Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #378234 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-23
• Released on: 2003-01-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Amazon.com
When you tell your friends you're thinking of ditching your cellphone and cutting up your Visa, they may think you're nuts. Be strong and read the Ten Principles of Simple Living, which include Consume less; Love people, not things; Put people before things; and Live from your vision. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Simple Living is about evaluating your consumer-choked life and learning to live happily with what you need--not what you think you need or just plain want.

Cutting back and reconsidering your time, relationships, and especially spending isn't going to be easy. "Simple living is about making choices that put you in the position of being more in control of how you choose to spend your money," says author Georgene Lockwood, "not shunning money altogether." Focusing on what you like to do, rather than on what you have to do (or think you have to do), is a way to simplify. The book is divided into five sections: What is Simple Living?; Your Money IS Your Life; Simple Living Basics: Food, Clothing, Shelter; Family, Friends, and Community; and What if Everybody Did It? The sections are broken down into chapters that question and challenge you to reduce, reuse, and reflect. Convincingly written, this book is very practical and encouraging. "It's for people who want to have more time for relationships and for doing things they really enjoy," says Lockwood. "It's for those who are looking to go beyond simply organizing and decluttering ... to a lifestyle that's more sustainable for the future of this planet and our civilization." --Dana Van Nest

Customer Reviews

One of my favorite books on the subject
Even after a decade and more of simple living I love reading books on simple living issues and one thing I like about The Complete Idiots Guide to Simple Living is where the author Georgene Lockwood notes in the section on The 10 Laws of Stuff that:

1. Stuff breeds. The more you have the more you need.
2. The useless stuff crowds out the good stuff.
3. Dust, bugs, rodents and moisture all love stuff. The more the better.
4. Stuff tends to stay where it lands.
5. Stuff expands to fit the space available. The more space the more stuff you think you need.
6. Over time stuff becomes invisible After living with stuff we don't see it.
7. Stuff costs you money more than once.
8. Stuff has a powerful effect on your state of mind. Useless stuff is a burden. It weighs us down.
9. Stuff takes value only when it is used.
10. Stuff doesn't make you happy, you do!

She also discusses the issue of quietness. That people who are afraid of quiet often have the most stuff because they need to always be doing something. So if we need noise and activity what is it that we fear?

And she offers great advise that when you read it you tend to go DUH ...of course that makes sense...why didn't I think of that. Like instead of six knives whose total cost is thirty dollars, and which won't hold an edge, how about buying one top quality knife that when sharpened holds an edge and is a gem to use? That the less we own the less time we spend cleaning. That when we buy a tool or appliance don't buy one that isn't multi task. As an example I bought a top dollar KitchenAid processor and it gets used all the time. Whereas the variety of cheaper tools that I had to dig thru a drawer to find were more a frustration and rarely used.

She notes in Abundance, not Excess that Paring down and living simply doesn't mean being poor. The simple life is abundant; you have everything you truly need and the time to satisfy your true, inner wants. This isn't deprivation! This is true abundance. Excess, clutter and useless stuff are the true deprivers.

Inspiration with a kick in the bum
My husband and I bought this book a few years ago. While we haven't entirely practiced everything presented in this book it certainly gave us the inspiration and know-how that we needed to declutter and clean up. We were swimming in stuff and didn't quite know how to fix the problem.

We keep this book around and whenever we start to feel out of control or overwhelmed with the daily grind, we pull this book back off the shelf and read a chapter or two. Sometimes we read the same chapters again and again. It has always proven to be a helpful guide to keeping our lives a bit more sane and simple.

We recommend it to all of our friends and I recommend it for you.

A Vehicle For Change
"The Idiot's Guide to Simple Living" can be enlightening and/or helpful to those folks who are new to the idea or action(s) of living more simple, more frugally, or enjoying one of the most precious things we have: time.

A former techie who went down with the dot.coms in 2001 gave this book to me. Having earned a rather high income during the mid to late 1990s this person has--absolutely nothing to show for it, except debts. Of which, won't be eradicated, or even significantly reduced for several years. As with most Americans today statistically, as their income increases their debts increase (and proportionally as well). The more money one makes the more debt they have. And, most of this debt is for things that depreciate: cars, the latest-gotta-have-electronic gizmos, and other things that show a mundane and unfulfilled life and/or banal socioeconomic status. (As Robert Kiyosaki states so adroitly, there is good debt and bad debt.) Don't buy "stuff."

For the nuts and bolts of the book, there is a convenient summary of major topics, that includes two tables of contents. A condensed table of contents as well as a detailed table of contents, for quick referencing. There is also a comprehensive index, and a list of further recommended readings.

The information in this guide will be known already for those who've chosen to live simple and for the most part debt-free. For the stereotypical American, whether earning [low or moderate incomes] this can be a vehicle to make a change to this attitude much more easier, practical, and yes--enjoyable.