When Is Enough Enough?

Now that we’ve made the decision to modify our lives so we can travel more and work in different parts of the world, my partner and I have ramped up our financial discussions. As part of the non-pension- holding baby boomer set, we’ve often felt over the past few years that if we just had a little more, we’d be okay as we grow older. We’d be able to kick back more, not worry so much about working. We’re beginning to realize that when and if we get a little more, we’ll probably think we need a little more still!

We live so well in our country and our standards are so high. In many places people live in simple little houses or apartments, some even made out of mud or recycled materials. They have enough to eat and clothes on their backs. Because our culture is so wealthy, and we live in a cooler country, our idea of the basics is quite different from this. We have substantial houses, good quality newish appliances, entertainment equipment, more often than not 2 vehicles per family, seasonal clothes, and so on and so on.

As a society our awareness is beginning to change in many areas though, and one of these is in the area of acquisition and consumption. I believe that The Debt Diet, advocated by the Oprah Show for Americans whose debt load is out of control, is an important step in this direction.

Families are followed as they work with a team of experts to get control of their financial lives and pay off all outstanding debt. Of course their whole lives and family relationships become more balanced in the process. Watching them makes us think about our relationship with money and ’stuff’.

This month Lisa Ling did a segment on the Oprah show on middle class people who dumpster dive and collect discarded (but perfectly good) food, furniture and other household things. These people are called Freegans. This may seem a little excessive to most of us and that’s okay. We don’t have to live this way, but it shows us the possibilities that exist out there. Check out Could You Live With Less and A Trash Tour.

Lastly, another indication of our growing interest in living simply is yurts, (a type of tent). A Yurt I’d heard of yurts but hadn’t been in one until I went to a woman’s retreat on Bowen Island during the summer of 2006. The large yurt there was the meeting room. I’ve just realized that there is somewhat of a movement towards yurt living. There’s actually a yurt company right here on the Sunshine Coast. Not everyone lives in them, some people use them for outbuildings, but to me the possibility of living in yurts in rural areas is very refreshing. Click here to read more about people in yurts all over the world.

All these things and many more go a long way towards answering the question: “Is there a simpler, more conscious way to live?”.