Contentment in Frugal Living

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, who is poor." Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I am on a quest to live a frugal, self-sufficient lifestyle. I'm tired of living the rat-race life. I'm tired of the rampant materialism and consumerism and the discontentment that we, as Americans, are known for. Laurence Shames, in The Hunger for More, said, "More. If there's a single word that summarizes American hopes and obsessions, that's it. More success. More luxuries and gizmos. We live for more-for our next raise, our next house; and the things we have, however wonderful they are, tend to pale in comparison with the things we might still get." I'm tired of constantly wanting more and never being content with what I have.  I think the more we have, the more we want.

Hebrews 13:5-6 states, "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" God has proven time and again that He will watch over us and sustain us. God provides us with the things He thinks are important. I need to make sure my desires line up with His desires. Contentment comes when I'm on the same page as God, when I'm trusting that He knows better than I do and that He has my back.

I'm taking part in the 23 Day Frugal Living Challenge at Frugally Sustainable. My prayer is that this challenge will open my eyes and cause me to appreciate the things I already have, while giving me the incentive to push towards a future life of "enough". I keep thinking of days gone by and how larger families were able to live in smaller houses. If you think back to the 50s, 60s and 70s, houses were much smaller, but the average family size was much larger. Why do we need 2000+ square feet for three people? The answer is that we have too much stuff garbage! One of my girlfriends raised two kids in a house that maybe measures 1200 square feet. How did she do it? She thought carefully about each and every item that came into her house and didn't buy stuff simply because it was cool or the latest thing.

As I prepare to move this time, (and who knows, it may be the last time) I want to make sure we aren't buying a large house with a huge mortgage just so we can buy more stuff. We already have too much stuff. My current house is 2200 square feet, but I think we can go smaller. I definitely don't think we need to go larger. As long as I have adequate storage space I should be okay as I have many things I'm saving for when my daughter moves out and when I (many years from now) have grand-children.