Comments on: Learning to Live with Less http://www.antlife.org/learning-to-live-with-less/ be frugal. be wise. be content. Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:35:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Betz http://www.antlife.org/learning-to-live-with-less/comment-page-1/#comment-60 Betz Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:09:55 +0000 http://www.antlife.org/?p=432#comment-60 Thank you for sharing your heart, Blah Blah Black Sheep. I thoroughly enjoy and agree with your take on living with less. When I was a teenager my folks moved our family of 7 into a tiny unfinished wood home. We had plywood floors, a broken toilet, a wood stove for heat and insulation walls yet to be sheet-rocked. To tell you the truth that year living together in the woods was the best time I remember of our family's life. All my siblings as well as my parents agree that living with less and enjoying simplicity was so healing for all of us and really bonded us together. Yeah, it wasn't always fun to wake early in the chilly morning to re-build the fire or take our clothes to the laundry mat each week, but it made us grateful happy youth in the long run. And BTW, toys are soooo over-rated. We all had far more fun building log forts, acting out good books in front of a small audience, playing musical instruments, baking delectable homemade treats with Mom and having target practice with Dad. Thanks again! Betz Thank you for sharing your heart, Blah Blah Black Sheep. I thoroughly enjoy and agree with your take on living with less. When I was a teenager my folks moved our family of 7 into a tiny unfinished wood home. We had plywood floors, a broken toilet, a wood stove for heat and insulation walls yet to be sheet-rocked. To tell you the truth that year living together in the woods was the best time I remember of our family’s life. All my siblings as well as my parents agree that living with less and enjoying simplicity was so healing for all of us and really bonded us together. Yeah, it wasn’t always fun to wake early in the chilly morning to re-build the fire or take our clothes to the laundry mat each week, but it made us grateful happy youth in the long run. And BTW, toys are soooo over-rated. We all had far more fun building log forts, acting out good books in front of a small audience, playing musical instruments, baking delectable homemade treats with Mom and having target practice with Dad.

Thanks again!
Betz

]]> By: Blah Blah Black Sheep http://www.antlife.org/learning-to-live-with-less/comment-page-1/#comment-59 Blah Blah Black Sheep Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:59:04 +0000 http://www.antlife.org/?p=432#comment-59 One thing you realize when you learn to live with less is how much all the extra stuff acts like a "filler" or a distraction for what you really want/need. You see husbands and wives going out a buying new stuff they don't need or to replace things they haven't even worn out yet, or getting spa treatments, or living in houses they hardly utilize 1/4 of. When you're forced into a bare-bones situation, you come to rely on each other more, respect each others boundaries and patience, come closer to each other, and really learn how love each other. Couples think a wonderful anniversary dinner is one spent at an expensive restaurant with waiters running around. No, it's one spent together in minimalist situations, like when the power goes out, or out camping, or when moving into a new home. Those are the times some open their eyes and realize they enjoy, but then they get back into the consumerist fog and forget it. One thing you realize when you learn to live with less is how much all the extra stuff acts like a “filler” or a distraction for what you really want/need. You see husbands and wives going out a buying new stuff they don’t need or to replace things they haven’t even worn out yet, or getting spa treatments, or living in houses they hardly utilize 1/4 of. When you’re forced into a bare-bones situation, you come to rely on each other more, respect each others boundaries and patience, come closer to each other, and really learn how love each other. Couples think a wonderful anniversary dinner is one spent at an expensive restaurant with waiters running around. No, it’s one spent together in minimalist situations, like when the power goes out, or out camping, or when moving into a new home. Those are the times some open their eyes and realize they enjoy, but then they get back into the consumerist fog and forget it.

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