Recently we haven't thought too much about what simple living or voluntary simplicity means for us, but a few months we made some process, and stopped there. We haven't figured the rest out yet.

I would like us to cook more at home (from scratch), but it takes time for cooking in the evening that we don't currently have. We have tried to avoid advertising for years, including using an ad blocker on the web browser. We also don't watch much TV, so we don't have cable. Most of what we do watch, which isn't much, I record and we skip the commercials. We play together. We will see how that changes as Kitty gets older and has teenage friends, like I wrote a few days ago. We have started taking steps to grow some of our own food in backyard gardens. We have chickens to provide some compost for the gardens and they provide eggs for us as well.

One thing that we need to work on is buying locally and in season. The other day when I was in the chain grocery store, I noticed that the produce area looks the same in any season. The fruits and vegetables just come from different countries at different times of the year. There are seasonal specials, but for the most part this is true.

We have never been collectors of stuff, but the clutter piles up anyway. We are trying to keep that under control. As I wrote a few days ago, a question that I learned from reading about voluntary simplicity online to use when thinking about buying something relates to just that: thinking before you buy. Do I need it or just want it? Stopping and thinking for a minute helps to break the chain of mindless consumerism.

With the increased cost of gas, we have thought about getting a newer car with better fuel efficiency, but the only ones are hybrids. I've read that the batteries for the Toyota Prius are so resource intensive to make that one needs to drive the car a hundred thousand miles to break even on carbon emissions. Refining the nickel for the NiMH batteries is the problem. The batteries need to be replaced after about seven years, so it's a no win situation.

Given the resources needed to manufacture any new car, driving a used car makes more sense.