The Art of Simple Living

June 1, 2011

11 Comments

  1. Matt Bell

    Glad to hear that it was inspiring, Mark. In our cluttered, noisy world, simplicity is resonating with more and more people, myself included.

  2. Mark

    Matt,

    Great posting (just reading it now at year’s end). Inspirational and thought provoking. “I’m in!” That is, I will walk away committed to incorporating a simpler liefstyle for me and my home going forward. Thanks for the great, on-going services you provide…

  3. Scot Hollingsworth

    Matt,

    Very timely in my life. As a matter of fact I’m reading Foster’s Celebration even now. You should see our house, though. We took in all the excess furniture from my parents when they recently moved from a house to a retirement community apartment. And our adult children left behind way too much stuff they don’t remotely have room for themselves.

    And in my consulting practice I’m telling others that “you’ve got to fight for simplicity.” Hmmm.

    Scot

    P.S. I have new info on the topic we were discussing back in Feb: asset sales. Call me when you’ve got a few moments.

  4. Miranda Hubbard

    Thank you Matt for this insightful post. Just when I think I am doing better about “stuff” getting a hold of my heart we have another baby and I get caught up in the frenzy of baby shopping. Actually I really haven’t bought anything but I have accepted way to many hand me downs. Even if you don’t pay for the things you should think twice about what you posses. Our garage is now overflowing and getting baby’s “things” ready is now just another thing to take time away from an already busy schedule and add stress to life. How SILLY! He doesn’t need all this! Thank you for the reminder to try again- funny how “un”simple it is to live simply!

  5. gratefulheart

    Thank you Matt for your insight and inspiration. I drive very infrequently, but I guess he doesn’t want me not to have one at all. We were hoping to get a “maybe better quality” car this time, that will last longer than 7 years–even tho it was a ’98 used car to begin with. I would like to buy an American made car instead of a Foreign car which was very expensive when work needed needed done. Neverless, we will buy one that is at least 2 years old–the previous owner will have taken the depreciation on it already. We will continue to save every month even when we get our car. That way–in maybe 10 years or so (God willing) we will have enough for another one–without any car loans! God is good!
    Many thanks to you.

  6. Matt Bell

    Gratefulheart – Good for you that you have money saved for a good used car and that you’re standing firm for not going into debt. I must be missing something, though. If you have money saved for a car, why do you need to go without? Were you hoping to buy a used car that costs more than $11,000? If so, I’m with you. If it’s an option to wait until you have the amount you were hoping for, I’d do that vs. take on a car loan. We’ve been doing just fine with one car for about 3 years now.

  7. Scott

    Living simply,
    Sounds like a country bumpkin saying ! What a challenge it is to stay simple. WE try to think of things in the term of “basic” also. We have hobby items , like fishing stuff and hunting stuff, but we try to keep it “basic”.Last fall I decided that the family was ready to shovel snow. As our snow blower and lawn mower were showing age , I took a chance and went to trade both of them for a “basic” lawn mower for the next spring. I walked away with a new mower ! And we had a good experience with snow shoveling (really). I hope that the greatest lesson we learn from thinking about living simply is this; to simply rely on God for all we need .
    Scott

  8. Martha

    This topic reminded me of a Frontline (PBS)video, “The Merchants of Cool”, which shares how marketers target their young audiences!

    An eyeopener for me!

    You can watch it online as well as download the transcript.
    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/

    I am very concerned about our youth and how they relate to “stuff”!

  9. gratefulheart

    I am not able to work as I take care of my mom here at home.
    My husband who is also a Christian, has a good job and we are debt free.
    We have saved $11,000 towards a good used car. We have 3-4 months emergency savings in a money market. I really don’t want to touch that.
    As of today, our car now is ready for the junk yard with over $3,000 worth of repairs that would need done on a 1998, foreign car. Too many expenses on the car all these years. Last week it was worth about $1,000 trade in, but not now.
    My husband doesn’t want me without a car, but I keep thinking about the bible verse that the debtor is slave to the lender, and I don’t want to go in debt. If I can only convince him that I can go without a car for awhile, but I don’t know if that will work. We’ll be praying about this, and would appreciate any suggestions you may have.
    God bless you in your ministry, Matt.

  10. Cindy

    Hi Matt,thank you for this article.Yes,indeed many people including myself struggle to lead a simple life.This serves as a reminder to me..Tks again!

    God Bless You and all @ home!

    Cindy

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