Choosing Voluntary Simplicity » Frugality

Playing at Frugality… or Really Living It?

Shirley — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:33:01 +0000

Readers often tell me that they would like to be more frugal but that they don't want a lifestyle of "living poor" and "doing without." What they don't realize is that there IS another way. Actually, I have serious objections to much of the frugal advice out there because it offers only quick-fix extreme measures that... like a crash diet... can't be lived with for very long. Extreme frugality sets up feelings of deprivation that almost always lead to bouts of spending... the money that you gave up so much to save gets spent impulsively and you're back to square one. To me, that yo-yo cycle of deprivation/splurging, deprivation/splurging is playing at frugality, not living it. Oddly, finding a level of frugality you CAN live with for the rest of your life is much, much easier.

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7 Grocery Shopping Strategies That Work For Me

Shirley — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:05:02 +0000

I keep a well-stocked pantry and an accurate ongoing pantry inventory. A small notebook hanging out of sight on the inside door of a pantry cabinet allows me to quickly update the list as inventory is added or used. This inventory list allows me to see at a glance exactly what is in the pantry and how much there is of each item.

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The Final Cut and Summer Memories

Shirley — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:40:11 +0000

This was such a beautiful sight... to have ninety logs "done" and to see only one log still left to be cut. And there's the little "brook" that formed under this log during one of our last torrential rains... and the thick layer of sawdust that is so wet and packed down, we're having to rake it up in stages as it dries.

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What Our Finished Compost Looks Like

Shirley — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:57:49 +0000

This year, for the first time ever in all my years of gardening, I have had more compost available than I could use. It has been WONDERFUL... I have put thick mulches of compost on all the gardens, around all the hostas, and mixed it in with the soil when we have planted anything... and there is still more compost left in the 2-year-old pile. This particular compost started life as a combination of grass clippings and weeds from the garden, vegetable peelings, shredded leaves, goat manure, and the wood shavings we use as the goat's bedding.

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What True Frugality Is… and What It Is Not

Shirley — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 13:24:18 +0000

Have you ever noticed how many of the same people who are trying to promote a simple lifestyle make frugality into a negative concept... or how they routinely equate frugality with being cheap or miserly? Somehow frugality has become almost synonymous with deprivation and denial, and understandably, this kind of negative frugality turns most people off. It turns me off too...

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Our Load of Logs — A Progress Report

Shirley — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:52:30 +0000

It is raining again this morning. And it rained for a while last night and yesterday and the night before that and the day before that. It feels like it has rained almost every day since our load of logs was delivered to us... and it actually has... last night the local weatherman said we have not had two consecutive days without some rain for the past seven weeks.

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