The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Tetsuya Hondo on December 02, 2014, 09:20:00 AM
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I'm becoming increasingly infatuated with the idea of simple living. I strive to keep things simple with my finances, work projects, and media consumption, but I would like to take it a step further, especially as it pertains to the home.
Can anyone recommend good web-based resources for simple living? Other threads have touched on this and MMM is kind of a simple living variant, but what I'm looking for are good practical resources, idea, and tips for pairing things down to what you actually need, be it for clothing, home items, etc.
I've been trawling the Googleverse, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the many sites out there. I'm looking for less bloggy material and more concrete how-to steps for sizing up what you have and what you don't really need. Does anyone have any favorite sites for this sort of thing?
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http://www.365lessthings.com/
http://www.missminimalist.com/
http://www.theminimalistmom.com/
Most call themselves minimalist but living simply is the underlying theme.
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There's a forum I used to frequent at simplelivingforum.net (http://simplelivingforum.net)
It's not as active as these boards (I think) but there are definitely people logging on daily. Worth a look!
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It doesn't help that we somehow stole their best posters. ;)
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Here is an excellent, though dated, site for getting started:
http://www.december.com/simple/live/
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone. This gives me some good material to work through.
And spartana, good point. I hadn't realized what just a big tent the simple living label is. Right now, I'm just looking for good suggestions for taking a hard look at my material possessions. However, and now that you mention it, I guess I'm interested in some of the other related topics as well.
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Some resources on voluntary simplicity that you might like to look into.
http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/ (http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8605.The_Simple_Living_Guide (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8605.The_Simple_Living_Guide)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/305597.Voluntary_Simplicity (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/305597.Voluntary_Simplicity)
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No-one's mentioned ERE? http://earlyretirementextreme.com/
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I have worn the same clothes for the last 8 weeks. Backpacking clothes are often durable, smell-resistant (natural fibers, not synthetic), and stylish.
I wear an icebreaker longsleeve quarter-zip baselayer ($40 on sale), icebreaker quarter-zip midlayer ($60 on sale), exofficio fleece ($50 on sale), REI adventure shorts ($30) or REI adventure pants ($50), smartwool socks (a gift from the in-laws!, but ~$15), and exofficio underpants ($10). I wash the undies and socks regularly (can be done in a sink), and the baselayer approx. every 2-4 weeks. I have had each of these items for 1-4 years and they still look damn good.
Einstein, Henry Rollins, Steve Jobs, etc. realize that fashion requires thought/care. Don't care!