Although I try to reserve the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas as an Advent time of preparation and waiting, I know the rest of the world considers this the “Christmas shopping season.” I will spare you my rant about over-consuming at Christmas since you can read my spiritual and practical philosophy on the Advent/Christmas […]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts in Extra Fun
I recently lost a job. This is good! It was a volunteer position that I had held for six years and my term was up. Many people who read this blog are probably like me in that not only do you have paid employment, but also you are generous volunteers. (I now only have 5 […]
As I’ve been talking to people about giving stuff away, they’ve been giving me some interesting leads on other similar efforts. You’ve probably already heard about the book, The Power of Half and how the Salwen family decided to downsize their lifestyle by half including selling the family house to move into a home half […]
During Spring planting season, I had already anticipated the title for this September entry. It was going to be “Do Zucchini Count?” I planted about 10 squash – mostly zucchini. Knowing the reputation of how prolific zucchini are, I was sure I would have so many to give away by this time of year, my […]
I don’t know which is worse – a pacifist family playing Paintball or buying clothes for one time use. Before you judge me too harshly, here’s what happened. Our family was on our first family vacation with young adults plus spouse, grandchild, and girlfriend. Everyone got to choose one activity they’d really like to do […]
Airlines have lost enough of my luggage over the years that I’ve learned to pack with just a carry-on and a large purse. (Although I’ve always eventually gotten my stuff back, I once went almost two weeks without my suitcase in a 3rd world country.) Last week Jim and I were returning from a working […]
No, we’re not giving away the house but, as I’ve reflected on why it’s been relatively easy so far for me to find many things to give away, it’s partly because we’ve lived in the same house for over 25 years. It’s also because I’m both a pack-rat and a good organizer so I can […]
I guess I’m becoming known as the ‘Give-Away Lady” because a friend was visiting from out of town and brought some books for me to give away. The problem is that he has good taste in reading material – meaning he likes the same books I do. One of the books, Nickel and Dimed by […]
Our house is over 100 years old and we have plaster issues! After 28 years of “living with it” we decided to repair the crumbling plaster in our stairwell. By “we” I don’t mean “me” but we hired a professional plasterer. What does this have to do with giving stuff away – other than a […]
…because I’ve got too much lettuce. It’s one of the mysteries of nature that the more one picks and prunes the more one gets. I’ve tried to grow lettuce before but got too little. This year I used the “just sprinkle the seed” approach and I got way too much and it needed thinning. What […]
One of my readers recently said that my blog made her laugh out loud at her desk and that now I can add laughter as something I gave away. I have the reputation, rightly earned, as being a lousy joke teller so this was a gift back to me too. Now, is this an equal […]
For years I’ve wondered what possible purpose in creation there could be for poison ivy or mosquitoes. Well, I’ve found a use for poison ivy – a plant to dump my hazardous chemicals on without guilt. You see, after taking all my hazardous materials to the special disposal place last Saturday, I found that even […]
I’ve been waiting for April 24 for a long time. Apparently, so have a lot of other people in my neighborhood. It’s the day N. Kentucky finally sponsored a Hazardous Materials Disposal Day. I not only felt virtuous loading up an old computer, printer, and monitor, I also safely got rid of radios, lamps, light […]
