Hello all,
I am new to this subreddit, but have been living simply for nearly 20 years.
Back in my 20s I had an epiphany and decided to take charge of my life. I started doing research.
First I encountered Your Money or Your Life. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/78428.Your_Money_or_Your_Life ). I learned that I was in control of when I stopped working, because the less money I needed to live, the sooner I could finish earning it. I decided to start the process immediately. I know this is a well known book in the sub, but I had to include it because it was the beginning for me.
I started paying off debt, adding to savings, and shedding possessions. I kept reading anything that I could find about frugal living. A big helper in this area was the Tightwad Gazette. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304661.The_Complete_Tightwad_Gazette Many of her suggestions did not apply to me (she was the married mother of many children and I was single) but the way she was always questioning and experimenting with techniques to save money taught me a lot.
Frugal living was good, but something was still lacking. A lot of living cheaply is hard work when you are trying to live the same lifestyle as your peers. It was getting me closer to my goal, but something was definitely lacking. About this time, Voluntary Simplicity had a moment. It wasn't a new idea even then. Duane Elgin had first coined the term in the '80s https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/305597.Voluntary_Simplicity? I enjoyed the book but found the concepts abstract and difficult to apply in my own life.
I didn't really absorb the lessons in a permanent way until I read Circle of Simplicity ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/806325.The_Circle_of_Simplicity ) and started a simplicity circle of my own. The things I learned about myself in the course of working through this book have stuck with me ever since.
Submitted March 25, 2019 at 09:52AM by LadyDriverKW https://ift.tt/2UexPRY
