The Flip Side of Simplicity

(If you haven’t yet, scroll down and read Emrys’ entry “Simplicity” first.)

Measures of our living simply danced my mind earlier this week in the midst of a day that had me feeling like the Energizer Bunny in need of Ritalin.   I jumped tasks from hanging out a load of cloth diapers on previously mentioned laundry line, to pouring candles, to planting spinach and peas in the garden, to dishes and cleaning, with Gwen’s diapers, feeding and care in between.  

I choose to be a stay/work at home Mom (SAHM).  While being a SAHM is hugely rewarding, the pay isn’t much.  In fact, my “pay” is generally measured in money saved.  (but that’s a whole different post!) So while Emrys contributes the paycheck to our family, I contribute the time.  When I was working full time, my biggest complaint was that my employer owned me from 8:30-5:30 whether there was work for me or not, and I was not particularly enamored with the work I was doing.  Now my time is kind of my own and I can spending it doing things I enjoy (cleaning toilets excluded).  I take the time to figure out how to stretch our money as far as we can and many of these ways are encompassed in living simply and organically: breaking life down to the simplest level.  I’ve found that usually taking tasks down to their simplest level, requires less money, but more work. 

 Using the laundry lines means working with the weather to get the laundry dry, hauling laundry to the line(s), hanging it up, taking it down when dry and hauling it back inside.  I’ve saved on propane and electricity, spent more time and gotten a mild work-out in the process – so I guess I’ve saved on the gym too.

 Gardening is another of our choices that take us straight to our food source.  We plant seeds (or started plants) and watch our plants grow and reap the harvest.  Then take the harvest and process it for the freezer.  All taking the investment of time and creativity (see entries regarding tomato trees & troughs) while saving on the grocery bill as fresh produce will grace our table and tomatoes (in many forms), peppers, squash, pumpkin, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower will fill our freezer at a fraction of the grocery store price. 

 I enjoy cooking and have taken on the rule of thumb to cook once, and eat at least 3 times from the mess.  Usually this takes the form of making a large meal and feasting on leftovers a couple more times before it’s polished off.  Sometimes though, it’s being even more intentional and preparing a meal x3 or x4 and putting the prepared in the freezer for later.  So the ready to bake lasagna or enchiladas in the freezer aren’t from Stouffers and soups aren’t from Campbell’s but from our kitchen – and many times contain produce from our garden.

 I know that these methods of simplicity are not everyone’s cup of tea, and there are times in our house where simplicity falls to the side of practicality: “I am too tired to deal with this, laundry’s in the dryer and eat whatever you can find for dinner”.  This is one of the first “jobs” I’ve had where I go to bed at the end of the day thinking that I’m proud of what I do and truly enjoy the life we’ve been given here.