7/11/98 VS Chicago Meeting Notes

Mary, Carole, Anne, Linda, Mike and JR, began the simplicity portion of today's meeting.

Mike reviewed an interview from YES! Magazine's Summer 1998 issue, about Juliet Schor's new book, "The Overspent American". The interview was conducted with "... leaders of the voluntary simplicity and downshifers' movements.", which included Cecile Andrews, John DeGraff, Duane Elgin, Vicki Robin, Besty Taylor, and Wanda Urbanska.

The July 15^th, 11:00 PM showing of ESCAPE FROM AFFLUENZA on Channel 11 (PBS) was discussed next. Again, don't miss this one!

Mike reported on e-mail contacts with simplicity study groups from Atlanta, Maine, St. Louis, and Oregon. He passed out copies of an e-mail from Jeff Murray, who coordinates the Atlanta group. Jeff shared an overview of his group, which began in January, 1997, with the Your Money Or Your Life (YMOYL) Study Guide for Contemporary Christians. They are now on to a second Study Guide Session (... as Joel might put it, this would be "ASG-2", for "Atlanta Study Group #2"??? ). The group is listed in the Simple Living directory, and have had a number of folks reach them via that web site.

Anne reported she has landed a new job, teaching inner city 5^th Graders. Congratulations Anne!! Anne also reported part of her student loan will "be forgiven", as a result of working the inner city position. And it was just 5 weeks ago that Anne was wondering if/how she could eliminate her debt -- funny how things get moving when you ask, and are open to the possibilities.

And speaking of debt elimination... JR reported his debt balance will be ZERO on 8/15/98!! Way to go JR!!! Since beginning the YMOYL Steps in October 1996, JR has made steady progress, both in debt reduction, and increased savings and long term investments.

We then began the YMOYL Study Guide with Session #5, Fulfillment and Purpose. Linda facilitated us through, starting with a Group discussion on experiences calculating your Real Hourly Wage (RW). Items included:

RW seems to average about 1/3 of the regular hourly wage; the reality doing the RW brings to your awareness in terms of spending your life energy, ie, it seems spending is automatically reduced when you realize purchasing an item really costs you three times the hours spent on the job-is that item really worth three times? Often, it just isn't worth it. Other times it is, and that's great...

A discussion on Monthly Tabulation insights followed, including setting up categories, using Quicken (computer) and using YMOYL's simple form on page 67 category setups. Anne has been using page 67, and noted the need to make adjustments as her experiences and awareness grow. JR, Linda and Mike, have been using Quicken. Mike noted he as their spending gets lower and lower, he and Linda will be switching from the computer to page 67's format. Carole asked about paying off her mortgage with accumulated savings. JR noted he uses the Monthly Tabulation to help him decide on the balance between how much to keep in savings, and how much to put toward debt. Linda and Mike noted the same, when they paid off their mortgage in 1995. Linda noted the Monthly Tabulation is a way of seeing your spending habits in perspective, ie, it seemed last month, she was always at the grocery store, therefore she expected the June grocery expenses to be high. It turned out June was one of the lowest months for groceries yet -- the Monthly Tab makes the daily log more meaningful and insightful.

We followed with an exercise on Discovering Purpose. "Take 2 minutes to remember a time you; experienced joy, sense of accomplishment, a person who inspired you to explore your purpose". Being outdoors, experiencing the moment, and helping others were some of the times shared. Anne noted how we tend to think of accomplishments as something we've done, and don't often think of accomplishments as something we've gained.

The next part of the exercise involved group discussion on, "If you had an extra day each week to do the things you never get around to, what would you do?" After everyone shared what they would do, Anne noted a commonality -- everyone talked about doing something for themselves, without being selfish, something that they normally would not be able to/have time to. The discussion then continued into, "What would you do if you were suddenly given an entire year to use in any way, knowing that you could return to your current life, what would you do?"

Looking Ahead to YMOYL Study Guide Session #6, assignments included...

1. read Chapter 5
2. fill out month-end tabulation
3. do Steps 3 & 4
4. when you go shopping, ask yourself Step 4's questions with at least some purchases (Remember: no shame, no blame)
5. Bring month end tabulations to next meeting.

We concluded the meeting at 12:00, and will meet again on 8/8/98 (Simplicity Discussion from 09:00 to 10:00, YMOYL Study Guide Session #6 -- Making Life Energy Visible, 10:00 to 12:00).