Posted November 6, 2009 - 08:00 by Sarah Winfrey
Lifestyle
Even with the economy slowly exiting the spectacular nosedive it took last year, many people find themselves with a renewed interest in living simply. However, what that means for each person depends on their own individual priorities. Determining what this means for each of us sounds like it should be easy, but instead is something many of us struggle with more than we are at peace about it. There are some questions you can ask that dig right to the heart of this matter. They aren't always easy, but the answers will be more than satisfying.
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Posted October 30, 2009 - 06:00 by Sarah Winfrey
Lifestyle
Have you ever found yourself wasting time when you know there's something you could be doing that means a lot to you? I know I find myself there all the time. What we rarely do is examine why we ended up in this situation in the first place. This might actually be the most useful reaction we could have. It's one thing to push your way out of a bad place, but quite another to figure out how to stay out of that place in the future. And staying away from those places usually involves knowing how we got there.
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Posted October 23, 2009 - 06:00 by Sarah Winfrey
Lifestyle
There's something attractive about empty space, whether it's in our decorating, how we spend our time, or some wiggle-room in our budgets. Now that we have the financial motivation, it seems like a good time to figure out what we want, why we want it, and how we're going to get there.
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Posted February 24, 2009 - 11:16 by Philip Brewer
Lifestyle
Is there an intersection between living large and simple living? I think so. To me, living large is not about having more stuff or more expensive stuff, it's about living my life exactly as I choose, without being constrained by what my boss wants me to do, what the neighbors think, or what my creditors will allow. It's about the breadth and width of my life, not about how high I can pile up stuff. If that is how you want to live large, you'll find a lot of inspiration in Richard R. Powell's book Wabi Sabi Simple.
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Posted January 1, 2009 - 12:10 by Julie Rains
Career and Income
I have often thought of a professional career as something built brick by brick, climbed ladder rung by ladder rung until one reached the pinnacle, enjoyed the view, and, then, retired. But I have known at least a few people who may have stopped short of the peak, either intentionally or as the result of outside circumstances, stepped down, and pursued a different kind of working life. Can downsizing your career make you happy?
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Posted August 2, 2008 - 08:40 by Philip Brewer
Lifestyle
People might look at how I spend money and say I'm cheap or a tightwad. If they do, though, they're missing the point. The fact is, I'm much more interested in simplicity than I am in saving money. In many cases, it works out about the same: The simple choice is often frugal. The cheapest choice, though, is often not the simple one.
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Posted July 12, 2008 - 19:12 by Philip Brewer
Personal Finance, Frugal Living
You can choose how you want to live. If you choose to live simply, you gain a certain kind of freedom. In particular, you're free to choose to do the work that's the most satisfying, rather than the most lucrative. Choosing to live simply doesn't mean that you have to give up all the cool stuff you want. It means, rather, that you have to focus on a small number of wants--the ones that matter the most to you.
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The first person I met who practiced voluntary simplicity didn't call it that, and I didn't understand what she was doing until many years later. It left a lasting impression, though, because it was a source of stress between her and her friends.
Continue reading "Voluntary simplicity versus poverty"
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