I suppose I’ll just be stating the obvious here, but the other day I got to thinking about the conflict among pursuit of the following values: frugality, simplicity, low-impact living, and living more healthy.
Take frugality, for starters. I’m rather cheap, and a few years ago I was following the tips of The Frugal Zealot. She recommended keeping a book that recorded prices at various grocery stores. For example, if I bought peanut butter, I was to track in a notebook the price of peanut butter at all of the stores I frequented. Then when I discovered the lowest price, I was to buy from that store, unless a sale price at another store was cheaper. I followed the store flyers to find the sale prices on key items like meats, milk, eggs and cereal. I clipped coupons and tried to keep track of it all.
It was frugal, but not simple.
Later, I found that I could greatly simplify my life by not being so frugal. In the early days of marriage and young parenthood, frugality won–we had to save money, even if it became a complicated challenge for me. When The Belgian Wonder was promoted and we had a little more cash, I admitted that I was overwhelmed with errands and chose simplicity over extreme frugality (though I still looked for sales). I ended up going to only one store and buying everything I needed, even if I spent a few more cents on a jar of Jif.
I noticed that Real Simple magazine offers enticing ideas for simplifying various aspects of everyday life, but their suggestions often require expensive purchases from Crate and Barrel or The Container Store. Their solutions may be simple, but they are often not at all frugal. Nor do they focus on having a lower impact on the environment.
So how about that? How about incorporating the idea of living with less of an impact on the environment? I like that value, too, but it’s not necessarily simple to figure out how to ride my bike to the grocery and haul back what I need. It takes time and planning. Will the kids come with me, or will I leave them with a sitter? Or how about hanging the clothes on the line. It’s not complicated, but it takes a little more time than shoving the clothes into the dryer, and in the winter I’ve really got to be committed to it, hanging them up in the house or on the porch.
And then the push to eat more healthy and organically grown foods seems at this point to be rather complicated for me to pursue. And it’s not frugal at all–right now purchasing them at the store, they are all higher priced. Plus, it’s not light on the environment, because they’re often trucked in from far away. If I were to grow it myself, that would be complicated and time-consuming, especially taking into account my learning curve.
Is it possible for a suburban family to live simply, frugally, healthily, and “lightly” all at once?
It takes a reorganization of one’s life, I think, to prioritize and create new habits.
I guess I’m still stuck in the suburban mindset, trying to break free, and feeling the complications of a new way of thinking and living. I like moving in that direction, but it takes time to experiment and adjust. And I don’t want to obsess about it. It has also revealed to me how little our society supports the combination.
Not that long ago, people grew their own vegetables in a garden out back. They canned. They shared their bounty with neighbors. Farmers came to town and sold what they grew. I think it was as recently as my grandparents’ generation, and started shifting in my parents’ generation.
That seems fast. In that short amount of time, we have switched to highly packaged, highly processed foods trucked in from around the nation and world. We have torn up our railroad lines and eliminated public transportation like bus lines to bedroom communities. Few of us bother to can when we can drive to Sam’s Club or Costco and get a whopper can of tomato sauce for a few cents. We rely on cars so much that few bike paths exist in our area to safely get to the grocery and back.
Until I can bring together all those things that I value–frugality, simplicity, healthy eating and low-impact living–I guess I have to prioritize.
At any given moment, I must choose.
Will I be cheap? Will I be healthy? Will I keep my day simple and drive everywhere I want to go, or live with a lighter impact on the environment, and save one of those trips for another day, combining them for one outing?
Wouldn’t it be nice if they all fit together easily and naturally?
I feel your pain! Especially when it hits the pocketbook up front. Don’tcha love that word, “pocketbook.”
Amen, sister.
Lisa: I was *just* talking with someone about that word, “pocketbook.” Funny. But yes, I am indeed cheap enough to feel the ache of spending more than I really want to, when I know the same unhealthy and/or non-organic version of the product costs half as much.
bloginmyeye: Glad to know that I’m not the only one puzzling over these questions. I hope to figure out a balance or create some life routines that can embrace all of those “values.”
Thanks for putting into words what I have thought for a long time. Some days I a frugal, other days I am simple, but at least I try and always stay healthy. One day at at a time.
I completely agree! I try to be healthy and not eat and live as I did in college, but it’s more expensive that way. I also want to recycle and do good things for the environment, but that can be more expensive and it is more time consuming — definitely not simple living. I guess we all have to find a balance that works for us and prioritize them, even if our plan is always evolving, day to day, week to week, or month to month.
Ann, This is a great post.
First of all, I think in order to start to embrace all of those things, we need somewhat of a paradigm shift. Simplicity is not “conveinence”. Often the “simple life” is not “easy”. Same with frugality, healthy eating, and low-impact. We have been used to a certain way for so long, so to begin to live and embrace those “ideals” (yes, I do believe they are “ideals”) is going to be difficult. It’s a whole ‘nother mindset.
That being said, and I think you touched on this: it can’t all be done at once!! Pick your battle, and choose which “hill” you will die on.
Big things are made of little things. I think once you do that, one day you will “wake up” and see the changes you’ve made and realize…”hey! I’m doing it!”. Of course give yourself some grace and don’t be legalistic about it… a sure recipe for destruction.
That’s what I think about it all, anyway!
Hi, I just found your blog and really enjoyed my visit.
This was a great post. I have been struggling with the same sort of decisions. I now just go to one store for groceries and plan my weeks menu’s around what is on sale. All the gas I was using going to two or three stores to save money wasn’t really making any sense.
Have a great day,
Julie
anordinarymom: I like that–one day at a time. As I take baby steps toward one of the various changes, I find other things shifting. I assume it becomes clearer as I continue to research, learn, and change.
writerbee: evolving. My life really is one big experiment, every day, and then I adjust and tweak the experiment. And thus it evolves. Thanks for the comment.
Andrea: Thanks for your words of wisdom, as I do small things, bit by bit, bird by bird as Anne Lamott might say. My latest thought has been to focus on the things that I like. For example, I used to like baking my own bread. It’s not necessary, but I do like it. It would be cheap, simple and frugal, and if I can find local wheat, even low-impact. So those kinds of things can make it pleasurable as I pedal uphill (I like to ride my bike, too). Thanks for the encouragement.
Julie: Yes, the one-store stop probably saves us money with the gasoline savings! Back when I was doing the frugal zealot plan, gas might have been under a dollar–I could afford to drive around town looking for the cheapest box of Corn Flakes!
Hi! Bethany pointed me toward this post, and I have to say, I know it’s tricky balancing frugal/simple/and healthy.
I don’t know if it’s possible to roll them all into one, but I think if we stay conscious of those goals, we can make the best decisions possible.
Kacie: Hi, and thanks for your thoughts. It’s good to meet you.
Everytime I read a post like this it makes me so happy with a recent move I made. I moved from a major urban area (LA) where I HAD to commute 27 miles each way to work (because there was no public transportation route available) and the local weekly farmer’s market included many more booths of Pampered Chef and wooden yard signs than actual farmers (even though we were within 30 miles of significant amounts of farmland) and there was no such thing as a “downtown” because cities bled into one another without any distinct borders. I am now living in what some might call a rural, college town area (although, it is within 90 miles of a major city center and it has a Barnes and Noble and a mall – so it isn’t really rural), where there are hardly any streets without a bike lane on them, the farmer’s market is really made up of local farmers who have a VARIETY of foods, plus a bunch of local bakeries, wine makers, flower growers, etc., and I now “commute” 2 miles to work each way (and can ride my bike on days I don’t work late or take the bus if I want to walk the mile to the bus stop). My life is changed so much for the better. And although I still struggle with many of the things you discuss in this post, from this discussion, I KNOW I made the right decision, for me, my family and the future!
So, thanks for the reminder…
I agree, it will be a very hard transition which ever way we go…