Living Simply ~ Part 2 of a 3 Part series

BY JENNIFER JANSEN

(Editor’s note: Read Part 1 of this series here.)

With the “green” movement growing, and the tough hits that the economy has taken in the past few years, more and more people are moving towards a simpler way of living.  People are coming to the realization that they can live well with less, and that “keeping up with the Joneses” maybe isn’t as important as it was once thought to be.

A desire to live more simply and naturally has always been lurking deep down in me.  (OK, maybe it’s not so deep!)  Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong century.  I will sheepishly admit that when I walk through the McCutcheon replica house at the Dufferin County Museum, I get a little wistful – the simple lives of our ancestors has always had an incredible appeal to me versus the technology laden lives we live today.

Luckily, life is about choices.  We can choose to use the best parts of what technology have given us to make our lives a better place.  For example, if you want to try something new in your garden this year, some new “technique,” chances are someone else has already tried it, and written about it, and posted it on the internet, and you can learn from what they have done.

Living simply does not mean living easy.

It’s about hard work, but it comes with big rewards.  It’s about becoming more self-sufficient, and not having to rely on a store or a drive-though for your next meal.  There are few things as satisfying to me as biting into a fresh something-or-other that has been pulled right out of the garden.  And the more successes you have, the more you will want to do.  What starts out as grabbing a tomato off the vine in the garden, soon becomes canning, and freezing, and salsa, and before you know it, everyone in the family is getting home-made treats for Christmas, too!   Talk about satisfying.  And talk about cost savings, as well.

There will never be an optimal time to make the switch.  Often a switch like this comes out of chaos – an illness in the family that requires a dietary change, a move to a smaller home that requires downsizing, a new city, or like in our case, a new baby.

When we started this whole journey, we were just a couple of young parents-to-be looking for answers.  Now, nearly 4 ½ years, and two kids later, we’re still searching for answers, but there seem to be less questions.  We’ve figured out what we want out life to be. We’ve set 1, 5, 10 and 20 year goals and we’ve decided on a path to take to get there.  We’re healthier and quite possibly happier than we’ve ever been, and it’s hard to believe that life just keeps getting better.

Sure, not every day is sunshine and cupcakes here, there is a lot of other (figurative and literal) poop that is a part of our lives, as there is in the life of any parent.  But we feel confident about the path we’re on is the right one, and we’re looking forward to enjoying the journey just as much as the destination.