Living Low in the Lou: practicing simplicity in the St. Louis region

Hello and welcome to Living Low in the Lou! This is where I’ll be sharing what I’ve learned over close to 20 years of practicing voluntary simplicity.

Why living low? Living low to me means several things:
    ... eating lower on the food chain (more plant foods, fewer animal products);
    ... eating fewer processed foods and more home-grown and -prepared foods;
    ... spending less money (on energy, food, material goods, and more);
    ... using lower amounts of fossil fuels and polluting substances;
    ... sourcing goods closer to home, lowering the need to ship them long distances;
    ... reducing time spent in unsatisfying activities;
    ... reducing exposure to mass media in favor of homemade entertainment;
    ... doing for myself as much as possible.

Why the Lou? Because I live in the greater St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Lou by local residents. I’ll be discussing what I know, and much of what I know is particular to St. Louis. That doesn’t mean that it’s useless to others, especially to those of you who live in similar-sized metro areas, in areas with similar economic patterns, and/or in a similar climate. I’ll try to include information on why I do what I do so that if you live somewhere else, you can consider ways that you could apply relevant ideas. But I’m not going to promise wide applicability. I’ll try to make it reasonably interesting to read even for those of you for whom the information isn’t as relevant. I hope that it will be helpful to at least a few of you.

A little about me to start. I’m a younger member of the Baby Boom generation, born the same year that Sputnik was launched. I’ve lived most of my life in the Midwest and have lived in the St. Louis metro area since 1984. My husband Mike and I married in 1989. I moved into his home in Jennings, in north St. Louis County, at that time, selling the condo in Maryland Heights that I’d bought a few years earlier. Until 1992, we lived a rather more conventional life than we now do, with both of us working for pay. That year I quit my job with a large corporation. The change in our economic condition and the change in my personal outlook on life combined to lead us to begin to practice voluntary simplicity in 1994. This blog is one result of our practice. May it be helpful to all beings!