Here is a useful new blog I found called Frugal Dad. Lots of good advice on how not to get caught up in the "shop 'till you drop" way of life, or how to get out of it, if you are already addicted. There is a lot of creativity about how to approach anything from gardening to financial investing all while keeping informed and fun frugality in mind.
Frugality is not supposed to be a puritan attitude against pleasure, but a way of life that reduces the dullness of our over saturated senses so we can once again enjoy the more subtle, and higher pleasures. This kind of "poverty" leaves us in abundance, and is available to everyone. No need to save the planet or reach higher religious heights. It is simply pure pleasure to be free from the unnecessary.
I can attest to the wealth available to the poorest and "unfortunate" families who have welcomed me into their homes all over the world. There are definitely two kinds of poverty. One is what I call true wealth. True wealth is when one has enough. People with that attitude create magic out of nothing - a bowl of rice, soup, or a cup of tea, which take on a quality that is far beyond their physical reality.
Not that the rich and well off cannot reach this same inner wealth. The advantage for the rich is that they have first hand experience that money cannot buy that kind of peace and happiness, while the poor might still hope that that is the case. Neither wealth nor poverty can guarantee the realization of inner wealth, but both can be used to get there.
In the spirit of less is more, maybe I'll keep this post short, and end it right here :-)
Frugality is not supposed to be a puritan attitude against pleasure, but a way of life that reduces the dullness of our over saturated senses so we can once again enjoy the more subtle, and higher pleasures. This kind of "poverty" leaves us in abundance, and is available to everyone. No need to save the planet or reach higher religious heights. It is simply pure pleasure to be free from the unnecessary.
I can attest to the wealth available to the poorest and "unfortunate" families who have welcomed me into their homes all over the world. There are definitely two kinds of poverty. One is what I call true wealth. True wealth is when one has enough. People with that attitude create magic out of nothing - a bowl of rice, soup, or a cup of tea, which take on a quality that is far beyond their physical reality.
Not that the rich and well off cannot reach this same inner wealth. The advantage for the rich is that they have first hand experience that money cannot buy that kind of peace and happiness, while the poor might still hope that that is the case. Neither wealth nor poverty can guarantee the realization of inner wealth, but both can be used to get there.
In the spirit of less is more, maybe I'll keep this post short, and end it right here :-)
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