Enough: Lifestyle and financial panning for a simpler life.
Betty Jane Wylie


Published in 1998 this book covers many subjects and is a fairly easy read. While it’s over all theme focus is on simplifying our increasingly chaotic lifestyles, it offers some sound budgeting and money saving strategies for every lifestyle.

While discussing consumption there is one quote she uses that sticks with me the most. “Nothing that costs only a dollar is worth having’—Elizabeth Arden. How many of use truly believe this? Maybe without even realizing that we do? Probably the majority. And that’s a great place to start. Our attitude towards life in general and our relationship with money. Where did the idea that bigger, more expensive products equaled better? Advertisements. The subtle and not so subtle message are aimed at us practically from the time we are born. Telling us that brand name is better. Trying to make us feel inferior or deprived if we don’t buy their often over priced items that we don’t really need and in far too many cases don’t’ even use after the first month or so. Advertisers spend big money thinking up new and subtle ways to try and make us believe we need their product and their brand. Breaking their hold on us and our idea that more is better is essential to simplifying our lives, and our expenses as well.

Once we begin to learn and believe that we are not deprived because we don’t have the newest most expensive products, that we aren’t bad or abusive parents if we don’t provide our children with so much stuff that they can’t appreciate any of it, let alone learn the value of a dollar, everything else will fall into place. Life is not a competition. It’s time for use to slow down and stop living as if it is.
It takes time to come to that conclusion. And maybe a little longer to believe it completely. I’ve been taught to “Act as if” until it is. And so far that has worked for me. Perhaps if we put actions first, the belief that “less is more” will follow. Eventually we will be happier with less stuff. If we start consuming and spending less it may not be long before we aren’t just faking happy with our new lifestyle. Fake it till you make, a saying that works in almost ever situation.

Confused about where to start? Betty Jane Wylie offers some practical tips on how to not only consume less resources, but spend less money as well. One will almost always lead to the other so where you start doesn’t matter. Just that you start.

Packed with advice on everything from saving on funeral arrangements to ethical investing to easing into a simpler more frugal lifestyle, this book offers some baby steps to get us going. There are also a few sample work sheets for working out budgets and household expenses.

I will share my very favorite tip. It’s from the house cleaning section. Household organization and day to day cleaning of the little things is something I still struggle with, and probably always will. Here’s one tip I think I will try today. “take off your glasses so you can’t see the dust” And another tip we should all practice all the time, remember to laugh a little bit.


For getting started on the journey of simplicity the book Enough : Lifestyle and financial planning for a simpler life by Betty Jane Wylie is a good starting point.

  I’m writing this by candle light. The electric went out. Again. For the third time tonight and the second incident in a month. I have candles, but just small little votives, and only three of them. I am, of course, unprepared for this basic need. Light.

Right now I think the Boy Scouts’ motto of “Always Be Prepared” is the most brilliant thing ever. But I wasn’t a boy scout. And so I’m unprepared tonight to keep myself from running into and over everything in a dark apartment. At least I have a lighter to light the candles. I keep one for lighting my incense, which I really need to do more often. As an ex-smoker I no longer know where my several different lighters are at all times. I just have two, and one I don’t know where it is. This one I was lucky enough to have found and been using to light incense recently to show off my new incense burners.  Last time the electric went out, due to a transformer down the block blowing up, I learned the importance of keeping that lighter where I knew where to find it. Usually our blackouts don’t last that long, but we do have the.
So why am I, and we as a society, so unprepared for such basic needs? I wonder if the number of people that have extra batteries and/or adapters for their cell phones and notebooks would greatly outweigh the number of people that have candles and matches and flashlights with back up batteries. My guess is, it would. The basic disaster relief recommendation is three days worth of food and supplies. I know I don’t have that. Well, I might, but not the water or candles or matches. I have a lighter. It might not make it three days.
What constitutes a ‘basic need’ when we are talking about being prepared? Food and water, shelter,  heat, and light. Those are some basics we need to be able to know where to obtain in an emergency and preferable before we have that emergency.  The first is food. I know missing a few days’ worth of meals wont hurt me. But we’re American’s , we gotta eat!! So some extra canned food can come in handy. And don’t for get to add a can opener and some utensils.  Storage is something to keep in mind when stocking up for an emergency. Depending on the type of ‘disaster’, our needs will be different. Obviously extra ice cream will do us no good after the first night of no electricity in the middle of summer. Not that there would be any left after the first night. Canned and dried foods are the way to go. You might also want to keep some in your trunk, along with a can opener and some utensils. And bottled water. Probably at the top of everyone’s list is bottled water. And lots of it. Buy the case just in case. Now I have quite a few bottles of water in my fridge. They are recycled bottles though, not sealed up, so I don’t know if that would make a difference or not. Probably it would, but I really just don’t know.  If you live in California and are earthquake prone you would also want to keep some extra dishes of the unbreakable variety, assuming that all your dishes will be broken in the earthquake. Also you will probably want a few weeks wroth of food and water. (maybe I’ve heard too many horror stories about earthquakes) Most of us won’t need that much, but best to “be prepared”
When I was little we lived in Iowa. That’s just above Kansas, as I was aware of every year when “The Wizard of Oz” was on tv. I remember very vividly many, many times being rushed to the basement (as if I needed prompting at all) with the battery powered transistor radio.  I believe we even had a mattress down there. That was how we prepared. I was too young to know the difference between preparing for an event and the actual event. I just knew that basement with a radio or the bathtub with a mattress. I even had fantasies of making friends with the tornado, inviting it in to play, as if it were another child, and then it wouldn’t hurt us. (Please. I was five.)
 
Battery powered items and extra batteries should probably be on everyone’s list. At least one flashlight, a radio and extra batteries for them., because it will work fine until you need it. So best to “be prepared”. Here is something I didn’t think about until it happened to me, the phone.  Without electricity, cordless phones, uncharged, wont work. Make sure you know how yours is powered. Just in case. These days having an extra battery for your cell phone may be all you need.  While the radio used to be the all important item, you may be able to get news updates on your phone. I still don’t have one, though I am considering one.
 
Most of the people I know that do have them have about midrange services and accessories. A few are just plain phones. All could probably receive text message updates at the least. Should those be needed. Or we could just make the information getting simple and just have an old fashioned battery powered radio. Which I have. But guess who is battery-less when its needed? Just guess. So radio and flashlight with appropriate batteries and back up batteries are a must. In my unprepared glory I have neither. I do have a nifty pen that has a light in it.
    *If you live in Tornado Alley a mattress against the wall of the bathroom is also acceptable, especially if you are me.

 
Taking these extra preparedness items with you on a road trip could save your life. Perhaps that’s the one disaster we are all prone to, no matter what part of the country we live in. Just remember what can, and has, happened to people that have gotten lost and were unprepared for a sudden storm. The movie “Cujo” might be a bit graphic, but I think it is an excellent example of how the unexpected can take over on the most ordinary of trips. Being prepared for as much as you can, can go a long way to make your life less stressful when a disaster happens. Even if its just having candles and matches when the lights go out.
 
One of my candles is almost completely gone, the other two won’t last long beyond that and the wind is starting to whip them around again. So, to recap, I am completely unprepared for the basic needs that arise when a simple late summer storm wrecks a little havoc on my neighborhood. When it comes to living more simply, being prepared is an excellent place to start. It can help keep your stress level down in a time of crisis, or even just aggravation at trying to write by candle light.

Eight years ago I moved to Salt Lake with very little. My son, my computer and my car. The rest of what I had fit in my car. Clothing. Nothing else. That was it. Six months later we still hadn’t accumulated much more. So it was a devastating loss when the car broke down that last time. With no money to fix it I had to let it go. My only option was public transportation.

1700 miles from family and friends, only six months in my new chosen home I had to learn the ropes of a new system in a new town all on my own. Eight years later I still have no car, but I am a pro at getting around town. And I’ve seen a lot.

The price had gone up as all things do. But surprise, surprise, it will be going down for a change. The ‘fuel surcharge’ will be revoked. Well, if, big IF, gas prices stay low through the month. Cross your fingers for us. We are at $2.25 a ride. I really didn’t think they’d lower the cost even though gas went down and technically they didn’t.  They are just dropping the ‘fuel surcharges’ and then in April will raise the fare to compensate for the 7% decrease in budget due to the economy. Still. We will come out a quarter lower than we are at now. And I still have better service here than I had in Des Moines or Northern Kentucky.

Riding the bus has its ups and downs. Most rides are uneventful. You get on. Say hi to the driver. Sit there. Maybe read your book or the paper. Maybe daydream. I stare out the window. Pull the bell. Say thank you as you exit. Everything goes as expected.

Other times it’s not so easy or pleasant. Sometimes the bus smells like pee. It’s just a fact of life. I’m not too good to ride a bus that smells like pee. It’s not pleasant but we do what gotta do. I doubt that the individual that peed in that seat or smelled of pee chooses to be that way. I can’t tell you why he or she does that but I’m sure there is a heart breaking reason behind it I can’t begin to know. I can cut them some slack. And count my blessings.

Unlike the lady (or man) with three times too much perfume (or cologne) sitting two seats ahead of me. Well I take that back. I’m sure they have their their issues too that drive their excessive use of toiletries. Maybe they are trying to cover cover up the pee smell they imagine will jump on them while they ride the bus. Or, more likely, they played ‘ink a bink a bottle of ink’ too many times when they were a child and now believe they stink, not because they are dirty, not because they are clean. So they cover it up. Please.  It’s a child’s a rhyme. Get over it. And lay off the smellgoods

When you’re not overtaken with smells there’s sometimes plenty to listen to when you don’t want to. Some people just want to be heard by everyone. Usually younger people. The two teenage boys for instance. They could not help but talk about about sex with their girlfriends. The one went on and on about sex with his girlfriend. How she could not get enough because of how big his … um …. Member was. And how he could get her to do anything he wanted because he was so big. Gotta love teenage boys, right? There were just a few of us in the rear of the bus. But one older gentleman felt the need to chime in. In all seriousness he says “Enjoy it while you can boys, it shrinks when you get older. Mine is the size of my pinky finger now.” I wanted to turn around and see if they were as pale as their silence indicated as this man went on and on about his urologist and how it started to shrink in his late thirties, but I was too busy trying not to laugh too loudly. A few stops later and he pulled the bell and was off.  To the urologist no doubt.

Then there was the guy, mid twenties I’d say, that “was late because I had to change pants because I shit myself”. Fortunately for him it looked like a mustard stain or so he said. He went on about it for twenty minutes. How proud he was. Fun times!

Cell phones are another story. I can only hear one side of the conversation. And because I can’t hear both sides doesn’t mean it is a private conversation. You are in public. Don’t want me and everyone else to know you lost your kids to CPS? Don’t talk about it on the bus where everyone of us can hear you.  It’s much easier to say “mom I’m on the bus I’ll call you back” than it is to expect the seventeen people in the rear of the bus to magically NOT hear you complain how unfair CPS is. Stating “do you mind, its private will not, in reality, make any phone call on the bus a private one.

The funniest thing I have ever seen, and surely some of you won’t find it funny, may even be offended, was the drunken masturbator. We were riding along. I believe it was a Sunday like today. Going to Kmart. I forget now what I was in search of. Getting on you could tell he was drunk. The smell was unmistakable. Harmless enough though. Probably riding the bus to get out of the cold, I thought. This was in the late fall, early winter (do I have a good memory or what? For some things anyway). So we’re riding along. He doesn’t whip it out so much as he undoes his pants a little bit and sticks his hand down there and starts going at it. They are bagging pants but you can still see the party going on.

The bus driver is shocked. Completely. Stops the bus. Demands he stops. He looks at the driver but doesn’t stop. The driver is unsure what to do. Tells him to stop again or he’ll call the police. This time he stops. The bus driver tells him to get off the bus. He begs to stay on. Driver says no way. Off he goes of the cops come. Out out out. So off the guy goes with some very loud very very vulgar obscenities. The driver calls it all in to central control and we fill out incident cards and we are on our way to Kmart once more. All in all a very interesting ride.

So you see, riding the bus can be very entertaining. And leave you with some excellent stories to tell your friends. But mostly riding the bus is uneventful and goes just as planned. No big deal except to save you gas money and the aggravation of commuting, gridlock and road rage.