There is a new trend emerging I have seen alot about lately on the netzines...Voluntary Simplicity. Due to the recession, some families dealing with one salary instead of two, and alot of people getting fed up with their spoiled rotten kids and trying to keep up with the Joneses, a new era of purposeful thriftiness is becomming cool. When I first read about this I smiled, because my husband and I have always been thrifty, about fifty percent due to low paying jobs initially in our early marriage years, and about fifty percent just because we like having extra money in the bank, not on our walls (no big flat screens in this house). We like to do things, not buy things. This has worked out very well for us, and we just smile when people with 4 bedrooms complain about not having enough of ....purses, shoes, jewelry.... it's just not me, and it's just not us.
Back to this trend... my husband said it best- when rich people do something it becomes a trend. TRUE. so right. But that's ok. We'll let the yippies (yuppy hippies) take this one and spread the trend around... alot of people need it right now. In general, voluntary simpliticity asks you give up most material things, grow as much sustainable foods as possible, and live without as much tv, media as possible. Also a part of this life-second hand clothes, toys and vehicles and bicycles. There is a Simple Living Institue in Orlando that has information to newcomers. Some people are building do it yourself cabins here in Florida (but have issues at times with the buidling codes in this state..wind load, etc) and live with their children in nothing but 900 sq feet of pine forest happiness, albeit up on stilts to catch the breeze and miss the misquitos.
This reminds me of when i worked the ad deparment at Tractor Supply Co. Headquarters in Nashville.... if you've never seen one, TSC is like a Target feed-n-seed, it's a growing chain of stores that are everywhere above N. Georgia. Their main customers are the new "urban ruralist" - a growing population that is leaving the suburbs for their own acreage and little slice of country heaven. No wonder this store chain is so successful, with the trend of Voluntary Simplicity growing, TSC should do very well. (buy stocks maybe?) Their catalogs are like a J. Crew for chicken farmers- i am not kidding...check it out sometime. Their ads are targeting the folks who are rich enough to buy those acres, buy a six pack of chicks for their kids to grow - yes you can order a six pack of chicks!, and purposefully have left their Prada at the Goodwill back in the city. Hmm...
I like this idea. We pretty much in a suburban sprawl and appreciate what we have. But it makes me happy to know that the people who used to stress over what to wear to opening night of a downtown hotspot may now be wondering when to pick their fresh ripe tomatoes growing in their very own yard. How cool!
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simplicity is a great healer. last year i got car-free (having moved to a city with great mass-transit), decided not to have satellite TV service, no landline phone, learned how to knit and worn heavy pajamas in an effort to keep the heating bill reasonable in winter. i also walk a lot more and our household consistently takes out 2-3 times as much recycling as we do non-recyclable trash. whether you do it for money reasons, or mental health reasons, simplifying can work magic.
for peeps interested in a little voluntary simplification, check out Judith Levine's account of her year going without... it's called "Not Buying It."
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