Simple Living - this woman's perspective

There is a great debate about the definition of Simple Living and whether Simple Living and Sustainable Living are the same thing. Some say Simple Living is being sustainable and others assert it is living minimally and without debt.  As most researchers have found, Simple Living can only be a personal definition and is usually subject to change.

Reading other's idea's of Simple Living makes me think the majority believes that life would be healthier and easier if we return to the pioneer days, living in a two room adobe home surrounded by a white picket fence, living sun up to sun down, drawing our water from a well, hand planting gardens, spinning our own cotton and cooking on wood burning stoves. This sounds like a simple life, cozy, fullfilling, healthy, but probably not what the authors were thinking when they tried to define their idea of Simple Living.

• I want to be the person that would be happy living in an 800sq/ft house with tons of generations living under the roof. 
• I want to be a woman that wakes cheerfully in the morning before the sun is up to put on the fire, slaughter the pig for bacon, gather the eggs and have breakfast and a sack lunch ready for my family before they start their day. 
• I want to be Martha from the Bible and be the perfect hostess for guests that are always stopping by. 
• I want to be Mary from the children’s poem and grow Silver Bells and Cockle Shells along with a vegetable garden that produces enough food to sustain my family, the guests that stop by and the homeless.
• I want to be Julia Childs and prepare nutritious meals for my family using the produce from my garden and the animals from my barn.
• I want to be Mother Teresa and provide companionship for the living and comfort for the sick and dying. 

This is Simple Living at its finest or so my romantic imagination leads me to believe.

Unfortunately, I am not that person(s) and no matter how much I dream and put actions into place I will never become that idealized woman.  That is not Simple Living to me but a high stress, lot of work, claustrophobic environment.

Simple Living for me is living in a home with enough space that everyone has a chair and space enough to walk without stepping on my feet.  It is having a store close to home that has a good supply of fresh, frozen and canned foods, toilet paper, and bouquets of flowers. Simple Living is having enough financial resources to pay the bills, entertain, donate to a cause, and partake in a hobby.  Simple Living is spending time with family and friends working on a project, eating, or playing cards.  Simple Living is living with low stress, a modicum of financial assurances, easy access to food, water, shelter and the opportunity to enjoy the chosen lifestyle.

Next up: Merging my idea of Simple Living with the Mr.'s idea of Simple Living and incorporating Sustainable Living.

Definitions and Thoughts

We need to start with what Sustain-ibilly means and the purpose for becoming one.  Let’s look at the words separately:

Sus-tain (sə-stān)

1: to give support or relief to

2: to supply with sustenance : nourish

(top 2 shown)

My interpretation is “The ability to supply the sustenance and support to those around me.”  Sustenance means items like food, water, and shelter but sustenance is not enough for people because it leaves out the spiritual and emotional side.  The support term brings God, Christ, and emotional support into equation because without these you simply survive. 

hill·bil·ly (hil-bi-lē)

1: a person from a backwoods area

2. a simple person with simple needs.

I picture a small cabin in the hills, an old truck, moonshine, and inbreeding when I hear the word hillbilly.  I guess I can thank television for that because I have never met anyone who fits that description (I think).  It is amazing the how we are taught and gather information.  I am trying to change what hillbilly means to me to a person living simply using the resources they have.  These resources could include items like abundant game (deer, elk, etc…), rich soil for gardening, and many other resources.

Looking at the words from my perspective, it really appears to be a no brainer.  Why wouldn’t everyone want to live simply and supply the sustenance and support to those around them?  I believe I do portions of this every day.  The sustenance I pay for with the resource at my disposal which is a paycheck.  I probably fail at the living simply and support aspects so getting those things in line will critical to the plan of becoming a Sustain-ibilly. 

 

Next up:

Simple Living – How do I get there?  Is it in my personality?

We are becoming Sustainibillys

My husband and I have always been interested in energy efficiency, but other than building a home with polyurethane blocks we did not take the extra steps in our daily lives to use up, reuse, recycle or be self sufficient.  This changed in 2006 when the economy started to collapse and the company I worked for closed its doors.

Knowing that rapid change leads to failure, my husband and I put together a 10 year plan to become a Sustainibilly.  What is a Sustainibilly you ask?  It is a person(s) who works to become self-sufficient, along with leaving (I hate this term) a smaller footprint on earth.

We began our journey purchasing 2 1/2 acres of land in a temperate climate where we can eventually build a home that won't require the need to provide 300 days of cooling.  This seems contrary to sustaining lifestyle by not retrofitting our current home, but by building a new home, we can use the natural resources to heat and cool our home, using less energy provided by APS.

My husband has been diligently researching alternative building products that would provide a higher R value then the normal 2x6 frame build.  Solar, wind and geothermal technologies will be used to create energy to turn the lights on, heat and cool, and cook.

Our goal is to live off the grid, grow our fruits and vegetables and raise animals for food. Being a city dweller and grocery store shopper, to prepare ourselves we have joined a permaculture and rare fruit growers groups and attended classes through the county extension office.  We have started a garden using tree boxes made from recycled wood as the garden bed so that we can take them with us when we move in five years.  More on the garden later.

Today we were told the well driller is at 90' and hopes to be at 120' by next week.  Once the well is in we can start planting the fruit and nut trees. I am so excited to begin this journey.