It was one of those days when I was in the shower, thinking…. thinking how little I really need. I was listening to the news about how the hair salons are down business from 20-30 percent. They went on to explain that people, rather than going to get their hair ‘done’ every 4 weeks, are going every 6-8 weeks. I was thinking that our world is changing. We are being more ‘thoughtful’, more conscious about our spending. I believe that when we become more thoughtful about our spending we become more thoughtful about other aspects of our life as well – YEAH!

In the shower, I was remembering, when I was a kid, soda was for ‘party’s only – we never had it in the house unless we were having a party. I never went to ‘get my nails done’ — I did not know people did that til I was an adult! Haircuts, my mother did them! Even today, where do I go regularly to shop, literally just one place regularly – for food. It was so freeing knowing that I did not ‘need’ much.

Think about all the places you go to spend money, what if you only went to those place as a ‘treat’ for yourself, a celebratory thing. How would we spend our time if we did not go out to spend money. Life would get more simple again. For pleasure families would go for a walk together, a wagon ride (free, where we take turns pulling), or we play hop scotch in the street, or ride a bike. It is during these times of economic challenges – where the gift of getting back to the basics is back! Thanks to the challenges. It seems that every decade or two we need that reminder that truly the richness in life comes from the simple things in life.

Cheers to simple!