When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of extras. There simply wasn’t money for them. Everyone got about three Christmas presents - and there was a clear price limit on them. Hand-me-down clothes were standard, vegetables were either frozen from the garden or the canned variety and vacations consisted of camping a couple of weekends in the summer. As a child, I’m sure I was disappointed that I couldn’t have more of what I wanted; yet, I had no idea how bad the situation really was. It wasn’t until after I’d left the house that my mom told me that there were times when we had so little money that a gift of groceries on the porch was understood as God’s provision. Living on less wasn’t a choice we’d made - it was simply the reality.

The reality of living on less has followed me much of my life. Years of studying have put to good use the skills my mother taught me: buying the generic products, looking for sales, going to the cheap grocery store, cooking from scratch, picking things up in bulk and never throwing out food. Not having much as a child made me realize that I could live without most things, so I spent years using the computers at school, rarely ate out, took few vacations and tried to borrow books instead of buying them. It was a way of life I was used to, and I was generally content.

Furthermore, living on less has given me lots of freedom. Throughout my life, most of what I’ve owned has cost me little - simply used things picked up here and there over the years. The lack of investment made their loss or breaking down less overwhelming: the whole time that I’d had them, it was more like I was borrowing them than that I’d owned them. It was a little harder to see my car and computer in the same way, but even learning to hold less tightly onto those things has been good for trusting in God’s provision. When I moved away from Michigan, many things got left behind - timely gifts to the new neighbors from Korea who were moving in just as I was trying to figure out what to do with all of my random furniture. There is a joy in being able to share with others what I’ve been given. On top of that, living with less brings with it less anxiety about stuff and helps foster a wonderful simplicity.