photo credit: >>>WonderMike<<<

Or hold house was in the perfect location. Three blocks from the park and library, a couple more blocks to the shops downtown, and if I felt snackish a little further to a Subway. Only if the weather was bad, or we were going to the grocery store, did we need the car.

Here, we are not as lucky. Though the park is semi-close, it is still too far for the kids to make it. There is a Walmart almost walking distance, but A) again, the kids can’t make it, and B) it’s Walmart. All around us are fields and cows and wide open spaces. Cut through by a couple well-traveled mini-highways. Great for scenery, not so great when we need to go somewhere.

Since our move I’ve been thinking about getting a bike. I found a gorgeous retro bike, mint green with cream details, for a reasonable price. But that still leaves the kids. There is only 2 roads from my house to town, and both are heavily traveled sub-highways with no sidewalks. The 6 year-old is questionable, the 4 year-old is absolutely not mature enough to stay out of the middle of the road when cars are zooming past. And then there’s the baby, who thinks seats she has to be belted into are evil.

As it is now, Craig’s List has been a deadman’s land for bike trailers, and there isn’t a Freecycle here (I really need to apply to start one). I want to drive less, but most of the advice I find is geared towards family’s with 1 child and living in a suburban area. Riding through a deep ditch growing with cacti to avoid heavy traffic with three kids is not the peaceful car-free experience I keep reading about.

Whenever public transit and bicycles are proposed as solutions, a small but vocal group of naysayers argue that they cannot bicycle to the grocery store and carry groceries, or schlep their children to day care on buses. Some of these concerns are valid for some people, but most people are physically able and resourceful enough to manage. -The Moral Imperative of the BP Oil Spill: Drive 20 Percent Less

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. So I’m going to look for alternative ideas for getting out of the house. Maybe try solo-grocery shopping in the evenings, or attempt to carefully cut through a field.

One of my favorite new blogs, Love and Trash, had a post up a couple weeks ago about cutting down to only 15 things of clothing. It’s a huge thing for some people, cutting down on the things that most of society assumes you need more of.

I assumed that this would be a no-brainer for me. After all, I had already cut out much of my clothing when we moved. And I’m still in that annoying mid-body shape where I can’t wear maternity cloths anymore, but none of my old stuff fits either. So really, cutting it down should be a piece of cake.

Heh, it was actually a bit tricky.

I was brutal at first, filling a shopping bag with shirts and jeans that I’m not going to hope on ever wearing again. Clothes were flying in a mad effort to purge, purge, purge. Once the initial thrill was over, I started counting.

• 5 pair of jeans
• 1 pair capris
• 1 pair dress slacks
• 1 long wool skirt
• 1 long recycled pillowcase skirt
• 10 warm weather tops
• 6 cold weather tops
• 3 pair of shoes

That’s a grand total of 28 things. OK, so maybe paring down to just 15 is harder than I thought.

Could you ever cut down your wardrobe to the bare minimum? If you only had room for 15 things in your closet, what would they be?

Yesterday I opened a box to pull out a new Blackberry of my very own. On the outside, not a very green thing to do. But you see, my phone is different.

I’m the newest member of the Credo nation, a phone service that donates to various green and progressive causes. They plant trees, use soy based ink, and helps offset Carbon usage. They also sent me a sweet Solio solar powered charger for my phone. Yep, my phone is solar powered and that makes me happy.

Finding companies that support the things I support can be difficult. There is so much green washing that goes on, false promises and half hearted claims. Soda companies and bleach manufacturers have all claimed to be “green” when they hope it will bring in additional revenue. It has gotten to the point where you cannot trust any company that claims to be earth friendly without doing a mountain of research first.

Combining the use of a phone like a Blackberry with my goals to be simpler have been tricky, I will admit. Because I do 99% of my work online I wanted a way to stay on top of work. Yet, there is decidedly something not simple about being tethered to work and the internet 24/7. And yet, being able to glance at my email or my to-do list at a moment’s notice so far makes me feel less stressed. There’s no suddenly realizing I forgot something important or putting off going to the store while waiting for a necessary email back. Being tied in makes me feel a little more free.

Right now Credo is offering 2 Blackberry Curve phones for only $50, which is a freakishly awesome deal. And, if you tell them that I sent you their way I’ll get a little bonus. (You have to enter my phone number to list me as a referral)

photo credit: geoffeg

One of my big goals here is to learn to live a simple life, one with out so many distractions and complications that seem to stress us out. I’ve already made my simple living goals, but I wanted to map out small steps I could take to reach my goals. Then I thought I could expand it out a bit, make a list of steps that anyone could take towards living a simple life.

I could have made a huge list of steps, because goodness knows there are a lot of ways to simplify your life. But for the sake of simplicity I purged it down to the top ten. In no particular order, here are my 10 steps to live a simple life:

1. Purge things you do not need and use. If it has been sitting in a box for weeks, months, or even years get rid of it. If it sets gathering dust on a shelf, get rid of it. If it doesn’t fit, get rid of it.
2. Put a limit on media. That means TV, computer, and even your cellphone. The fewer electronics you use, the simpler things will be.
3. Create a routine. From a cleaning routine to a work routine, setting a specific schedule and sticking to it will make things far more simple than jumping around haphazardly.
4. Focus on the good. Yes, it’s easier to focus on all the negative stuff going on. Instead make an effort to focus on the good things. Savor each bite of good, scent of flower, and laugh of a loved one. Things feel a lot simpler when you are looking for the good.
5. Write down plans. Write down a plan for the day, for the week, for the year. Putting down on paper what you want to get done makes it easier to see what is a waste of energy and what is worth doing.
6. Breathe. Sit down, somewhere quiet, and just breathe. Repeat as necessary.
7. Just say no. You cannot do everything, nor should you try to. Say no to extra obligations that will only add more stress to your life.
8. Spend less. Let’s face it, we’re a consumerist society. Spending is part of our national pastime. But if you want to work towards a simpler life you need less stuff, and that means spending less money. Ask yourself if you really, truly need it to live.
9. Get outside, be a part of nature. At least once a day get outside and enjoy it. Soak up some sun, get your hands dirty, take a walk. The calming effect this has is amazing.
10. Go small. A smaller house, a smaller car, a smaller impact. In simplicity, smaller is better.

If you can take these first 10 steps towards simplicity you may find how easy and enjoyable it can be to live a simple life. Once you get rid of the things that cause so much stress, life starts to resembling living again.

photo credit: lululemon athletica

If I had a basic family goal, it would simply be to live greener. But what exactly does that mean? Breaking it down into chunks I want to live more naturally, to live simpler, to live more sustainable. Can I break those goals down even more? Sure. I want to garden, to have more homemade than store bought, to want less, to smile more, to be happier with what I have.

I could keep going, breaking it down smaller and smaller, crafting out a real agenda for what I want from this life. But I haven’t. Because for some reason, in my head just saying “greener” was good enough. It isn’t.

If you want to get something out of life you have to know what it is that you want, you have to set goals. Small goals and big goals, goals for today, goals for next year, goals for fifty years from now. I need to focus on my goals.

I am going to make an effort to revisit my short-term wants every month. Typing them out, seeing them on the screen and knowing that the world can see them helps me to stay focused.