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Living Simply and Simply Living

© April Kelley

As I was contemplating my subject for this month's article, I asked my sister her opinion - what would she like to see written about frugal and ecological living? She said, "I don't know....You know I would be more ecological and definitely more frugal if I could, but it's just so much time and work!"

I laughed. Time and work?! But that's what it is supposed to save! So I started thinking about it. What things do I do that are frugal but cost more time and effort? Well, I make my own lunches and breakfasts and coffee and don't get fast food. But if I plan ahead, it doesn't take me any more time than the alternatives - especially not breakfast and lunch because it takes just as long to wait in line for a coffee and muffin or sandwich and tea as it does to make my own. I'd rather take ten extra minutes in the morning to make the sandwich and forty minutes on the weekend to bake muffins and put them in a jar or boil some eggs and put them in a bowl in the fridge than rush to work while stuffing my breakfast in my face and always check my watch during lunch to see if I'll have enough time to sit down and actually chew my food before taking a few gulps of fresh air and heading back in to work. Lunch is way more relaxed when I bring my own.

But after going through this in my head, I realized that my sister wasn't really talking about the time it takes to make your own sandwich vs. waiting in line for someone else to make it. She was talking about the effort it takes to change your perspective on life. It's not something we can physically see or make up a time-table for. But we feel it. It weighs heavily on our minds and seems so tiring.

Once we get into the routine of the hustle and bustle of life these days, it is easier to stay in that routine than to improve it. The familiar is always preferable, even if it isn't the best thing for us. Changing perspective can be more arduous than changing a snow tire on your own. I realized that what my sister and I were struggling with was the ability to deal with empty spaces.

We are trained to think that empty spaces in our day mean we are not productive. If the kids or we aren't rushing everywhere, doing everything, then we are wasting our time. If we are not in line, in traffic or on the phone, we are not doing enough in our daily lives. We feel guilty for taking a hot bath on a Saturday morning and letting the kids skip hockey practice to sleep in or giggle on the phone with friends while we read a good book amidst the warm bubbles. But these things are not worth feeling guilty over - they are worth enjoying.