We're all out to live a simpler life, right? Well, I recently found simplemom.net and was encouraged by her posts about what we're already doing, and wanted to see what else we could do to simplify. I went out on a limb and even bought her book! I've read most of the way through, but wanted to put a couple points here that I highlighted.
The quote at the beginning of the chapter really hit home with me: "Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." -Will Rogers. How true is that? We purposed when we got married to live a debt-free (or almost debt-free) life, which means we do without sometimes, when our friends are spending a lot of money on things we would really like to have.
Most of the first chapter talks about her and her husband's first years of marriage, how they were in debt and working towards paying it off so they could move abroad. A couple key points hit home with me. For one, house sizes have doubled in size since the 1950s! We are living in a house right now that was built in the 1950s and it is definitely NOT 900 square feet, the average for that time period. Yes, we're a little cramped (mostly because I insisted on having my sewing space in the dining room :/), but ya know what? It's easy to clean, easy to maintain, and we are closer together! I've lived in both small and large houses and I prefer the small ones by far.
Another quote from the book, "Frugality is trendier, but life's craziness hasn't slowed." It takes a little more work to be simple/frugal/debt-free, that is no doubt, and it's not worth it to some people.
Anyway, the book has just really hit home with me. Josh and I have prayed our kids will like to be outside, like to play with sticks and rocks instead of gadgets inside. So far this spring, the sticks and rocks are winning out over all of the toys inside for Lily, and it makes this momma heart glad.
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