In the name of simplifying our lives, and living in a way that that decreases the “value” of money in our lives, I’ve decided to gradually take some simple steps to frugal, sustainable (I know, the term is extensively overused; I’m sorry. At least I didn’t say “green”.) living. The end results should look something like this:

-Drastically reduced personal consumption
When we find purchases necessary, I hope to make them almost entirely at our local Knox Area Rescue Ministries thrift stores, which are the best in town and support the best mission in town.  Other options are choosing used items from Craigslist (preferable because you purchase locally) or eBay.  Of course we’ll still buy groceries, but I hope to get these from discount salvage stores and limit them to flour, rice, vegetable oil, baking soda, vinegar, et cetera.

-Redefined sense of “need”

Just a few weeks ago, I would have said we had only what we needed and certainly did not live decadent lives.  But as I’ve considered need verses greed, I’ve been amazed at the excess I suddenly feel encumbered by.  I hope to continually question what we really need in our family, and live on that, plus a few happy luxuries thrown in there.

I’m not going cold turkey here.  I’m taking one baby step at a time.  This week, we purged our closets, hauled out about half of our furniture to the thrift store, posted our TV on Craigslist, and donated our DVDs to the library (this is a loop hole I created for myself so that I can check them out when I’m going through withdrawl.) 

Future baby steps include the following:

-Eliminating processed food, by making everything from scratch and growing a small garden on our deck

-Ditching our dryer in favor of a clothesline

-Replacing cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and simple toiletries (as they run out) with home made versions from baking soda, vinegar and Castile soap

-Potentially raising hens–my innate sense of terror towards all fowl may hinder this one.  If so, no big deal, they sell local eggs at the Sutherland Market.

-Tossing the iPhone–I might save this for last because I’m getting really good at Doodle Jump

-Rethinking transportation–I thought we needed two cars, but we’ve been just fine with one.  Considerations include a cheaper car, a car that runs on vegetable oil, or no car, but instead bicycles and public transit.  This is a biggie and will probably take us a while.

So I this will be the basis of future posts–the road to frugality, one step at a time.

If you’re interested, here is some inspiration:

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, Barbara Kingsolver

The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne

Radical Homemakers, Shannon Hayes

07 Jesus Is All I Need, Caedmon’s Call

01 Old Radio, Greg Adkins

I’ll keep posting our little steps toward this goal.

Now I’m off to All Souls; feeling ready for it tonight.

So here’s the deal:

I’ve been blog-absent for a while.  For all of my avid followers, I apologize.  But the thing is, I’ve been reading this book:

…and it has changed me.  It has shaken me at my foundation.  It has met me at a time in my life when everything was coming together–a cozy home in a quiet neighborhood, finally away from the homeless traffic of our old ramshackle streets–and thrown me off my axis.

I’m not sure exactly what to do with this, but I know that I can’t ignore it and that I must take action.

Some ideas in the book that really hit me are communal living, commitment to living in the rough areas of town, anti-consumerism, and overall:  lovingkindness.

A few of my favorite quotes:

“There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed.”  (Okay, that was actually Gandhi.)

“If you have two coats, one of them belongs to the poor.”

“When Jesus speaks of fear he talks about how we can fear those things that can destroy our bodies (like guns and knives), but he says we should fear all the more those things that can endanger our souls… and those are the more subtle dangers, and the suburban demons – like insulating ourselves from suffering or cluttering our lives with possessions while others live in poverty. These are the things that can destroy our souls. We are more scared of the suburbs than of the ghetto.”

So we’ll see where this takes us.  I’ll keep you updated.