Living simply is a way of being that transcends rather then contradicts capitalistic and material needs. It is not a life of deprivation. There are trade off. We trade a nine to five type of job for the freedom to live each moment as it arises.
We concern ourselves with the well-being of humans, the environment and all beings who are in it with us. We have a flexible means of supporting ourselves, doing what we are good at, what challenges us and what we enjoy. We have time to work for peace and justice, time to take a walk, time to volunteer for whatever captures our imagination. Our interaction is based upon respect for one another, taking responsibility for our own needs, and giving loving attention to the needs of others. We delight in the many opportunities to learn that come to us.
Our attitude is evolving into one of great joy and wonder at just living. We sense a harmony and connection with creation and much of the time both transcend the actively seeking of the material and also the active seeking of the nonmaterial.
I have been meaning to rewrite this section for over a year now. My problem is that I don't want to put something out I have to feel that it is ready and I can't seem to do this work well if I don't feel it rising up from that centered space within. This has been eluding me until now.
The surface reality of Ed and my life in regards to living simply has changed dramatically since I first wrote this section. Three years ago we were living in poverty for reasons of conscience. Today we have significantly more. Ed and I still enjoy a simple life; we don't want a fancy car or a bigger house, we haven't taken a costly vacation, we still grow a portion of our food, canning and freezing and we still gather our own heat. Now, however, we are able to significantly contribute financially to promote peace, justice and social concerns--giving away 40% of our gross income/profit. (We don't consider any unsolicited requests.) Robin Hood was right.
One aspect of this is that we contribute heavily to meet needs of people of color as I consider it my debt; a form of reparations. I do fully realize that all I will ever be able to do is give a tiny drop of salve in an ocean of pain, but that doesn't mean it isn't still important. It is my responsibility. A few months ago I had a dream. I was driving along a beautiful country road oblivious to the fact that for ten miles I had been spewing garbage out the back of my truck. I stopped and started to pick it up and realized I would never get it all; it would take too long and much would have blown away. But I went ahead and picked it up anyway, one piece at a time because it was my responsibility and it was important that I make the effort. Just so with racism. Racism (prejudice with power) is one of the principal roots that make this world violent and painful for many. Instead of preserving our way of life we need to be one with the Way of Life. We need to find a way to BE in peace, light and love. Not with longing to have anything. Every end is also a beginning.
I see us at a crossroads of spiritual deliverance; a time when war and poverty are banished where injustice and oppression are no more. This will be a time when one group or ideas does not seek to dominate others, to manipulate a group to do it their way. Each of us will relating to everyone else, regardless of nation, class, race, gender, creed, in the reality that we are all one family, encouraging our uniqueness and meeting each other with total, unconditional love and respect. Where do I find the tiny embers of this potential? Certainly not in our government and not even in a group of committed activists. Rather I see these sparks in every individual when our eyes meet and our smiles beam love, where the only thing that is between us is truth and light. This is the solution, hand in hand and heart to heart. Lets face the morrow with hope, hope not in the peace movement, not in governments or nations but rather hope in the divine Power that is in each of us and that can be awakened to Life renewed.
The rest of this site was written in 1997. Much of the statistical data has changed since then, but it is still useful as a benchmark.
One of the most common unthinking assumptions in our system is that more is better. We are taught to not question the assumption that an increase in our standard of living is a good thing. Eventually we become disconnected from the source of who we really are. We disconnect from each other, we disconnect from our environment, disconnect from the living presence of the Spirit(God).
That which we do not know or understand becomes a threat, a promise of shame, a source of fear. Even worse, what we do know can have the same effect: hardening us, gradually limiting our choice of paths. There once was an advertisement that read -"Some people make the same mistake for years and call it experience."
There is no virtue in poverty. Neither is there any vice. There is also neither virtue or vice in affluence. There is a problem however in the ATTITUDES we carry about poverty and affluence.
Wealth is an arbitrary concept. Most people in the world would consider a person wealthy if they are confident that for the next year, they and their children are not going to starve, have a house that provides some private space for those living in it, have a closet of clothes and shoes, an indoor bathroom and kitchen with stove and refrigerator, a television and telephone.
Most people in the United States would qualify even if they were living below poverty. However. many people in the U.S. do not consider themselves wealthy even if they have not only enough to eat but enough to go out to dinner once a week, have a house with rooms that are rarely use, have clothes and shoes that they discard every year even though they do not have holes. Some of the people who live like this in the first world actually still consider themselves poor.
How much income is enough is actually a question that each person must answer for themselves. One reason it is useful to ask this question is that most people have not considered whether there should be an upper limit to the amount of money they produce and spend. Although (at least at one time) the world's resources were astromonically large, there is in fact a finite amount. Therefore there is an finite amount that each person can have without depriving someone else. Arbitrarily, for us this level is at or below TAXABLE LEVELS.
In order to determine what they really need some people have found it very helpful to set aside one month and keep a list of every single penny that they spend. During this time they don't try to spend more or less just what they would normally do. Then they take a look at what could easily and painlessly be either eliminated or done differently.
Click here to bring up a CHART of what the average person spends per year compared with us. After this is another chart that demonstrates how the average person spends their time. You can fill in your expenses and time and see how your economic life compares with the average. What could you change?
.There are many ways of meeting personal needs besides cash income from a job. Some are taxable and some are not. For instance conserving rather than spending is not taxable. On the other hand barter is taxable. While barter is taxable, gift giving is not (unless gifts exceed $10,000 in value). It might be helpful to define these terms and see how free gifts could be integrated into a new economic system:
Most of us face pressure daily to live on the edge of a financial abyss. Fortunes are created out of thin air for a few because many of us have been convinced to borrow on our future and to gamble with our saving.
We have come to see ourselves as often no more than essential cogs in an economic machine. In one of his first speeches, President Clinton refer to us as consumers rather than as citizens. It is interesting to note that in the thesaurus under consume it says: destroy, demolish, ravage, absorb, occupy, engulf, soak up, eat, ingest, devour, waste, cast away, dissipate, drivel, fritter, squander, throw away, use up, deplete, exhaust and weaken. The dictionary defines consume, in addition to purchasing (goods or services) for direct use or ownership as: 1. To eat or drink up; ingest. 2.a. To expend; use up. 3. To waste; squander. 4. To destroy totally; ravage. 5. To absorb; engross. 6. To be destroyed, expended, or wasted.
Is this how we really want to be identified?
Since many people listen to the radio or television on a almost constant basis, they are hearing advertisements at a rate exceeding twenty-five per hour. Many of these are negative self-image messages that tell us we can be happy but only if we buy a product to enhance our looks, attract the admiration of those around us, improve our health, make our dentures fresher, our dog less fat and our lawns greener. We are told by one means or another, that we should be happier, healthier, wealthier, younger, stronger, braver, prettier, and on and on. Generally the message targets the opposite of what is being pushed or sold. It would have us believe that we are inadequacy in our very nature.
How does this concept translate for someone who has been pushed to the bottom of the pile? We can start by looking at the inner "means" we each have, independent of external factors:
These qualities are attenuated by being part of a society that often does not recognize or value them. However they are real. They are immortal and always redeemable with a little concentration and sometimes a lot of faith and occasionally a bit of counseling. Touch one of these constants and a path will open. Always.
Our problems come from trying to get in touch with these assets through external means. This is the map the power mongers have convinced so many of us is the way to go. They would have us believe that it is not only a fair substitute for reality but reality itself.
Saving money through not expending it in the first place is better than making money and paying taxes on it. It also takes less time to bring a thermos of coffee to work than it does to stop somewhere on the way to buy a Styrofoam cup full. Not only can the quality of the coffee be superior but you can save a dollar or two a day. $5-10 a week is $250-500 a year, before taxes. At a tax rate of 25% that becomes $312.50-625.00 a year.
There are many other ways of saving by not spending. For example, FREE OR LOW-COST COUNSELING is available that do not require spending $80.00 or more per hour.
Generally, in this society today if you want something you make the money necessary to go to a store a buy it. Or, we charge the purchase against what we intend to make in the future. Charging things can be very appealing. It is the ultimate in instant gratification. You want it. You want it now! So, you whip out that little plastic card and viola! It is magical. It is not uncommon for some people in this society to get surprised when it seems like all of a sudden they have credit card bills that have mounted up to tens of thousands of dollars. They have treated that plastic card as if it were a magic wand. Any impulse, any whim and swish they wave their magic wands. They can sink down into sweet luxury and wallow in its embrace in a vain attempt to sooth a deep chasm of an emotional hole. Meanwhile, not only are they paying for what they bought they also pay interest. Paying interest is like flushing money down the toilet; you get nothing in return.
An essential trait for human survival is resourcefulness. Unfortunately this culture not only fails to place value on this trait, it often actively discourages it. We all need to examine how we consume and why. Many people feel that they can feel good about themselves by owning and controlling material possessions, wealth and other people. They visit the mall, go out and buy something when they are feeling bad rather that address the root causes of their distress.
There are alternative ways of getting what you want. First, determine what is is you want. Then figure out why you want it. Is there an emotional component to your desire? Is your self-esteem attached to it? Is there so sort of emotional distress that you are trying to avoid? If so, then it probably won't be satisfied and you will be wasting your resources. Better to take the emotional stuff to a counseling session and use your money to satisfy real needs.
On the other hand, there are times that it can be psychologically useful to indulge yourself. Is this purchase one of those times? If so, and if you can afford it, go for it. Your deserve a little pampering now and again. The trouble come when the pampering or indulgence starts to become routine. Then it is not psychologically useful. That's when we get back into addiction.
So, you've determined that making a purchase is rational; you still have choices. You can go to a store to purchase it or you can open yourself to other possibilities. For example you might be able to make it or it might be given to you. We have found that if we need something and are willing to be patient and open ourselves to the possibility, often it is provided. We have also found that many things are possible for us to make ourselves if we don't accept limited, self-defeating thinking. When we work for ourselves we figure our labor is free.
For example, one winter we decided a corner cupboard would be a good addition to our home. When we priced out the cost of oak at the building supply we were surprised to find a 1" x6"x 6' oak board cost $20! We built a beautiful OAK CUPBOARD for $35-40.00 that would have cost us $400.00 in materials or $600-700.00 retail.
One of the items that we find hardest to detach from is the internal combustion engine. One of the first things that we put our attention on in this regard was the lawn mower. We found an old non-motorized push mower at the dump. It seemed beautifully made. We brought it home, sharpened it oiled it (a most important step) and found that it was actually easy to use. In fact, we found that it was nearly as quick to use as the motorized variety, almost as easy to push, cause no air or noise pollution, easier to stop and start, was low maintenance, and make a cleaner cut than most gas powered ones.
Our CAR though was another story.
Scrounging is, at its simplest, the outlook that while searching for something specific keep your eyes open for what is really there. Whether it is looking for asparagus in the marsh and finding mussels in the adjacent creek or going to the usable goods building at the town dump to look for the latest copy of Atlantic Monthly or Popular Science and finding instead a short-wave radio that needs a little repair, the point is to not be single minded. Seems rather un-zen-like; actually, though, nothing could be farther from the truth. (Nothing could be closer to the truth, too; go figure.) 'Coincidences' start building up.
Thrift stores are another resource that makes more sense than most people realize. There is a perception among some that these stores are filled with junk, that buying new goods is always better than buying used ones, that time is precious and the thrift store never has what one is looking for...not much different from our local shopping mall.
What is the sense of spending ten or fifteen dollars for a shirt, one that you are going to wear while gardening, changing the oil in your car, raking leaves, fishing, shopping, housecleaning, or reading a book? Even if you are a slave to fashion wouldn't it make more sense to pay two dollars for an oxford cloth dress shirt for instance? People donate things to charitable organizations' thrift stores for reasons other than permanent collar-ring, missing buttons or fraying. In fact, most will not take shirts in that condition. Most often clothes are donated because people out-grew them, they up-graded, someone died or they are just simplifying and cleaning house.
Magazine subscriptions and many other reading material are readily available in the useable-goods exchange at the landfill in our town (no sticker required in our town for using the recycling center. You can find many other items of use such as garden supplies, i.e. used flats, six packs etc., old suitcases for the Clothesline Project, electrolux vacuum cleaners, dishes, furniture, lamps, humidifiers, TVs, lawn mowers, typewriters, etc.
When Rachel wanted an immersion heater to take with her when she traveled, they started showing up with perplexing regularity, $.50 at the thrift store, free at the land fill's exchange building. We now have a collection of at least three. Once again, the key is to be open to possibility, to be looking for more than one thing at once. This is not to say that one shouldn't have a clear idea of what one wants or needs. If you start taking everything that looks like it might have some value your storage space will quickly fill up with just plain junk. It probably will anyway, but why exacerbate the problem (picture of our basement?). On the other hand, we all know of the "I just threw it out yesterday and now I need it" syndrome. There are no easy answers to this dilemma, well, maybe a new storage shed.... The main danger to watch out for is encouraging an acquisitive tendency, taking something just to have it. When you do that you simply burden yourself and deprive someone else. With the constant diet of pro-consumption manipulation and brain-washing in the mainstream media this is a real threat.
Another important piece of scrounging theory has to do with LETTING OTHERS KNOW WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. It is helpful with this approach to gathering supplies to be flexible, trusting of the cosmic rightness of things and discerning. You wouldn't try this in a situation where time was of the essence, but for many of your wants it could be that you don't really need it if it doesn't come your way. It is a question of trusting the universe's timing rather then your own which often can be colored by distress.
Timing is important in another way, too. For instance, canning jars are much more plentiful immediately after family holidays. People bring home-canned goods to their non-canning relatives and friends, who then bring the empty jars to the recycling center. The day after Thanksgiving we found half a case of various size jars. While we won't need them before the beginning of canning season, at that time of year they will be as scarce as hens teeth. The most important resource we have is FREE TIME
As we live more and more in harmony we are finding that more and more is being given to us. It is often uncanny how often a particular need is met by the universe. Perhaps when we have an actual need (as opposed to a need based on distress) there is a slight imbalance. Balance being the natural order of things, the universe provides for us.
Often though, the gifts are not for a specific purpose or at least not one that we can recognize. Sometimes it feels as if it is joking with us. One such gift was a case of institutional tobacco odor killer, non-staining dry spray formula, safe for use on curtains and upholstery air freshener. We found on the side of the road. We have learned to avoid asking "why us?" Instead we try to find out what to do with what we are given.
In the recent past we have been gifted with many, many things including a bottle of sparkling cider, the day after new years day; unopened, standing tall at the entrance to the public beach we randomly selected for an afternoon walk.
Local wild plants: a patch of watercress, a wild asparagus patch, field mushrooms, a plentiful and abundant wild high-bush blueberry patch, an abandoned cranberry bog that yields poorly but is lots of fun to pick, lambs quarters grow like weeds in our gardens and in our friends' gardens, a blackberry patch, beach plums, a variety of medicinal herbs, wild mushrooms, and for the garden: leaves, seaweed, marsh grass and grass clippings; all free for the taking. Clams, fish, periwinkles, all for the taking at the beach, and a wonderful excuse for spending a few hours with nature.
Finding a place to live that meets your needs is usually the single BIGGEST FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT that we have. Sometimes it is possible for a person to find a creative solution. Sometimes a person can find a live-in position; gardener, nanny, housekeeper, private school teacher. Sometimes you can find a landlord who would be willing to reduce the rent on a rental unit next door for a tenant who would mow the lawns, do small repairs, painting etc. Sometimes a person can find an elderly person who has a big house and needs a small bit of home health-care. While we have this sort of arrangement that is based upon free gifts of time and attention we still spend approximately 35% of our income on rent.
Carpenters say that it is cheaper to build new that to recycle old structures, yet is it really cheaper for this society as a whole to take a perfectly good house to the dump? A demolished house or a piece of it, could be moved and used either for low income housing or for additional space on an existing dwelling. In fact we created an addition to our bedroom in this fashion.
As with everything, the first place to start is conservation. This works regardless of the principle source of heat. Regardless of the source, THE LESS HEAT WE USE THE LESS WE NEED. There are also sources of heat you can provide for yourself. One source is PAPER. Of course, to burn newspapers for heat you will need a wood or coal stove. The pay-back for putting in a stove even if you have to put in a Metalbestos® (two pipes with insulation in between) pipe chimney is just a couple of years at most. Burning WOOD as a heat source has lots of potential for savings and sources.
There are ways of shopping for food that can save a lot of money. BUYING LOSS-LEADERS AND OTHER DISCOUNTED ITEMS at the supermarket can really help the food budget. Always, always, check the register receipt. We have routinely found mistakes in the store's favor three times out of four at both the supermarkets in our area. Don't let them get away with it. If the mistakes were honest don't you think that sometimes they would be in your favor? Joining a FOOD CO-OP can be another great source for bulk food.
For example, finding alternatives to high priced, toxic household cleaners isn't difficult. Reading the labels one can find that often bleach is the primary ingredient. Other household products that are useful are: vinegar, baking soda, washing soda, alcohol and ammonia. Buying flavored, carbonated water that has being truck to the Cape uses valuable resources unnecessarily. Remember the hidden costs of the things you consume. Sooner or later you or your children will pay those costs.
being some thoughts about cooking and baking-what to do with that chuck, now that you have him. Here are a few RECIPES and other hints to help out with those odd culinary adventures they don't hint at in the ads you've seen on TV.
Permanent MULCH is a wonderful way to make growing food easier and to keep garden productive. While when mulch break down it does enrich the soil you still will probably want to help. To the question of whether to augment the garden with chemical FERTILIZERS or not, our personal opinion is that each gardener has to rely on his or her own instincts, tempered by a realistic assessment of soil fertility and indicator plant information.
The exception to a permanent mulch, for some, is in the case of heat-loving plants like peppers; for these, especially in the north, it is hard to beat BLACK PLASTIC mulch and spun polyester row-covers. However, having admitted this, we must say that the permanent, organic mulch starts coming into its own at the end of June. The very qualities that make it a bit of a liability in the cool spring months are what make the garden so lush, productive, carefree, weed-free, and disease resistant. We live near the ocean so SEAWEED is free for the taking and fairly accessible. LEAVES are by far the most readily available soil enhancer for most of us and arguably the most important. FEATHERS, HAIR AND FISH are also excellent sources of fertilizer, we are talking about slow release nitrogen here. SAWDUST is a source of carbon and requires additional nitrogen to break down. MUNICIPAL COMPOST is available to us from land-fill composting program. HOUSEHOLD COMPOST which can be made either in separate bins, in sheets or in a trench between rows is a free and reliable source of nutrients. MANURE can be available from local farms, stables. WOOD ASHES are a wonderful and free source for potash and other minerals. COMMERCIAL ORGANIC FERTILIZERS are relatively expensive. Plentiful, free in large quantities, NEWSPAPERS make a fine mulch and weed suppressor. Many MARIGOLDS suppress nematodes. Cover crops and green manure can also be excellent for the garden. SHINGLES can also come in handy in the garden.
Deciding what to grow in your now abundantly fertile garden opens up a lot of possibilities. Do you grow OPEN POLLINATED OR HYBRID plants?
How we deal with so called pests and weeds is also indicative of whether we try to live in harmony or whether we maintain a mentality of dominance and power. Its better to pull weeds than to spray herbicide. Some weeds are also quite tasty. Lambs quarters in particular are equal to spinach or swiss chard. We have numerous problems with a variety of uninvited vegetarians. This is particularly true because they never seem to want to share. CHIPMUNKS enjoy our strawberries so much that there is often none for us. Perhaps the creature with whom we have the most intense relationship is the WOODCHUCK. For years we were vegetarians. We believed, and still do, that all life is sacred. That includes plants as well as animals and humans. We all draw a line somewhere; Ed was living in the city and it made sense at the time to draw it between the animal and the vegetable kingdom. When he moved back to the Cape he started gardening, built a greenhouse, made beer money selling fresh produce on the corner of the lot, and had his first run-ins with other vegetarians. As word spread among his non-human friends his losses increased until they became unbearable. He left little signs in the peas asking the RABBITS to forage elsewhere to no avail. So if it isn't chipmunks, woodchucks or rabbits, just who has been eating the tomatoes, anyway? The answer might be BUGS AND SLUGS. Finally, another essential component of gardening is WATER.
A large FREEZER doesn't make sense if you only grow enough to eat fresh and share with friends or have no garden or animals at all. If you are doing much canning you will have a difficult time getting along without a PRESSURE CANNER. Another very useful item in the preserving of food is the FOOD PROCESSOR .
There is other miscellaneous equipment that can be helpful. One of the best is the KITCHEN-AID® MIXER. An interesting attachment for the grinder is a sausage stuffer. This attachment was a gift and there is a STORY surrounding it. Although not nearly as useful another machine that can be fun is the PASTA MACHINE. APPLE PEELERS, the mechanical kind that peel, core and slice an apple in one process, are still being made and work really well. When it comes to sharpening stainless steel knives, we have found that an ELECTRIC KNIFE SHARPENER works much better than the stones we use for carbon steel.
If there is something we no longer need perhaps we should first think about alternatives to throwing it away. Reusable shopping bags make sense as do bringing your own non disposable cups and utensils. "Disposable" razors can be reused many times if shaving is done after a shower and not shaving is an alternative for both women and men. Shaving legs is one of the most time consuming, messy, wastes of time and resources.
Diapers and menstrual pads weren't always disposable and they don't need to be now. Taking leaves and grass clippings to the dump then come spring buying peat moss trucked from Canada doesn't make sense--if you don't want them chances are a gardener who lives closer to you than the dump does . Just because one person considers it junk doesn't mean that no one has a use for it. Don't forget thrift shops--why buy one work shirt at a department store when you can buy five or six for the same price at a thrift store and feel good about the money going to charity. And when you don't need something useful, consider donating it to one.
recycling
We will all be better off if we consider reuse first, not only for ourselves but considering others as well; recycle second and make a conscious effort not to use or have things that will require the last alternative (going to the landfill or incinerator).
Although we grow approximately thirty percent of our food we are far from self-sufficient. Periodically circumstances happen that increase the food that we are able to provide for ourselves. When we have a lot of woodchucks we put them in the freezer for a good source of protein (something that is difficult to provide in our garden). One of the advantages to dealing with your own meat is that it is possible to give the force that is present in all life the respect it deserves. All life is sacred, plants as well as animals. Yet, when we meet our nutritional needs, few of us acknowledge that spirit that is giving itself to us to provide us with energy. Silent short prayers (which for Rachel are simply expressions of gratitude) are an essential part of planting, growing and harvesting. Sometimes we like to walk in the gardens not to work but simply to look at the life that is present acknowledging the beauty. The garden is a real gift of the universe. It gives us necessary food, food for the body, mind and soul. It takes no effort to be grateful.
The Winter Solstice is a time that we set aside in particular to express our thankfulness and feel our true and rightful place in the cycles of the earth. When the sun goes down on the shortest day of the year Rachel lights all the candles in our living space (24). We celebrate by having a meal that is totally from our gardens. The woodchucks add a nice touch. As we celebrate the light increasing we are also celebrating the cycles of life, earth around the sun, light into darkness into light, seed, juvenile, adult, death, etc. and our place within this wheel.
We feel strongly about living gently on the earth. How we live isn't special. Anyone can do it with at least equal success. These suggestions are ideas that grow out of an underlying philosophy of being. Anyone who walks gently on the earth and honors our environment will generate their own resources and new ways of actively participating in the solution. Anyone can. Its a state of mind.
Now, if we only could find inexpensive health insurance....
Last updated: 11PM, February 28, 2002