Downshifting Not My Car, But My Life
January 16, 2008 | In Making A Diff. Lifestyle |
A few days ago, in a comment, Evan mentioned the Downshifting lifestyle. I’ve heard of this before, but wasn’t sure what all it entailed. What I thought I knew about this appealed to me, although it wasn’t something I was prepared to do. My stance on this is changing.
Photo by Lady-bug
Last night, I looked up Downshifting, otherwise known as Voluntary Simplicity. Before doing this, I had an idea that this lifestyle was simply living as naturally as possible, curbing excess spending, living frugally and trading the purchase of big ticket items for financial security. I pictured a lifestyle that was debt free except for a mortgage, with working on paying that off early. This would be a lifestyle where I would not purchase anything unless I had the money for it, in other words no credit. It would be a lifestyle where I was contributing fully to a retirement plan and saving each month for vacations and large ticket items like a new house. I pictured growing some veggies, and buying the rest at a farmers market. I pictured cooking at home and brown bagging leftovers.
What Downshifting Really Is
However, what I found out about Downshifting is that the lifestyle isn’t quite like this. Most Downshifters have left a high paying job in order to get a more fullfilling, but usually lowering paying, one. Yes, they are frugal, and some even move to another country to lower their cost of living. Some live totally on food they grow or raise - including goats and chickens. Well, this doesn’t appeal to me.
Although leaving a higher paying job was one of the criteria for one of the studies I read on the lifestyle, this didn’t include folks who had found fulfilling work that replaced their income, but allowed them more time. This is what J.D. at Get Rich Slowly has done. He’s an inspiration to me for the way I would like to live, the way I pictured before researching Downshifting.
This is also the way of life that Yaro Starak of Entrepreneur’s Journey strives for and teaches with Blog Mastermind, which I am a member of. Yes, it is true, I plan on earning money with this blog, although I promise I will carefully weigh the value of any ads before allowing them on the blog. The readers come first, and my commitment to being an activist is always on my mind.
How I plan To Start Downshifting
That said, my knowledge of Downshifting has changed, but not my implementation of it. For years I’ve been getting rid of “stuff” and doing my best not to purchase more. I’ve cut down on the number of magazines I subscribe to. One of the few I kept is Body + Soul Magazine
So, I’m not quitting my job, moving to the woods, and starting to raise goats and chickens (although there is nothing wrong with such a thing if it works for you). However, I will be simplifying my life by consuming and spending less. I will also be spending more time with my family and friends and less time worrying about getting the perfect gift for Christmas or birthdays.
There are several reasons why this way of life appeals to me:
1. It is more cost effective. I buy a lot of stuff I don’t use and the regret purchasing. By making the effort to only buy stuff that I need, instead of lots of stuff that I want, I’m saving money.
2. It helps the environment. I’m not going to stop buying stuff. And I don’t see myself as the kind of person who will get all of her possessions at thrift stores, although I might get some. Rather, I will buy when it is really needed, which will cut down on the amount of energy used to produce the stuff I buy and the amount of trash I generate from using the stuff.
3. It will improve my quality of life. If I don’t buy when I want something, but instead think about it, and save for it, I will train myself to purchase quality instead of quantity. Certain purchases I haven’t regretted: a new entertainment center to house my TV and DVDs. Many more I have: books, candles, knick knacks, more books. If I had waited before purchasing the books and thought about it, like my husband and I did with the furniture, I would be happier. I would have less stuff (I’m going to be getting rid of books) making the stuff I do have that much more relevant to my life.
4. It helps my health. Both my mental health because I’m not stressed out by all the stuff, as well as my physical health. One of the frugal principles I plan to incorporate into my life is preparing my own meals. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but that’s because it is a huge step that I’m psyching myself up to do consistently. By preparing my own meals, I get to control what goes into the food. Therefore, no chemicals, no high fructose corn syrup, etc. Healthier, better tasting food, makes for a healthier body as well. Even if I purchase the ingredients and don’t grow them myself, I’ve still saved money and helped the environment as well as made myself feel better.
I went to the public library today (books I didn’t have to pay for and don’t have to make room for - yea!) I was happy that they had many of the recommended books about Downshifting/Voluntary Simplicity. But, before I read them and get a better idea of how, exactly to do this, I wanted to record my initial thoughts.
Now, I’m going to stop talking and open the subject up for discussion. Have you tried Downshifting, or something similar? Do you have any tips or tricks? Do you think I’m getting in over my head? Please leave me your comments below.
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Hi Cathy,
There are a lot of things I could tell you about downshifting in my life. I’ve done parts of it as major transition and others as a whim, as in, it seemed like a better idea one day.
What I’d really like to say to you is what the overall experience has been like. I chose one thing and the rest followed as if linked by a chain. It maybe didn’t always seem as if it were a natural “link” from one thing to the next, but that is the beauty of hindsight.
The really beauty is when you realize that there is no actual effort to choosing the next thing to simplify, as it is already happening. That’s also not to say there was no questioning about the next move, but what gave me my best clues that I had done the right thing for me was no loss, no regret, nothing was ever really gone, I could have it all “back” if I wanted. It was just a different phase of things I was experiencing.
Good luck. I hope whatever you want to happen, happens with ease.
Barbara
Barbara,
Thank you so much for the encouraging words. As I start this journey, it does feel a bit overwhelming. But, like you, this new resolve is coming from a time of transition. There have been a lot of changes in my life in the past year that I didn’t have control over. But this year, I’ve resolved that the changes will be ones I do have control over.
I’m also finding, like you said, that once I’ve begun looking at one way to simplify, lots of other ways are occurring to me. I hope that the farther along I go, the easier it will become and the bigger the changes will be. One big change will be if my husband and I move into another apartment in the spring.
I really hope we do because we will have access to a backyard where we can set up a veggie garden. It will also be smaller than were we live now, which will force us to evaluate all our decisions about “stuff.” I think even if we don’t move, we will still make decisions, but right now all the stuff we have fits in our apartment. I’m not sure we will get as far without the push from downsizing our living quarters. I’ll just have to wait and see though!
There are a couple of books called Your Money or Your Life. They are more from the voluntary simplicity movement but they have lots of good, practical ideas.
Evan,
I’m reading Your Money Or Your Life right now. I’m finding it immensely helpful. In fact, I told my husband that when I’m done reading it, he’s going to read it and we’re going to work together on the steps of the plan laid out in the book. I really like how they focus on various ways of visualizing how money fits into your life. As a visual person, I’m looking forward to having the “picture” in front of me of my finances and my life improving day to day and month to month.
Cathy,
There are a few ideas I’ve used or seen used in the past to have a garden when I lived in an apartment (I have always lived in the city). I don’t know if any of them will work for you, dependent on where you live really and access to space.
One, I had an elderly neighbor that owned a house. She no longer wanted (and had some ablity issues) to have a vegetable garden. But she had the space. She was more than happy to have me plant and tend in exchange for a few tomatoes and peppers and not having to worry about an empty patch becoming overgrown with weeds.
Two, very often in city communities there are empty lots that the city has taken over due to unpaid taxes. Again the weed problem and just generally being untended. In one neighborhood I lived in, my neighbors and I approached our local alderman to use a part of a property for a community garden. There were many people, including homeowners that didn’t have big lots that joined in. We just divided up the space into 10 X 10 spaces, each person responsible for their own. There had been a house on the lot so water was available, hard to do if it’s not. The garden was there for several years before the city sold the property. It turned an eyesore into a commodity for quite awhile, though. Odd lot shapes are your best choice as they are the least likely to be sold.
The other thing I’ve seen done in my new neighborhood is a community garden at the local grammar school. The kids get parts to learn a little land tending with parent/teacher help and parts are offered to the neighbors. Giving the added benefit of the adults modeling for the kids and vice versa. Again it saves the school district money in having someone else tend pieces of the property, gardens beautify the space. (The kids use every fourth or fifth patch to grow flowers for cutting to bring bouquets home or otherwise give away.) The teachers love it, the kids can’t wait to see what they’ve grown, keeps them more than occupied. It becomes win, win, win, all the way around
Just some ideas. Maybe two a bit ambitious if you have other things that are priorities, dealing with the city, use issues, and so on. Maybe you can modify the ideas to suit your need/time commitment, etc.. And hey, some of them might even be considered activist type things you could get help with like your most recent post advocates…
Barbara,
Wow! I hadn’t even thought of some of those things. And, reading the suggestion about working with kids gave me a picture of planting with my 5 year old niece. While it is too cold to do any planting now (we had snow yesterday), I’ll definitely keep these ideas in mind when the time comes.
Thank you so much!