8yrs ago when my husband and I met I was focused on going to grad school and creating a career for myself in anthropology. As my studies progressed I began encountering so many signs that to me, meant that simplifying our lives was the only way to live a satisfying and responsible life. We started a vegetable garden at the community garden at the University and started on our slow journey towards a simpler life. Honestly it has taken us this long to really realize how much there is that we could still do but we've done what we can step by step. And while some of the obvious passion has abated from those early days, our actual dedication is far, far stronger.
We bought a house in a small town because we could afford the house (which is only 1,000sqft for our family of four) and it came on a larger lot which would enable us to grow some of our own food. We live on my husband's income and while there are times when things are far, far tighter than we would like, our priority is our family and the lifestyle we've chosen and neither of those would benefit from my going back to work. I work long hours some days but I love what I do most of the time. I can't wait for the weather to dry out enough to work the soil, hang out the laundry, and barbecue more nights than not. I like finding new (to us) ways to move ourselves further from the culture of consumerism. I love trading time and labor/skills with others rather than my husband working more so that we can find a way to pay for things we need/need done.
We do sometimes feel exhausted by how tight things can be. We don't have a dog, which we would love, because we know we couldn't afford the vet bills if something happened to it and we don't have a vet locally who would be willing to take payments or trade/barter. While our meat is responsibly produced by family and costs us no money, and we buy nothing edible that we could make ourselves which eliminates prepackaged food from our life (other than the occasional carton of ice cream), there are some months where even buying flour and beans, which we buy in bulk and store, can require some budget creativity.
And then we eat a meal with chicken raised by a friend, potatoes from the CSA we've managed to be members of for the past few years, and salad from our own garden. And we remember how good and important those things are. And we see something we want in a store, but can't afford it, and it is somehow freeing not to have to weigh the choice between buying it or not. And we each make something lovely for the kids and each other for birthdays and Christmas and all that love and care that goes into it makes it better than anything that could be bought.
We are lucky to have friends who are also traveling along this same path. Some are further along than others but we all agree that as long as we keep inching forward, we're getting there. Not everyone understands what we're trying to do; there are plenty of people who wonder why we would want to work this hard for what they see as so little. We're grateful though, to know that this is an option, to know that we don't need all that stuff and money, to know that our children can learn how to live a life that takes work and dedication but that also connects them with the world around them in a way that no money or things could ever do.
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