The Five Points of Simple Living
When making the decision to live a more simple life, you have to have some criteria for the choices you make. There are simple 'Joneses' too, and one can get caught up in the competition to become more simple or more crunchy than their neighbor. You have to look at your life and what works for you. Guilt is not a part of simple living. Over my journey of moving towards voluntary simplicity, I've came up some questions mirror my values and help me keep my priorities straight when I make choices
A. Does it save money?
B. Does it save time?
C. Is it better for the environment?
D. Is it better for my health?
E. Is it something I enjoy doing?
These questions may have different priority for different people. For us right now, the money question is at the top, because we have such a tight budget. But, I have a lot of extra time, so that question is almost irrelevant. But those even are not set in stone. When I'm working extra hours, the time question moves to top priority. If I feel particularly 'green' one day, the environmental question may move to the top.
Let's look at some 'simple' choices you could make and how they fit in the criteria:
Should I hang my laundry outside instead of putting it in the dryer?
A. It saves money
B. It does not save time
C. It is better for the environment
D. Is not better or worse for my health
E. I personally enjoy it.
Should I buy organic food?
A. It does not save money
B. It may take more time if I have to go to a different grocery store.
C. It is better for the environment
D. It is better for my health
E. I do not enjoy it any more or less.
Should I walk to work instead of driving?
A. It does save money
B. It would really take a lot more time
C. It is better for the environment
D. It is better for my health
E. I would really not enjoy this.
The questions and the answers may be different for your life and your situation, but the point is to think about the choices you make. Just as you can go overboard with consumerism, you can also go overboard with simple living too. The point of simple living is to improve the quality of your life and others around you (locally and worldwide); not to go so far to the extreme that you are miserable.
A. Does it save money?
B. Does it save time?
C. Is it better for the environment?
D. Is it better for my health?
E. Is it something I enjoy doing?
These questions may have different priority for different people. For us right now, the money question is at the top, because we have such a tight budget. But, I have a lot of extra time, so that question is almost irrelevant. But those even are not set in stone. When I'm working extra hours, the time question moves to top priority. If I feel particularly 'green' one day, the environmental question may move to the top.
Let's look at some 'simple' choices you could make and how they fit in the criteria:
Should I hang my laundry outside instead of putting it in the dryer?
A. It saves money
B. It does not save time
C. It is better for the environment
D. Is not better or worse for my health
E. I personally enjoy it.
Should I buy organic food?
A. It does not save money
B. It may take more time if I have to go to a different grocery store.
C. It is better for the environment
D. It is better for my health
E. I do not enjoy it any more or less.
Should I walk to work instead of driving?
A. It does save money
B. It would really take a lot more time
C. It is better for the environment
D. It is better for my health
E. I would really not enjoy this.
The questions and the answers may be different for your life and your situation, but the point is to think about the choices you make. Just as you can go overboard with consumerism, you can also go overboard with simple living too. The point of simple living is to improve the quality of your life and others around you (locally and worldwide); not to go so far to the extreme that you are miserable.
Labels: Environment, Saving Money
posted by Tracy at 10:15 AM
2 Comments:
great way of solving some problems. I really like your proposition.
On the hanging out laundry thing...it only saves about $.60 per load. Which of course does add up (I do about 10 loads of laundry a week, so if I even hung out half of them that would save me $150 per year), but to me, $.60 isn't worth the 15 minutes or more it will take me to hang out laundry, then another 10 minutes to take stuff off the line...
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