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by Jeanne Zornes“My bedroom phone quit and I need a new one,” my elderly mother-in-law fussed that day as I brought in her mail and groceries. I diagnosed its problem quickly: a missing power cord. Finding the cord in the next room, I plugged it in, assured her of a “fix” and gave her a hug.
Taking care of an older parent, whose memory glitches mean lots of practice finding lost items, regularly reminds me that “things” don’t last, but relationships do.
I have friends who stress out about more than dead phones--like big mortgages and car and credit car payments. They feel compelled to work more, to buy more. The result is less time for their personal and family needs.
I’ve tried to avoid that lifestyle by choosing one whose simple principles spell off, of course, the word “S.I.M.P.L.E.”
S—Seek less stuff: We have a slogan in our home: “Need is an interesting word.” What we truly need for housing, food and transportation is a lot different from what we think we need. Our culture promotes bigger and better, nicer and newer. But that doesn’t last or satisfy. “Stuff” will burn, rot, or disintegrate. It has to be dusted, washed, stashed and insured. When we die, it’s sold or given away.
I’m challenged in this area by living in a small home. I cram my clothes into a closet space the width of a door, and have inventive storage in my tiny, “eat-in” kitchen. Yet I have far more than most of the world.
At the bottom line, we own nothing forever. Our nicest car became trash in an instant on the night a drinking driver hit us. But our lives were spared and our less-attractive replacement car still gets us around ten years later.
I—Invest with intention: Anticipate needs and keep enough to share. That’s the advice from Dr. Richard Swenson, author of Margins, who says people run into problems when they don’t maintain “margins” for long-term needs. Decreasing spending and increasing savings helps build those margins to take care of a family’s future and to help others.
To decrease our housing expenses, we lived in a modest home and worked hard to pay off the mortgage. Though some may dispute that decision, we looked at the interest we saved: almost the original purchase price. That gave us the financial breathing room to invest in our children’s music lessons, save for college, give to charitable causes, and help needy relatives.
It wasn’t always easy to send a tax refund or extra income to the mortgage company. It meant a tight budget so the raises in my husband’s teacher salary could get banked to ward off debt. But those margins helped as we now face the income-sapping college and retirement years. It also frees me to me his mother’s care-giver.
M—Mend and make-do: Take care of what you have. “Old” doesn’t have to mean “shabby.” Our home is full of furnishings that got a “makeover” with fresh paint or paint remover and elbow grease. Only we know that our daughter’s chic bedroom of stenciled white furniture was once relatives’ and friends’ castoffs plus a headboard, chair and night stand from three different thrift stores.
My desire for a kid-friendly backyard happened when a neighbor ditched a wading pool (filthy from a winter outside, but cleanable). Throwaway lumber helped build their playhouse where we put another hand-me-down for quiet times: an old beanbag chair patched with duct tape. There they could read books gathered at yard sales and their school’s used book carnival.
P—Plan out spending: Save toward big purchases, research the best buy, and watch sale cycles and markdowns. When aging appliances needed replacing, we checked consumer magazines at the public library, then started watching for best buys. Some came out of the store’s “ding” room (damaged in shipping or returned). We got a good price on a barely-used recliner—returned because the customer didn’t like the “click” when rocking. (Our kids loved it!)
Browse sales with purpose. February’s clearance sale got my husband a $70 down coat for $25. We replaced his elderly mother’s faded towels for a third the price of new—and still got her favorite pink.
Plan ahead for gift occasions, buying generic gifts for a “gift box.” To on-sale cookbooks for brides, I’ve added aprons I sewed out of fabric found in remnant bins and thrift stores. My sewing scraps become simple patchwork baby blankets.
Scrutinize grocery coupons. The weekend paper includes coupon inserts that I selectively clip and file. I don’t keep all (I find most brand-name beauty and cleaning products unnecessary), but choose the products we’re apt to use and then wait for a sale on that product. Couponing resources abound; check out www.elliekay.com.
L—Let go—and be surprised: Be willing to let “needs” and “wants” come in surprising ways. A drawing at a motel grand opening resulted in winning a night’s stay at a bridal suite in another motel of that chain. Yes, it meant going to a boring farm town in January, but our kids came along and enjoyed the in-room spa and big-screen television.
Several times, our children’s desire for spending money was met by substituting a 115-customer paper route in blistering heat or finger-freezing weather.
Friends who know I sew often pass on scraps or abandoned projects. One sack of fabric had denim scraps big enough for me to sew my daughter the “in” jacket she wanted. A cheap zipper dug from a thrift store bin kept its cost to under a dollar.
E—Enjoy life’s little pleasures: I no longer shop for entertainment and don’t go on tours of dream homes. Knowing these activities could feed my desire for “more,” I seek instead to take delight in life’s special little pleasures.
The joy of simpler living comes with slipping under clean, sun-dried sheets. It’s inhaling the cedar when I open an inherited hope chest to retrieve a patchwork blanket I sewed. It’s picking roses to take a friend who’s discouraged. It’s setting the table with the “red plate” for a child’s achievement, and taking a loaf of fragrant bread out of the oven.
It’s making a call to check up on my mother-in-law and hearing her voice on that “broken” phone--and smiling as I realize life’s simplest and most fulfilling moments can’t be put in a shopping cart.
Are you frustrated with life’s push for more and more “stuff”? Do you long for a simpler, more satisfying life? The answer isn’t just in paring down and paying off debt. True contentment is possible only through a relationship with Jesus Christ. He offers to supply all our needs: physical, emotional and spiritual. He offers patience and power for life’s problems now, and the hope for a fabulous life in eternity with Him.
You can receive His offer right now through prayer. You don’t have to buy it. He already paid the price by dying on the cross for your sins. Prayer is life’s simplest but most profound way to talk to God. You don’t need fancy words. He knows what’s in your heart already. You can say something like this:
Dear God. I’m tired of chasing after stuff and fighting debt. I need your help to control my spending and to find the balance that you intended. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Forgive my sins of walking away from you. Please come into my life. I claim your promise to change me into the woman you intended for me to be.
Did this reflect your heart? If so, thank God for the new start He will help you make. As you learn more about God and His ways, He will help you discover the joys of simply living with Him and for Him.
Jeanne Zornes is a widely published magazine and book author whose seven books include When I Got on the Highway to Heaven, I Didn’t Expect Rocky Roads (Kregel) and her self-published book on simple living, Homemaker Helper. Learn more about her speaking at www.classervices.com.