Simple Living

Recently I have had exceptional chances to read and heard about people who focus on ‘simple living’ and take action to achieve their voluntary lifestyle choice and I couldn’t agree more about the idea and their mind-set on simple life style. Look around how many things we are having which we don’t need. According to Wikipedia, Simple living could be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they ‘NEED’ rather than ‘WANT’. Do we really need all the stuff around? Do they make us happy or happier? Will our life be out of function without them? Why don’t we stop a minute and think about our endless craving on possessing things?

I have read a news paper about an American couple who give-up three-bedroom house to live the simple life in tiny DIY mobile home. They were living as any ordinary people, who worked hard to buy their own house and tried their best to pay off their mortgage, but the lifestyle exhausted them and they realized that they have been scarifying their happiness for living to work for someone else. So, they decided to practice ‘Simple living’ and they started appreciating their spare time and energy to enjoy their life more by simplifying their lifestyle. I know some people would thing that this is a quite extra ordinary choice to accept. I do not want you to think that living in poverty is ‘Simple living’. Simple living is simply your lifestyle choice which can bring you more quality time for your loving ones and your life rather than someone else’s. It can also offer you work-life balance and stress reduction.

Current society provides higher income to households but unfortunately it requires us to spend most of our days in a tiny cubical space and work for someone else. Surprisingly enough we intend to compensate ourselves by purchasing more and more things. We buy things to make ourselves convenient and happier but quite often the pleasure can’t last long and we find ourselves become a slave of the things to pay off or look after. Having more things will not  bring us happiness when we need to spend more time and energy to get them. It is time to think what we really want from our life and what actually make us happy and satisfied. Very recently, one of partners in a big financial sector got arrested by misusing customer’s money, 4 million dollars. His annual salary was more than 1 million dollars but he couldn’t cope his expenses with his unbelievable amount of salary. He had more than 3 properties, luxurious sports cars and posh things and things. I believe he would be an extremely smart and successful person but he was not wise enough to manage his lifestyle.

Having only what we really need will make our life simpler and lighter. That was the reason one night my husband and I started cleaning our wardrobes and drawers. More than 50 pieces of clothes were either needed to be thrown away or not being used for more than 2 years so we decided to donate the items. While we didn’t realise how many things we have bought unnecessarily, we have stored and stored the needless stuff inside of wardrobes and drawer. I felt quite ashamed to find out same type of tops (some of them were exactly same) which I haven’t even tried. I kept complaining that I didn’t have enough this and that, and finally realise that I have things more than I need. Next morning, we drove to St. Vinnes and gave away most of clothes so some people who need them can use them usefully. On the way back, I could experience invaluable pleasure of lightness. I was happier than having not necessary things at home. I have got still so many things to go through at home to reduce my possessions and increase quality of my lifestyle (not quantity). If you want to join me to make your life simpler and happier, you are very welcomed. I will write some tips for simplifying our life and share them with you in my next blog.