Voluntary Simplicity

[spatulagirl]

Anybody interested in this or practicing this?

I used to live very simple and then I became more successful, made more money, got married, had two salaries for awhile... we just started buy STUFF.

I got fed up and joined a Voluntary Simplicity disussion group. Our first official meeting was last night. It was great. We choose action items we have to do our best to follow up on during the week. Like decluttering a room or a closet or giving things away...

I want to strip our lives of all the unneccessary crap. The extra clothes, the VHS tapes we no longer watch. The too many toys in the kids room. The computer parts my husband has collected. And of course, my diaper stash.

So looking for support and friends here at MDC, who are going through this process or have done it in the past.

[supermuma]

I have not gone through this process officially (no groups or anything!), but I have always attempted to live in this way...lately, it has gotten out of hand though (I feel you on the two salaries, more success/money = more STUFF). I would love to do this and I need to..NOW!

I wish there was a group around here! I need support to actually get it done!

[JoyfulMomma]

I am interested.... especially in learning more.

JM

[annakiss]

Moved to Mindful Home Maagement

[Aiden'sMom]

Spatulagirl--I've been trying to do this. I have soooo many stacks of stuff--I don't know what it all is or where it came from or what to do with it. I get really overwhelmed by it all and it's a real energy drainer. I actually joined a simplicity cirlce--but everybody was too busy to ever meet!!!! so it sort of fell apart before it even started. Anyway, I have made some progress. I have given away and thrown away quite a bit, but I get stuck and the piles keep growing..........................

[spatulagirl]

http://www.nwei.org/

This is what I am doing my discussion circle through. Maybe you can find a support circle near you.

I have only done one class and read one chapter (trying not to rush and really explore the process) but something that stands out is that Voluntary Simplicity could be called Living Deliberately. I like that. I want to take more time to enjoy life, nature, my children and just being.

A common misconception about VS is that you have to be a tightwad or you have to choose poverty, that this is the only true path. But that isn't true. Frugality is a vehicle for choosing simplicity but the driving force is a vision, philosophy or world view.Frugality is about living with less of what money can buy. Voluntary simplicity is about wanting less.

[Rebecca]

I"d love to attend the meetings, but I haven't found one nearby (NH). And I'm not on the ball enough to start one myself right now... there was a thread started by USamma recently, well within the last 6 mos or so... I'll see if I can find the link to it.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by supermuma

I have not gone through this process officially (no groups or anything!), but I have always attempted to live in this way...lately, it has gotten out of hand though (I feel you on the two salaries, more success/money = more STUFF). I would love to do this and I need to..NOW!

I wish there was a group around here! I need support to actually get it done!

one issue in this society is what you stated- more money=more success. I never could and can't figure out why the $ sign= success. I think once you get over that hurdle, simple will be easier to obtain. I do know for a fact that our 1 income is higher than some of my friends and we live a debt free life while they have 2 incomes etc but are living day to day. OTH, I do not have half the amount of stuff in my life that they do such as 2 large car payments for two big new cars, getting my hair nail whatever else you can think of done, make coffee drinks at home to kill the latte factor, I could go on. So I am able to be a sahm without all that fluff in our house.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by spatulagirl

http://www.nwei.org/

A common misconception about VS is that you have to be a tightwad or you have to choose poverty, that this is the only true path. But that isn't true. Frugality is a vehicle for choosing simplicity but the driving force is a vision, philosophy or world view.Frugality is about living with less of what money can buy. Voluntary simplicity is about wanting less.

That is a good way to show it. I do think being frugal is stretching the dollar but it also falls into the simplicity when you want to be frugal to save resources in addition to money.

[earthchick]

I would really love to be a part of a discussion here about this, and maybe a virtual support group. I have owned the book for years but never read the whole thing. I philosophically embrace the idea of simplicity but do not feel like I really embody it in a practical way. At least not as much as I'd like. For Lent, I tried to give up buying anything that wasn't really a necessity. I didn't do so well with it - for one thing, I have a very hard time separating out needs from wants....

Here are the things I think I am doing right:
- deciding to keep our current cars (a 1999 Civic and a 2000 CR-V, both paid for) until they are at least 10 years old (of course this means getting routine maintenance done, which I've never been so great about keeping up with) - I was surprised at how strong the temptation to get a minivan was once I had my sons, but so far I've done pretty well at resisting it
- getting rid of cable TV. We don't have an antenna, so basically we only use our TV for DVDs. This means no commercials ever. So in addition to simplifying our life in a very specific way (less noise, less passive entertainment, no TV at all for our kids and only deliberately chosen programming for us), we are also not bombarded with enticements to acquire more stuff
- working hard at paying off credit card debt (and not racking up any more)
- letting magazine subscriptions (except for Newsweek) lapse - this simplifies by not bringing more paper clutter into the house (for me to feel guilty about not reading all of) and by not subjecting me to more advertisements to make me want more stuff
- I'm on a massive, slow decluttering mission in my house, starting with my basement - am giving away lots of stuff through freecycle and church rummage sale
- I've begun to run certain purchases by my husband, who helps keep me honest (he has more clarity on the whole want vs. need thing)

things I struggle with:
- I am an impulse buyer and tend to let myself have the things I want, when I want them
- particular temptations for me include: clothes, books, and yarn
- I have more clothes, books, and yarn than any one person really needs
- I have a hard time letting go of things I don't need because of sentimental value
- I think I probably spend too much on groceries, and we end up wasting more of it than we should
- we also spend less on eating out than we used to (before kids) but still probably more than is necessary

And a really grey area for me right now is children's toys. I think my boys have fewer toys than most other kids I know (partly b/c since they are the same age as each other, they like the same things and I expect them to share), but it's still hard to make decisions about how much is enough. I think some toys are a "necessity" - but when do I cross the line to more than enough?

I would like to read through the book with others online, and maybe set some personal goals in this public space for some accountability. Or I'd be open to what anyone else suggests about how we might use this forum for simplicity support. I hope it's okay that I've jumped into the discussion with disclosures about my own issues....

[Amys1st]

I agree this discussion could be a support of some kind or maybe we can have a forum in Mindful Home Mgmt about Voluntary Simplicity what do you think Mods??

For our family we have always been of that mindset but to a degree. Now with 2 kids and me at home we want to live a more simple lifestyle. For us that means cooking whole foods (always in place so no problem there), line drying clothes, cloth diapering the 2nd one, breastfeeding, watching our money since that also doesnt need to be wasted.

I also think for us it is about waste. Do we need to fill the cart up with stuff every time we go to any store?
We have cut out paper products in our house (w excptn of toilet paper) and use cloth rags, napkins etc.
If we eat out we go for food that we might not necessarily cook at home. Such as Middle Eastern food, Sushi, Tapas, etc. But we are always experimenting w cooking so things can be taken out of that list as well.
We do freecycle, ebay, tp here etc.
We barter for things or trade. I recently traded another mom for an older baby's toy for my dd2 down the road. She in turn received 3 pairs of shoes that were not real worn (dressy shoes, winter boots) that my dd1 grew out of. She was thrilled to get the shoes and also to get the toy out of the house.
We sell books if we have buy then on half.com or donate to a book sale or the library. We also buy off these same places or go to the library
We have a dish for $25 monthly. Its part of the phone, dsl package. We could upgrade to the huge channel list but we watch minamal tv as it is. And we do enjoy the channels we have for the few hours a week we use the tv.
We declutter, organize etc all the time

We try to find ways more and more to live within what we have. But we find ways all the time in spite of that.

[CathToria]

subbing

I have been working on this area of my life. When dh and I were getting established in out careers, well before kids, we seemed to put a lot of vsalue on teh amount of "stuff" that we were able to buy. Owning "Stuff" is such an addiction! I've been much better since becoming a SAHM 6 years ago. But there is just so much clutter that I want to conquer.

We did unplug the satellite dish 3 years ago. We can get a few local stations, though they can be blurry. We do watch DVD's, adn I can justify the purchase of DVD's b/c there is not a $40/month cable bill (but it;s more stuff :-( )

I need to get busy on the TP to try to get rid of some stuff..........

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by CathToria

subbing

I have been working on this area of my life. When dh and I were getting established in out careers, well before kids, we seemed to put a lot of vsalue on teh amount of "stuff" that we were able to buy. Owning "Stuff" is such an addiction! I've been much better since becoming a SAHM 6 years ago. But there is just so much clutter that I want to conquer.
..

I think this is true for many of us- how much "stuff" you have says how succesful you are in our society. Congrats on conquering and getting the stuff out of your life.

[hairylegs]

Just wanted to let you know that there is a Voluntary Simplicity tribe in the Finding your Tribe area of MDC. VS is a wonderful journey to be on in life. For Lent I gave up buying anything I didn't NEED. It was hard to draw the line sometime between a want and a need. But, I realized that while in the grocery store a pack of Newman's Own Ginger O's is NOT A NEED. (sigh) I am not a big plastic bracelet wearer (you know, have a cause, wear a colored plastic bracelet), but I find that wearing my One bracelet (one.org) is a fantastic visual reminder that I need so much less than I have. It may sound a bit silly, but I've really begun to ask myself after 40 days of really meditating on this daily, "Do I need this Dr. Pepper, or can I drink water, be healthier, save plastic and save money?"

I've read on MDC that Barnes and Noble has an online VS course, so that may be a good place for those of you who can't meet in person. www.simpleliving.net also has a good online community of simple livers. Many blessing to you who are on this VS journey or even contemplating it.

[mamel]

count me in I'd love to get more involved in this. And I really need to do the basement

[captain crunchy]

Hi, I want to join

We strive to live a life of simplicity. I agree that simplicity doesn't exactly mean frugality, however I do think they go hand in had to a point simply because if one (imo) is stiving to live a life of voluntary simplicity, one of the first steps is ridding your life of unneccessary *stuff* -- which by default means you are living more frugally.

It doesn't mean you have to save the twistie ties from your bread in a drawer, but basically to me it means letting go of the connection that stuff is going to make you happy and attempting to live (as another poster put it) a deliberate life. It means to me, the *stuff* you do have enhances your life, makes it easier, more relaxing, the things you have are not your happiness but the tools which lead to your happiness. To me it is an important distinction...

For instance, we recently fixed up our back yard... now, we rent and we are not in the *best* financial place, but fixing it up did require some *stuff* and a little investment. We planted new grass, bought a few chairs, some tiki torches, lots of plants, things like that --- yes, we did aquire more *stuff* in the process, but at the same time, it made our back yard look SO nice and inviting and beautiful -- it is now a place I can take our daughter outside and play, where I can meditate and do yoga, have my morning coffee, quiet evenings with my husband looking at the trees and the setting sun with our baby playing happily on a blanket with her toys --- so that is what living deliberate means to me (among other things). It doesn't mean you have to like, sell all your stuff and move to a yurt with a compose toilet (though sometimes I think that would be heavenly lol)....

[Wolfmeis]

I came to MDC BECAUSE of reading Voluntary SImplicity with children. There is (was?) a thread in finding your tribe about it. Frankly with sooooo many of use here, I would love to see a forum dedicated to it. It's such a specific way of thinking.

Here we go! the Voluntary Simplicity Tribe is here:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...ght=simplicity

[jenmamahen]

I'm finding it ironic that just as I opened up this thread and had read the first couple of posts, my in-laws stopped over bringing new toys for all three kids. Arghhhhh!! It's hard to de-clutter and have less stuff when we aren't the ones providing all of the stuff! I could run a profitable toy store from all the toys we have around here. It drives me insane! On a regualr basis, I cull the toys and give away what the kids no longer play with, but with relatives buying them more and more and more, it's a losing battle.

[eden/averymum]

I struggle with this allllll the time. I, myself, have very very little stuff and don't buy much but the kids have so much stuff and dh is a brutal pack rat. I want space and freedom and some times feel like I am being smothered by all the crud accumulating endlessly and piling up on every free surface......grrrrr I would love to have only 1/4 of what we have.

[treehugginhippie]

I'd looooooooove to start getting rid of most of our stuff. This is a great thread!