eat at home.

[angelbumpkin]

We do line dry our clothes.
The library is my friend,... I can borrow a lot of books and not have to spend a dime. And I love to read.
The kids have a garden as well. We they love to care for.

We don't eat out. We spend alot of time at near by parks or the beach. We ride our bikes as much as possible and will be at the pool when it opens up.

We take our own snacks and drinks with us when we go places.

Make our own cleaners as well.

I also have a rule for that for everything brought into the house such as clothes or toys an equal amount of old items have to be donated to charity or given to a needy family.

[pollypurebred39]

~We compost
~We garden
~We bring refillable water bottles everywhere we go
~We recylce
~We donate instead of throw away
~We limit electric & oil usage


Of all the things we do, one of the simplest is our favorite. We enjoy the sunset from our breezeway more then going out. We sit and talk about our dreams, the kids, what we had for supper, or just sit quietly sipping our iced tea and enjoying the show. After all no one but God can put on a show like the sunset.

[KeithBC]

Spur-of-the-moment shopping is not an option here, so we save up all our in-town shopping, including groceries, and do it all once every two weeks. We grow our own veggies using compost and rainwater, and buy locally-grown produce whenever possible.

We don't eat out much, the exception being every two weeks when we go to town. Watching movies means mail-order rentals at home. Movies are the only use our TV set gets, because there is no television reception here, and we don't miss it. For entertainment, we read or attend meetings of various volunteer organizations. Whenever there is a concert of any kind at the community hall, we go.

There is no gym here (though a volunteer committee is planning to start one), so for exercise, we walk around the block (the "block being 8.5 km around) or walk to the beach.

We recycle everything we possibly can, and our garbage output is about one bag every two weeks or less. We heat with wood, and we plan to install solar hot water someday.

Okay, some of that requires significant infrastructure (the rainwater collection and the solar, especially) so perhaps that is not "simple", but we are aiming to live a low-impact life as much as possible.

[Teresa T]

Cook more from scratch. Will try to make it to more of the Farmers Markets.

Buy less. I don't really need anything. A little thrift shopping. But I can't seem to stop buying yarn!

I wear scrubs to work so a great wardrobe is not necessary.

I'm home a lot. Can't live without the TV.

Using folding drying racks to dry laundry. Have done this for years. (do put scrubs in the dryer so I don't have to iron them)

Look forward to the day when I don't need a car. That will probably be when I'm fully retired.

Saving as much as I can every month.

[Rippin508]

Great input from everyone. Keep them coming!