Today I learned that what I yearn for, what I am learning the skills to do, while it may go under many names (voluntary simplicity, back-to-the-land, homesteading, etc.) is really better thought of as voluntary peasantry.
Peasantry, from the 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays (countryside), is a pre-industrial agricultural way of life [...]
Lesson For Today
Shutdown Day
What are you doing on Shutdown day?
24 March 2007 is going to be “one of the biggest global experiments ever to take place on the internet. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate!”
The [...]
More Micro-House Fun
It seems that the m-ch is not the only option in chic small living spaces. The Glassic Soho, developed by San Francisco architect and furniture designer Christopher Deam, is another, larger, option for those looking to downsize without going down-market.
Fully Furnished for $59,000 (wheels included), it is not the cheapest trailer home on the market [...]
Living Within Your Means
You know, a lot of what I write about here, and what other folks write about, is nothing but old fashioned common sense. Basically, the thing I have been most excited about recently is just living within my means.
What exactly happened between my grandparent’s practicing thrift and economy and me discovering that yes, it is [...]
It Just Isn’t That Hard
As I wander around the internets, looking for interesting simplicity and minimalist ideas, I am constantly struck by one thing; how complicated everyone seems to think this whole “simple living” thing is. The funny thing is, it’s the people who claim they are “living simply” that think it is complicated, or at least they must, [...]
Using Technology To Simplify?
Over at Neat Living, Ariane builds on a riff that Dennis McDonald started at All Kind Food on whether or not technology can be used to simplify life. Both of them come to the conclusion that technology cannot be used to simplify, which I disagree with.
Perhaps my experiences are atypical, or perhaps theirs are. What [...]
How Cool Is This!?
This may be the perfect story for this blog! It’s got:
A guy living for his dream.
A tiny, simple house
Hockey!
I love it!
Internet Connected Appliances Save Money?
According to an Information Week article, there is a test going on in Washington and Oregon to use real-time pricing data to let people make smarter choices about energy use.
The GridWise Initiative, led by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, is testing dryers, thermostats, and water heaters that are wirelessly connected to a server, which uses [...]
For Mom
I come by my frugal and yearning for simplicity honestly. My mother instilled it in us (there are three kids) early, out of necessity, and it has always been with me, even when I drove myself crazy, literally, trying to spend my way as far away from it as I could. Now that I am [...]
Is A Simple Living Website Hypocritical?
It has come to my attention via a nasty piece of email that there are people who consider using the internet, and moreover publishing content on it, to be antithetical to “simple living” and “frugal”. I will assume that the person who wrote this email does not consider themselves to be living simply or frugal [...]
The Triangle Of Simplicity
You may have noticed that the articles and posts here, and just about everywhere else that talks about the “simple life” revolve around three main topics: money, health, and the environment. There is a reason for that.
In most cases, these three things are complementary; something that saves you money is likely to also be good [...]
On Modern Feudalism
Over at Simplicity In Kansas there is an article about Downsizing vs. Divesting as defined by one Jane Adams, who writes for the AARP magazine.
The contention of Ms. Adams is that downsizing is
…restricting and cutting back while holding on to yesterday’s dreams and ambitions…
while divesting is about
…redefining what is important and having new dreams, [...]
Simplifying My Life - 6 Months On
Today marks the six month anniversary of the day that I decided that there was too much “stuff” between me and the facts that made up my life, and I thought it would be a good idea to look back and see what has changed in my life.
Lower Grocery Bills Is Not The Point
The majority of “simple living” or “frugal” websites, magazines, and newsletters go on and on endlessly about cutting grocery costs, and while I understand that the supermarket is one of the most advertising-laden spaces in modern life and thus requires vigilance, but the constant attention placed on food and groceries by advocates of thrift and [...]
Why Do You Think They Call It “Paying” Attention?
As I wrote yesterday, there is quite a bit of confusion about what the benefits and sacrifices of “Living Simply” are, and that they depend almost entirely on your point of view, on what you choose to pay attention to.
Well, as luck would have it, Fred Gratzon wrote today about much the same thing, but [...]
Simplicity is Not Deprivation
A lot of people have the mistaken idea that those of us who choose a less consumer-oriented lifestyle are somehow deprived because we do not spend money as if it were going out of style (and oh, how I wish it would). They have a vision of us, holed up in some run-down cabin in [...]
What exactly is Simple Living?
Ask ten people what Simple Living is, and you’ll likely get eleven answers. There are probably as many answers to that question as there are people who say that they are living simply. Given that it is, at base, a very individualistic thing, here is my answer:
Judging and Condemning
Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such a departure as a criticism of themselves.
The Gentle Push
As I posted yesterday, I am trying to create something in my life that is more than just “going to work” and “being an adult”. I am attempting to develop for myself what I am calling a Found-Object Lifestyle. Let me explain…
These are the ramblings of 