Ways to simplify and slow down your life?

no shit not really part of the oath? all those years of medical school for nothing... oh wait that's not right. And yeah pretty much any political ideology gets fucked when it gets applied sadly. I'm not really anything. I might be a little weird it's quite alright. Everybody around here seems to think I am. You're not right tends to be one of those phrases I hear not infrequently. Though you're right I don't live fifty miles into the mountains surrounded by landmines and barbed wire fences with automatic rifles every thirty paces... you know for all the rogue killer terrorist deer. Gotta deal with them.

 

and floydian... I think we already went off topic feel free to diverge.

 

Well, I think you seem nice, Journeyman.

And hi Floyd! Thanks!

 

why thank you I am a nice guy actually. what would you consider yourself? if you had to pick an adjective *cough* since it very much applies to simpler living

 

Ah, one adjective? Other than "slutty"? lol...wow, that's a tough question. I do think I'm nice, but if I only get one adjective that seems like kindof a generic one. How about "perspicacious"? I don't even know what that means.

 

yeah I'm gonna have to get a dictionary for that one... what's your excuse... english major! haha fuck you can have as many adjectives as you want

 

here's something that I thought of, what if you're not entirely sure what you want to do. I've actually dealt with this a lot in my life. I want so many things that often it's hard to decide. Or doing the things that I want in one area conflict with those in another. You seem pretty sure of yourself, Molly, have you run into this?

Interestingly enough that seems to be one of my greatest seeming limitations. I always get what I want. I set my mind to it and go after it until it's achieved. I've always been that way. It's just deciding. The only real area I've found that doesn't benefit from that kind of mentality is relationships. Like if you're in love with somebody and they just don't love you back or whatever... you can't just keep going. It's been a good lesson is letting life happen. However the overall goal is generally achievable.

For example I want say... to marry a girl from sweden who likes cinnamon buns in the morning but my swedish girlfriend only likes cinnamon buns in the afternoon. The likelihood is that there's another fetching swede who does fit those requirements.

 

Well I stumbled on this thread a bit late, but I gotta say jrnyman, you really crack me. And I think I agree with everything you listed about living simply. My hubby & I have taken so many steps in this direction... no insurance, no credit cards, buying what we can afford (mostly used) and oh, we're converting a car to electric (cool eh?). Also just recently bought a reel mower & it's so awesome! No engine, no oil, absolutely quiet and works great. Plus it's better for the grass anyway because it distributes the cuttings evenly. I'm the one that mowes the lawn & it's my meditation time where I focus on each step, each moment with absolute attention. It's one of my favorite things to do.
Oh and yes I'm a big believer in freedom to do what we want, absolutely. I'm fortunate to be in a relationship that supports that as we're polyamorous, so that opens doors... I can't stand conventional relating, want to chew my leg off to get away.

 

try not to get too much done every day.try to help people get through their tough spots.don't worry so darn much about the economy.it'll all work out.i've barely scraped by my whole life but who gives a shit.i don't.i try to walk,bike or bus every where i go.i figure driveing i can't really take time to look arond and see the beauty in the world.

 

Wonderful post, jrnyman! I think your ideas are right on, especially staying out of debt and doing what you love. The two biggest decisions people make in their lives are choosing a spouse and choosing a career, and too many people are unhappy with one or both of those. If you do what you love, then you less likely to get stuck in a dead-end job you hate.

I have a point to make about college ... I totally agree that college isn't for everyone, but remember that the expectation of making more money is not the only reason to go. There are intangible reasons too, so you can't really make a straight dollars-for-dollars comparison regarding future earnings.

I think you get far more out of college than you ever put into it. Your mind and your world are forever opened and expanded. I consider the time I spent at the university to be priceless. I have two children in college now, and I see the difference in them already ... it's a difference in their awareness of the world and their understanding of the forces at work in it. It's part of the process of becoming a more complete person.

Also, here are a couple of more things I think you could add to your list:

1. Find your spiritual center. I think people who don't do this, in whatever way works best for them, are lacking something. Invariably, the happiest people have a strong spiritual grounding.

2. Accept stewardship of the earth. Recycle. Get a higher-mileage vehicle. Ride your bicycle where you can. Refuse to vote for politicians who want to open up wilderness areas for drilling, etc, etc.

3. Give back to your community and to the world. Volunteer for something. Serve meals to the homeless on Thanksgiving. Donate your used books to hospital reading programs. Donate to shelters for abused children. Do something that helps your fellow human beings.

4. Choose your battles. You can't fight everything. Choose the battles that mean the most to you, and let the others go.

5. Have fun! Life is short, and believe me, a day spent in laughter and joy is worth a hundred spent in sorrow.

Thank you for a great thread

 

This is what my hubby and I are currently working towards simplifying our life and have essentially been working towards this since we met.

We are working to be "free" starting next summer. By this I mean no debt and no jobs, but a steady stream of income that can be accomplished regardless of location. We have both concluded that many people work to work. Most of the stuff these people buy with the money they make is work related items. I am not interested in this.

This is our current plan, but it is certainly not concrete because there is a lot to happen in the meantime, but we will be taking our two children and our dog wherever we want to go for at least two months, if not longer. My husband will leave his work at the end of my son's school year and we will spend the summer camping and traveling. We will spend our time visiting friends and spending time with them when they are on their holidays. We hope to attend many music festivals and spend time with his parents in Arizona. We will not have a permanent address and will store our belongings at a relatives.

Whoever spoke about living in the burbs and them sucking is right!! We bought a house in a suburban area that I thought would be appropriate cuz of the safety of the neighbourhood, etc. I had a young child with another on the way. The toll that it has taken on my emotional health is notable. I won't go on my front yard cuz my creepy neighbour out front comes outside the minute he sees me there. It's just freakin weird!!! We know it's either country living or moving into a more "real" neighbourhood... where we've always lived.

As you see, this is what we are saying good bye to. For what? ugh!! Lesson learned.

I think our absolute favourite part of simple living at the moment is to remove things from our house/life that we do not need. Things in this world are now cheap to come by (if you do'nt mind secondhand) so there is no reason to keep it. It feels so good to be constantly ridding our house of items we do not need.

I have more to say but will revisit this thread later. Getting too wordy.

 

I love this list, rock on!

 

My partner and I have spent the last 30 years living within our means (with great difficulty) and with the proceeds of the sale of our unmortgaged house we have moved country, work very little and still living frugally and well within our means have time to chill and actually enjoy life. All the things that were said in the original post about cooking your own food, eating healthily and doing simple stuff to improve your life and financial situation are true but it is not a quick fix. It needs to be a way of life.

 

Very cool. I aim to be there.

 

Stay off email, instant messenger, and your phone for a few dedicated hours daily, or even for a whole day. Use that time to focus on your most important work, and spend your leftover time googling stuff, fiddling around on Facebook, and otherwise gathering the steam to do it all again tomorrow.

 

Another idea that works well for me is keeping track of every dollar I spend. I track it by category, on my computer, in a spreadsheet. If you haven't been doing this, you will probably see some surprises the first month. You will find that your spending in at least one category is too high for the spending priorities that you thought you had. This is almost as good as having a rigid budget, and not nearly as constraining.

 

If your unread emails have reached unmanageable proportions, wipe the slate clean...just notify everyone in your contact list first. To prevent another crisis, set up an autoreply signaling that you check emails only once a day and recommending the phone for urgent matters.