Janet McNeill

<June 2008>

“Living more with less” is a phrase, a concept, a movement, a philosophy, a way of life – and also a book (Living More with Less, by Doris Janzen Longacre, Herald Press, 1980).

I read Mrs. Longacre’s book a long time ago now (15 years? I’ve lost track…), and when it occurred to me to write this little essay, I opened it up again and was immediately rewarded with her phrase “Truth comes only to those who must have it, who want it badly enough. And gifts of healing come only to those willing to change.” (1) Very wise words, those ones…

I do recommend Mrs. Longacre’s book, which was commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee – an organization known for giving enthusiastic, generous and practical help at the time of major disasters.

We need not be Mennonites, nor Christian, nor need we wait for disaster, to learn more about joyful living with less spending and consuming.

Then too, “living more with less” is a very relative concept. My living more with less is still very extravagant living by many people’s standards; in fact, I’d venture to say the majority of the people in the world live on far, far less than I – and yet I live on far, far less money than most of the people of my acquaintance. As I say, it’s all very relative. “One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor,” and all that…

Why try to live more with less? Well… for one thing, I know I’ve found that the more I’ve lived by my own rules (this involves not being on a 9 – 5 treadmill); the more I live from the in-side out rather than the out-side in – the more I live “outside the box” – the more contented I’ve become.

I would also point out that the “peak oil crisis” – and an economic one – are knocking pretty loudly at our doors. The end of the cheap oil era will bring us many changes – job and financial losses clearly among them. Between this and the coming climate change impacts, our lives and lifestyles are going to be changing. The sooner we learn to decrease our wants and figure out our actual needs, the better off we’ll be!

Years ago now, when my children were still young, I wrote a few items about frugal living that were intended for young families. These are here too.

Right now, I’m going to list a few of the things I do – and don’t do – and if any of these little habits of mine prove helpful to you, I’ll be very happy to have made myself useful!

My Money-Saving Don’t’s:

1. I never shop as a pastime. If I go into a store, it’s because there’s something there I need (or want); I never shop “for sport.” For one thing, I’d rather watch paint dry, and for another, I’ve saved myself 10’s or 100’s of thousands of dollars this way!!

2. I don’t “renovate.” Whatever house I live in, or buy, has to look and be great pretty much the way it is, because funds for renovation simply don’t exist. My current house is small and modest, and I love it just the way it is. Someone suggested to me recently that I knock out a kitchen wall so the room would be brighter. He was right – it would! – but I simply don’t have that kind of cash (nor do I believe in going into debt or buying things I can’t afford).

3. I don’t “keep up with the Joneses.” I’m too darn busy with all my writing projects, jobs, ideas, world-changing schemes and volunteer work to even notice what the Joneses are up to.

4. I don’t “eat out” much.

5. I don’t buy extravagant gifts. I consider myself a generous person, but most of the gifts I give are thoughtful, rather than expensive.

6. I don’t watch television – or pay attention to ads in magazines (my long-trained anti-ad eyes just skip over them). I see TV-watching as being mostly bad for our brains, our bodies and our souls (our brain waves change when we watch TV; we basically become zombies!). It also tends to give us attacks of envy and dissatisfaction with our own lives, which never seem to measure up to the ones we see on the tube. There are exceptions, of course; I will grant that there are some worthwhile things on TV. I just don’t have time for it, personally.

7. I don’t buy a lot of throw-away items (“tissues,” paper towels, over-packaged cleaning products or heavily packaged food items). Buying things in bulk saves money.

8. I don’t live from a “poverty mentality,” always focusing on what I don’t have and wish I did.

9. To no-one’s great surprise, I suspect, I do not “max my credit cards.” I have one credit card; it is seldom used and my account is always paid promptly, in full.

My Money-Saving “Do’s”:

1. I practice gratitude on a very active basis, focusing daily on what I have, not on what I lack. The glass is definitely half-full for me, not half-empty. Actually, it’s full to overflowing!

2. I “delay gratification.” I don’t expect to have everything I want right away, or soon. For example, I wanted a laptop computer for about 8 years before I finally bought one. This sure makes me appreciate the things I get!

3. I love small, modest houses. I don’t even admire big ones – to me they seem like too much work (and expense) to furnish, heat and clean. Lots of wasted space and heat. Why bother??

4. I vacation on the cheap. I ride buses rather than trains, know how to get a great bus discount by booking ahead of time, and stayed in hostels as opposed to expensive hotels when I travelled with my daughter in Europe. My idea of a wonderful, to-die-for vacation is a canoe trip in Algonquin Park.

5. I buy second-hand clothes and am on the receiving end of very lovely hand-me-downs from good friends. My hand-me-downs are great!! Much of what I buy (and I don’t buy much!) is second-hand.

6. I try to live by “following my bliss” and according to the Plato wisdom that “Your wealth is where your friends are.” I am a good friend to my friends – and to the world in general. I do a lot of (mostly unpaid) work aimed at helping us all, and I am generous with my charitable donations – and my friends are extraordinarily generous to me. It’s all a lovely circle – the opposite of a vicious cycle… My life is astonishingly rich as a result. I feel I am serving the world well – and in return, I feel well-appreciated, valued and loved. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “If that isn’t nice, I don’t know what is!”

7. I have a few little tricks that help me feel…rich…from time to time. One of them is to put aside loonies and twoonies (Canadian one & two dollar coins) so that, if I’m going to be seeing one of my daughters, for example, I can treat us to a meal out pretty painlessly. There are many, many things in my life that make me feel rich – that’s a subject for another essay, another day, entirely…

8. I am very easy to amuse! A “cheap date,” as it were. I adore just walking – roaming along and looking at trees (which I find endlessly fascinating) – going for bike rides – being out in a canoe (which generally makes me feel as though I’ve died and gone to heaven). Belting out songs in my kitchen is another great source of (cheap) enjoyment for me.

9. I absolutely adore reading, and libraries (DVD rentals are cheaper at libraries than at video stores, hmm?) – and yes, I do also have a weakness for owning (i.e., buying) books. I never claimed I was perfect, did I?

10. I eat pretty simply, and do my best, increasingly, to eat “local.” I’m delighted to have a “cold room” in the basement, where local beets and potatoes and carrots and squash can hang out…

11. I use a reusable coffee mug that I’ve owned for probably 10 years now (increasingly, one is given a discount for doing this), cloth bags (ditto), handkerchiefs, and take a pass on expensive, over-packaged cleaners and foods. For cleaning jobs, I mostly use vinegar and baking soda – the latter I buy in bulk. And old clothing for rags…

12. I buy very few “personal care products.” Most people’s bathrooms are chock-a-block with products I find unnecessary (for example, I clean my ears with a fingernail, which doesn’t cost me a cent!)

13. I subscribe to a little philosophy I guess might best be described as “a little dab’ll do ya.” Meaning I use a teeny amount of toothpaste, not gobs of it. Same with shampoo, same with butter and jam and peanut butter and so on. I am quite happy with the way things taste that way, and it’s economical, too (don’t forget, I’m of Scottish descent, hmmm? Being frugal is in my genes).

14. I keep my extravagances pretty modest. Books, cards, an occasional CD or meal out.

15. I walk or ride my bike to do errands in the town I live in, so the gas in my fuel-efficient car doesn’t get used up fast. I use public transportation when I can, when I can afford it. It costs me in dollar terms, but is a whole lot less stressful than driving or flying – and makes me feel more virtuous as well as more relaxed.

16. I do my best to live from a place of abundance. I focus on what I have, and on what is possible – not on what I lack, can’t possibly have, or cannot do. Most of the time, I feel quite rich! In fact, I believe firmly that wealth has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with money. You can quote me on that!

Janet