The Simple Life

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Contrary to what the "I'm Currently Reading..." section of my sidebar may say, I've been reading "The Covenant" by Beverly Lewis lately. (I really need to remember to update that section of my sidebar!) I somehow have never read a Beverly Lewis book before, and I now realize that I've been missing out!

The Amish lifestyle that she writes about has me yearning for a simpler life. I could never live without electricity, but I love the idea of being completely self-sufficient. I would love it if Luke and I could both quit our jobs and raise our own animals and grow our own fruits and vegetables. We would be such hard workers, and I think our relationship would thrive. I would love to fix three hearty meals each day that would have Luke's mouth watering. I wish I could bake my own bread, tend to my own garden, sew my own clothes. A "quilting frolic" sounds like a good time to me!

I would love to give up the whole 9-5 gig (well, 7:30-2:30 in my case) and be able to have my own children and raise them and educate them myself. With the help of Luke and our families, of course. I know then I would go to sleep each night feeling satisfied after putting in a hard day's work. I would know that I was really living out my passion.

I don't REALLY want to be Amish. However, I would like to simplify my life a little. In other words, I'd like to take out a few meaningless things, and replace them with hard work and something I could be truly passionate about.

For example, I think I could cut my TV time in half. I would love to pick out a few shows to watch, and ONLY watch those shows. Nothing else allowed. I'm going to try to do this. There is no need for me to be lying on the couch watching another rerun of "Friends" when I could be spending quality time with someone, or taking care of things around my house.

I would love to be able to save some money when it comes to grocery shopping. I need to buy a lot of staple ingredients, and stop buying pre-packaged junk. This will save money in the long run. I also need to be more careful about what I buy, and how much of it. We throw away a lot more food than I'd like to, because we simply can't eat it all before it goes bad. Along these same lines, when we move someday, I wouldn't mind starting my own garden. How much money would I save on produce?! And I don't think Luke would be a huge fan of this idea, but I think it would be fun to have chickens! Free eggs! (and meat if I could ever forgive myself for killing something that would inevitably become a pet :-P) I'm not sure if I would actually save money that way or not. How much do chickens cost, anyway? I'll have to look into that. I'll probably never end up doing it, but it was a nice thought :-)

I would also love to get rid of all the "clutter" from my life. I'm talking about things like spending too much time on the internet (my number one problem!) Getting rid of my procrastination and irresponsibility issues. (which I think would mend themselves if my life didn't feel so chaotic!) Spending money on frivolous things so that my stress over money would go away. Basically, I just feel like I do a whole lot of nothing some days, and I don't want my life to be like that!

This spring and summer I am going to embark on a journey to simplify my life. I will be sure to keep you posted and let you know how it goes :-) This is probably just a passing whim, but I think my life and my relationships could benefit if I could make some changes!

How do you keep your life simple?