The Simpler Way
Adapted from www.simplerway.org
By now we all understand the importance of reducing resource and energy consumption and stepping more lightly on the planet. But figuring out exactly how to do this in a consumer society can be very challenging. The aim of The Frugal Prosumer is to provide a practical action plan for those people who wish to live a ‘simpler life’ of reduced and restrained consumption.
The Frugal Prosumer way represents a life with less clutter, less waste, and less fossil fuel use, but also a life with more time for the things that truly inspire and bring happiness.
Beyond our basic material needs for food, clothing, and shelter, how much is enough? In particular, how much money and how many possessions do we really need to live well and to be free? These are not questions that many people ask themselves in consumer societies today, but they are some of the most important questions of all.
Instead of confronting these questions, too many people today spend their entire lives desperately climbing the endless ladder of consumerism, seeking more and more income to spend on more and more stuff. But at the end of life these people inevitably discover that they had not really lived. A free and meaningful life, it turns out, does not actually depend on having all the latest consumer products or having the nicest house on the street. On the contrary, working long hours just to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ leaves people with less time for the things that really matter in life, like friends, family, community, and engaging in creative activity. This is the stuff that makes life worth living, and the interesting thing is we don’t need to be rich to enjoy it all. The best things in life really are free. Wealth is a state of mind.
Money is important, of course, but only up to a point, and the threshold point is much lower than most people think. Once our basic material needs are met, the limitless pursuit of money and stuff merely distract us from more meaningful and inspiring things.
The good news is that there is an alternative – the The Frugal Prosumer Way. Participants in The Frugal Prosumer movement are voluntarily passing up high consumption, energy-intensive lifestyles and creating for themselves a lower consumption but higher quality of life alternative. By limiting their working hours and consumption, spending their money thoughtfully, growing their own food, riding bikes, rejecting high fashion, and generally celebrating life outside the shopping mall, these people are the ‘new pioneers’ transitioning to a simpler form of life beyond consumer culture.
Furthermore, they are showing that this is the surest path to a sustainable life of freedom, happiness, and deep contentment. Please join us on this transition.
This is your personal invitation. Consume less, live more. It’s well worth considering.
The aim of The Frugal Prosumer is simple: to provide a practical action plan for those people who wish to live a ‘simpler life’ of reduced and restrained consumption. The Frugal Prosumer Way represents a life with less clutter, less waste, and less fossil fuel use, but also a life with more time for the things that truly inspire and bring happiness. We hope that we can provide creative individuals with a guidebook for how to reimagine their lives to achieve these important goals. If you start with some of the ideas in our books and website and enjoy the process of transition, soon enough a new way of life – The Frugal Prosumer Way – will emerge. Only your imagination is needed.
Use this information as the basis for action, but understand that everybody’s life and circumstances are unique. We must each write our own story of simplicity. We try to give you a glimpse into how we work out how cheaply and sustainably one can live, as individuals and communities, if we made a commitment to living more on less.
While we are the first to admit are calculations are not exact – we conceive of our ways as an ongoing work in progress. And the news is good! By work and the help of "One Another" one can live a flourishing life on as little as $8,000 or less of cash income a year. This will strike many people as a ridiculous proposition, but read on with an open mind! We along with others have been living the The Frugal Prosumer Way for decades.
The time to reimagine ‘the good life’ is now.
The seeds of change are in our hands.
By now we all understand the importance of reducing resource and energy consumption and stepping more lightly on the planet. But figuring out exactly how to do this in a consumer society can be very challenging. The aim of The Frugal Prosumer is to provide a practical action plan for those people who wish to live a ‘simpler life’ of reduced and restrained consumption.
The Frugal Prosumer way represents a life with less clutter, less waste, and less fossil fuel use, but also a life with more time for the things that truly inspire and bring happiness.
 |
| Green house made out of recycled patio doors |
Instead of confronting these questions, too many people today spend their entire lives desperately climbing the endless ladder of consumerism, seeking more and more income to spend on more and more stuff. But at the end of life these people inevitably discover that they had not really lived. A free and meaningful life, it turns out, does not actually depend on having all the latest consumer products or having the nicest house on the street. On the contrary, working long hours just to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ leaves people with less time for the things that really matter in life, like friends, family, community, and engaging in creative activity. This is the stuff that makes life worth living, and the interesting thing is we don’t need to be rich to enjoy it all. The best things in life really are free. Wealth is a state of mind.
Money is important, of course, but only up to a point, and the threshold point is much lower than most people think. Once our basic material needs are met, the limitless pursuit of money and stuff merely distract us from more meaningful and inspiring things.
"Those who know they have enough are rich, and those who have enough but do not know it, are poor."Consumerism, it is clear, represents a mistaken idea of wealth, and it is based on a mistaken idea of freedom.
 |
| Kayak bike trailer made out of recycled material |
Furthermore, they are showing that this is the surest path to a sustainable life of freedom, happiness, and deep contentment. Please join us on this transition.
This is your personal invitation. Consume less, live more. It’s well worth considering.
The aim of The Frugal Prosumer is simple: to provide a practical action plan for those people who wish to live a ‘simpler life’ of reduced and restrained consumption. The Frugal Prosumer Way represents a life with less clutter, less waste, and less fossil fuel use, but also a life with more time for the things that truly inspire and bring happiness. We hope that we can provide creative individuals with a guidebook for how to reimagine their lives to achieve these important goals. If you start with some of the ideas in our books and website and enjoy the process of transition, soon enough a new way of life – The Frugal Prosumer Way – will emerge. Only your imagination is needed.
Use this information as the basis for action, but understand that everybody’s life and circumstances are unique. We must each write our own story of simplicity. We try to give you a glimpse into how we work out how cheaply and sustainably one can live, as individuals and communities, if we made a commitment to living more on less.
While we are the first to admit are calculations are not exact – we conceive of our ways as an ongoing work in progress. And the news is good! By work and the help of "One Another" one can live a flourishing life on as little as $8,000 or less of cash income a year. This will strike many people as a ridiculous proposition, but read on with an open mind! We along with others have been living the The Frugal Prosumer Way for decades.
The time to reimagine ‘the good life’ is now.
The seeds of change are in our hands.
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