Living More With Less, Doris Janzen Longacre, 1980

“Living More With Less” is a practical book about living simply and being less attached to wealth and material possessions. It is full of hundreds of small and workable suggestions for making do, getting by, reusing old materials into new ones, and generally changing your attitude about more-more-more and must have the latest.

Unlike a lot of other books about simple living, this one is not primarily about saving money for the sake of having more money. You won’t find elaborate schemes for tracking your purchases like in “Your Money or Your Life”, and there’s nary a word about investments at all. (The author, a Mennonite, quotes from a lot of people who give generously to their church. If you find that off-putting, you might find the whole book difficult to read.) Instead there’s a focus on activities and interests that don’t require a lot of money to begin with.

It was written in 1980, after the energy crisis and during a relatively non-prosperous time. A lot of the suggestions require significant time commitments that are hard to imagine now 20 years later, if even back then. But it’s such a rich source of ideas I thought I should pass it along.

Originally from a book review from 2005.