…and Smugness. Today I selected to give away: 4 pairs of slacks 2 sweaters 8 scarves But what I found that was hard to give away was feeling SMUG. I was feeling quite virtuous about continuing to find clothes to pass on to others when I reflected that since I work at home, I really [...]
Living Lightly
Susan Vogt on living more simply but abundantlyBrowsing Posts tagged Musings
(Make sure you read my PS at the end.) It’s the Christmas shopping season. Today I went into a store. Maybe it’s been too long. I was astounded by the prices for stuff I considered junk – clothes that didn’t look flattering or stylish, toys that were mostly modeled after cartoon characters or required batteries [...]
Yesterday, I sent out my periodic email Blog Alert to friends. I do this every 2 or 3 months so as not to pester people. (Not everyone checks my blog compulsively every day ) Since I’ve recently changed my email to a Gmail address, I decided to use Gmail for this bulk mailing for the first [...]
Jim informed me that I needed new jeans. He was right. A hole was starting in my “good” pair. No problem. I went to our trusty Gap Outlet where I knew I could get a pair cheap. I was on a tight schedule, however, so I quickly chose a pair of jeans missing the button. [...]
To buy or not to buy – That is the question. The word “black” can be a source of pride or despair. In the Great Depression it meant the economy was in crisis. For the day after Thanksgiving it has come to mean the beginning of the Christmas shopping season when retailers move from red [...]
mirror, zen
Cincinnati, Ohio recently hosted The World Choir Games. The city put on its best face, cleaning up the streets, bringing out new “flying pigs,” and extending our beautiful riverfront park system. The only thing that outperformed civic pride was the fabulous singers from all over the world. It was wonderful, but even more wonderful was [...]
Saving money vs. Saving Time
A few of my pet peeves are: Unnecessary use of bottled water Over packaging Radio interviewees who respond to the host’s “Thank you” with “Thank you” instead of “You’re welcome.” Dragged music at church Singing Happy Birthday to an individual in a large random group of people. (Although this probably sounds petty of me, I [...]
All four of our children are sprung, but not their stuff. We still store memorabilia, some clothes, and high school papers that one 30 something can’t possibly part with. In their defense two of our children live out of the country, and one has a two room apartment with no storage space. The fourth young [...]
Some people should take more risks, some less – that would be some of our children. Generally I’m a risk averse person. I’m cautious and long ago decided that if I’m going to die a tragic death, it should be for a cause. Thus, being shot while in a civil rights protest or because I [...]
For a variety of reasons, I recently decided to change my email address from a local carrier to Gmail. Mostly it was to simplify my life when I travel. With Gmail I have access to all my archived emails which I used to keep neatly categorized with Outlook. My secondary reason, however, was that I [...]
That is – too many people for one person to take care of. Our planet has about 7 billion people – all of them valuable human beings who deserve a decent life. I don’t have to listen to the news for long or simply look around my neighborhood to realize that many people need help. [...]
Although we’ll just about be home by the time Easter rises in the USA, I’d like to share some reflections on the past Holy Week we’ve spent in Ranchi, India. Patience in the Land of Tech Support It takes 6 weeks of Lent to get to Easter. It seems to take almost as long for [...]
We went to the parish fish fry last night (paid for out of my winnings from the raffle I won at the last fish fry). It was also our “date night.” Since our dates usually include wine, or some other spirited drink, we knew this would break our Food Stamp budget. We know that one [...]
I just changed my FB, Twitter, and blog photo at the urging of several people who are more “hip” than I am. This has prompted me to ponder who I really am. My values and personality have stayed pretty consistent over the long haul, but I’m talking more about the superficial way that I present [...]
In my never ending effort to both simplify my life and still keep up with the Joneses, I’ve started an open Facebook group called Living Lightly and Tweet on this theme @Vogt_Susan. On the one hand I’m still trying to give things away and unclutter my life, but on the other hand I’m trying to [...]
I don’t know if I’m madder at our country (think debt ceiling, politics, greed), our Church (think scandals, reneging on Vatican II), or the world (think environmental degradation, abuse of power, wars, poverty). I could go on, but that just makes me madder. So how do I let go of my anger? Lately I’ve been [...]
About 10 years ago we offered a friend a place to live during the week while he commuted from his home in Louisville to teach classes at a local university in northern Kentucky. Isaac was an easy guest. He often cooked, brought international friends to visit through the exchange programs he organized, and even bought [...]
As my friends and family can attest, I am frugal and thrifty – to say the least. (Our kids often have less flattering terms for it.) So, when a fellow rang the doorbell and offered to do some yard work for us, my first impulse was to say, “Thank you, but No, we would do [...]
