Choosing Voluntary Simplicity

Book Review: The Happy Minimalist

Shirley — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:51:50 +0000

Peter Lawrence's lifestyle is very different from that of the average American. He doesn't own a bed... instead he sleeps on the floor in a sleeping bag. He doesn't own a television, a sofa, a dining room table, or most of the other pieces of furniture usually found in a home. His computer desk is an old adjustable ironing board that was left behind by its previous owner. He says that if he had to move house quickly, he could pack all of his belongings into his 1999 Honda Civic and be on the road in about an hour.

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A Little Book About Law and Life, Circa 1881

Shirley — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:35:58 +0000

This little book started life as a leather covered textbook that was written by a man named Walter S. Cox. He led an interesting life... he was one of several lawyers who defended the group of people who were accused of conspiring to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln. After he became a judge and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, he presided over the trial of the man who assassinated President James Garfield. Later he became a professor in the Law Department of Columbia University and the first Dean of Columbia Law School. He wrote this book, called Questions for the Use of Students in the Junior Law Class of Columbia University, which served as a textbook for law students. Versions of this book came out every few years. This one is dated 1881. It is set up like a study guide, with a summary of various legal principles, including questions and blank pages for the law student's answers and notes. My law student was very diligent. This book is packed full of his responses and essays written in the most beautiful handwriting... it's all very neat, very legible, and in the very distinctive writing style of that time period.

I almost didn't even look through this one... after all, I'm not a law student and I don't really need an 1881 study guide for the junior law class of Columbia University. But apparently this particular law student finished the course with blank pages still left in his textbook, and someone else decided to use these pages for a journal.

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Our Absolutely Amazing Fall

Shirley — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:32:04 +0000

It was a strange summer. This was the year when New England gardeners learned that no amount of expertise or hard work could overcome the weeks of constant rain and too cool temperatures that began in early June and continued on until the end of August.

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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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Involve Me…

Shirley — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:41:24 +0000

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." --Benjamin Franklin

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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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