Small living is my term for a lifestyle that is half way between self-sufficiency and "normal" living in our consumer based society1. Small living is different than what is called "simple living". Simple living is eliminating everything that you are willing to do without. As close to self-sufficiency as you can stand. Some folks take this to the level of studio sized, off grid homes, and only using human power to get from point to point. Man I wish I could pull that off.
Small living, as we try to practice it, is just looking to reduce our "footprint" in everyday life. We try to reduce dependance on on outside sources. We try to reduce our obligations to only critical things. Sometimes this looks different than you might expect.
Let me give you some examples.
Example 1: We are a family of four. We live in a rural area. I drive 50 miles a day just to get to work and back. Yet we are a one car, no, a one-small car, more like a one-very-small-Chevy-Aveo car family. Why? Less gas. We do things together. We plan trips to store clusters. And the car is cheap.
Example 2: My hand writing is … illegible. Sorry Mrs Williams (my third grade teacher), it didn't stick. This is a problem for me at work. I need to take notes, but I can't read them. So much for my action items! Enter the Pulse Pen. Now I don't need to take notes in the traditional manner. I can replay my surroundings later and make sure I get things done. Oh, and instead of needing 4 pieces of paper each meeting I can get 4 meetings on one piece of paper.
Example 1 is easy to understand. Example 2 is tricky so let me explain.
The amount of effort that I was spending to manage meeting notes was ridiculous. I tried recopying my notes. Asking a peer to take them for me, confirming multiple time, multiple note books, Wide rule, narrow rule, graph paper, pen, pencil, everything I could think of. If I could read the note, the info was out of context. If the info was there I could only make out half of it. BAH!
Now I simply lick on a line on screen and I can HEAR what was being said. A few symbols and I am sure to know where, then the what of the action item. Reduced time load, reduced stress, reduced obligation to peers to verify my notes. Smaller footprint of my life goes into meeting notes.
All this to say, small living is determined by identifying areas that are consuming too much of you, then lessening that areas consumption. Sounds easy. The next post will get into some of the earlier and much simpler areas that have become small for us.
1. I am not suggesting that consumerism is bad or good, right or wrong. That discussion is for a different time.
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