Simplify: Live Small - Think Big

Suzanne Shiells

Suzanne Shiells found that living simply became a necessity when her and her husband Dan’s income decreased at the same time as the arrival of an addition to the family.

Like many people, I had been used to treating myself to a few luxuries each week; a ticket to the cinema, a meal out with friends, a new top or two, a take away meal when I just can't be bothered to cook.  But when the credit crunch hit, my husband and I found it essential to tighten our belts. 

As a freelance cameraman, Dan's work is always unpredictable, but in the winter work was particularly scarce. At the same time, my hours were reduced at work and - as if that wasn't enough of a money worry - we were expecting our first child.  We examined our budget and savings needed to be made: we cut back on luxuries, shopped around and reined in spending as best we could.  Most of the time it was simply a case of staying in, when we would have gone out. We began assessing each purchase on whether we really needed it,  if it could wait, we could find it second hand or borrow something instead? 

On one occasion, when I explained to friends that I just couldn't afford to go out for dinner, they suggested that they came round and we each provided one course for the meal. There were days when it all seemed too much and we wondered how were we going to manage, especially once I went on maternity leave. However, we prayed and trusted that God would provide - easier on some days than others. 

Now our little boy has arrived and the budget needs to be stretched that little bit further.  Even though our income was reduced, we are still joyful and thankful for all we do have. We are living a little closer to the edge but this makes us rely on God more and use money more wisely. 

Phil and Emma Whittall

Phil and Emma Whittall live in Shrewsbury and have a one year old son. Phil is the Lead Elder at North Shrewsbury Community Church and one of the founders of Breathe, a Christian Network for Simpler Living.

There all sorts of reasons to try and live more simply, but for us the main one was a desire to be more generous. We couldn't see how the values of society lent themselves towards developing generosity - instead  they just seemed to increase selfishness. On the other hand, the Bible is full of examples of the amazing generosity of God. Jesus said it was more blessed to give than to receive, so we set on a life project to discover the blessings of giving more.

We wanted the way we spent our money to be for positive things that helped the environment or the poor or building local community. So we changed our electricity supplier, bought Fair Trade, changed the way we bought food and banked, started giving away things we weren't using, recycled more and all those sorts of things and slowly more of the every day things became a vote for something positive.

But the biggest thing we did was to make a decision to try and regularly increase the percentage of our giving. We started from 10 percent and began to slowly inch it upwards by one percent at a time and we've regularly been able to increase our giving and we still don't feel like we've made any substantial sacrifices to our lifestyle. So we'll keep going!

But you've got to be on top of where your money goes, to see whether it's well spent or not and to ask yourself the question, 'do I really need that?' and most of the time the answer is 'no not really'. Instead, we've discovered that by learning to say no to getting more stuff we become more content with the things we have but we have less of them. Simplifying your life is good for the bank balance and better for the soul.

Stewart Moore

Stewart Moore is currently unemployed and he lives with his wife Anne and two boys aged 5 and 7 years.

The redundancy cheque was generous, but after 12 months with no job in sight, the money had gone. Thankfully we'd resisted upgrading our car and taking an extravagant holiday. Instead the funds had gone on 'living'.   Twenty-two months on, we all continue to eat well, have a mortgage over our heads, and wear clothes that fit.   Being out of work requires making various adjustments, and although life gets complicated at times, we live simply. Working two days a week in a retail store and doing the occasional car boot sale do bring in some funds, however we continue to be grateful to God for his amazing provision! We have a supportive band of folk, many Christian, who have been consistent in their encouragement, sacrificial in prayer and supportive in practical ways. We've been blessed and gobsmacked by generosity, which is often anonymous.   We don't own credit cards, and we pay for things with cash whenever possible, which helps us keep tabs on outgoings. Exceptions to this are buying petrol, or shopping online when a debit card is used.

When it comes to hitting the high street we're seasoned chazzers (charity shop shoppers), and used to seeking out deals. Foodwise, supermarket own brands are fine, meals are padded out with extra veg or lentils as required. Our boys don't have Playstation or a Wii, but have enough toys to occupy them. They happily accept treasures found in a charity shop or from e-bay. They understand about saving and that they will have to wait until 'Daddy get's a job'. Impressing both their parents with their mature attitude, they donate items to sell at the car boot.

When I'm frayed at the edges or disappointed when rejection letters or emails land, I remember God has a plan, and this is a 'season' in which to demonstrate my faith in God, trusting him for the future. I might not have Work, but I have Hope...

Stewart's blog: www.workhope.wordpress.com Stewart's recommended verses: Romans 12:12, James 5:11, Ephesians 2:20-21, Psalm 121

Rachel and Martin Stewart

Rachel Stewart works part time, while studying

Rachel says: I was used to the student budget life but when I graduated in 2007 I thought my days of frugal living were over.  In 2008 I married, Martin, a student at the beginning of his degree and I was half-way through a part-time MA and my work was only part time.  It has been a real challenge for us to survive on what comes out of 21 hours work a week. 

We are very blessed to be living in a flat which we don't have to pay rent for.  The fact is that if we had to pay rent, we would be living with my parents.

We don't feel we've been hugely affected by the credit crunch because we have been living on a shoe string for so long.  I understand what it is to buy the cheapest chicken I can find and make it last the week, or to be pleased with just a dinner of beans on toast. 

We have had to decline going out with friends because we can't afford it, or we might walk the 40 minute bus route to save £2.  However we find fun ways to cope with our situation.  There is a cinema near us that is very cheap (for London), so using a friend's 2 for 1 orange code, student ID in hand, we managed to pay £2.25 each! If I want to go shopping there are four good charity shops down my road, but even then I find myself looking at a £3 top thinking it's too expensive!

This experience has made me so grateful for what we do have.  I know there are millions of people that have it worse off than we do, and thousands are in this country.  None of this has been easy but I feel that God is really teaching me what it is to let go and not hold on too tightly to my belongings. 

Holly Ellson

Holly is part of Breathe, a group of people around the UK who encourage each other to live more simply, instead of the usual consumerist way of life.

God spoke to me several years ago about justice and poverty, so I worked for Christian Aid, supporting people who live in the world's poorest places. I try to buy clothes second hand or from shops with sound ethics. But I've never before tried to cut my spending as drastically as the Simplify campaign requires. Taking part in Simplify challenges me to appreciate the affluence that I usually enjoy.

My boyfriend and I recently invited some friends over for an informal Friday night dinner. We ended up with 13 guests and we ran out of plates, cutlery and chairs! We asked neighbours to help us out, which they happily did. Afterwards, I started making a list of things to buy. But together we agreed to resist the temptation to stock up on crockery, etc, because we figured that borrowing items added to the fun of the evening and got us chatting to our neighbours. And maybe it will help us resist the lure of self-sufficiency that fuels so much of today's consumerist culture which makes us feel that we're missing out if we don't have all the 'stuff'.

I'm 37 and about to go back to university to train as a secondary school teacher. I haven't managed to save enough in advance so I've taken out a student loan. I didn't think twice about doing this. Ironically, I may feel as though I can spend more than usual because my bank balance will appear high. But it's not my money, so it'll be a false sense of financial security. That's not something I want to get into the habit of relying on.

It seems strange to me that we are happy to borrow huge amounts of money from a faceless institution, but we can feel shy or embarrassed about asking a neighbour to lend us some knives and forks.

Mrs Maycock

Mrs Maycock gives us an insight into how she had to live simply during World War II. This interesting account makes us realise what we take for granted and that we can learn from their example of generosity and making the best of all things.

Sunday 3rd September 1939, aged 14 and living in a small village in Nothamptonshire, I heard Neville Chamberlain on the wireless state that war had been declared.

As bombing was reported we had to keep clothes in a bag by our beds in case of immediate evacuation. We did not have a bomb shelter so we had to take cover under tables or stairs if a siren sounded. Money was extremely tight. The blackout meant that blackout materials were needed for each window and my father was still suffering from being in the trenches in the 1^st world war so we still had doctor's bills to pay!

The village population also changed. Hundreds of children evacuees from London arrived and a local big house accommodated soldiers in training. Despite limitations, my parents would have men in for refreshments and a good old sing song.

Our home was very small without taps and no inside toilet or bathroom. The toilet paper we used was cut up old newspaper and we collected rain water for the flushing system. The bath was a tin brought in from outside and placed on the kitchen floor. Drinking water was collected from the well at the end of the street with your bucket. People queued at the kiosk in the village for their turn to make a telephone call.  

In due course rationing was brought in - meat, cheese, tea, sugar, butter,etc. No oranges or bananas were able to be brought in to the country. These restrictions caused more people to grow vegetables and us all to be more sensible in using what we did have well. The Land Girls army was set up - their job was to make better use of arable land for the nation. 

Clothing and material coupons came in and continued for a long time after the war. As a result, when I was married in 1949 I had to wear my aunt's wedding dress - this would not even be considered by brides these days.

I volunteered at my local young people's Red Cross group so that we could help at the house which looked after injured and disabled military personnel - these men were not different in age to me and my friends. I was blessed enough to find a job within walking distance at the Shipping Company which had been evacuated out of London to a country mansion nearby! 

I had to come to terms with the loss of 3 well known friends who had died in Service but I realised that life for me would have been very different had I lived in London so I was very grateful. In those times of hardship in the war there was a great sense of community, generosity, making the best of everything and being grateful for every blessing.