More on Living Simply

The past 10 days have been so filled with mishaps that it's almost comical. Our washer and dryer stopped working...on the same day that our dishwasher started leaking. Then we dropped our computer and the screen cracked. We now have a black spiderweb stretching from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. That could have been enough. But then Jon was in a car accident. And then, what came next? Oh yes, we both ended up with fevers and aches and the chills yesterday.

So in the midst of all this, as I have been researching appliances and new cars, I have been reflecting on what it means to live simply. And, in the midst of all of this, we have been surprised by goodness and generosity.

I began to shop for appliances online. I pictured a new washer and dryer with all the latest features, perhaps even in a fun color. They would be expensive, but wouldn't they look good!

And then a coworker of mine, who happened to see my facebook post, offered us a washer and dryer he was getting rid of. For free.

After the car incident, Jon's parents called. We were supposed to drive to the farm for the weekend. They decided they would come to us, instead. Not only would they come to us, but they would bring Jon's mom's car for us to drive while ours is in the shop.

And then, just this morning, Jon's dad called and said he has a dishwasher for us that some friends are getting rid of. For free.

And we've had family offer to help us with buying a new appliance, if we need to.

So do we buy new appliances because they are newer, with more bells and whistles? Or do we accept offers of used appliances that are free? We are opting for free. We think that this is part of what it means for us to live simply--not getting wooed by allure of the new and flashy. We know that these used appliances won't last forever. They might only buy us a few more years before we have to buy new ones. But that's a few more years of being able to save, rather than going into debt.

Our appliances won't be shiny. They won't come in fun colors. I don't even know if the dishwasher will match the rest of our kitchen. They won't make our friends ooh and ahh when we host our fancy dinner parties. But they will get our clothes and our dishes clean.

As I think about the crunched hood of our car, which will likely be enough damage for the insurance company to declare it a write-off, I can't help but think of my friend Sarah. Sarah is a nurse, working in Haiti. And I wonder, would it matter to her and her friends if the car they were driving was ugly? If its hood was dented and smashed, but it still ran well? Do we buy a new car or make due with what we've got? If we buy a new car, do we buy the one we've been dreaming of or do we buy something smaller, something still reliable, but less expensive?

We are part of a generation of entitlement. We believe that we can have, even more, that we deserve, the newest and the best. But what if this generation of entitlement has it wrong? What if it's not about having the best? What if it's not about having at all?

Living Simply?

When Jon and I got married, one of the things we said we valued was living simply. To us, living simply meant not getting caught up in materialism, not believing that we needed the newest, shiniest things, not trying to keep up with the Joneses. It meant trying to avoid debt, especially credit card debt.

We wanted our lives to be filled with the richness of friendships and experiences. Of good conversation and lots of laughter. We hoped our home would always be a place of hospitality, even if we didn't have fancy furnishings.

It was easy to live simply in our first year of marriage. In some ways, we didn't have much of a choice--we were broke grad students. Our first apartment was a tiny basement suite in Vancouver. It was basically a rectangle: you walked through the little living room to the galley kitchen to the bathroom to the bedroom. (That's right, you walked through the bathroom to get to the bedroom). We had such little storage that we built an extra tall bed frame so that we could put a few boxes underneath. We didn't have a dresser or a closet in our bedroom, but we did have a few shelves with baskets on them. And we had a tiny little deep freeze in our bedroom because that's the only place it would fit.

Our little home was a few minutes walk to the beach and two blocks from all kinds of little local stores and restaurants. We started playing tennis that year because we lived across the street from some tennis courts, and it was a free date.

We turned a falling apart Ikea dresser into a shoe rack and a very small coffee table.

It was a great little place. And we tried to fill it with friends as often as we could.

If we were to try to move back into that place at this point in our lives, we would have to sell most of our stuff. And figure out where Laurel would sleep.

We've noticed that the more stuff we acquire, the more difficult it is to live simply. The easier it is to believe that we need more and better stuff.

To Be Continued...

For Grampa

More Halloween

We have had quite the week. I'll share more in the next few days. For now, though, here are some pictures from Halloween.

"Don't tell Mom that I let you help with this part..."

Getting all the goo out...

Hey...I'm a chicken!

Jackpot!

Dancing Queen

This video is a bit long, but here is a glimpse of what happens in our house when we turn on music...