Tag: Simple Living

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Frugal Moms

Things I Learned From My Grandmother

pie crust

A few years back, it was all the rage to multi-task your way through life.  We talked about all the things that we could do at once.  It was believed that this was the way to get more done in our days.  But, now the common thought is to single-task instead. Although fads will continue to evolve in our thinking, I do agree that single-tasking is the way to go.  We may still multi-task when cooking a big holiday meal or keeping up with our small children, but it’s not the best way to function in our lives. As someone who always ran on adrenaline, multi-tasking seemed very helpful to me.  I was the typical Type A personality that wanted to succeed at everything I did.  It was easy to get in a tizzy and get burned out.  As I got older, multi-tasking became less likely to happen.  The energy level and mind fog both seemed to stop it from working.  I was now single-tasking.  And, sometimes even that didn’t work. Looking back on my youth, I realized something about my grandmother.  Both grandmothers were excellent role-models, but I’m focusing on my paternal grandmother.  She never multi-tasked.  She was a single-task person who accomplished more in a day than anyone I know. This lady could do almost anything, and she was good at it.  She lived in the country and always raised a big garden.  She tended it and kept the weeds away.  She harvested and canned all of the vegetables.  She was an excellent seamstress and was in great demand  in our area.  Her house was always clean and she always looked fresh. What I remember most is her attention to us.  When we would come to visit, she stopped whatever she was doing and sat down with us to visit.  She gave us her full attention and made us feel welcome.  Little ones were encouraged to sit on her lap, where she would read them a story or just rock them.  She always asked questions and got to know her family well. Because she lived this way, I never saw her get in a hurry.  I never saw her rush people around.  She always seemed to have control of herself and enjoyed what she was doing.  Although I watched her all of those years, I didn’t realize one of her great secrets until later in life. She didn’t rush through life, but focused on one task at a time.  This worked perfectly for her and it brought all of her grandchildren many wonderful memories.  Even though I didn’t practice this as a young mom, I hope that I can treat my grandchildren half as well as she did. My hope is to see the beauty in life and feel contentment in each and every task that I can complete.  My goal is to make my children and grandchildren feel welcome and important when they are with me.  What a great legacy that would be! @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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Simple Living

How To Define Simple Living

child in cornfield

Simple living isn’t always easy.  Making the choice to follow a path to a more simple life often brings you to do things that you never expected.  I always thought of simple living as a calm and beautiful existence.  Even though we may all have a different vision of simple living, it’s usually not a way of living that comes with lazy days. Many people equate simple living with living like in the old days.  Some choose to go off the grid and live without the modern amenities.  They want to live in a way that allows them to only depend on themselves.  They build their own home and grow their own food.  Raising animals, building, hunting, and living without electricity isn’t an easy way.  This requires very hard work. Hard physical work is often part of simple living, because people will be very tired physically, but mentally and emotionally they can find peace.  Living so close to nature has many health benefits: physical and emotional.  Escaping the technical distractions of life can also benefit relationships.  Without all the screens, families can spend more time in conversation, playing games, and connecting. There are others who chose minimalism to bring themselves a simple life.  Ridding their homes of unneeded clutter and only owning the necessary items can promote peace and life can be simple.  We may all have the goal of simple living, but we may have a different plan and path to achieve it. My personal vision of simple living had me living on a small farm with hard work and a peaceful life.  My farm would have delicious food and adorable animals.  This life was not to be for me, because my health conditions made me too fragile and sick to do physical work.  Accepting the life I’ve been given, my new vision of simple living now appears to be the opposite of farm life.  My new simple life will have to be found in an apartment.   A simple life can be found in any place.  It can happen when we know our values and priorities and keep them.  Simple living is the perfect way of life for a family.  Putting aside distractions and focusing on the relationships in a family will make it strong.  There’s nothing more important on earth to me than my family.  I’m thankful for God’s blessings to me and my family. If you desire to live more simply you’ll find it hard but gratifying work.  Life is very short and it will be better to live simply. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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Simple Living

Contemplating A Simple Life

Simple living begins in the mind.  Feeling the exhaustion from living in a pressure cooker could bring about a desire to escape a stressful way of life.  When the mind is fed up, the next step is to look for a better way. There are so many ways that we can get caught up in a rat race.  Careers, activities, and money easily sidetrack a simple life.  Wanting to have a Pinterest or Instagram-perfect home or fashion can take all your time and energy.  Desiring a major change can lead the mind into a place where the simple life becomes a much more attractive alternative.  Having lived long enough to understand that all is vanity, I’ve let myself imagine the peaceful charm of a simple life. Often, our imagination views things through rose-colored glasses.  It’s important to guide our thinking to be more realistic.  Another consideration is the variety of ways to define simple living.  Simple living means different things to different people and can be relative based on the baseline level of your present way of life.  What is your picture of a simple life? I grew up in a small town that was rural and slow-paced.  Others have grown up in large cities with a totally different pace of living.  No matter where you start, there will be downsizing in order to achieve a Simple Life. Simple living could be living off the grid, downsizing your responsibilities and belongings, or just cutting out the things in your life that cause undue stress.  In other words, stop and smell the roses. So, whether you are thinking about adopting a life of minimalism or just want less clutter on your calendar, planning for Simple Living can really pay off. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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Simple Living

The Stuff Of A Simple Life

In the quest for a simpler life, it’s necessary to come face-to-face with my mistakes.  Because we’ll be moving soon and will need to downsize, the accumulation of clutter has been quite overwhelming.  I know we’re not hoarders, but you would never know when we start pulling everything out of the closets! With the prospect of living in an apartment for the next few years, we’ll no longer have the handy garage to collect all our overflow.  When you don’t have the luxury of piling stuff in an extra room, clutter will have to be dealt with on a daily basis.  But, for now, we’re going through piles and piles of stuff. As we downsize our stuff, we’ve used the great method of having separate baskets.  We’re using the labels: Sell, Giveaway, and Keep.  Very little is being sold.  Much is being given away.  Donating possessions to those who can use it feels good.  But, it would have been better to not buy so much in the first place.  The things that we’ll keep have to be sorted, organized, and packed. When you don’t keep control of clutter, it’s often a problem of buying the same thing twice.  When you can’t locate the items you own, there will be times that you must have them.  So, you shop for the same item over and over.  As we’ve gone through many boxes, we’ve found 17 fingernail clippers.  It’s funny, but not funny.  Fingernail clippers are pretty cheap, but when you multiply this problem, it gets very expensive and wasteful. So living simply will definitely save lots of money.  It will put a stop to the frustration of not being able to locate your possessions.  Simple living means that you must have order in your home and life. When there is order in your home, you’ll know what you have and what you need.  When you have less stuff there will be more room in your closets and on your floor.  It’s better to own a few things that you really love than to have a closet crammed full of things you never wear.  I’ve always heard that you should only buy what you love, even if you’re buying it at a thrift store or yard sale. My mistakes include: clothes that don’t flatter my shape, my coloring, or my budget.  Sometimes the mistakes come from rushing to purchase a needed object.  It’s better to enjoy the hunt and end up with something you love! There are many levels of simplicity and each person will find their own way.  I’m certainly not a minimalist.  For goodness sake, my favorite decorating style is English Cottage.  To me, simple living is more than just a list of rules to abide by.  It’s finding the style of life that allows me to breathe and smile.  I will continue to pursue a more simple life.  How about you? @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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