The Simple(r) Life: Not Just For Paris?

A few months ago I read a story in Mothering magazine about a woman who converted a 40 foot long Blue Bird bus into a home for herself, her husband, and three daughters, aged seven years and younger. Their desire to live simply and eliminate debt from their lives led her to the decision to park the bus on a piece of property owned by a relative, complete a moderate renovation and move her family in. Their family's lifestyle became one of simplicity, careful consideration of resources, and cooking entire meals in only one pot using as much whole food as possible. My reaction to the article was a strange combination of shock, horror, respect, curiosity, and realization that perhaps there are other ways to live outside of rampant consumerism and the proverbial rat race.

Although I have always considered myself to be frugal in many areas of life and I am certainly a self proclaimed disciple of Amy Dacyczyn, author of The Tightwad Gazette, I have not really been as frugal as I could be. This is at least partially due to spending the last several years enjoying two incomes- sometimes frugality is the result of necessity as much as anything else.

Last fall, anticipating a change in our living situation and a transition to a single-income household, my husband and I participated in Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Although we were familiar with many of Ramsey's concepts, the class gave us the opportunity to begin practicing the methods that will allow us to ultimately live debt-free. Ramsey's famous adage "Normal is broke be weird!" struck a proverbial chord with us and has allowed us to see how encumbered we had become by things and the stuff we were keeping around the house, and without realizing, had fallen into the habit of regularly accumulating more of.

We followed Ramsey's advice and began to sell off the "junk" we weren't using. Utilizing websites like Craigslist we listed (slowly at first) things that we had not used in the last 3 years...followed by things we hadn't used or looked at in 2 years....and as the stuff rolled out and the cash rolled in, our momentum increased and we accomplished an extensive liquidation of "stuff". In all fairness, I must admit my tendency to get carried away with projects like this and although my husband has had to reign me in a time or two (but the baby doesn't REALLY need her crib-she can sleep in the pack n play!) for the most part our purge has been pretty reasonable. We parted with old gaming systems, books, clothes, furniture we weren't using and were keeping "just in case" (in case of what, we have no idea, of course).

The benefits of this project have been pretty awesome and even a little bit surprising. We found space in our house that we didn't realize was there because it had been so crammed with stuff, accumulated a big chunk of cash, unloaded "things" that at some point we thought couldn't be lived without, and have gained an (odd) sense of fulfillment by dumping the "junk"!

Life and financial situations can be especially troubling when headlines abound with stories about the United States' consumer bust and what happens if the government can't agree on how to handle our tax dollars. In a world obsessed with owning things, in which the quality of one's life is judged by the ability to accumulate things and the way we are perceived by others is largely influenced by our possessions, it can be difficult to recognize how quickly objects and our pursuit of them, can encumber our happiness. Although I am not an advocate of a miserly existence or one that does not allow for some comforts and modern conveniences- I want new living room furniture as much as the next person!- I think that evaluating our want versus need scenario can do a great deal for our sense of satisfaction in life and help us feel at ease in a world of perpetual financial unrest.

Until rather recently, I have never really considered the uncluttered and simpler way of life that is part of modern-day minimalist living as something that was even remotely feasible for my family. And I'm not sure I can entirely embrace it now- but I know for certain that the Blue Bird bus family inspired me to re-evaluate what is really important for my family. With some help from Dave Ramsey, a sense of humor, and a huge amount of determination, our family is determined to live a less-cluttered and more fulfilling lifestyle.

“Our life is frittered away by detail ... simplify, simplify.”

Henry David Thoreau

American's Are Fat - But Is Anyone Really Surprised?

Reuters reported today that Americans are fatter this year than they were last year. While this does not seem surprising, it did make me wonder what additional factors could have influenced the increase in obese Americans. The article indicated that organizations such as the The Center for Science in the Public Interest (who sued McDonald's last year) and the American Academy of Pediatrics believe that marketing fast food and large portions to children to be a large part of the problem. That's too easy. It's so cliche, really, to just blame it on big business. The root of the childhood obesity epidemic in this country are much smaller targets- parents.

It is the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children are eating. The duty does not lie with the education system, Sunday school teachers, and least of all, McDonald's. It is the parent(s) who drive(s) the child to the fast food chain and allows him/her to consume the contents of a Happy Meal. And by the way, McDonald's isn't just giving those Happy Meals away- parents are paying for them! And paying well; in some places the cost of these meals has reached nearly $4.

Blaming McDonald's and the Happy Meal only touches part of the problem though. What about adult obesity? The Reuters article also indicates that two-thirds of American adults are obese (compared to one-third of American children). The Happy Meals and brilliant toy marketing can't be to blame for this too. Maybe adults are fat because they are lazy and inactive. Or perhaps is it because they have no self control and eat anything in front of them. It could be because they don't understand the principles of good nutrition and how to eat well. It's actually probably a combination of these things but perhaps it also has something to do with the cost of healthier foods.

It's a well-known fact that eating healthy and fresh (and especially organic) foods costs more (and sometimes a great deal more) than eating prepackaged or prepared foods. Perhaps the recession and housing market are also culprits of this epidemic. If families are having a difficult time paying for shelter then their grocery budget is probably also suffering. Clearly, this does not apply to the parents who feed over-sized kids meals with large price-tags to their children, but perhaps it is a piece of the equation.

Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, said that "If we're going to reverse the obesity trends, willpower alone won't do it. We're going to have to make healthier choices easier for Americans," (click here for article of origin). Levi seems to think that it is up to someone other than the individual to help solve this problem. This article does not elaborate on how he plans to make these choices easier, but until American's are faced with and realize the truth, that there weight is their choice and responsibility, there probably isn't going to be much change in the statistics of American obesity. Personal responsibility for life, health, activity, and food choices are the answer to this problem.