OK, I've found a pretty good happy medium

at least on the "clothing" front.

When I decided to go to a more simple, natural type of living back in 2007, when I thought about the cost of going with all wool, all organic cotton, etc., it just seemed so overwhelming. I knew we couldn't afford to do it. So I didn't. But I felt guilty about it.

As the years went on, I would just sort of justify NOT doing it because we couldn't afford it. I'd be annoyed that it cost so much to go natural, but that was about as far as I'd go with it. I hate to shop too - either on-line or in stores - so it wasn't like I was going to spend the times searching for deals, even if it was looking for my natural products.

And then a few months ago, I started looking a little closer at our shopping habits. I buy almost all of our clothes at thrift stores. It is very, very rare that I purchase something at a store. So while we aren't usually wearing natural fibers, I AM reusing/recycling.

We will continue to do most of our shopping at thrift stores, and then when someone does need something that we can't get at a thrift store, THEN I will make it out of wool/organic cotton, etc. Not perfect, but it makes the most sense for us right now.

Oh, and a little post-script to this post from over a year ago. I climbed back on the wagon, not too long after this. And like with clothing, we've found the way that works for us. Maybe not in the 100% way that I'd like, but I'd say we are about 85% of the way there in the ways that I like to live with Simple Living. We walk when we can, I have a garden and grow what I can, I buy organic of the foods that are important to us, we don't shop retail hardly at all, we compost. I rarely coupon anymore. I buy hardly anything that has a coupon. To save money, I just buy less and of less variety. I use vinegar and baking soda for most of my cleaning. I use Soap Nuts for my laundry. The only cleaner I buy is for the dishwasher. I just can't find a DIY dishwasher cleaner that will work, but I do use this, so I do the best I can.

That is my mantra with Simple Living lately (and Life In General) - Just Do The Best You Can.