Random thoughts on the simple life

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking on frugality and simple living. Frugality is becoming a necessity as Larry's job is uncertain. But simple living? It appeals to me in so many ways, but I think if we went that route, we'd be giving up a lot of conveniences.

I sit at my desk, and I'm surrounded by STUFF. Not just the computer and all its accoutrements, but books, papers, cds, and, well, STUFF. We are people of stuff. Well, I'm a person of stuff. Larry's not so bad because he's not interested in much that can't be downloaded or installed. His computer is full of STUFF - you just can't see it!

Since I started frequenting a lot of frugal living communities, I've made some changes. I make my own laundry detergent. We don't have cable or satellite (but we do have blockbuster.com, because we have to get our movies SOMEWHERE and it's a great deal!). I try to batch cook and keep it in the freezer, though Larry objects to eating anything that's been in the freezer so I don't know how much good it's doing! But, we still eat out far too much. I still overspend on groceries. We throw away a whole lot of food.

One of the challenges of marriage is compromising in areas of living. Like, if I lived alone I'd eat a lot more soup, a lot more beans and rice. But these are things that Larry doesn't want to eat, so I don't make them. Though I am making a lot more casseroles these days. Hmm. I wonder how he feels about that. I wonder how he feels about the corndog casserole I made last night? He ate a bunch of it...

There are not many areas in our spending to cut back. We spend a good deal on fixing up the house, money that we don't have to spend but there's a lot we want to do to improve the look and feel of the place. Other than that, we don't spend a lot on clothes, we have the cheapest phone plan except for the DSL, and we try to maximize efficiency on our gas and electric use. We do water the garden, but we don't water the lawn. We spend a good deal on our dogs, too, because we want to.

Maybe our life is already simple? I refuse to believe that, but perhaps it's true...