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101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book for those who want to simplify, March 8, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living (Paperback)
In this wonderful, inspiring book, Janet Luhrs provides myriad ideas for and insight into how simplifying your life can help you shift gears or even start over from scratch. The book offers loads of practical advice about how to implement changes in your life and escape the cycle of work, consumption, debt, and stress. The author states at the outset that the book provides a variety of options for those interested in simplifying. Some of these options--like living off the grid or on a boat--will appeal to only a small number of people. However, the great stories from real people's lives do make you think about your job, house, and possessions and how you could streamline. Most of the suggestions (e.g., improving eating and exercising habits and better managing money and time) can be implemented by anyone. I recently read Elaine St. James's Living the Simple Life and found it wanting and often impractical--foregoing sunglasses and wearing only three colors of clothing are not helpful suggestions to me! This book also focuses solely on the changes St. James and her husband made, with little mention of the wide spectrum of alternative approaches. Luhrs's book differs by providing a vast array of resources, in addition to using life stories to outline approaches that folks have successfully employed to create more time, less stress, and more joy in their lives. Buy this book and take from it the inspiration to help you realize who you really are!
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364 of 390 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
read "Your Money or Your Life", March 9, 2005
This review is from: The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living (Paperback)
First of all, if you haven't read "Your Money or Your Life" already, just click over. That's the classic, the essential, and this is just an accessory. That's why there's 4 stars here: just to distinguish this from that. This book is for those continuing in simplicity, not getting started. If you read the negative reviews, I think you can tell that they started in the wrong place, and that some of them misunderstood "simplicity."
I am not the typical "voluntary simplicity" guy. VS is not about living on $2/day. It's about financial awareness and choices. I've thought about it, and I want to look like I spent about a thousand dollars getting dressed everyday.
But that requires choices, since I don't make $365,000 annually. Not, um, quite. That's what "simplicity" taught me. I don't need to buy an espresso machine, a blender, a dishwaher, a microwave, an MP3 player, or a car. My mobile phone is a dinosaur. I buy the cheapest coffee when my friends and I go to a coffee shop. When we go to a bar, I drink slowly, and thus less (but I buy good beer). I often buy used books, and they look better on the shelf anyway. I do my own laundry, and shine my own shoes. I work out at home rather than buy a gym membership. I eat fruit for lunch. I don't have children, and won't for a long time--the implicit trade-off: I might not live to see grandchildren. I prefer to make my dates dinner and rent a movie rather than go out. I bought my couch used, but it is far more romantic than a theater! And I am no chef, but I can whip up a tiramisu. The VS movement has certainly made me more romantic. I'd like a bigger apartment, but....
On the other hand, I have handmade Italian shoes, wool jackets, silk ties and satin sheets. I turn the heat way down in winter and wear sweaters in my house: each month I save enough to buy a first-rate pair of boxers! (No joke!) That's choices--and that's what voluntary simplicity is all about. You don't give up anything you love: but you choose what you love over what you like. (And hey, as for simplicity: a well-cared for $400 pair of shoes should last at least ten years. I have only one pair of black oxfords, and I won't buy another for many years. Hand wash those knit socks. Etc.)
Although none of my friends can tell, I'm one of these VS folks. I still put about a grand a month into savings. I do shop carefully before I buy clothing, actually taking notes with a notebook, so that I make good choices, and I buy on sale. I recently changed jobs: taking a small (about 15%) pay-cut in exchange for substantially less work (about 50%). No one questioned that, actually! At least not to my face. But anyway, it was MY choice; or rather, my CHOICE.
Everybody's at a different point in life: for some people, VS means telling their kids they can't have a Playstation, or buying generic cereal in bulk, or learning to boil macaroni rather than hitting Taco Bell, and that's a situation far different from mine. But I really believe everybody should check out this VS stuff. It certainly won't hurt.
As far as lifestyle goes: choose for yourself. You don't have to buy second-hand clothes to be a "true" VSer. This isn't asceticism. Do you love fine wine? Do you want a classic Harley? Choose what you love, and live in a way that enables you to have it. That's voluntary simplicity.
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62 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simple ideas lead to simple living, October 25, 2002
This review is from: The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living (Paperback)
We dream of a good life, one that is not cluttered by mounting stress, by deadlines, by worries about money. We dream of a more fulfilling way to live. Unfortunately simple living is an art that one probably never truly achieves, but I think journey is far more important than the goal itself. "The Simple Living Guide" is a guide to beginning your own journey to a simpler and more fulfilling life. While the book can be read as a whole, cover to cover, it seems to read best when broken down into its individual chapters. The reader is invited to begin their process of simplification where and when they are ready leaving other area for later. I began my journey three years ago dealing with the clutter that I, and so many other Americans, gather around ourselves for no other reason than it is expected to have more than we need. Cleaning and exorcising my home of useless kitchen appliances, clothes I could no longer wear, and knick knacks pretending to be works of art was a painful process but one made easier by Ms. Luhrs book. Cleaning out my home led me to simplify my budget, and then to simplify my leisure activities, and most recently to simplify my career. Ms. Luhrs presents us with the fact that simplifying is a process. One cannot just simplify one area of life and call it good. Every time you change and improve one area it radiates and effects every other area of your life. For example once you start simplifying your budget to save money it leads you to question how you spend your time, where you live, your quality of life, even the birthday gifts you give. The entire book is written in a warm, personal manner, often if feels as if one is having a conversation with the author rather than reading text. The advice presented is not only practical advice but philosophic or spiritual advice as well. Inner simplicity means thinking some thoughts that are occasionally rather deep. The fact that there is philosophy presented in this book is not a detraction from the book but a distinct positive. There are books about saving money and managing time out there but Ms. Luhrs asks us to pause a moment and ask just what we want from more money or more time. Life changes are always easier when you have an idea of where you are going and why you are making the journey in the first place "The Simple Living Guide" invites you to take your time, to think about your life and to grow while you simplify. What could be more simple?
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