by Texas Homesteader ~
A Voluntary Simplicity lifestyle isn’t about deprivation & sacrifice. It’s not necessarily an EASIER life, but a simpler life. Slowing down, living more deliberately. A life that begs you to stop & smell the roses!
Voluntary Simplicity – What Is It?
It’s been around for a while but seems all the rage now: Voluntary Simplicity. I guess like most things, it probably means different things to different people.
For me voluntary simplicity doesn’t involve deprivation or sacrifice. It simply means shunning things in my life that don’t add any value for me.
This will be different for every individual but for me I’m shunning things such as boredom shopping, fast fashion and fast food.
Then I’m replacing those things with things that DO matter to me! For me, that’s self sufficiency, eco friendly living and more intentional relationships with RancherMan, my family & friends.
Voluntary simplicity is often a higher-labor yet slower-paced life. But it’s often softer on the earth as well which is very important to me. And it’s also usually less expensive too. So it’s good for the budget as well.
But for me the most important aspect is that it’s good for my spirit.
Voluntary simplicity is not about deprivation, but about creativity & shunning mindless distracting noise in life.
Simpler Days
The term itself is a little misleading since a “simple” life is seldom (if ever) a life that involves less effort.
For instance it’s acting on voluntary simplicity to hang my laundry on the laundry line outside instead of quickly stuffing clothes into an electric dryer.
And it’s practicing voluntary simplicity to wash those clothes with Homemade Laundry Powder that I’ve made myself.
It’s voluntary simplicity to work our vegetable beds, plant, weed and harvest fresh veggies from my own garden instead of grabbing whatever is offered at the store as I’m walking down the produce aisle.
By growing my own food I’m practicing the local food movement in its purest form.
It’s a lifestyle that’s not for everyone, but it’s certainly a good fit for me!
Shunning The Copy. Paste. Repeat Kinda Life
As a young adult with small children, a full-time job and the new-homeowner excitement that comes with that period of my life I got caught-up in the typical swirl of life. It was just a very day-to-day existence.
Every day was much the same as the day before. Of course like everyone else on the treadmill I was clawing all week for those precious few weekend hours when I could slow things down a while and actually enjoy my life.
But I longed for a life that was deeper in meaning. So I started pushing back from the status-quo life. I was looking for more. The first thing I started looking toward was providing more for my family myself.
Providing For My Family
My vegetable garden was designed and planted. I wanted to grow fresh, wholesome food to feed my family.
It would cost pennies on the dollar compared to what I could buy in the store. And that grocery-store food would have been shipped from who-knows-where and sprayed with chemicals.
But raising a garden would also take a bit more of my time. Voluntary simplicity.
Serving Homemade Meals To My Family
I also started cooking more from scratch. It was a gradual change, starting with making my own Homemade Yogurt. I used the excitement of that success to make more & more of the things I used to buy.
Eventually I shunned most pre-packaged foods completely. I now make RancherMan’s Favorite Honey/Oat Sandwich Bread from scratch.
I’ve been making our bread for decades now. Voluntary simplicity.
Don’t worry – it doesn’t take near the amount of time you’re thinking. I use lots of Shortcuts For Making Bread!
Then I started making almost all of our meals from scratch too. Wholesome food being served to my family.
Food free of some of the questionable preservatives present in way too many convenience foods on the grocery store shelf these days!
Our food was simple, delicious and healthy.
More of our meals now contained a homemade entrée, some steamed or roasted fresh vegetables from the garden and maybe a fun rice side and cold sliced garden-fresh cantaloupe.
Don’t worry, once again – I have several shortcuts I use to make Homemade Meals Daily The EASY Way!
You certainly learn the shortcuts living this voluntary lifestyle.
Work smarter, not harder!
Eco-Friendly Benefits Of Simple Living
Living simply had a surprising effect: A huge Eco-Friendly benefit.
This simple life I lead surely saves money that’s for sure. Doing things for yourself is almost always less expensive than having things done or made for you by others.
But the crunchy side of me is thrilled over the many eco-benefits of a simplicity lifestyle too!
There’s less buying a whatsit shrink-wrapped in yet more plastic. I use what I have, or make something to fit the need quite well.
Have I mentioned how much I hate plastic?? It’s a large driving force for my choice to live mindfully.
Mindful Consumption & Spending Habits
Case in point – I really wanted cute red/white gingham napkins. I battled with my desire for new brightly-colored napkins versus my financial savvy side. (and the eco side of me not wanting to toss aside something we already had for something almost exactly like it, just in a different color.)
So I sewed those cute napkins myself – using a small tablecloth I found at a garage sale for $1. It took a little more of my time, but once again it was a step in Voluntary Simplicity.
Simple Living means using your creativity to carve out a life you love. A life that grants you the wishes of your heart.
And it often also means an eco-friendly life using much less of the world’s resources. And much less of your own hard-earned money too.
Simple Life, Slowing Down, Living MORE
Since starting on this voluntary simplicity journey decades ago my days have become significantly more meaningful.
Instead of getting that rush from buying that new whatsit from the most fashionable stores, I get that same charge by sitting on our back porch with RancherMan watching the sunset at the end of a busy but fulfilling day.
We sit in our sturdy wooden rockers, glasses of wine in hand, and watch together as that brilliant sun sinks into the western sky.
Life, More Meaningful
I plan to keep expanding my reach for self sufficiency as time passes. It’s almost something that’s become like a fun hobby for me to stretch my self-sufficiency muscle.
It satisfies the crunchy-green me as well as the old-time soul I’ve always had.
Live simply my friends!
~TxH~
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