Browsing category: Simple Living

How Much Does It Cost to Feed YOUR Family? (updated for 2019)

How much does it cost to feed YOUR family compared to these 2017 government guidelines? The guidelines are given for four levels of spending… thrifty, low-cost, moderate, and liberal.

Does Frugality Mean You Shouldn’t Have Nice Things?

It’s important to save for retirement. It’s sensible to have an emergency fund. It’s essential to live within your income and not go into debt. But where did the idea come from that people who are frugal and live simply… can’t… or shouldn’t…

The Apple Trees in Our Meadow… Heirloom or Wild?

There are apple trees in our meadow… fourteen large trees spaced out in a long uneven row that runs almost the entire length of the meadow. There were apple trees here when we bought this land, and I can remember picking apples from these trees when I was a child…

Where Did the Summer Months Go?

We’ve been busy. We spent several weeks cleaning up the incredible mess that the road crew left after their unwelcome tree-cutting and trimming rampage early this spring.

Sloshing Our Way Through Summer

We find ourselves with an unexpected problem this year.

Yes, We Do Know It’s There

If you’d been driving past our house at the right time last night, you could have almost reached out your car window and shaken hands… with the bear that was trampling down the tall stand of day lilies and ferns at the edge of the road.

What True Frugality Is… and What It Is Not

Have you ever noticed how many of the same people who are trying to promote a simple lifestyle make frugality into a negative concept…

The Biggest Obstacle to a Simpler, Truly Fulfilling Life

“From your experience, what would you say is the biggest obstacle that people have to living a simpler, truly fulfilling life?” A reader asked me this question a few days ago, and I think my answer would have to be one word… “inertia…”

A Sitting Duck and a Noisy FedEx Delivery

We had a few minutes of minor excitement here yesterday morning when the FedEx delivery person bent down to leave a package, suddenly jumped back and screamed.

Except For Those Two Times When We Dug Up Something Else…

I am fairly certain that we have never dug a hole of any size here on this property without encountering at least one boulder-sized rock. It’s a given… we dig a hole, we dig up rocks. Except for those two times when we dug up something else…