real simple my ass
i've been striving to simplify my life for years now. as of sunday, i'm taking it all seriously. erik and i are going to map out a game plan. no more of this "we could" business. "we could watch less TV." "we could eat out less." "we could live on less income." "we could have a smaller house." "we could make our food from scratch." etc., etc.

i want it to be "we are."

our society teaches us that simplifying is about making things easier. no. it's about making things better. case in point: the lovely matte-paged magazine "Real Simple." it tells us to simplify our lives by buying shit. buy such-and-such organizational system! buy such-and-such pre-packaged cookie dough to make cookies faster. buy such-and-such car to fit all the soccer balls and groceries and pottery barn bags!

i subscribed to real simple as a "charter member" their first year. since then, it has undoubtedly made my life more complex. like the many millions of (generally female) readers, i'm a bigger consumer, a better consumer, and i have higher expectations as a consumer. we sacrifice the quality of our lives so we can get more things done, and get them done faster and easier. it's real complex.

enough! the babysteps have begun. today, i called j.crew, asking them to remove me from their catalog lists (although, they'll put you back on the list the second you order anything, the bastards). next is pottery barn, crate & barrel, and anthropologie. sunday, i baked a huge casserole of whole wheat pasta, soymeatlessballs, and vegetables to feed me for lunch for the entire week. i told erik not to buy me anything for christmas. we're already on as many anti-direct marketing/junk mail lists as we can find. i only watch ER and alias, and those shows make my life feel very slow and boring, so that's a plus, no? i can keep watching? we don't have fancy cable. i try to keep my mind away from as much mind pollution as possible. i rarely listen to the radio, and when i do, i only listen to NPR.

other things i'm going to work on in the near future: instead of greedily buying new books (and sniffing the beautiful intoxicating new book smell), i'll go to the library. instead of buying the alias season 2 dvd box set, i'll rent it. this january, we'll plant some vegetables in the yard. we'll join the local organic co-op. we're going to start researching buddhism and (liberal) quakerism to try and expand our spiritual health and improve our relationships with god, christ, the world, and each other.

and maybe when erik gets a real job, we'll reduce our income ourselves, diverting what we don't need for college educations for our children, charities, and for when we might want a stay-at-home parent. but right now, we pretty much have exactly only what we need. which, in a way, is kind of nice.

and remind me to cancel my real simple subscription.