Simple Living: Less is More

What is Simple Living?

"Living in a way that is outwardly simple and inwardly rich."
- Duane Elgin

We spend a lot of time thinking about TIME and MONEY (THINGS count in the money category). "What should I wear?" "I'm late for class" "I'm hungry." "Can I afford a new CD player?" "We should go out for coffee sometime." "I can't hang out tonight, I'm babysitting" "Cute dress." This makes our lives cluttered and keeps us from focusing on important things: taking care of our bodies and minds and helping others care for their bodies and minds.

Sure, we need money to buy things to survive, and time is a fact of life. But often we have more money than we need. We spend the extra on more THINGS like nice clothes and iPods and video games and CDs and trips to the beach.

With regards to time, we often rush around so much we forget to enjoy ourselves. This makes us always tired, unable to think right, maybe we gain weight, get in fights with our friends, our grades drop.

****To learn more about slowing down:

Simple living is also called voluntary simplicity. The point is to examine what we have and decide when we have enough. Then we give the rest away. Here is some more information about simple living: . This website also has LOTS of other resources, connecting you with other people who are curious about simple living too.

Discussion forums about simple living:

Simple Living is good because:

It allows us to slow down and focus on what's important
Frees us from focus on TIME and MONEY
It generally costs less
We can put the money we're saving towards helping other people "simply live"

As young people, we often don't control much of the money in our house. Probably many of you don't have jobs. But most of you control what clothes you buy, what electronics you have in your room, and have some say in the food you eat. Here are some ways to simplify your life and help others in the process:

Tithe. If you have allowance or a job, this is an easy way to take some action. If ten percent seems like a lot, start smaller.
Take a look at your wardrobe. Can you find anything that you don't wear? Put it aside. If you find you don't wear it in a few months, give it to Goodwill or Salvation Army.
http://www.goodwill.org/page/guest/about
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn.nsf
Next time you go shopping, think carefully about what you want to buy. Ask yourself these questions:
Do I often wish you had one of these, or did I just decide you need it?
Can I get along without this new thing?
Will I use it often enough to make it worth buying?
Will it replace something else that I now need to get rid of?
If you decide you don't need something, consider giving the money you saved to your church, MCC, Mennonite Disaster Services, or Heifer Project.
http://mcc.org
http://www.mds.mennonite.net
http://www.heifer.org
Plant something. This can be really easy. Buy a tomato plant and put it in a pot in the window. Even flowers or herbs such as rosemary can brighten up a room and give a nice smell. All of these can be found at any garden store.
Check up on your stress level every once in a while. Ask yourself if you're enjoying whatever it is you are doing. If you don't like your answer, is there anything you can change? This is called mindfulness.
Here are some links with more ideas:
Alternatives for Simple Living http://www.simpleliving.org/indexoth.php?place=archives/TreasCeleb/TOCGetStart.php
Affluenza http://www.affluenza.org/cnad/youth.html