A Simple(r) Life is Calling Me

[AmyBoz]

I'm not really sure how to put what I've been feeling into words. For quite some time now, months, I guess, I've been feeling a real desire/want/inkling/need to change the way we do things around here. I'm not talking about quitting my job or homeschooling my kids. Nothing extreme. However, I just feel a need to really simplify and become more self-sufficient around here.

I had mentioned the desire to start a garden. I'm still researching this. Don't quite know where or how or when to start, but I do know that it is more than a passing interest.

I've been freecycling things away like crazy in an effort to pare down. We don't have a lot of knick-knacks or unused items in the house to begin with, but I've been taking a serious look at what we do have and trying to just pare down. Less to take care of, less to have to look at...just simpler.

I've been doing a great job of cooking all of our meals, and have been enjoying the cooking a bit more than I used to. I am enjoying looking at new recipes and doing more cooking from scratch. I've always made homecooked, scratch meals, but I've been making other things as well and it's been fun.

I'm knitting my daughter and my mother scarves for Christmas in an effort to spend less and make my gifts more personal. They aren't very good, but I am hopeful that I'll get better as I go and that they'll just be pleased that they are receiving something that I made.

Again, I don't know how to put words to what I'm hoping to do. I enjoy my modern comforts...my washer, my dishwasher, my tv, dvd player, the Wii, my laptop and internet service, the VILLAGE! However, I think that what I'm looking for is a balance between this life and the life that I read about many of you leading. (I'm not looking to cull roosters, freyadog!)

I don't know...maybe I've been watching too much Little House on the Prairie. Maybe 36 is the magic age for me wanting a change. My daughter is in on it with me, as she asked the other night if we can start doing more things like the Ingalls did. Dh might be more of a fight, but again, I'm not looking to flip-flop our whole lives...just start small and move to medium.

Thanks for listening, since there really was no point. Just wanted to get this all out.

[Russ]

I can help you with this part.

I had mentioned the desire to start a garden. I'm still researching this. Don't quite know where or how or when to start, but I do know that it is more than a passing interest.

Start by reading some gardening books, make a plan but keep it on a small scale at first. Lets say a couple of tomato plants, a pepper plant, radishes, maybe a row of beans etc...

I would suggest a raised bed about 4'X8' filled with good quality soil/compost. You can get a lot in a bed, requires minimal effort and NO rototiller because you will never walk in it. Watering and weeding can be done from both sides and done quickly.

NOTHING beats a fresh tomato while you are still at the garden.

[Darlene]

I think that sounds like a wonderful & sensible thing to do. Finding joy in simple things, everyday things just enriches your life. As you go along you'll see it cross over into every part of your life.
Contentment abounds.
Happy living wished for you and yours Amy! :hug:

[itsahumanzoo]

I feel like I might like a simpler life as well. I'm hoping that we get the opportunity to move north. I want to be able to have a garden as well. I hope you are able to do it!

[Russ]

Angela, How come you can't have a garden? I used to live in Huntington Beach (1979) and we had a garden.

[freyadog]

Amy
I don't know if it is just with age or the way the world is as a whole now but you are not alone in your feelings. I know exactly how you are feeling. I'm in the same mode.

It's not easy to put the way you feel down on paper or through a keyboard. There is just so much going on inside. I suppose in my mind I want everything around me and what comes in contact with me more...for lack of a better word peaceful. When my chickens get in an uproar I walk around saying Peace and Harmony. Peace and Harmony.

I think that the times has really alot to do with the way all of our minds are working at the moment. What if.....is always there at the front whether we realize it or not. I want things to calm down. Just be quiet. Stop. Level out....Whether or not it is here in my community or a thousand miles away. Just be still.....

I don't know if I have made myself clear or not the way my feelings are running amuck at the moment or not. As before its hard to put down in writing the turmoil inside.

I dont know if I hav

[itsahumanzoo]

Unfortunately, I live in a one bedroom apartment with a tiny back porch. It doesn't get very good sun because there is a balcony directly above it, and the car ports are right in front of it. Plus, the porch is closed in by a solid wall. Wherever we do end up moving after our lease is up, I want to make sure that there is somewhere for a garden.

[blitzen]

I don't know...maybe I've been watching too much Little House on the Prairie. Maybe 36 is the magic age for me wanting a change.

I *always* find that after reading LHOTP, I long for simplicity. You are not alone!

[Mom23boys]

Amy, I know a little of what you are feeling. I do not want to give up the washer, dryer, dishwasher, internet, etc. either, but I do want to live a simpler life by cooking more from scratch, making homemade cleaners, etc.

Maybe it is just a sign of the times or maybe it is because we get so much influence from the other Villagers. I know that I try a lot of new things because of the suggestions here.

I wish you luck on your path to find a simpler life.

[TheRootedNomad]

Sometimes its good to know we are not alone. Over the past few years I have l-o-n-g-e-d to make things simplier. To really get down to basics. I know that's part of what's led me here as well as kept me here. There are 4 of us that make up this family though and it's only me and the younger of the two boys that are "simplicity" minded. Over the last couple of years I've started slowly changing things that don't really interfear with the two that are more chaotic/go-go/clutter personality types. Occassionally I brave a discussion but am really struggling personally with not being able to scale back as a family much more drastically then we are. The biggest example is with "stuff". My DH and DS#1 are collectors of everything. I could purge down to basics and love it. Its as you said, less to worry about and take care of, much simpiler. There are conviences I wouldn't want to give up as well. There are also those I refuse to bring in the house so that we don't develop a "need" for it. I try to take one step at a time here. A few more things purged one day, time alone another, a new healthy recipe another. This is very different than the fast paced 80+ hour a week go-go-go lifestyle I grew up in on Long Island. I've become very attracted to cutting back even more than I already have.

[JanieD]

I think many of us are longing for a more peaceful life. Maybe its the crazy world around us that pushes us to want simple, calmer, more relaxed homes. I've noticed how much I enjoy my unscheduled weekends... time to sit on the porch & watch the laundry dry on the clothesline (usually I'm reading too). I even enjoy handwashing dishes & such chores when I'm not rushed. Time to be in the moment.

I'm also looking to pare down all my stuff to bring more peace into my home. Need to focus on getting rid of 7 a week... baby steps to help me let go of my clutter since I like knick knacks & such. Love reading how others are finding more life with less stuff... Very Inspiring!

[FrugalMomof3]

Ho weird that I have been feeling like that as well. I have been doing alot of "giving" things away that I feel I dont need and wanting to live more off of what we have than what we need, KWIM?

I do have a lot of non Ingall's days items like you with the Wii, tv, electricity, etc... but I too want to live within my means ... I dont mind holding a candle walking through the house to see at night or not having an air conditioner, if the Ingall's did it so can WE!

Another weird thing is I too will be 36 in 1 week and 1 day... coincidence? IDK but I am with you on this one.

[dancar3]

It's crazy how this thread was just started because I started having these same exact feelings yesterday. We got our first real clothesline yesterday and I'm ecstatic....how dorky am I?? I couldn't wait to wash some laundry and hang it up outside and pull the rope and put some more on the line. We decided to get one when I did a little test yesterday to start the dryer and see how fast the meter went around and then I stopped the dryer and saw how the meter about came to stand still. I've been outside kinda admiring my container garden too but I'm having some problems trying to figure out if I am over or under watering. Also, I've been out in our pool (preDave days), something I haven't enjoyed in a few years, and swimming for the past few days. Anyway you are not alone and it feels great doesn't it? I am so glad that we are discovering how much better it feels when life can be made simple.

[Marie78]

This is a great thread. I had such an overwhelming feeling in the car today, like a hamster stuck on a wheel. I was running errands on my lunch hour (because I was out of town all weekend). Then 2 hours after my lunch errands I was back out on the road headed to my dentist appt. (2 teeth filled).

I just turned 30 this year and I was put on high blood pressure medicine last month and it's not helping yet (probably need a different kind or higher dosage). I also had a car accident and I am still having physical therapy from the back pain I developed as a result. I work full time and between physical therapy appts (2 a week) and 3 dentist appts. this month and at least 2 Dr's. appts. this month I am ready to get off the hamster wheel.

I can't keep up with myself. I am coming and going and I don't even have kids yet, I should be relaxing right now! I find myself gasping for air sometimes and I am pretty sure it's anxiety related, because I can't turn off my head. My doctor wants me to lose weight to help with the blood pressure and that involves walking only at this point, as all other sports are out of the question until after my physical therapy starts helping my back. I've been trying to walk on my lunch hours at work, when I don't have an appt. to attend. I have also tried going for a walk in the evening after making dinner, but I'm so tired by that time. Some days around 3pm I know my body would appreciate a nap and a slower pace of life. I would probably lose the weight and have lower blood pressure if I could just feel a sense of calm somewhere in my life.

My plants and my cats help, but I need to carve out a chunk of me time somehow, my running around lifestyle is making me feel worse and age quicker than I should. Even walking and watering the plants both seemingly relaxing activities feels more like something to "get through" or endure until I can go onto the next task. I should be enjoying most parts of my life, and somehow the enjoying gets lost in the doing.

[tabithapatrick]

I have been feeling the same thing for some months now. After baby three, I have been getting rid of almost everything that we just don't use, and finding joy in small things...swinging on the swing in our back yard while kids play for example. I've also started a garden, and since my mother never taught me to cook, I've been teaching myself how to cook from scratch. I love Little House, and they and the amish always make me yearn for things to be much simpler.