Simplicity Page

“Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.”

From – “Voluntary Simplicity”, or the idea of living simply to have a better life. This leads to lots of neat things like:

Lower stress
Saved money
Better health
More time
Less anxiety
Breaking the bonds of slavery to money & things!
A better relationship with God

Some good ideas

Brown-bag it to lunch, instead of eating out. The savings add up quickly!
Lower your thermostat in the winter – just a degree or two at first. You’ll save money and energy.
Keep your car’s tires properly inflated. This leads to better handling, longer-lasting tires and best of all, increased fuel efficiency (more saved money)
Check your house & auto insurance deductibles. You can save money by raising them.
If you must use a credit card, use Discover: you get cash back, or can get gift cards for $25-$40 worth of merchandise for every $20 redeemed.
Don’t buy books & CDs, check them out from the library instead. Same for Videos.
Or, buy used books & CDs wherever possible.
Being stuck in commuter traffic is a pain. If possible, work from home. Otherwise, try adjusting your hours to off-peak. But if you must be stuck in traffic, or you have a long trip ahead, do this: Get books on tape (or CD) from the library. While you’re stuck driving you can be listening to great literature! It’s a super use of time that is normally wasted.
Why waste money on gyms? Take a long walk around the block. It will be just as good for losing weight.
Having trouble saving money? Sign up for an account that automatically withdraws money from your checking account every month. You can usually start for as little as $50/mo, with no minimum deposit. It’s small, but it’s a start. And it’s better than not saving at all. Once the habit is established, you can increase the monthly amount, or add new accounts.
Instead of buying Tupperware to hold leftovers in the refrigerator, use old Chinese takeout soup containers. The empties stack well, the lids are all interchangeable and they are see-through, so you can identify your leftovers easily.
I have memberships in several frequent flyer programs, so that I can earn miles no matter what airline I am required to fly. The problem is for airlines I fly infrequently, I never get to use those miles. So I’ve started looking on their websites to see what else I might do with the miles. Several programs offer the option to transfer points to another program (for example, from an airline to a hotel program, so you can get a free night’s stay). I very good option for me is to use my Continental Airlines miles to get magazine subscriptions. Subscriptions usually run from 1000-2000 miles per year’s worth of a magazine. Since I will probably never get enough miles on Continental to redeem as a flight, this is a great way for me to get some values out of the program. I believe Delta also has a program for redeeming miles for magazines, although I have not used it.
I like bagels & cream cheese for breakfast. Deli bagels are best. I’ve noticed that a deli bagel with cream cheese is much more expensive than the bagel alone. So, I bought whipped cream cheese at the supermarket & brought it to work (we have a small fridge at work). Then, I will buy just a bagel at the deli on the way to work. At work, I spread on my cheap cream cheese & save at least a dollar each time I have a bagel.
Check out Craigslist.com for your local area. They have a ‘free’ section where people give away unused items. All you need to do is pick them up. It’s also a great place to sell things locally, without the ebay overhead. Encouraging local markets builds community.

Bibliography

Richard J. Foster Celebration of Discipline contains a chapter on the ‘discipline of simplicity’.
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Links

Home page: www.mindspring.com/~cjamison/