Simple Living

 

I often wonder what simple living entails. We look back with fondness on how our grandparents, and other distant relatives lived, thinking they had a simple life. But did they really?

I can't see myself trying to cook on one of the old wood stoves that they used. Having to make sure they had enough wood chopped or coal stored for a frigid winter here in Canada. 

Using oil lanterns to light my home and breathing in all the smoke that could be given off would not be good for ones health. Candles, while lovely do not give off enough light. 

I knit, sew, weave, embroider and make quilts for pleasure. I can not see me having to do so in order to be dressed and warm. 

Washing clothes by hand in the winter would be tedious to say the least and take many days to dry.

The definition that I found online states:

Simple living is about getting rid of the excess and focusing on what matters most. Simplifying is making an intentional choice to minimize stuff so that you have more time to spend on things that are meaningful to you.

Now that is something I can get behind. It is however hard to minimize "stuff" and still be frugal. I am always afraid that if I get rid of something, I will find I need it in a few months. I do rid my home of those items that are broken, unusable, or which are now unnecessary. I do have many appliances, but those make meal prep much easier. Or, as has happened numerous times my oven breaks down. 

Do I need 5 sewing machines? Probably not, but one belonged to my mother, 2 are regular machines and when one needs to be cleaned I use the other, one is a serger, and one I use for embroidery work (plan to use this one a bit more this year to make some lap quilts and add some pop to a few of my sewing ideas). 

I did remove many books a few years ago, and now just collect them on my ereader. Most of which are free. There are a few cookbooks that can be removed as well, once I copy the few recipes I use from them. 

There are a few too many baking pans so I need to go through them once again. I am not like my mother-in-law who would bake 7 pies a day (the most I ever did was 4, and that was for a birthday at the school), so pretty sure I could remove a couple of those from the closet. 

Really, nothing I own causes me to not do things I enjoy and are meaningful to me. I do need to downsize if we ever move to a smaller place, and have storage limitations. Yet, I do have some simple storage ideas that could help with my hobby stuff. Most of which I already have. 

I am beginning to think I might have made living a simple life much more complicated than it needs to be.

What are your ideas about simple living?

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty and Frugal Thursdays

Thrifty and Frugal 

Very cold today so I have been inside putzing around. I am working on using things up, mostly stash, but a few foody items as well.

This week has not been the thrift and frugal time that I have wanted, but I suppose once in a blue moon that can happen.

1.  Grocery shopping this week saw me saving $41.21 purchasing on sale items. However even with that savings the cost was more than I hoped it would be. 

2.  Found an empty tote to put the decorations in from the upstairs tree. I did not need to purchase another.

3.  Started to use up some of the free facial items I have received as part of my "pamper myself a bit more" challenge.

4.  Using up all leftovers, either as a meal for the two of us or for lunches.

5.  Washed out some baggies that contained things other than meat. 

6.  This is the week I add to my savings envelope my leftover allowance. This week it was $40.00. Haven't done the change jars as of yet.

So that is about it for this week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Mid Week

 

We had a quiet New Years here at home. Perfect, as far as I am concerned. I do know that many of Harvey's family got together tonight, but being the "black sheep" (kind of) of the family really does have it's advantages. One can stay quietly at home and even go to sleep before midnight.

I believe that life is getting a bit complicated what with tariff expectations, and the usual cost of living increases. Day to day living is not getting much easier, especially in small city Saskatchewan. 

I am hoping that having those few frugal challenges will help with our savings and manage those cost of living increases that I think are ahead of us. While I might be a bit frightened of what lies ahead, I do not plan to live in fear.

Today, I figured out the cash savings on me using my "tinkle cloths". We pay about $1.00 per roll of toilet paper when on sale (perhaps just under so let's call it $1.00). Most weeks we save about 2 rolls (perhaps 2.5, but we will call it two). That is $2.00 a week, $8.00 a month and $96.00 a year. Washing those probably costs me $3.00 a month so a clear savings of $60.00 a year. I think I can probably cut down the cost of cleaning them come summer when I can hang them up to dry (might start doing that this winter on the lines downstairs). 

I also noticed that our electrical consumption went down in December when I was really using appliances to cook. It fell by $22.00 and that is amazing to me. Makes me think that getting a hot plate type appliance and an electric frying pan could be great ideas to help save on electrical costs as well. Noticing those slight differences is awesome to me. 

As a frugal person (more so than Harvey, though my frugalness is catching on) this makes me very happy. It also make me wonder if there are other simple ways to make life very affordable, while still living a comfortable life.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.