Photos by Real Simple

My home is a sty right now, as we’re sorting our worldly possessions into various large piles for Goodwill, recycling, or selling on eBay or Craig’s List, in order to make room for the baby, otherwise we’re going to have to shove her in a box under the bed. Uncluttering is our number one priority right now—seriously, how on Earth do two people accumulate so much useless junk? “Living with less” is my renewed mantra—but if beautification were even on our radar, I’d be all over Real Simple’s zero-cost home makeover ideas.

My favorite: Draping a quilt over your bed frame and turning into a headboard. (Of course, you’d actually need a bed frame, which I don’t, for this to work, but a girl can dream.) I also love the idea of using mismatched china as catchalls for makeup paraphernalia on your vanity, although in my case I’d need 1) a vanity, 2) a pair of well-behaved cats who wouldn’t even DREAM of knocking over fragile tableware and smashing them to smithereens on the floor below.

Photo by Sick Lumpy, under a Creative Commons license

Because I’ve become more of a health nut in my dotage, I rarely deep-fry anything when I cook anymore. (That doesn’t stop me from indulging in the occasional tempura, however; I am large, I contain multitudes.) I remember leftover oil being problematic, though. Pouring used cooking oil down the sink is the worst thing you can do for your plumbing because it can congeal and clog up your pipes, and the general wisdom has been to allow it to cool and then disposing of it with your household trash—something I’ve always found wasteful.

My mother has a savvier, more frugal method: To save your cooking oil for the next time you fire up your stove, strain it through a mesh (to get rid of crunchy bits) into a reusable glass or ceramic container you can cover with a lid. Keep the container on your kitchen counter so that it’s at arm’s reach the next time you decide to don your chef’s hat.

A green tea cupcake I happily noshed on last month outside Beechwood Cafe in Jersey City, a simple indulgence that brought me more pleasure than any expensive designer tote can. What was your most recent inexpensive (or better yet, free) source of pleasure?

Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride

Someone asked me if Frugal Luxuries, which I quoted from earlier, trod the same ground as Your Money or Your Life—it almost seemed that way in the beginning, but as Tracey McBride began to neatly (and maternally) check off the different aspects of frugal living—from finances to food to your wardrobe—while drawing from her family’s experiences, it became clear that hers was more reminiscent of the housekeeping manuals of the past, updated for our post-Susan B. Anthony era, of course.

Just some of the tips I’m eagerly lapping up from my tattered library copy, in McBride’s own words; her book contains multitudes:

1. To make nonstick cooking spray, combine equal parts vegetable oil and liquid lecithin (available at most health food stores and some drugstores) in a clean pump bottle. Use it as you would the more expensive sprays (at a fraction of the cost.)

2. Save water that vegetables have been cooked in, and use it as a basis for soups and gravies. It is best kept in a large (2 quart) recycled wine bottle, with a cork stopper. Or your can keep a large container in your freezer, and add vegetable broth to it.

3. Transform an ordinary dinner salad into a meal by adding rolls of prosciutto stuffed with sauteed red chard (saute in garlic and olive oil), or herbs and cream cheese; add chopped cucumber and sweet red onions.

4. You may easily sour fresh cream or milk by adding 2 teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice. … To make a rich sour cream you may mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar into 1 cup of undiluted evaporated milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

5. Cooked vegetables may be heartily improved by adding a bit of acid. Spinach is a prime example. Ordinary cooked potatoes become sublime by the simplest addition of lemon juice and parsley.

6. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson: “Never buy what you do not want because it is cheap. It will be dear to you.” In other words, do not acquire a garment simply because the price is so low “you cannot resist” it. Avoid buying an item because it “will do.” Chances are you will not enjoy wearing it, and it will clutter your closet and unnecessarily drain your budget.

7. Make your own lingerie bags by running a ribbon through the casing of pillow cases to create a drawstring. Or attach Velcro on either side with Tacky Glue.

8. Make your own dryer sheets by pouring a tablespoon of liquid fabric softener onto a damp rag (or use a clean sock with a missing mate).

9. Candlelight at the dinner table, in the bath, or simply set strategically about your home (always away from the reach of little hands), used on a regular basis, can add a comfortable, romantic quality to daily life.

10. Always look for beauty in the ordinary. Use time-honored strategies and materials in new ways that suit your personal needs and tastes. When you treat the ordinary objects in your life with artfulness, they will become extraordinary.

Photo by Bill Ballantyne, under a Creative Commons license

From Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul by Tracey McBride, on frugality versus miserliness:

There is a vast difference between practicing frugality and being miserly. To be frugal is to set higher standards for your thoughts, behavior, activities, surroundings, and possessions. A frugalite (a word of my own making) is one who enjoys comfortable, attractive surroundings and endeavors to transform the simplest foods into a feast. You exult in keeping the bonds of family and friendship alive through simple and elegant entertaining. You enjoy quality accoutrements to daily living, although many frugalites have a (sometimes stringent) limit to their income. Frugalites prefer to make wise decisions on how to spend money and time … They know that money, saved by wise spending, can be used to enhance their lifestyle, contribute to worthwhile charities, or both.

Born from the Latin word for “wretched,” miserliness is the absence of generosity. A miserly person will spend money reluctantly and deprive himself of all but the barest of essentials, for the sole purpose of hoarding money. In my humble opinion, to live a miserly existence would truly be wretched. To wait for “someday” is the ultimate futile exercise.

Related article:
1. Money Quote: Joy vs. Stuff

Cover of Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat by Kimberly Wilson

I never realized how much the practice of yoga aligned with sustainable living until I flipped through my reviewer’s copy of Hip Tranquil Chick: A Guide to Life On and Off the Yoga Mat. Yoga, according to author Kimberly Wilson, is all about balance, not abstinence. The hip tranquil chick lives passionately and mindfully, seeks to simplify rather than accumulate, and gives graciously of herself and her resources—all while spreading tranquility and exuding what Wilson calls “a chic consciousness.”

Here’s what Wilson says about contentment (samtosha), one of the five foundation yogic dos:

The hip tranquil chick views challenges as opportunities and cultivates a sense of gratitude for lessons learned. Being content does not equal complacency. It does mean, however, that you savor the present moment and accept situations and people for what they are. By being in the present moment, you will be able to let go of past regrets and future worries by focusing on the here and now. Living in a state of contentment means that you don’t lose sight of the big picture, but that you allow yourself to revel in where you are at this moment. The satisfied state ensures freedom from the struggle to keep up with the Joneses.
Modern girl scenario: When bombarded by the media’s idea of what clothes, car, or beverage you need to be happy, reflect upon all you have with a sense of gratitude and satisfaction.

And here’s the 101 on a yogic don’t, the lack of moderation (brahmacharya):

Even though the hip tranquil chick has a devout love of passion and a desire for succulence, she knows when enough is enough. Avoid overindulgence, recognize that all good things can become a crutch, and constantly seek the middle path. When practicing yoga, both on and off the mat, seek balance, simple indulgences, and surrender the “addiction” when a problem is detected.
Modern girl scenario: Seek moderation by indulging in small doses, especially in sensual cravings such as chocolate mousse, soy chai lattes, sex, shopping, and yoga.

Part yoga how-to guide, part self-help manual, Hip Tranquil Chick is a breezy read that shows us how we can take care of ourselves and our planet with style and panache. (Spiritual centering and physical toning optional.)

It doesn’t hurt that you can look cute doing it, either. I feel more relaxed already.

Illustration by Kate Brennan Hall, used with permission

to win the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate the beauty:
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
whether by a healthy child
or a garden patch;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you lived.
This is to have succeeded.

—Emerson

Kate silkscreened this quote onto 500 postcards for a self promotion. Check out more of her amazing work on her Web site.

Photo by Jonathan Kirn/Getty Images

Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, authors of Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence on frugality vs. hedonism:

While both have to do with enjoying what you have, frugality and hedonism are opposite responses to the material world. Hedonism revels in the pleasures of the senses and implies excessive consumption of the material world and a continual search for more. Frugal people, however, get value from everything—a dandelion or a bouquet of roses, a single strawberry or a gourmet meal. A hedonist might consume the juice of five oranges as a prelude to a pancake breakfast. A frugal person, on the other hand, might relish eating a single orange, enjoying the color and texture of the whole fruit, the smell and the light spray that comes as you peel it, the translucence of each section, the flood of flavor that pours out as a section bursts over the tongue … and the thrift of saving the peels for baking.

To be frugal means to have a high joy-to-stuff ratio. If you get one unit of joy from each material possession, that’s frugal. But if you need ten possessions to even begin registering on the joy meter, you’re missing the point of being alive.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Writer and commentator Stuart Chase (1888-1985) summarized the gist of Thorstein Veblen’s¹ The Theory of the Leisure Class in its foreword:

People above the line of base subsistence, in this age and all earlier ages, do not use the surplus, which society has given them, primarily for useful purposes. They do not seek to expand their own lives, to live more wisely, intelligently, understandingly, but to impress other people with the fact that they have a surplus … spending money, time, and effort quite uselessly in the pleasurable business of inflating the ego.

¹He who also coined the term “conspicuous consumption.”

Related articles:
1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”?
2. The Golden Rule
3. Simplicity and Consumption
4. Voluntary Simplicity/Frugality Online Resources
5. 174-Year-Old Wisdom

From the December issue of “The Organic Report,” put out by The Organic Trade Association:

• The Organic Center has found that on organic farms, it takes about 30 percent less energy to produce a bushel of corn.
• A three-year study in the United Kingdom found organic milk contained 68 percent more omega-3 fatty acids, on average, than conventional milk.
• Research conducted in central India has shown that variable production costs for organic cotton were 13 to 20 percent lower than for growing conventional cotton and that the average cotton yields were 4 to 6 percent higher in the organic fields.
• A study of satisfaction among dairy farmers in Wisconsin found that 75 percent of organic dairy farmers reported being “somewhat satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their family’s quality of life, compared to 46 percent of graziers and 42 percent of conventional dairy farmers.

[via I'm Organic]

From William Henry Channing (1810-1884) [via Pocket Farm]:

To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not, rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common—this is my symphony.

“Commercialism is making people live on only the periphery of their whole beings. Things don’t make you whole and happy, they can divide and disorientate. Putting all of oneself in a task makes you real—makes you whole!” —Woman, 65, Single, Big City, Midwest, as quoted in Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin.

• The Simple Living Network
• Frugal for Life
• The Frugal Life
• Forget the Joneses
• Getting A Life
• New American Dream
• Simple Living America
• Lifestyle for a Small Planet
• A Simple Living Primer
• Three Ways to Get Over Possession Addiction
• Living Gently Quarterly
• The Dollar Stretcher
• Jewish Simplicity
• Reasonably Simple: A Voluntary Simplicity Newsletter
• Online Organizing: Voluntary Simplicity in Your Life

Related articles:
1. What is “Voluntary Simplicity”?
2. The Golden Rule
3. Simplicity and Consumption

Photo by Miguel Salmeron/Getty Images

Almost done reading Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin, and I wanted to record the following passages, regarding simplicity and consumption, for posterity, inspiration, and future reference because it’s THAT GOOD:

To bring the quality of simplicity into our levels and patterns of consumption, we must learn to live between the extremes of poverty and excess. Simplicity is a double-edged sword in this regard: living with either too little or too much will diminish our capacity to realize our potentials. Bringing simplicity into our lives requires that we discover the ways in which our consumption either supports or entangles our existence.

Balance occurs when there is sufficiency—when there is neither material excess nor deficit. to find this balance in our everyday lives requires that we understand the difference between our personal “needs” and our “wants.” Needs are those things that are essential to our survival and growth. Wants are those things that are extra—that gratify our psychological desires. For example, we need shelter in order to survive. We may want a huge house with many extra rooms that are seldom used. We need basic medical care. We may want cosmetic plastic surgery to disguise the fact that we are getting older. We need functional clothing. We may want frequent changes in clothing style to reflect the latest fashion. We need a nutritious and well-balanced diet. We may want to eat at expensive restaurants. We need transportation. We may want a new Mercedes.

Only when we are clear about what we need and what we want can we begin to pare away the excess and find a middle ground between extremes. No one else can find this balance for us. This is a task that we each must do for ourselves.

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Photo by Myron/Getty Images

Reading Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin, it occurred to me that voluntary simplicity isn’t some newfangled hippie-dippy metaphysical fad. It has deep roots running through the annals of recorded history, especially the religious quarters, from Christianity to Hinduism. But somewhere in the dark woods, between Ceasar’s assassination and the coining of the word “bling,” the children lost their way.

The golden rule, says Elgin, can be found in all the world’s spiritual traditions, and is expressed as “the compassionate admonition that we should treat others as we would want ourselves to be treated.”

The theme of sharing and economic justice seems particularly strong in the Christian tradition. Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea, stated around A.D. 365: “When someone steals a man’s clothes we call him a thief. Should we not give the same name to one who could clothe the naked and does not? The bread in your cupboard belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has not shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor.” In the modern era this implies that if people in developed nations consume more than their fair share of the world’s resources, then they are taking food, clothing, and other essentials from those who are in great need.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Elgin says that aesthetic simplicity isn’t meant to “produce a pinched and miserly existence” but to encourage a way of life that “enhances personal freedom and fulfillment while promoting a just manner of living relative to the needs of the world.”

By waging war, we’re diverting resources from those whose basic human needs far exceed ours—weakening, not fortifying, our walls and ramparts.

I’m frequently reminded of something Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians,” which nicely abridges how I feel about organized religion and its adherents who exhort salvation with one breath, but spew bile, spite, and avarice with the next. So glorified is their Kingdom of God.

Living, I think, has to mean more than “not dying.”

A zombie who only calls out for brains is nobody’s friend.

Tangentially related P.S.:
Regarding the whole Mel Gibson debacle, has anyone asked what the Jews for Jesus think?

Photo by Miguel Salmeron/Getty Images

In 1936, Richard Gregg, a student of Gandhi’s teaching, defined voluntary simplicity as involving “both inner and outer condition. It means singleness of purpose, sincerity and honesty within, as well as avoidance of exterior clutter, of many possessions irrelevant to the chief purpose of life. It means an ordering an guiding of our energy and our desires, a partial restraint in some directions in order to secure abundance of life in other directions. It involves a deliberate organization of life for a purpose.”

According to Duane Elgin, author of Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich, voluntary simplicity is not about impoverished living, turning away from progress, rural living, or denial of beauty. He quotes Mahatma Gandhi, who denounced a blind denial of the material side of life. Gandhi said, “As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, you should keep it. If you were to give it up in a mood of self-sacrifice or out of a stern sense of duty, you would continue to want it back, and that unsatisfied want would make trouble for you. Only give up a thing when you want some other condition so much that the thing no longer has any attraction for you.”

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