Comment by Peter:

Small steps and gradual changes make more sense than the all or nothing attitude I read elsewhere. I appreciate your wisdom and your insight. Thank you.

Comment by Sara:

This post has inspired me to try all 3 of the first steps you listed. We’re a family that eats mostly preprepared food so this is going to be a change. We can do one meal a week. I know we can. The other 2 steps will be easier but you have given me the incentive to actually do something instead of just want to do something.

Comment by Barbara:

To much unneeded stuff causes unnecessary chaos and clutter. My theory is why keep it? Just use it or lose it. When I say lose it I mean give it away. Another person’s trash can often be another person’s treasure.

I seldom buy frozen, or boxed processed food, it’s more expensive and not very healthy.

I recycle all cans, plastic, and glass. I recycle old clothing by creating usable goods like shopping bags and pot holders etc. For me it’s baby steps.

Comment by Lesley:

Shirley, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head — ‘making simple living too complicated’. It’s all about making subtle changes that add richness to your life, not about turning your life upside down and depriving yourself of everything you’re used to. Great post!

Comment by Michelle:

This post really hits home for my husband and I. We know what we want to do (simplify) but we have been afraid to change anything. Somehow thinking about being able to change just one thing at first makes a huge difference in how any change feels, if that makes any sense. Thank you Shirley for your sensible, gentle approach to this topic.

Comment by M.L.:

For those who are not afraid of change, like me, I have been really thinking about what it is that holds us back from making the changes we want. I think I can honestly say, after thinking about it, that a big problem for me is habit. I get in such a habit of doing things in a certain way that I don’t make as concrete of a change when I just think about changes I want to make. I’ve noticed for myself that if I really want to make a permanent change, I need to write out a plan and make it an intentional focus of my day to day thinking. If I don’t, my normal habit of thinking quickly takes right back over and I quickly forget my resolve, and how important it really is to me, before I have even realized that it happened. I have to be very intentional in the changes I want to make. My goal this year is to write down the things I want to do, or change, etc. in a daily log and read it every day as part of my morning routine (I keep a running “to do” list). I’ve never done this before, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work because it keeps me on top of the things I need to do each day/week already. My hope is that this will keep me focused on the things I want to achieve, and see some marked improvements by the end of the year. I don’t know about all of you, but I have a serious problem with “Out of sight, out of mind.”

Does anybody else find that this is true for them as well?

Comment by Jennifer:

I have been simplifying for about a year. I have big dreams and want to try everything I read that other people are doing. We have simplified where we are at now by:

Decluttering our home

Learning how to deal with stress and

Learning key parenting skills to make being a mommy simpler :)

Other than that, once my husband graduates from college (Nov 2010), starts a new job, and we get settled in our new location, we will continue to implement, step by step, the changes we want to make to get us further down the road to self sufficient living.