One of the must have books for every household.

I like her approach to living simply which focuses on thinking through what you want out of life and making choices to support that.

I can really see how this was one of the earliest books on minimalism and simplicity - and how many ideas from later can be seen here. Good reminders, well written.

Written in a slow and easy pace, you are given steady encouragement to believe you really can achieve a simpler life. I'm not sure just exactly what changes I plan on making quite yet, but she begins to address what happens even before that. Planning to plan. To be continued...

I've read this before but it's still good to review some of her tips periodically. I like her down to earth writing style and ideas.

I seem to read this book (and the other 2 by Elaine St. James) on a yearly basis. It helps me keep inspired. I think they are still the best simplifying books out there. I see the wisdom of many things that I haven't implemented yet, but I will.

The book is a bit dated, since it was written over a decade ago and lot more things have invaded our lives, but the premise is great. Even though I am retired I am still looking at ways to Simplify my life. I had read this book a few years ago, and yet the authors tips still are fresh and relevant, maybe more so in todays Digital Society. Trying our best to cut back on clutter, ease our cooking and household schedules, and still try and have it all with one married child, a daughter who is a college Junior and another who will be a Freshman at college, a dog, an elderly and sick father-in-law, and other relatives who live with us. It is quite a household and so trying to simplify and even come up with new twists to the authors tried and true methods is something everyone should do. Highly recommend this book. It is short, fast reading and a great book to help you learn to understand what is really important in life!

"Living the Simple Life" is an expansion on "Simplify Your Life", written 2 years earlier. Compared to that book, which reads like a laundry list of tips on cutting down on laundry, this one is more reflective. It has fewer bite-sized "tips", and more thoughtful, open-ended suggestions. I found its tone still gratingly 'yuppy' in places (e.g., "i can't help having an emotional attachment to my BMW"), still 'Martha Stewarty' in others (e.g., yet more discussion of linens) but these were less frequent than before.

"Living the Simple Life" appears to be aimed at those who simply are over-burdened and want off the rat-wheel to have more time for families and hobbies. This is fine insofar as it goes, but I'd have given 4 stars if there had been any mention of the simple life as a route back to a life of community, how the simplicity movement relates to a larger yearning for a healthy society. Many see the simplification movement as vital to maintaining a healthy human presence on the planet, since our atomized, resource-gobbling, materialistic society is transforming into a less livable place in many ways. Lowering our consumption and getting in touch with each other and our roots seem like a natural, healthy response. However this connection either simply did not occur to the author, or it was edited out. There was a brief passage on having time to volunteer, but the other 340 pages were about personal goal-setting, time management, motivation, self-assertion, and other mechanics of simplifying. Personally I think not mentioning the larger implications of the act of simplification, i.e., beyond one's personal gain, made the book a bit shallow, although it's still much better than its predecessor.

I loved this book. Made me realize how much clutter we have in our lives and motivated me to start downsizing. It’s so freeing! With little one to two page sections, you have the opportunity to embrace each lesson and let it sink in before going to the next.

This book spoke to me at a moment in time when "stuff" in all of its physical, psychological and emotional manifestations has taken its toll on my soul. With each step I take to simplify and slow down my world, so much more comes back to me. As Ms. St. James says in this book, "An amazing thing happens when we slow down. We start to get flashes of inspiration. We reach a new level of understanding and even wisdom. In a quiet moment we can get an intuitive insight that can change our entire life and the life of the people around us in incredibly positive ways. And those changes can last a lifetime. Living more simply will make it possible to create those quiet moments. Out of those quiet moments miracles happen. Be open to them."

Indeed.

A lovely little book filled with ways to simplify.

I first read this book in the late 90s. It’s interesting to see how much of it is still applicable, and amusing to read of all the things that have changed. I did mark about half a dozen pages with specific ideas I’d like to try.