I want to "Live Simple," to be more in tune with the world around me and to make less of an impact on the environment.  I really, really do.  But it seems like such a daunting thing that I feel paralyzed into inactivity.  To me, living simply means returning to a time when materialism (and its pursuit) wasn't so rampant, when home-cooked meals and our own muscle power was the norm and our current cult of convenience would have been considered shocking instead of a goal to be attained.  I read somewhere that housekeeping today actually takes MORE time than it did say, 100 years ago before the advent of such labor-saving devices as washing machines, dishwashers and vacuum cleaners.

Now, i don't want to go back to scrubbing my laundry on a washboard, but I think I have too much clutter in my life; not only the material kind, but emotionally and mentally.  I find an almost zen state of mind when I hang out a load of laundry on the line, but when I read about people who cut back on things like Internet, phones and entertainment, I seem to go into shutdown mode and think "if that's what living simple is all about, I can NOT do it!"

I live in a 950 sq.ft. house on a 6000 sq.ft. lot in a big city. I work from home, on the Internet.  We are a fairly technologically savvy family, my husband and I. We have cable TV, a home phone and cel phones. Because I'm home pretty much all day long, the TV offers me what I consider much-needed background noise.  I use my cel phone as a business line, and the home phone for faxing.  I consider, at this point in my life, that these things are not negotiable.  And if I'm not willing to give them up, exactly HOW can I "Live Simple?"

I've made small steps; we generally recycle more than we throw away.  I try to hang laundry on the line instead of using the dryer as much as possible. I am making a conscious attempt to home cook more healthful foods instead of relying on pre-made, preserve-laden convenience foods.  I use "green" dishwashing soap. I do a lot of shopping at the local Walmart, which is not my first choice but is within walking distance.  I'm trying to keep unnecessary lights shut off.  We were planning on replacing our beat-up evap cooler with an air conditioner, but decided to keep the more ecologically-kind swamp cooler and use a portable A/C for those most miserable two months.

But I think I could do so much more... I just don't know how or where to start.