I got an email from my dad the other day with a link to the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. We are both huge fans of simplicity and small housing. I opened the site and was blown away by how small, simple, and appealing their houses are.
I have included some photos from their site of my favorite ones (the smallest ones, of course) below. Check out their website for more information and more photos of their houses.
Tumbleweed houses range from 65 to 837 square feet. The smaller ones come on wheels and don’t require a building permit! How cool is that? Park your simple and cozy home anywhere across the country.
This is an interview with Sara from On Simplicity. She is, in my opinion, one of the best simplicity bloggers on the scene today. I highly encourage you all to check out her blog after reading the interview. Her writing is inspiring, honest, insightful and entertaining. Enjoy!
For starters, tell us a little bit about yourself. What is the life of Sara like?
I try to keep it simple, focusing on hobbies I enjoy and people I care about. I have a full-time job that puts me out in the community, but outside of that, I love to be home with my husband and dog. I really do take pleasure in simple things, so that means that my life is pretty quiet. To be honest, blogging is what has made my life complicated and crazy, but I wouldn’t give it up.
Balance is an essential component of happiness. When all aspects of your life are in harmony, it puts your mind, body, and spirit on an equal level. The definition of balance will be completely different from person to person. It is up to you to find the balance that is right for you. However, living simple will always help you create balance in your life.
Many of us have lives that are like a person attempting to walk a tight rope for the first time. We buckle. We wobble. We try to stay on by flailing our arms. But eventually, no matter how hard we try, we fall off the edge.
Hey guys, here is my very first video post! I am going to try to do one every once in awhile to keep things fresh. Text can get old and stale after a while. I will be using YouTube to host my videos. I introduce myself in this video and talk a little bit about Simple Sapien. Here is a text version of the video for those of you who can’t play it or don’t have audio. Enjoy!
“Hey guys. This is Jack Rugile from SimpleSapien.com. Just wanted to do a little video post. I’ve never done one before, so it’s all experimental. I wanted to let you know a little bit about myself, my blog, and what I am trying to accomplish with it all.
I love to write. I love to blog. I love to share my experiences and knowledge with the world. I love this journey called life that throws me upside down every once in a while.
But I obviously don’t know everything! Yes, many other people can write better than me. Yes, many other people have had life experiences that I will never have. Yes, many other people can connect with you on a more personal or emotional level than me. I want to praise them and promote them here!
This is where you come in. My goal for this post is to create a definitive list of simple living blogs. I will start the list, but it is your job to either add your own simple living blog or add one of your favorite simple living blogs. The topics can include simple living, frugality, environment, personal growth, productivity, health, relationships, and other topics of that nature.
It has been about 3 years now since I decided to turn off my TV. I practically never miss it! Don’t get me wrong, I do still watch DVD’s from time to time. (Netflix rocks!) Come to think of it, it was not even really a conscious decision to stop watching TV. It just sort of happened. I began to watch it less and less and eventually it dropped down to none.
It has had such a positive impact on my life. I encourage you to turn off your TV and enjoy the benefits!
Save your money – Turning off your TV will save you money on your cable bill and electric bill. When you do turn off your TV, be sure to unplug it from the wall if you have one of those pesky ones that keeps a mini light on in the front to let you know that it is off. What a ridiculous invention, that little light! It is pretty obvious when a TV is off… we don’t need a little light to tell us. That will save you even more money on your electric bill (not much, but little things can add up!). And who knows, maybe what you do with your time when you are not watching TV will end up being something profitable anyway, thus saving you even more money.
Save the environment – As I mentioned above, less TV equals less use of electricity. Reduce your negative effect on the environment by using less electricity.
There is no interaction – Watching TV is a one way communication. You are sitting on your coach, soaking in the visuals, the sounds, the advertisements, and not interacting at all. Turn it off and do something that forces you to think, act, and contribute!
Less laziness – 8 hours of sleep is enough rest! You don’t need to be even more lazy by sitting on the couch watching TV all day. Yes, I know that reading a book or surfing the internet does not provide any more exercise than watching TV… but you are at least exercising your brain!
Think for yourself – TV has the power of injecting ideas and thoughts into your head that are biased, skewed, inaccurate, or just plain false. No, not all content on TV is like that, but a lot of it is. Don’t let the the media create fear in your life. Don’t let advertisements make you feel inferior or that you need a product in order to be happy. Don’t let news stations tell you what politician is best. I realize that there are some worthwhile things on TV every once in awhile. If those things are the only ones that you watch, then good for you!
Enjoy more free time - Think of how much time you could free up by turning off your TV. I personally think that there aren’t nearly enough hours in a day. If I watched TV, I would have no free time at all! Do you watch 30 minutes of TV a night? Replace that 30 minutes with something else. Read a book, learn an instrument, spend time with family or friends, exercise, whatever it is you wish you had more time for.
Get rid of the barrage of advertisements - I find the endless commercials on TV to be incredibly intrusive. For starters, they waste your precious time. Secondly, they have a potential to brainwash you into thinking you need a certain product or service that you would have survived fine without if you had not seen the commercial. I believe that some of these commercials affect our sub-conscious and skew the way we look at things. Get rid of those time wasting, brainwashing pricks that are commercials!
Ok guys. This one is cheap. This one is easy. This one is quick. This one is a tad bit… white trash, but that is alright!
My girlfriend and I were raking up leaves and other fallen debris in our yard at our new place this morning. She had the great idea of buying the pumpkin design plastic trash bags to get prepared for our Halloween decorations. This screamed frugality, so I had to share it with you guys. Three of the pumpkin bags cost only $1.99 at Target! Can’t go wrong there! Anyway, I promised in the title that I would tell you “how to” make a cheap Halloween decoration. Let me break it down for you… Read the full post…
There are an infinite amount of ways to simplify your life and trying to implement too many at once can get pretty overwhelming. That is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to accomplish! To get a grasp on the ways I can simplify my life, I wrote out a list of goals. 80 ways to simplify my life. Keep in mind that when I say “simplify”, I also include ways of becoming a better person in general. My memory is horrible, so having a list like this helps me remember and organizes my thoughts.
As I was compiling my goals I realized that most of them could be applied to anyone. Take a look at these and see if any are right for you. Some people want to save more money. Some people want to live a greener life. Some people want to reduce stress. Pick and choose ones that appeal to you!
I encourage you all to leave a comment and let the rest of the community know about your goals. What are ways that you plan to simplify your life? As I have said before, participation from the community provides a whole new dimension to a blog. That interaction and collaboration expands everyone’s knowledge and creates a better experience. So be sure to leave a comment. We can learn from each other! Read the full post…
Here is a small compilation of simplicity quotes that I found inspiring and interesting. It is so great that such brilliant minds existed. They take human thought, emotion, and expression and put it perfectly into words. That is not an easy task.
I encourage you to add your own simplicity quotes in the comments section. I know there are plenty of good ones I missed. Enjoy!
Thomas Kempis – “Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.”
Frank Lloyd Wright – “Simplicity and repose are the qualities that measure the true value of any work of art.”
Henry David Thoreau – “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.”
Henry David Thoreau – “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
Henry David Thoreau – “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.”
Richard Holloway – “Simplicity, clarity, singleness: These are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy as they are also the marks of great art. They seem to be the purpose of God for his whole creation.”
Charles Dudley Warner – “Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”
Plato – “Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.”
Leonardo da Vinci – “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Albert Einstein – “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
Henry Wadsworth – “In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.”
Hans Hofmann – “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”
E.F. Schumacker – “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage—to move in the opposite direction.”
Eleanor Roosevelt – “A little simplification would be the first step toward rational living, I think.”
Charles Mingus – “Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
John Burroughs – “To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter … to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”
Elise Boulding – “Frugality is one of the most beautiful and joyful words in the English language, and yet one that we are culturally cut off from understanding and enjoying. The consumption society has made us feel that happiness lies in having things, and has failed to teach us the happiness of not having things.”
William Morris – “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
Annie Dillard – “If you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson – “Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.”
Alexander Pope – “There is a certain majesty in simplicity which is far above all the quaintness of wit.”
Richard Bach – “The simplest things are often the truest.”
I got an email from my dad the other day with a link to the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. We are both huge fans of simplicity and small housing. I opened the site and was blown away by how small, simple, and appealing their houses are.
