A month or so ago I started reading "Living Simply with Children" by Marie Sherlock. My coworkers thought it was funny that I needed to read a book to live simply. In today's world, you do. I imagine that books 50 years ago told parents how to make handmade clothes that would last as a child ages. Today, you need a book to tell you how to install closet organizers to hold your child's overabundance of clothes. We've come a long way, baby.

Back to the book. About a week after starting the book, I volunteered my family (again) to help clean up the little river town near our house. It was devastated by the recent floods. I didn’t know anyone from the town so I went looking. I ran into a woman and her husband dragging mud-covered household items to the curb and offered our assistance. Long story short, my family and I returned the next day to help.

My point? The couple lives VERY SIMPLY. They live in a two-room house - actually one room and a basement - heated by 2 tiny wood burning stoves. When the water started rising (it eventually rose to roof level), they rented a U-haul and moved all of their worldly belongings into the truck! I'm not kidding - one truck. I figure that fact puts them in the same category as about .001% of Americans - or about 50% of the rest of the world.

That one afternoon on the river was quite a learning experience for my family. My children learned about helping families in need. My husband and I learned the true definition of "living simply". And that ain't us (yet).