A New Heartsease...

Beans, Glories, Turkeys, and a Saturday Morning

    This fine almost-Autumn Saturday morning I observed and enjoyed some examples of Simple Grace I'd like to share. 

    Simple Graces are usually things and experiences that have little monetary value but constitute blessings and boons that lift one's spirits, delight one's eyes, and warm the heart.

    My definition of Simple Grace...is the recognition that a Soul-Full life is gifted with scintillating moments of simplicity and grace.

 

 

Last Spring I planted a combination of Kentucky Wonder, Kentucky Wax pole beans, and Grandpa Ott morning glories in a large pot.

 

    I've been rewarded with edible beans and verdant leafy vines, as well as lovely indigo morning glories twining around five-foot bamboo poles that I gathered into a tepee/tuteur at the top to accommodate the tall vines. These have brought satisfaction, beauty, and edible goodness.

    Each morning I awaken and count the number of morning glory blossoms. Today there were eight!

 

Glories of the morning! They'll stay open nearly all day if I turn the blossoms away from the sun.

 

In addition my pole beans supply green and yellow beans.

 

Cherokee Wax bean blossoms

 

    In a pot next to the pot of pole beans is one of Cherokee Wax bush beans. Bush beans aren't at all bushy. Instead, they form short vines about two-feet tall. I've grown these on a short tuteur. Like Kentucky Wax pole beans, these short vines grow yellow beans. Additionally, they reward me with cute, pink flowers.

 

 

    

While I was admiring my morning glories and picking beans, I looked over the balcony railing and saw these gobblers striding across the lawn. There were nine, but only four fit into my phone's photo frame.

 

    God-given and Nature-gifted blessings and graces connect us to something larger than ourselves, bigger and more heartening than the oft-empty cultural imperatives to "shop 'til you drop".

    Simple graces and heavenly blessings bring us back to what's really important. These things don't have monetary value but do have worth beyond counting.

    Simple Grace is one of the effects of adopting Elective Frugality. Instead of looking for gratification from dollarable things, grace is found in daily life moment by moment, glance by glance. Suddenly, we realize that we are surrounded by beauty and bounty as I have been on this Autumny, Saturday morning!

    May each of you enjoy life's simple, resplendent grace!

    

    

 

    

 

 

Re-Capping the Journey Into Elective Frugality and An Intro To Easy Elegance

 

Elective Frugality is the genteel recognition of having acquired "enough", and that authentic abundance and real wealth are not money- or thing-based, but are instead, Soul-founded.

 

Elective Frugality "crosses the road" away from debt.

 

     Together we've examined what constitutes the present version of the American Dream. The "dream" that was once the providence of all, now only serves to enrich the uber wealthy. The dream as it now exists has become the people's nightmare of clutter, indebtedness, overwork, broken families, and stress.

    However, we can awaken and live a life of joy, freedom, and happiness by turning away from the marketing and advertising propaganda telling us that we must buy lots of stuff - more than we actually need - and to buy bigger, more expensive homes to house all the excess stuff.

    Shopping for needless stuff has become a frantic habit that eats away our abundance and fills our homes with far too many needless things, creating and maintaining a state of personal and perpetual  indebtedness.

    We shop for entertainment and distraction and to fill what could be a truly meaningful life with mindless acquisition. We spend money, instead of quality time with those we care about. Shopping has become almost obligatory. It needn't be.

    Working extra hours to afford ever more stuff - or pay for stuff we've already acquired on credit cards or via loans - takes us away from relationships, meaningful moments, and communing with Nature, both outer and inner.

    My previous posts shared how to start today to create for yourself and your family (not CEO'S and their "shareholders") more abundance in your own lives rather than filling the pockets of bankers, corporations, marketers, and advertisers. 

    The goal - your goal - can be to enrich yourself and create a more prosperous and happy life by ignoring the propaganda to spend more on needless, but momentarily alluring things, or to purchase items simply to "impress" others. After all "those others" won't be the one's making monthly minimum and interest payments on already charged up credit cards. The people who really matter don't need to be impressed by big, costly houses, expensive new cars, or a $50,000 kitchen remodel that you'll be paying for over the next ten or twenty years.

    Another strategy is to live in a home you can easily afford and drive a car that's clean, attractive, and affordable so YOU can live abundantly and free of anxiety and the other dangers of indebtedness.

    We've explored how you can pay off credit card debt early ditching it altogether as you develop the habit of paying cash for things you need and want...or if you must charge something to a credit care - say for online shopping - you charge only what you can comfortably pay off completely when the statement arrives. Never carry any interest-attached balance on a credit card.

    We talked about how to get rid of your mortgage early by making extra payments to reduce the interest obligation attached to every home loan. The more you pay on the principle loan amount each month - over and above the required payment - the more and faster the interest portion of the loan shrinks!

    We've even explored alternate lifestyles that forgo the need to even pay mortgage or rent, such as living in a tiny house, an RV, a van, on a boat or houseboat, or even living in one's car as do those intrepid few who've choose to be major-minimalist nomads! 

     

Getting out of debt - owing no one recurring payments and interest on anything - is like a breath of fresh air infusing happiness and simplicity into your life!

 

* * * * *

Sneak Peak Into Easy Elegance!

 

Easy Elegance aims for comfort, simplicity, and beauty. So your first task is to choose a style you love, or keep the one you have, if...you love it! This photo shows how I created my own personal style in my previous home, an old Folk Victorian farmhouse in Utah, I called Heartsease Cottage.

 

    In upcoming posts I'll share how I've created Easy Elegance in my present home, Heartsease Haven, a condo on the edge of the forest in Northern Idaho.

    Enlarging, building upon, and enhancing an Electively Frugal lifestyle is a co-equal philosophy called Easy Elegance. Easy Elegance brings beauty, creativity, comfort, and simplicity into one's life. 

    Easy Elegance is not ostentatious, or ridiculously expensive, nor will it throw you into debt. You won't stun your neighbors with how much money it took to achieve your look, but you will "wow" them with how little you spent, or saved, to achieve a fashionable and comfortable home. 

    Easy Elegance is created on your terms, using your style, and what you like. It's a look that's comfortable, simple, creative, and hospitable. It's somewhat minimal - you won't have unused, unloved stuff taking up space - but it's a look that's not starkly minimal, either.

    Rather than having an abundance of knickknacks to trick the eye from thing to thing, to thing, the aim is to have a true focal point where the eye can rest and observe beauty, symmetry, and harmony.  

    Most decorating styles can be easily accommodated into the Easy Elegance philosophy - think Shabby Chic, Country French, Farmhouse, Rust-Chic, Boho, Craftsman, Log Cabin, Shaker, Retro, and Modern, to name just a few. Or combine your most favorite and comfy pieces to create your own eclectic style!

      I've opted for a combination of Shabby chic and Country French decor for my homes, both past and present, because that's what I happen to like, so I'll be using those styles to illustrate the Easy Elegance philosophy. Simply tweak the ideas to fit your space, your style...your way!

 

Instead of a collection of things to bounce the eye from item to item, it rests instead on a singular, simple but tasteful thrift store pitcher holding a collection of flowers (and yes, weeds) from the garden.

Easy Elegance is simple, minimal, achievable, uncluttered, and, well, easy.

   

Car Camping/Glamping My Way!

 

A lovely nearby National Park campground was my camping "shakedown" destination.

 

    It's been far too many decades (35-years) since I've gone car camping. My last car camping venture was in my Suzuki Samurai for a mapping and mileage gathering trip for my first book, Rockhounding California (formerly Rockhound's Guide To California) in 1994.

    My  1998 Jeep is far larger than my old Sooze. It has room for a bed in the back when the passenger seats are folded away. Additional room in the back alongside the bed allows me to carry all else that I need for camping comfort, including a pup tent, sleeping bag and pad for my nephew, Jeff, who accompanied me on this trip.

 

Jeff relaxes in camp with a cup of tea.

 

    This trip allowed me to test a few new pieces of camping equipment I'd purchased, such as a shower/potty/changing tent that I call, "the booth".

 

The booth allows me to accomplish in privacy the types of things I'd like to, well, accomplish in privacy!

 

    The booth is a pop-up tent that may be secured by inserting heavy rocks into pocketed panels around the bottom or with the included tent stakes and attached loops. If wind is an issue loops further up the sides allow for additional stabilization with lines and stakes.

    

Jeff started a nice fire in the camp-provided grill pit and after carefully cleaning the hinged grill, he cooked up a tasty steak dinner for us. His tent is in the background, a burnt tree stump sits between.

 

    We had a great menu that featured Pizza Quesadillas (a recipe from the SUV RVing channel on Youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXC4Jp0KyfY

   

Our menu also features French toast with sausage, Denver scramble and sausage, sandwiches, snacks (lots of tasty snacks), and our choice of beverages along with plenty of drinking water sustained us through our several day stay.

    Along with good things to eat and drink, comfort is vastly important to me, especially as I'm sneaking up on 70-years old. In fact, if one has comfort and good things to eat most of the other "discomforts" of camping are negligible.

    Wet wipes aid one in keeping acceptably clean. Anti-bacterial wipes are desirable if there are public or pit restrooms at your chosen site or for use prior to food prep. 

 

My camp bed is 27-inches wide by 8-inches thick leaving plenty of room for stowing needful camping gear and the spare tire on the left. The surface of the bed is also available for stuff like a table and chairs, clothes, etc., if needed. Notice that folded against the back of the driver's seat is the rear passenger seat cushion with its headrest.

    On this model of Jeep, the rear passenger seat backs fold into the floor for a level cargo area. The seat cushions fold forwards to rest vertically against the backs of the front seats. A small area rug is used to set bundles of firewood in order to keep the car tidy.

    When the backs of the passenger seats are folded into the floor, the seat portions tip backward against the backs of the front seats. In this configuration, the headrests from both rear seats slot into storage ports located in the upper edge of the folded seats (you can see how the driver's side passenger seat's headrest remains in place in the photo above).

 

This photo illustrates how the passenger headrest inserts and sits atop the folded back seat just below the driver's headrest. On the passenger side I removed the headrest thus allowing my pillow, when laid flat on the edge of the folded seat, to be even with my mattress giving me four inches of additional bed length.

    

    The bed of my jeep with passenger seats folded away is a level 53-inches long. I'm 5'7" tall. My four-inch gain was quite serendipitous. If my bed had been less thick I would have had to have removed the passenger seat completely, giving me the extra needed inches but also leaving a void I'd have had to fill with spare blankets, pillows, or something to provide a level spot for the mattress. 

    I didn't want to completely alter the inside configuration of my car or have to remove and replace a seat each time I had passengers. Additionally, if my bed had been an inch, or more, lower, I'd have had no choice but to remove the rear seat.

    To create my mattress, I ordered a full-size, 4-inch thick memory foam topper from Walmart. I borrowed an electric knife from a neighbor and cut the 54-inch wide pad in half, stacking the two halves. I cut the mattresses to 53-inches in length allowing my bed pillow to rest upon the  folded seat top incorporating that into my bed length to make it 5'7" long. I then drew a pattern of the side of the car onto which I wanted to place my bed that included the rear wheel well. Placing my pattern onto the mattress halves, I carved out a portion of the foam mat that allowed it to fit tight against the side of the car while  accommodating the wheel well.

    My eight-inch thick mattress still allows me to sit on my bed without my head touching the roof of my car. Comfy-womfy!

 

    My car bed is as comfy as my bed at home, although not as wide. Twenty-seven inches of width - a standard sleeping bag pad is only 24-inches - is sufficient for a good night's sleep whether sleeping on either side or laid out on my back. It's also a great place to prop up my pillows and read a book or simply gaze out at the view beyond.

 

    I was greatly inspired to enjoy car camping again by exploring and subscribing to Youtube channels about RVing and living and camping in one's car! While I realize I could comfortably live in my Jeep, if it ever became necessary, I'm planning only to enjoy camping in my car. By "RVing" in my Jeep instead of buying an actual RV I'm saving money on another vehicle, on insurance, and on licensing and maintenance, as well. 

    My Elective Frugality "fix" that inspired RVing in my Jeep helped me to realize that I can take very extended vacations in my car and be happy, content, and comfy! What more do I really need?

    Oh...a bathroom! Well, I've solved that problem, too! 

    The booth tent has been outfitted with a collapsible potty - that  and a couple of plastic bags, kitty litter, and bark shreds - fill those requirements entirely. In a future blog I'll shamelessly go into more detail on my potty "hack". Until then, I'll be sharing on some lifestyle philosophies that meld beautifully and joyfully with Elective Frugality...such as, Simple Grace, Natural Abundance, and Easy Elegance. These four modalities will help shape a personal and achievable "American Dream" allowing one to escape the "hamster wheel" of runaway consumerism, credit card debt, and financial stress that the "Dream" has devolved into.

    I'll also be sharing more of my camping adventures, too.