Category: simplicity

  • clothes that I have loved….

    I’ve been absolutely enchanted by the story of this woman who wore the same little brown dress for a whole year. Every day. (And not to worry, she washed it every few days).

    It’s started me thinking about my favorite clothes in my closet. Those items that I can wear over and over before I realize that they’ve been with me for years. They are soft and comfy like old friends.

    -Right now I am wearing the black cropped pants that I wore on my first-ever trip to Europe 7 years ago. They are still super comfy even though I’ve had to rehem them several times. They are the pants I wore to Connecticut when I got embarrassed by the airport security person who discovered the secret safety pins that live in their waistband (oops).

    -I have been wearing the same PJ pants nearly every day for nearly 10 years. They are a light blue plaid. I cut the legs off just below the knee and have never hemmed them. They’ve gone camping, have seen me through several moves and many late nights of reading. They are comfort.

    -My favorite black sweater. ‘Nuff said there.

    -My blue & white Nikes. Oh, these are so old and ugly now that I only wear them for gardening. The sole has split and is coming off of one shoe. But the second I step into them I am in heaven. No shoes have ever fit me so well.

    Thinking about my few favorite pieces of clothing has made me wonder what it would be like just to wear those items. Or to make a dress that fit me well and to wear it every day. Would life be easier, because the question of what to wear just wouldn’t be there? Or would I feel stifled by the monotony?

    When John and I were poor newlyweds I had two t-shirts and one pair of jeans that I wore almost every day. We called them my ‘uniform.’ At the time I remember being quite proud of them–I loved them and they fit me well. But life got a bit more complicated after I got pregnant and was forced to get bigger clothes. Now I have a sense of nostalgia for those days when I didn’t have to muddle through what to wear.

    I’m also wondering if the preoccupation on how we adorn our bodies somehow distracts us from exploring and understanding ourselves?

  • ’tis a gift to be simple…

    This past month I’ve been praying, meditating, and studying about simplicity. My primary text has been Plain Living: A Quaker Path to Simplicity, though I have also used other texts about Simplicity, and have augmented my study with the Queries from my local Quaker Meeting (they are also focusing on the value of Simplicity this month).

    For those who are interested, here are the queries [Note: ‘queries’ are questions that can guide your meditation and silent worship]:

    “Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center—a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time.” Thomas R Kelly, Testament of Devotion (1941, p.124)

    “Simplicity, beauty, and happiness go together if they are a by-product of a concern for something more important than ourselves.” Elise Boulding, My Part in the Quaker Adventure

    A life centered in God will be directed toward keeping communication with God open and unencumbered. Simplicity is best achieved through a right ordering of priorities: maintaining humility of spirit, avoiding self-indulgence, resisting the accumulation of unnecessary possessions, and avoiding over-busy lives.

    Advice and Queries for all individuals:
    Do I center my life in an awareness of God’s presence so that all things take their rightful place?
    Do I live simply, and promote the right sharing of the world’s bounty?
    Do I keep my life uncluttered with things and activities, avoiding commitments beyond my strength and light?
    How do I maintain simplicity, moderation, and honesty in my speech, my manner of living, and my daily work?
    Do I recognize when I have enough?

  • The more you have, the more you’re occupied;
    the less you have, the more free you are.
    ~Mother Teresa

    Check out my & John’s latest podcast where we discuss marriage, simplicity, spirituality, and the choices that have brought us closer together over the years.

  • shopping

    I have no patience for it, really. When I was in high school and I needed to buy two pairs of pants, I went to a department store, pulled the two pairs of pants I needed off of the rack and bought them. Mission accomplished. My foreign-exchange student sister, who accompanied me on that errand, was shocked. She couldn’t understand how I could know what I wanted and then buy it, just like that. No browsing, perusing, debating. Just a simple purchase.

    Today I went to a store to buy a new purse. I realized last week that the frayed handle on my current purse was sort of ratty-looking (even John pointed out that it was looking trashy, so you know it’s pretty bad). I figured it could be a quick 15 or so minutes at the store to locate a replacement. Not so. I couldn’t find anything tasteful, simple, well-made, and unleather. Also, the whole time I was there I realized that what I really wanted to be doing was sitting in my cozy pink armchair reading about 19th century hospital systems. Or riding my bike. Or sitting in my coffee garden. Or nuzzling the soft white stripe on Ellycat’s forehead. Or continuing to wear my worn-in purse….

  • thrifty girl


    I love the saying: “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” In an effort to minimize my impact on the planet, and to be more ecologically aware, I do all kinds of crazy things to recycle/repurpose/reuse. A few of my efforts:
    –devoting time each day to moderate FreecycleIrvine
    –using cloth diapers on my kids when they were babies
    –maintaining 2 vermicomposting bins on my back porch. Shredding my junkmail and feedng it to the worms.
    –buying much of our clothing from goodwill, patagonia, etc.
    –recycling cans, packaging, etc
    –adopting kitties from the local animal shelter
    –buying produce from the famer’s market or organic items from Trader Joe’s
    –maintaining a gianormous organic garden (weeding party, anyone?) and serving as the treasurer for the community garden council
    –borrowing items instead of buying them. And loaning our stuff to others as needed, too.
    –using both sides of printer/copier paper.
    –trying not to patronize restaurants that waste food. And, not ordering more than I can/should eat.
    –cleaning the house with plant-based products.
    –giving gifts of time and love at holidays, instead of ‘stuff.’
    –making household objects out of crocheted plastic bags
    –bringing my own bags to the grocery store
    –taking the train or bus when we travel instead of renting a car.
    –wrapping gifts in re-used paper or in old roadmaps.
    –making my own soap (laden with garden herbs).
    [Note: I have ‘recycled’ this post by slightly modifying it for my ExponentBlog post]

  • revolution, part II


    So I did set a few New Year’s revolutions.

    The first one is that I will eat more fruits & veggies each day–at least 5 servings of different f&v, and most of them raw.

    Might sound like a funny resolution for a vegetarian, but it’s one that I need. I’ve gotten into a rut of eating a lot of processed foods–mostly starches or simple carbs–and I need the vitamins and fiber from the real thing.

    The second part of that resolution is that I need to eat more organic produce. It’s a bit beyond our budget to _buy_ all or even lots of organics. But I really should (and will) grow more myself, year-round.

    The odd thing about keeping this resolution so far this year is that I’m not cold anymore. I am almost _always_ cold–so cold that I carry a cardigan sweater with me and wear it most all the time. So cold that I can rarely go sockless, and anytime I read I have to have a blanket to cover me up. So cold that I can’t sleep at night w/o John next to me because he is my only source of heat.

    But the last few days I’ve been warm, even downright hot. At night I’ve been scooched way over to my side of the bed–not even touching John. I’ve been wearing shorts and short-sleeves. It’s a lovely feeling to be warm.

    Maybe it’s not a side-effect of the increased veggie consumption. But I feel like it is because that’s all that’s changed in my life/diet lately.
    :)

  • ready or not

    Everywhere I’ve gone in the last few days I’ve gotten the same question from people:

    “Are you ready for Christmas?”

    The first time I got this question (about 3 weeks ago) I was at the doctor’s office and I was still in the throes of classes. I think I shocked the receptionist when I answered,

    “No, I haven’t really even thought about it yet.”

    She gave me a weird look in response. I started to qualify my answer, explaining that I can’t really ‘think’ about Xmas until after finals week, etc. But the weird look stayed on her face….

    And yesterday, when all of the other women at church were chatting about their holiday preparations, I realized that I must really be strange. One lady was saying how she doesn’t mind if she can’t quite get all the decor up in time–it makes it just that much more fun the next year when she ‘rediscovers’ the stuff she didn’t use. Another was talking about the hassle of mailing packages overseas early, etc. I sat back and was very quiet. I thought about how quickly my one box of Christmas paraphenalia can be put up and taken down (2 hours, tops), and how our easy-to-assemble fake tree takes about 20 seconds to put together.

    Several years ago I decided that I wouldn’t ever make my holiday preparations complicated because I didn’t want the decorating headaches–esp the one that comes after Christmas when it takes weeks to get all the decorations put away.

    Ironically, each year the process becomes simpler, not more complex. So when other people are moaning about being “ready,” I have little to add. And while they’re fretting about the Martha-like perfection of their preparations, I’m sitting in a patch of sunshine on the LR floor with Ellycat–listening to carols, basking in the warm glow, and savoring every moment of the holiday season.

  • pounds

    Spent the morning at the “by the pound” goodwill clothing store. It’s not a store, really, just a warehouse w/open sides and rows of tables. On the tables are heaps of clothes. Mounds of clothes. All of them discards from goodwill donations. Instead of selling them by the piece, they sell them for $2/lb.

    I was ready for the store, having been to the one on Bfield a few years ago. I had a stash of plastic bags and was ready for whatever I might find on the tables.

    Today I wasn’t looking for any treasures for myself or my family. Instead I was filling bags with little kids clothes for a local homeless shelter. I knew that I could spend about $20 and come out with enough winter clothing for a dozen kids. And I did. I found jackets, jeans, long-sleeved shirts, socks, sleepers, etc. All in very good condition.

    Part of me was disgusted as I sifted through the clothes–to think that they were so little used and so easily cast away. To see items that were “last year’s style,” but still full of wear. To think that we live in a culture where some kids are cold at night and others have drawers full of the latest fashions. It all seems so pointless when you’re standing in a cold warehouse, wondering about those who donated the items, hoping to ease the burden of those who will receive them, feeling guilty that my own closet is so full.

  • holiday

    Tomorrow we are off to Aunt Susan’s house to celebrate “Anti-Consumer Day.”

    This festive event is always the Friday after Thanksgiving. We gather and play games for much of the day. We do crafts. We jump on the trampoline and look at photos. We eat good food. The one thing we don’t do is shop.

    Chris MacMurdo started this tradition a few years ago and each year it gains momentum–the circle of celebrants widens. So my challenge to each of you is to join in the fun. Even if you can’t be with us at Suz’s house, you can be with us “in spirit” as you commemorate AC Day in your own home.

    :)

  • freecycle

    I’ve written about freecycle before, but today I’m feeling particularly grateful for all of the new friends I’ve made through the freecycle community and I wanted to share a few of my freecycle experiences from the last two years….

    –One of my first (and most memorable) freecycle finds happened when a man from Long Beach offered composting worms. What a weird offer! But to me, an avid gardener, it was a treasure! I’d had a vigorous vermiculture bin on my back porch for several years to compost our table scraps, but the previous winter we’d had some particularly cold days and my worms had all died from frostbite. I missed the ability to compost our waste, and I also missed the “black gold” fertilizer that resulted from the process. I contacted him, got directions to his place and set out w/Caroline to meet the worm guy. When we arrived at his apartment (which happened to be above a flower shop), he then led us out to a homemade ladder that led up to his roof garden. I only made it about halfway up the ladder before my fear of heights kicked in. Caroline, OTOH, coninued fearlessly on up the ladder–her flip-floppy heels clacking on each step. After a few long minutes (where I stood at the bottom of the ladder wondering how things were going up on the roof), Caroline and worm guy emerged with a large bucketful of red worms in compost. She and I laughed about the oddness of the event, and it’s since become a favorite story for me to tell. And the worms are still happily producing fertilizer for our garden! :)

    –Another favorite freecycle experience came from an offer that I posted for LDS romance novels. Because I am sent so many LDS novels to review (for Irreantum), I wanted to give a away a few of the older books. I got a response from LC, who turned out to not only be a fan of such novels, but she was also in the middle of writing her master’s thesis on LDS romantic fiction. She and I met for lunch and by the end of the conversation she’d agreed to become a member of my review team. Since then Lisa and I have met several times and she’s written some fantastic articles for me. :)

    –Though it’s always a thrill to find something that I want on freecycle, it’s an even bigger thrill to fulfill someone else’s “Wanted” posts. Indeed, as I’ve been on freecycle for such a long time now, the thrill of seeing a post for an “almost new sofa” or a “cherry wood dresser” has long since worn off. So, one day a post for an LDS temple dress caught my eye. I wondered why someone had posted such a request as I thought about the extra temple dress that was hanging (unused) in the back of my closet [for those of you who don’t know what temple dresses are–they are long-sleeved, floor-length white dresses that are rather hard to find anywhere but in speciality shops and they can cost from $35-100]. I replied to this woman’s message and we had a great conversation. It turned out that she was looking for the dress for her neice who would be marrying soon. And it turned out that the dress I had was just the size that she needed for her neice. So this woman and I met and I gave her my dress. She gave me a big hug and I felt a huge endorphin rush–the kind of misty-eyed feeling where you want to sing a sixties folk song about peace, love & happiness.

    –Those of you who’ve been to our home know that every piece of furniture has a story. There’s the pioneer table from Rebecca, and the blanket chest from great-grandma, etc. Since joining freecycle I now have many more stories to tell. There’s the dining room table that John picked up from a young couple in North Irvine, the canopy bed from Rita, the beanbag from K that the kids and I hand-carried across UCI campus, etc. And along with those stories are the tales of all of the people that we’ve blessed with our un-needed stuff–like E’s old fancy dresses that are now being enjoyed by another young half- Japanese girl, the spent printer cartridges that Ch used as a funraiser for his pet charity, the roller suitcase that accompanied two young sisters on a trip to their grandma’s house, etc.. Through this gifiting and receiving we’ve created bonds with many people that have lasted beyond the initial transaction.

    What a joy! :)

  • the sweater song

    I have a favorite sweater that I really like to wear
    Even on days when it’s covered with the kitties’ hair.
    I’ve had it for 5 years and I’ve changed the buttons twice
    It’s been to France and England, and it’s been in snow and ice.
    I put it in my closet, hiding it from view.
    Hoping to stop wearing it because it’s looking quite un-new.
    But when it’s cold and dreary, or when I need a hug,
    It’s my soft and threadbare sweater that I really, really love.

    Written in less than 5 minutes by me. In the few minutes I had today between picking up the kids from school and taking E to girl scouts.

  • local

    We go to a local music store.

    We’ve been customers there for six years or so. The place is crazy with long-haired geeky musician guys–most of whom are still wearing the same favorite rock band T-shirts they loved in high school (and for them high school was in the ’70s). But Jim’s is a totally cool place–wizened rockers included.

    Today C’s cello need new fine tuners, two new strings and a repair to a tuning peg (the D string, I think). I cringed when I brought it in. I’d been putting it off for weeks because I didn’t want to have to pay for the fixes.

    But Randy, the repair guy, took a quick look and mumbled a few numbers. We chatted a bit about how old the cello is and how much C uses it (which is a lot). He said he’d have it fixed in 2 hours and it’d cost $55 bucks.

    How cool is that?
    :)