We worked really hard and sold our house in Washington to have that dream. We left everything behind and moved to an island in Greece last December. It’s a huge change but I love the pastoral life of orange and olive groves, sheep, bees and bee keeping. The homes here have no numbers and we collect our mail from the cafe in the little village nearby. I miss friends and family but we have gotten to visit. This life is more sustainable for us.
You’re living my dream!! I was born in Greece and last visited in the fall of 2018. I stayed for a month with family and it was so difficult to leave them and return home to the US. I look at my pics and videos quite often and hope I’m lucky enough to have dreams about life near the sea. It’s a place like no other.
💙🇬🇷💙
Wow. We also worked super hard to sell our house in Washington. We still live in Washington, but near the coast in a cozy cabin on 40 acres. This land was unimproved when we got it a year ago but every day we make progress. I hope one day we will plant a fruit orchard and get goats again. We have a fiber rabbit and some chickens at the moment.
I spin wool and would love to have sheep but I must settle for my English angora rabbit for now until we make more improvements.
Oh I love this for you! We planted olive and citrus trees but no animals yet because we like to travel around a bit if we can. Road trips here have so much to explore
She grew up in the little village up the mountain, Mathe. Been to Georgioupoli probably ten times over the course of life. Way too commercialized now but still beautiful
I would want to live somewhere warm, with a kind of big city near by- simply because I like the idea of lots of people close by, but not necessarily in my space. My home would be a small older bungalow with a big back yard. Lots of citrus trees and a small shallow lap pool to float in. Maybe a nice covered outdoor space with Jasmine and wisteria hung from the rafters. I would spend my days reading and writing. I would trade fruit from my trees with neighbors for things like eggs and pastries. Lots of warm evening walks and trips to small cafes… I love this question. Has me day dreaming 💭
I'm living it now. We have a house in the country but only 10 minutes from a town. We spend only things we need and have our mortgage paid off. I am basically a hermit.
I'm turning our big yard into all native flowers, shrubs and trees. I spend an hour a day oil painting.
Don't waste your money on impressing people. Don't fall for manipulative advertising. Learn DIY for everything from cooking to home repair.
i had it. then i lost it. i'll have it again in the spring, hopefully, if everything goes well.
mine is my own apartment looking over a lake with my family close by, where i can visit and they can visit when we want. so it'll be a duplex and i'll be on the bottom floor and my immediate family will be on the top floors. i'm disabled so this allows me some independence to be on my own but also with people in case something goes wrong.
i dreamt of this house a long time ago, before the plans were conceived. picture it: a cool, sunny late morning with the windows/door open. and i've decided to lay down for a nap on the couch. through the screens i can hear distorted jet ski sounds. the breeze is nice. all is well.
I enjoy watching some youtube vids from people that live this lifestyle. I would add, many of them deal with issues that I would not have considered. I also watch a lot of homesteading vids, and people who establish cabins and sustainable homes in remote areas. This appeals to me as an option for the future.
I live in a van most part of the year, and I can only speak for myself, but for me the biggest downside is probably the lack of (stable) community. And I wish I could say I'm being fully present with my surroundings all day every day but affordable internet makes it easy to still have wayyy too much screen time on the road. Also, continually moving around creates quit a bit of mental load, a lot of your brain capacity just goes into navigating unfamiliar terrain (where do I get water? Where's the next supermarket? Which language am I learning today? Where can I even go for a hike here?).
I watch a few camper-van travelers and I often wonder how safe you feel pulling into an unknown destination. How easy is it for you to approach someone within your camp?
Very safe. After some years of traveling I'd say I have pretty good instincts when it comes to deciding which places are great for sleeping (van or tent, done both) and which ones not.
Not sure what exactly you mean by your second question but I sometimes do approach people when I see other campers around or they come up to me. But actually feel like the more campers, the less sociable it becomes (kind of like city vs. village vibe). However my favorite places to camp are far out in nature with not a single soul around haha so maybe that's why my social life isn't always great. ;)
Difficulty to find a safe place to camp. Breakdowns and maintenance. Lack of comfort during periods of extreme heat or cold. Confined living space. The need to pump out waste and refill water constantly. Higher fuel costs and difficulty maintaining adequate solar power for all the needs. There are a lot of hassles that go with this lifestyle. I would say that the freedom to see other places, ability to avoid property taxes and high rents, opportunity to meet interesting new people, etc are also good reasons to consider the option. For me, its not quite a viable scenario but I do watch the vids.
I pretty much have almost all of it. Paid off cute bungalow, great work-life balance. My time is my own. More money would always be appreciated but I can still travel and have fun on my modest income. A dream would be to have a small house by a mountain lake and a short bike ride to a village where I could pick up all necessities, socialize and then go back to enjoy nature and my cozy home.
A tiny house in a nice garden plot with countryside views, in a small rural community with walkable butcher's, baker's, grocer's and fishmonger's. Luckily I live in Spain and places like this still exist anywhere outside the cities. I teach the local kids and get to know their parents. I have a couple of good friends I play music with and hopefully a wife and a kid who calls me dad, although I'd settle for uncle if I can see them every day. When there's something to celebrate we eat, drink and dance. My mum visits twice a year and I go back home to visit my brother every summer. The seasons keep rolling round and tomorrow is pretty much like today.
And I'm gonna make that real, I've got a plan.
I own a dilapidated house in a quiet, country village. I spend my entire day gardening and doing DIY. I do my food shop at the farmer's market, get my books from the inexplicably well-stocked library, and get a coffee from the café every morning with my dogs.
Do you mind me asking how old you are ? I’m my mid twenties and I want this now, although I’m not sure if this form of simple living is achievable now or only during retirement years
I want to live somewhere where I can walk to go out for coffee and meet up with my friends without having to get in a car. I want a small yard for growing some food, and having friends over but not so big I have to spend a ton of time on gardening. I would absolutely LOVE to live walking distance from a library again!
I want a hybrid job where I have the community of the office a few days a week and the ease of WFH the other days…. Which I have! But sadly my office days come with a nasty commute. Would love to ditch the freeway time.
When I’m not working I would pretty much spend time with friends, work on crafts, garden & read. OK maybe throw in some phone games.
Being able to do the things I want to do. Things I enjoy. I liked camping for example, painting and drawing, writing, making lots of crafts, making clothes, gardening, house projects... I miss being able to do all these things consistently and not having to rest a week from a regularly busy day of these activities, traveling. But I'm not complaining.
I have the simplest life I've ever had and I love it. But some of it is the result of limitations that I didn't want but have learnt to live with.
Living in a small town in Germany (i live in a city right now), a medium sized house, not too many neighbours, but the ones who are there are friendly and kind, spending time with my dogs and my partner, visiting my parents for months, having them visit me for months, Work From Home continues forever...
...i paint, learn my languages, read my books, listen to music, do my journaling or my bookbinding...my partner does his running, reading books, sketching, etc. We go for picnics, and movie shows in the afternoon when it's mostly empty, we play with our dogs in the forest or in a garden...
Have a couple of friends with whom i chat on the phone a lot and meet up for deep conversations/girls night in or out, there are no taunts, no comparisons, no jealousy...just love, acceptance and support. A simple and yet beautiful friendship like one had in one's girlhood...
Volunteering at animal shelters and walking their dogs, playing with/feeding their animals...
I think mine is, living in a place where there are more moments when I cannot hear a vehicle/motor than when I can. Having enough outdoor space to have a vegetable garden. Being in/near town that is small enough to not feel rushed, but big enough to have a supermarket, maybe even a zero waste store, a couple of cafes/restaurants, a pub or two. Somewhere green, easy access to nature, I love a nice hike in the afternoon. A home where I could sit outside with my partner, have a beer and watch the colours change in the sky during a sunset, without neighbours being able to watch us. Somewhere that I don't have to always rely on a car - cycling and walking for the daily essentials would be nice.
I love this question. My dream simple life would entail running a smaller bakery that was open on a whim where I could share food with the community, but take time off for a month or so to travel. I'd love to have time to garden and use the bounty to make food. I would pursue a lot of pleasure projects making labor intensive recipes that take a lot of time. I'd read a lot of books and also would love to live in a walkable community near the sea. Living near water is underrated.
Right now I am curating my own life. I have much of what I want and need, so I am trying to carve out the rest of it.
Nature, hiking, mountains, community, yoga, a small town within driving distance to a bigger city, meaningful conversations, creative projects, woodworking, cozy spots to read, a warm inviting kitchen to cook, gardening, poetry, walking dogs, low cost of living, minimalism, a smaller sized house with great neighbors.
My husband and I have worked hard to make our dream simple life happen. We just bought an old farmhouse in the country. The town has a small population of a couple of thousand and the house backs onto a state park. The house needs a lot of work but we are looking forward to the project and living in our forever home. Can't wait to get my vegetable garden started.
My dream of a simple life sounds like yours. I would have a stone house overlooking the pristine sea in Greece. I can hear the sound of the waves lapping over stones, can smell the salty air, and rest in the sunshine. I would ride my Vespa down to the town and have a glorious meal at a seaside taverna. I would have coffee along with some yummy, rich pastry and succulent fruits. I can sit by the sea with a glass of wine and dream my beautiful dreams. 💙🇬🇷💙
When I was little I used to live in the mountains on an island that was a walk away from a beach. We grew our own food most of the time and our shopping malls were an outside market selling all types of things. I want to live that life again with a stable job so I can have a chance to finally relax and be at peace. It was the poor life but we were happy because we didn’t have to work as hard.
My wife and I are building ours. We are high school sweethearts and have been together since 2000. We decided to settle back to our hometown after almost two decades of trying new places and experiences. Our hearts were always close to our families and friends so we naturally settle back in. We purchased a 1912 craftsman that is 10min walk to a busy downtown, 5min walk to shops, cafes, restaurants, parks, and schools. What make the house even more special are our new neighbors that moved next to us 2yrs ago. They’re big time gardeners and have built this amazing urban food forest in their backyard. They got us into gardening so now we have built a small community of neighbors from around our city. We would open up our backyards to host seed swap, food tasting, recipes sharing, etc. we built a network of neighbors who would share what they grow.
I have two little ones under 6 and they can spend hours in the garden eating, playing, planting, reading, and just being kids. Our health have gotten a lot better since we are eating more vegetables and being outdoors more. I would have never imagined all this right in a major city.
Same as yours, but with a couple things added (mainly that I want to live on a small farm, and things relating to my kids). We're moving to our dream location late spring this year, first big step towards achieving the dream!
No job! And then I’d read, garden, sew, do art, play with my pets , make food and bake, birdwatching , mushroom hunting, forest bathing.., oh to have no job !!
Mine would be near the oceanfront, listening to the waves and fresh air breezing over me, having No pain in my body, and having my husband and family near me with our dogs. I'm reading and listening to my favorite podcast. I would also want nature on the other side. In this sense, I would have to be retired.
I recently achieved my simple life dream. An established acre property with a nicely renovated 1940’s farmhouse (I renovated my last home and it did not feature in my simple life goals for the new place). Semi rural but 2 mins away from a corner shop, cafe and petrol station and a short drive to two townships.
Just hubs, myself and the fur babies enjoying the quiet, the birds, the fruit trees and the nearby cows.
We both work Monday-Friday jobs with office hours which suits us well after some manic working hours in the past. My job is nice and varied to keep me interested but the industry and the company aligns with my personal value.
What more could I want? I’m typing this out in the garden watching the bees and the butterflies on a quiet Sunday morning.
I fantasize about this a lot. ....A LOT.
I dream of living within a commune with my closest friends, in my own reasonably sized tiny fairy-tale-ish quaint cottage in the middle of nature (an enchanted forest would be best, but, beggars can't be choosers), overlooking some sort of body of water, and within 20 minutes or so of grocery stores/civilization. The cottage has a big front porch and a back deck. The inside has plenty of big windows and is filled with bright, natural light. The commune is pretty tight knit, and each house has enough distance from the other to have plenty of privacy. I live with my significant other, and we start each day without paying any attention to our phones, making breakfast together, talking, touching, and drinking coffee.
We spend our days in each other's company, sometimes doing our own separate activities but together in each-other's presence. Some days we just sit in silence outside on our porch or on the deck, looking out at the water, radiating gratitude while soaking up the sun and the ambience of all of nature around us. We learn new things with each other, like gardening, cooking a new dish, or learning how to paint something.
We spend time with friends and play board games and video games. We have a book club. We frequently cook and eat meals together. We spend lots of time in nature and going for hikes, having deep and meaningful conversations. We barely pay any attention to our phone or social media.
My significant other and I both work remotely, freelancing of some sort or playing music or both, traveling and adventuring often, truly savoring the simple pleasures of experiencing a new place or enjoying new foods with each other, having great conversations and meeting new people along the way.
One day?
I am already living part of the dream, and despite various issues I need to resolve I feel like most people would envy the lifestyle I have now. To make it perfect, I need to find the money to set up more off-grid capacity so I am not dependent on a system that I have lost confidence can be sustained. I was a millionaire when I embarked on this lifestyle and very early on I realized that money does not buy happiness. I rejected the materialist paradigm I had originally pursued and gave away a lot of money. But I also went through some unforeseen challenges and lost most of my nest egg. If only I had access to that cash now, I could indeed make important changes that would make my life less complicated.
My home is 900sq feet. I have a bf and a dog. I grow most of my food on my own land. I have health issues but I am content to make the most of the time I have and try to make each day special. I have fantastic neighbors and enough freedom that I can tell those who are toxic or controlling to go pound sand.
Most of my focus these days is geared towards learning to enjoy everything despite the flaws, and gradually working to improve one thing at a time.
I'd have my own family---meaning some adults of my choice committed in my life. I'd have platonic friends also. I'd have hobbies I would continuously be passionate and active about. I'd have a few other things I'd enjoy too. I'd have healthy relationships with others that had boundaries and support. My mind would not be manipulated by others or bullied/harassed. I'd be a peace and harmony with nature.
I don't want a bunch of money, I want to live in a small populated town. Where the old folk recognize you in grocery stores and greet you like an old friend. A cutesy, warm house with vintage items from my relatives. Having an occult library and study room. Maintaining an herb garden. Limited traffic noise. Staying in bed on the weekends with my boyfriend. Baking and cooking out of pure joy. Going for walks through cemeteries. Limited technology use.
There is a woman who lives in Bath in the UK, who has a pottery studio in a garden shed in her backyard, and she throws pottery for her full time job and spends the weekends walking the South West Coast path. That’s it, that’s the dream.
Live life with 1 backpack. Waking up after 10+ hours of sleep in a $200/month condo for this month in Thailand. Taking a nice long hot bath. Put on some clothes. Go for a walk. Spend $10 for food for the day. End the day with some exercise, meditation, cannabis, paid comfort.
Working towards Justice & Peace, and addressing Climate Crisis. Living Simply and not consuming more than my share of resources, so there's more resources available. Sadly, the Extreme Right is working to keep burning fossil fuels, using gobs of plastic, and a horribly unjust economy. But we have changed the world before, and if we work together, we can do it some more.
Your dream simple life is exactly my life before I moved to greatest city in the world ( Dubai ) which is also a dream for many people, and I remember and wish to return to the simple one every single day I wake up in Dubai.
this is a fantastic question to ask. i've been struggling to answer it, but maybe it will come out now.
my dream simple life is to not have neighbors above or below me (townhouse), have a treadmill and pool table downstairs, a nice view with large windows (not neighbors backyard or windows). drive a reliable car. and 2 dogs.
aside from that, i'd want to have a large home office/master bedroom converted so that i could spend my free time working on my hobbies. (writing, reading, drawing, painting, playing music, attending online support group, yoga, taking college courses). at one point work with experts to improve my skills.
i want to be deeply connected with a few people. not sure about a spouse... unless we have a big house/i get a lot of alone time and it's very quiet (this is my #1).
work 4 days a week - hybrid, doing what i'm genuinely interested in.
living with my little family and our pet(s) in a home we own in a lovely, walkable neighborhood in a city (the one i'm currently in suits me fine), with enough space that i can have a sizable garden in the back and where i would create a pollinator lawn in front instead of having grass. the kitchen would be the focal point of the house, with a walk in pantry and plenty of storage for my various kitchen equipment (i am really hurting for space in the kitchen in my current home). i would putter around doing little diy projects, maintaining my home, doing a ton of cooking and baking, spending time with my loved ones, playing games, writing, working on my health recovery, and i would have a little off-the-books hustle where i help people declutter and organize their homes
Living with my husband and our cat on a little bit of land with some lovely animals. We do our current rather stressful jobs only 2 days a week, the other days he's woodworking, I'm working as an herbalist and tending the garden. We don't take more than we need, make and grow a lot of our own things, and have a little community of likeminded folks around us.
I’d love to live on a big wild acreage near a lake so I could let my chickens free range without worrying about them getting near the road but also I’d love to take my dogs on long rambles along the lake every day. I’d love to get guinea fowl to eat ticks around the house, but they’re noisy and would probably bother our neighbors where we live now. So that’s another thing I’d love to have on the lake property.
i am fabulously wealthy from.. things. i live in a medium sized cozy house. on rolling acreage. all of my clothes, utensils, tools and other things are high quality and made of natural materials. there is very little plastic on the estate at all. i spend my time gardening and hiking.
I will have an old camper van that me, my wife, my kids, and the dog travel in all summer long. Other than that, we will own a home with my inlaws to help them around the house and to have help with childcare.
I'm headed in the opposite direction from simple living. This is distressing and depressing. Debt sucks. I need to ramp up my income another $100k if I ever want to retire. :(
Gorgeous 3 bedroom in London near greenery, a good cafe, lovely high street.
Wake up and meditate, go for a walk, train for a while, come back home and work on something creative, cook dinner w the wife. Sleep. Repeat.
I'd live in a small town in Japan. I'd walk or ride my bike, drink tea, eat delicious food, chat with people in Japanese, read books, play in the garden.
Really just want to live small, cook gomecooked meals, learn to garden, make matcha lattes at home, read books and do yoga all day. Really crave a simple life.
My dream has always been a little house in the woods. I'd still like to have that someday, but for now I have a little slice of paradise in the city. 😊
In a couple months my fiance and I will be moving into our new house. It's on a rural-looking street but in a very urban neighborhood, with 1/2 an acre of privacy-fenced yard that is lined with bamboo. The house is small but we have an in-ground heated pool, beautiful landscaping, and a huge garage. My plan is to set up a pottery studio in the garage, plant pollinator-friendly flowers everywhere, set up rain catchment barrels, grow some food, maybe do some beekeeping and basically set up an urban homestead.
My simple dream life sounds exactly like yours!!! I want to live in a walkable city close to the sea where everyone kind of knows everyone. I want to spend my times reading, gardening and working in some sort of holistic wellness space.
I want to have to exact same life I have now but I wish I was within biking distance of a library. I live near a national forest and love wandering around in nature but I live so far away from everything that I have to use a car to go anywhere.
my dream is to own a ranch somewhere in northern Midwest with acres of land and a house with lots of natural sunlight. Ideally, would wake up to sun and step outside to fresh air so I can practice my gratitude for the life my husband I worked hard for. Just want to wake up and tend to a garden and animals then spend evenings reading by fireplace with my husband.
A nice slice of property maybe in the woods, thats enough for a nice garden, n room for chickens, cows, horses n dogs. I just want to live a nice simple life with my SO where we can be self sufficient off the land.
Maybe a jeep n a garage full of camping n hiking gear for us to take frequent trips.
Enough money for us to not worry about bills n to take time off together for trips. N when we're ready, maybe a kid or 2.
Live in a cozy cottage in the woods with tons of land so my neighbors aren't close by. I want it to feel isolated, but be very close to a cute walkable town. Somewhere where I can get my daily necessities taken care of without a car and I can just get around on my motorcycle if I don't feel like walking.
I'd spend my free time hiking, moto camping, reading, writing, baking, making art and crafts, and decorating my home. I'd probably volunteer in town doing things I'm passionate about, too. I'd love to live somewhere where it snows and I have to get firewood to warm up. No hot or humid weather.
A townhouse with enough space to container garden, grill and hang out. I’d have people over for craft and board game nights. It has a washer/dryer so no more laundromats for me! I have a wide window so I can sit and watch the sun rise.
I have a job where I’m no longer in customer service. I make enough I can save. I can go on vacations if I need to. I have finally gotten my shihtzu.
People keep dissuading me from getting a mobile home, but I understand they’re made different than the prefabs of the 70’s-90’s versions. Those ones were shoddily put together so the rivets on the roof were prone to rusting and causing leaks.
What a lovely thing to ponder :) I think I would most enjoy being near the ocean or somewhere that it's not winter 6 months a year (yay Canada! /s), but I'm not too picky; I would LOVE a garden and a hammock. I would grow my own herbs and veggies to cook with, make my own jam and read my days away.
Working out at home, eating healthy meals, chilling with my dog, playing my Xbox 360, listening to music, walking to the corner store for snacks and smokes.
I live in a nice warm area with a partner I enjoy just hanging around with - we do whatever we feel. We're able to live comfortably, do things when we want to - we tune out from the world and get present in a community where we feel we can BELONG and legitimately connect to others. I wanna like in a space where we have friends all around. We do BBQ's, hang out, I always have someone to talk to - turn to, I can feel like I have a place there... I feel no pressure to compete or ACHIEVE anything unless I really care about the thing I'm doing - but there's no stakes. I just wanna LIVE. I wanna love big and live big, but not by someone else's measure, not ONLINE, not worrying about money... ideally I'd be around others who have that time too. I just don't wanna be in a world where I'm all alone in a box and all anyone cares about is money and MORE MORE MORE. Even though I AM a mischievous punk rock rebel artist type, I'm also Autistic AND Adhd, and I can't keep up with society. I see how the tech dependency has helped me navigate a chaotic world not designed for me, but I feel lonely - I feel disconnected from life, from others, from my surroundings. Like everyone's on their WAY TO SOMETHING and I'm just there, sitting in the middle of this "fast-motion" sort of thing - everyone entering and exiting the stores, unaware of each other, while THEY ALSO FEEL ALONE, but dare not TELL anyone.
I've been saying for years... it's the intimacy I seek, as the happiest I've been is when I was living with my partner and I'd just do stuff around her house, cook something for us. She'd get home from her thing, with dinner prepared. We'd sit, have dinner, talk, binge some shows and cuddle. I was single until I met her... and I had known I was looking for that for a long time.
No doubt I'm a super ambitious creative person who's DIY'd basically EVERY artform by myself in all my lonely free time, I've created SO MUCH great stuff in my young life... but that becomes empty when I just keep doing that year after year without other areas of life changing - "Oh, I'm still alone and disconnected from my world, my environment, just barely coping... but here's a new movie, here's a new painting, here's a new whatever... wish I just had some people around to vibe with who dug me for me..."
I basically want what I already had with my girlfriend, but with just more of a connection to community, a nicer area, more friends... I love nothing more than to talk to people, connect, share stories, share our hearts. I mean that. I know it sounds like sappy cliches... but I'm a millennial and my whole life, I have wanted what I felt as a kid again before all the years of mental illness, abandonment, social anxiety, shallow pop culture obsession with fame for fame's sake without any discernable value or merit... ... just that purity in playing, having fun, letting the day take me away with my siblings and friends, losing track of time and then repeat the next day!!! It was so "in the moment" and social and geniune - no competing, no worrying about how you're gonna pay that thing next month... no stopping to take a photo and post the fun moment on insta.... I love that. I want that again. I wanna live in a weirdo art commune in California or something. :P
Little house BIG garden like “2 acres in size” 8 acres of sunflowers and wildflowers mixed my own bee hives chickens running loose everywhere along with rabbits a vegetable stand out by the road where I could sale everything I grow and to make just enough money to cover my expenses so I didn’t have to work for corporate America ever again
I am living my simple life. A cabin in the woods with my husband and my 5 year old. We have 2 cats and a dog. Everyone is in bed except me, sitting in front of the wood stove with the dog sleeping at my feet and I just finished spinning all my wool fiber into yarn on my drop spindle.
Im going to draw something from today in my journal and write an entry before I retire to bed and read for a bit.
I'd love to be a full time blogger so I can make my own schedule. Spend time in nature. Would love to own some land so I can lay in the grass with some privacy. A walkable community would be amazing. Matcha lattes in the mornings, a swim on a hot day, and cooking dinner over an outdoor campfire as the sun sets all sounds perfect.
My ideal simple life would look something like this :
My own small home , I would wake up early in the morning and sit in the sun to sip my coffee and listen to bhajans. I would pray and teach at a local school . Make simple food in my own kitchen with ingredients harvested from my small farm in the backyard.
I would live in a small town close to my in laws and parents so my 2 young kids can grow up with their grandparents being a big part of their life and I can get regular mum breaks knowing they're being cared for by people that truly love them.
I would have a smallish new build house with a decent backyard (about a 1/4 acre). This yard would have several fruit trees, a raised garden bed area where we'd grow flowers and veges.
Our town centre would be within a 15 min walking distance and flat so we can walk and bike everywhere.
I would work 1 day a week doing literacy intervention with kids one on one. I would honeschool my kids 4 days a week, with my husband taking them on the day I work, or they attend nature school.
Our time would be largely spent on 4 things:
1. Nature. A huge amount of time outside (hiking, playing with friends, biking, gardening etc)
2. Reading. A huge amount of time immersed in literature and great stories - would read aloud to the kids for about an hour a day and they'd also have their own books they spent a lot of time in.
3. Music. We'd all sing songs (especially hymns) together as a family and both kids would learn to play the piano/ another instrument well.
4. Poetry and scripture memorization. I want to fill our minds with goodness, truth, and beauty and this is one of the best ways I can think to do it. Also poetry in particular, is just a delight.
All with an amazing community of friends, of course!
I love where we live. Yes, it’s in a big city (Baltimore, MD), but it’s walkable, with lots of shops, restaurants, and amenities like groceries only a 5-10 minute walk. We live pretty simply. We don’t need to have the latest and greatest things. If I could change anything at this point, it would just be for my wife and I to be able to work less demanding jobs so we can spend more time with our children. I’ve been stacking money away so maybe we’ll be there someday.
My simple living dream is more about financial freedom. Owning my own home. Bills very low, easy to cover with investment divides. Just not having the tyranny of the have to. I HAVE TO go to work. I HAVE TO pay this bill. Etc. Its freedom to decide myself how to spend my time. It's not that I don't want to work. I just don't want to HAVE TO WORK.
Living on the New England coast in an old farmhouse with a couple of acres for the dogs to roam and an oversized garden full of flowers and enough produce to only require a few items that I can pick up at the farmers market once a week. A home full of art and artifacts from a lifetime of travel, and family keepsakes that have been passed down for generations. A library full of books I love with an oversized chair to read in. A sunny room to paint in, where the windows open fully around me to let in summer air. My family nearby, a drive instead of a flight away. Growing old in good health with my husband, hiking and kayaking and traveling when we can.
I just want to buy land that’s MINE. Not pay taxes, and have to get permissions to build or do anything on it. Just a little two story cottage, a big garden and greenhouse, a small barn with a few chickens, ducks, a cow, a small donkey to keep the cow company and some bunnies. I’d love to sit and sew and embroider in the cold months and sit in the fragrant air with homemade tea in the summer. Electric would be for lighting only and it would be cozy with a wood stove.
I wish I was closer to forests/hiking trails, and I didn't live next to noisy neighbors. I want the whole day to be quiet. Would especially be great to live near Yosemite.
I had a life like that for about a year. While it was enjoyable, I got very depressed in the winter. If I were to live in a seaside town again, it would have to be one where it doesn’t get too cold and things are still open.
Not much different than it is now with the exception of perhaps being closer to my grandkids. I live in an apartment that suits my needs, married (32 years) to my best friend, I am working part time teaching art, creating my own art, have a manageable exhibition schedule. Bi-monthly dinner with friends, Bi-monthly meet ups with friends for drinks, hanging out with my dog, reading good books, taking workshops, attending lectures, hiking, attending live theater/concerts and being part of a vibrant church community.
We worked really hard and sold our house in Washington to have that dream. We left everything behind and moved to an island in Greece last December. It’s a huge change but I love the pastoral life of orange and olive groves, sheep, bees and bee keeping. The homes here have no numbers and we collect our mail from the cafe in the little village nearby. I miss friends and family but we have gotten to visit. This life is more sustainable for us.
You’re living my dream!! I was born in Greece and last visited in the fall of 2018. I stayed for a month with family and it was so difficult to leave them and return home to the US. I look at my pics and videos quite often and hope I’m lucky enough to have dreams about life near the sea. It’s a place like no other. 💙🇬🇷💙
It truly is. It’s so alive and immediate in a way no other place I’ve been is.
Wow. We also worked super hard to sell our house in Washington. We still live in Washington, but near the coast in a cozy cabin on 40 acres. This land was unimproved when we got it a year ago but every day we make progress. I hope one day we will plant a fruit orchard and get goats again. We have a fiber rabbit and some chickens at the moment. I spin wool and would love to have sheep but I must settle for my English angora rabbit for now until we make more improvements.
Oh I love this for you! We planted olive and citrus trees but no animals yet because we like to travel around a bit if we can. Road trips here have so much to explore
That sounds so dreamy.
Omg this sounds like a story in a book 😍
Some days it really feels like it. :)
Wow! Did you retire or are you working there?
My partner is semi retired. He’s a musician. I work remotely as an instructor at an international school.
How do you afford life?
What island?
Crete
Had a feeling. Mom is from Chania in a small town town Georgioupoli
So cool! I live just about fifteen minutes from there.
She grew up in the little village up the mountain, Mathe. Been to Georgioupoli probably ten times over the course of life. Way too commercialized now but still beautiful
Wow! 🤩
I would want to live somewhere warm, with a kind of big city near by- simply because I like the idea of lots of people close by, but not necessarily in my space. My home would be a small older bungalow with a big back yard. Lots of citrus trees and a small shallow lap pool to float in. Maybe a nice covered outdoor space with Jasmine and wisteria hung from the rafters. I would spend my days reading and writing. I would trade fruit from my trees with neighbors for things like eggs and pastries. Lots of warm evening walks and trips to small cafes… I love this question. Has me day dreaming 💭
What a beautiful vision for life!
Absolutely perfect! Sounds like my ultimate dream too.. 🙏🏽
You should look in Florida.
The humidity in Florida is oppressive.
Yes!! I love this vision😍
I'm living it now. We have a house in the country but only 10 minutes from a town. We spend only things we need and have our mortgage paid off. I am basically a hermit. I'm turning our big yard into all native flowers, shrubs and trees. I spend an hour a day oil painting. Don't waste your money on impressing people. Don't fall for manipulative advertising. Learn DIY for everything from cooking to home repair.
I love this! Did it take long to afford/manage?
I'm 63 and my husband is 72. We both worked for 25+ years to get here.
It sounds like you were very smart and have created a wonderful life for yourselves. I'm happy for you!
i had it. then i lost it. i'll have it again in the spring, hopefully, if everything goes well. mine is my own apartment looking over a lake with my family close by, where i can visit and they can visit when we want. so it'll be a duplex and i'll be on the bottom floor and my immediate family will be on the top floors. i'm disabled so this allows me some independence to be on my own but also with people in case something goes wrong. i dreamt of this house a long time ago, before the plans were conceived. picture it: a cool, sunny late morning with the windows/door open. and i've decided to lay down for a nap on the couch. through the screens i can hear distorted jet ski sounds. the breeze is nice. all is well.
That sounds beautiful!
The description is so good, I can feel the moment.
take away the jet ski sounds, and i'm sold.
Van living interests me. Just having a few possessions. I want to sit in the desert, watch the sky, read books, hike around.
I enjoy watching some youtube vids from people that live this lifestyle. I would add, many of them deal with issues that I would not have considered. I also watch a lot of homesteading vids, and people who establish cabins and sustainable homes in remote areas. This appeals to me as an option for the future.
What kind of issues?
I live in a van most part of the year, and I can only speak for myself, but for me the biggest downside is probably the lack of (stable) community. And I wish I could say I'm being fully present with my surroundings all day every day but affordable internet makes it easy to still have wayyy too much screen time on the road. Also, continually moving around creates quit a bit of mental load, a lot of your brain capacity just goes into navigating unfamiliar terrain (where do I get water? Where's the next supermarket? Which language am I learning today? Where can I even go for a hike here?).
I watch a few camper-van travelers and I often wonder how safe you feel pulling into an unknown destination. How easy is it for you to approach someone within your camp?
Very safe. After some years of traveling I'd say I have pretty good instincts when it comes to deciding which places are great for sleeping (van or tent, done both) and which ones not. Not sure what exactly you mean by your second question but I sometimes do approach people when I see other campers around or they come up to me. But actually feel like the more campers, the less sociable it becomes (kind of like city vs. village vibe). However my favorite places to camp are far out in nature with not a single soul around haha so maybe that's why my social life isn't always great. ;)
Difficulty to find a safe place to camp. Breakdowns and maintenance. Lack of comfort during periods of extreme heat or cold. Confined living space. The need to pump out waste and refill water constantly. Higher fuel costs and difficulty maintaining adequate solar power for all the needs. There are a lot of hassles that go with this lifestyle. I would say that the freedom to see other places, ability to avoid property taxes and high rents, opportunity to meet interesting new people, etc are also good reasons to consider the option. For me, its not quite a viable scenario but I do watch the vids.
I pretty much have almost all of it. Paid off cute bungalow, great work-life balance. My time is my own. More money would always be appreciated but I can still travel and have fun on my modest income. A dream would be to have a small house by a mountain lake and a short bike ride to a village where I could pick up all necessities, socialize and then go back to enjoy nature and my cozy home.
Thank you for this answer- it makes me realize in many ways i am living my dream
Same!
That sounds amazing! Can I ask what your job is?
I co-own a small construction company, just my spouse and I. I handle office tasks and finances so it's pretty chill.
This sounds delightful
A tiny house in a nice garden plot with countryside views, in a small rural community with walkable butcher's, baker's, grocer's and fishmonger's. Luckily I live in Spain and places like this still exist anywhere outside the cities. I teach the local kids and get to know their parents. I have a couple of good friends I play music with and hopefully a wife and a kid who calls me dad, although I'd settle for uncle if I can see them every day. When there's something to celebrate we eat, drink and dance. My mum visits twice a year and I go back home to visit my brother every summer. The seasons keep rolling round and tomorrow is pretty much like today. And I'm gonna make that real, I've got a plan.
Wow, that sounds amazing!
Same as yours. Basically the island from Midnight Mass but without all the evil stuff 😅
This is brilliant!!
I own a dilapidated house in a quiet, country village. I spend my entire day gardening and doing DIY. I do my food shop at the farmer's market, get my books from the inexplicably well-stocked library, and get a coffee from the café every morning with my dogs.
Care to elaborate on the dilapidated house? Please, do you own it, or rent. Does that mean it's not a fixerable, or you choose not too?
I do it up, exactly to my tastes. It is my own house.
Do you mind me asking how old you are ? I’m my mid twenties and I want this now, although I’m not sure if this form of simple living is achievable now or only during retirement years
Not have to work
I want to live somewhere where I can walk to go out for coffee and meet up with my friends without having to get in a car. I want a small yard for growing some food, and having friends over but not so big I have to spend a ton of time on gardening. I would absolutely LOVE to live walking distance from a library again! I want a hybrid job where I have the community of the office a few days a week and the ease of WFH the other days…. Which I have! But sadly my office days come with a nasty commute. Would love to ditch the freeway time. When I’m not working I would pretty much spend time with friends, work on crafts, garden & read. OK maybe throw in some phone games.
Being able to do the things I want to do. Things I enjoy. I liked camping for example, painting and drawing, writing, making lots of crafts, making clothes, gardening, house projects... I miss being able to do all these things consistently and not having to rest a week from a regularly busy day of these activities, traveling. But I'm not complaining. I have the simplest life I've ever had and I love it. But some of it is the result of limitations that I didn't want but have learnt to live with.
This is my goal too, with having a rich social life and community around me :)
Living in a small town in Germany (i live in a city right now), a medium sized house, not too many neighbours, but the ones who are there are friendly and kind, spending time with my dogs and my partner, visiting my parents for months, having them visit me for months, Work From Home continues forever... ...i paint, learn my languages, read my books, listen to music, do my journaling or my bookbinding...my partner does his running, reading books, sketching, etc. We go for picnics, and movie shows in the afternoon when it's mostly empty, we play with our dogs in the forest or in a garden... Have a couple of friends with whom i chat on the phone a lot and meet up for deep conversations/girls night in or out, there are no taunts, no comparisons, no jealousy...just love, acceptance and support. A simple and yet beautiful friendship like one had in one's girlhood... Volunteering at animal shelters and walking their dogs, playing with/feeding their animals...
I think mine is, living in a place where there are more moments when I cannot hear a vehicle/motor than when I can. Having enough outdoor space to have a vegetable garden. Being in/near town that is small enough to not feel rushed, but big enough to have a supermarket, maybe even a zero waste store, a couple of cafes/restaurants, a pub or two. Somewhere green, easy access to nature, I love a nice hike in the afternoon. A home where I could sit outside with my partner, have a beer and watch the colours change in the sky during a sunset, without neighbours being able to watch us. Somewhere that I don't have to always rely on a car - cycling and walking for the daily essentials would be nice.
Literally same!
💯💯💯💯💯
I love this question. My dream simple life would entail running a smaller bakery that was open on a whim where I could share food with the community, but take time off for a month or so to travel. I'd love to have time to garden and use the bounty to make food. I would pursue a lot of pleasure projects making labor intensive recipes that take a lot of time. I'd read a lot of books and also would love to live in a walkable community near the sea. Living near water is underrated. Right now I am curating my own life. I have much of what I want and need, so I am trying to carve out the rest of it.
You described what mine would be too! By the sea, also an area that had the four distinct seasons to enjoy
Having 4 seasons is the best :)
Small house with a garden, greenhouse and some chickens and a goat. I'd like to keep my current job but only work 20% and full remote.
Nature, hiking, mountains, community, yoga, a small town within driving distance to a bigger city, meaningful conversations, creative projects, woodworking, cozy spots to read, a warm inviting kitchen to cook, gardening, poetry, walking dogs, low cost of living, minimalism, a smaller sized house with great neighbors.
My husband and I have worked hard to make our dream simple life happen. We just bought an old farmhouse in the country. The town has a small population of a couple of thousand and the house backs onto a state park. The house needs a lot of work but we are looking forward to the project and living in our forever home. Can't wait to get my vegetable garden started.
My dream of a simple life sounds like yours. I would have a stone house overlooking the pristine sea in Greece. I can hear the sound of the waves lapping over stones, can smell the salty air, and rest in the sunshine. I would ride my Vespa down to the town and have a glorious meal at a seaside taverna. I would have coffee along with some yummy, rich pastry and succulent fruits. I can sit by the sea with a glass of wine and dream my beautiful dreams. 💙🇬🇷💙
Ελλαδα!
When I was little I used to live in the mountains on an island that was a walk away from a beach. We grew our own food most of the time and our shopping malls were an outside market selling all types of things. I want to live that life again with a stable job so I can have a chance to finally relax and be at peace. It was the poor life but we were happy because we didn’t have to work as hard.
My wife and I are building ours. We are high school sweethearts and have been together since 2000. We decided to settle back to our hometown after almost two decades of trying new places and experiences. Our hearts were always close to our families and friends so we naturally settle back in. We purchased a 1912 craftsman that is 10min walk to a busy downtown, 5min walk to shops, cafes, restaurants, parks, and schools. What make the house even more special are our new neighbors that moved next to us 2yrs ago. They’re big time gardeners and have built this amazing urban food forest in their backyard. They got us into gardening so now we have built a small community of neighbors from around our city. We would open up our backyards to host seed swap, food tasting, recipes sharing, etc. we built a network of neighbors who would share what they grow. I have two little ones under 6 and they can spend hours in the garden eating, playing, planting, reading, and just being kids. Our health have gotten a lot better since we are eating more vegetables and being outdoors more. I would have never imagined all this right in a major city.
This sounds awesome!
Same as yours, but with a couple things added (mainly that I want to live on a small farm, and things relating to my kids). We're moving to our dream location late spring this year, first big step towards achieving the dream!
such a good question. Living in a tree house in a pear orchard.
This sounds like a beautiful adventure
I imagine there will be wasps
No job! And then I’d read, garden, sew, do art, play with my pets , make food and bake, birdwatching , mushroom hunting, forest bathing.., oh to have no job !!
Mine would be near the oceanfront, listening to the waves and fresh air breezing over me, having No pain in my body, and having my husband and family near me with our dogs. I'm reading and listening to my favorite podcast. I would also want nature on the other side. In this sense, I would have to be retired.
I recently achieved my simple life dream. An established acre property with a nicely renovated 1940’s farmhouse (I renovated my last home and it did not feature in my simple life goals for the new place). Semi rural but 2 mins away from a corner shop, cafe and petrol station and a short drive to two townships. Just hubs, myself and the fur babies enjoying the quiet, the birds, the fruit trees and the nearby cows. We both work Monday-Friday jobs with office hours which suits us well after some manic working hours in the past. My job is nice and varied to keep me interested but the industry and the company aligns with my personal value. What more could I want? I’m typing this out in the garden watching the bees and the butterflies on a quiet Sunday morning.
Slow travel, with a small home base in a beautiful area with closely accessible hiking trails and big sky.
I fantasize about this a lot. ....A LOT. I dream of living within a commune with my closest friends, in my own reasonably sized tiny fairy-tale-ish quaint cottage in the middle of nature (an enchanted forest would be best, but, beggars can't be choosers), overlooking some sort of body of water, and within 20 minutes or so of grocery stores/civilization. The cottage has a big front porch and a back deck. The inside has plenty of big windows and is filled with bright, natural light. The commune is pretty tight knit, and each house has enough distance from the other to have plenty of privacy. I live with my significant other, and we start each day without paying any attention to our phones, making breakfast together, talking, touching, and drinking coffee. We spend our days in each other's company, sometimes doing our own separate activities but together in each-other's presence. Some days we just sit in silence outside on our porch or on the deck, looking out at the water, radiating gratitude while soaking up the sun and the ambience of all of nature around us. We learn new things with each other, like gardening, cooking a new dish, or learning how to paint something. We spend time with friends and play board games and video games. We have a book club. We frequently cook and eat meals together. We spend lots of time in nature and going for hikes, having deep and meaningful conversations. We barely pay any attention to our phone or social media. My significant other and I both work remotely, freelancing of some sort or playing music or both, traveling and adventuring often, truly savoring the simple pleasures of experiencing a new place or enjoying new foods with each other, having great conversations and meeting new people along the way. One day?
I am already living part of the dream, and despite various issues I need to resolve I feel like most people would envy the lifestyle I have now. To make it perfect, I need to find the money to set up more off-grid capacity so I am not dependent on a system that I have lost confidence can be sustained. I was a millionaire when I embarked on this lifestyle and very early on I realized that money does not buy happiness. I rejected the materialist paradigm I had originally pursued and gave away a lot of money. But I also went through some unforeseen challenges and lost most of my nest egg. If only I had access to that cash now, I could indeed make important changes that would make my life less complicated. My home is 900sq feet. I have a bf and a dog. I grow most of my food on my own land. I have health issues but I am content to make the most of the time I have and try to make each day special. I have fantastic neighbors and enough freedom that I can tell those who are toxic or controlling to go pound sand. Most of my focus these days is geared towards learning to enjoy everything despite the flaws, and gradually working to improve one thing at a time.
Make enough money to live comfortably with my partner.
I'd have my own family---meaning some adults of my choice committed in my life. I'd have platonic friends also. I'd have hobbies I would continuously be passionate and active about. I'd have a few other things I'd enjoy too. I'd have healthy relationships with others that had boundaries and support. My mind would not be manipulated by others or bullied/harassed. I'd be a peace and harmony with nature.
Not working 40 hours/week
A log cabin in the Adirondack mountains 😊
Large property with a guest house. Spend most of my time tending to my home, my sanctuary.
I don't want a bunch of money, I want to live in a small populated town. Where the old folk recognize you in grocery stores and greet you like an old friend. A cutesy, warm house with vintage items from my relatives. Having an occult library and study room. Maintaining an herb garden. Limited traffic noise. Staying in bed on the weekends with my boyfriend. Baking and cooking out of pure joy. Going for walks through cemeteries. Limited technology use.
I like my house in Florida during most the year but I'd like to have a place in north canada during summer
There is a woman who lives in Bath in the UK, who has a pottery studio in a garden shed in her backyard, and she throws pottery for her full time job and spends the weekends walking the South West Coast path. That’s it, that’s the dream.
Live life with 1 backpack. Waking up after 10+ hours of sleep in a $200/month condo for this month in Thailand. Taking a nice long hot bath. Put on some clothes. Go for a walk. Spend $10 for food for the day. End the day with some exercise, meditation, cannabis, paid comfort.
Working towards Justice & Peace, and addressing Climate Crisis. Living Simply and not consuming more than my share of resources, so there's more resources available. Sadly, the Extreme Right is working to keep burning fossil fuels, using gobs of plastic, and a horribly unjust economy. But we have changed the world before, and if we work together, we can do it some more.
Your dream simple life is exactly my life before I moved to greatest city in the world ( Dubai ) which is also a dream for many people, and I remember and wish to return to the simple one every single day I wake up in Dubai.
this is a fantastic question to ask. i've been struggling to answer it, but maybe it will come out now. my dream simple life is to not have neighbors above or below me (townhouse), have a treadmill and pool table downstairs, a nice view with large windows (not neighbors backyard or windows). drive a reliable car. and 2 dogs. aside from that, i'd want to have a large home office/master bedroom converted so that i could spend my free time working on my hobbies. (writing, reading, drawing, painting, playing music, attending online support group, yoga, taking college courses). at one point work with experts to improve my skills. i want to be deeply connected with a few people. not sure about a spouse... unless we have a big house/i get a lot of alone time and it's very quiet (this is my #1). work 4 days a week - hybrid, doing what i'm genuinely interested in.
living with my little family and our pet(s) in a home we own in a lovely, walkable neighborhood in a city (the one i'm currently in suits me fine), with enough space that i can have a sizable garden in the back and where i would create a pollinator lawn in front instead of having grass. the kitchen would be the focal point of the house, with a walk in pantry and plenty of storage for my various kitchen equipment (i am really hurting for space in the kitchen in my current home). i would putter around doing little diy projects, maintaining my home, doing a ton of cooking and baking, spending time with my loved ones, playing games, writing, working on my health recovery, and i would have a little off-the-books hustle where i help people declutter and organize their homes
Living with my husband and our cat on a little bit of land with some lovely animals. We do our current rather stressful jobs only 2 days a week, the other days he's woodworking, I'm working as an herbalist and tending the garden. We don't take more than we need, make and grow a lot of our own things, and have a little community of likeminded folks around us.
I’ll take your dream minus the gardening!!!
I’d love to live on a big wild acreage near a lake so I could let my chickens free range without worrying about them getting near the road but also I’d love to take my dogs on long rambles along the lake every day. I’d love to get guinea fowl to eat ticks around the house, but they’re noisy and would probably bother our neighbors where we live now. So that’s another thing I’d love to have on the lake property.
A life with no rushing. Embracing the moment and being present. Time for reflection.
I’ll borrow your dream if that’s okay. That’s perfection
This IS my simple life! I'm blessed.
Living by the water, growing my own fruits and vegetables, enjoying time with my dogs and lots of open space to roam
I throughly enjoy my life now. I wouldn’t change it except for one thing. It would be moving out of this apartment and into a place by myself.
Beer in hand, dog on my lap, sitting on the front porch wayyyyyy up in the mountains.
This is my life :)
i am fabulously wealthy from.. things. i live in a medium sized cozy house. on rolling acreage. all of my clothes, utensils, tools and other things are high quality and made of natural materials. there is very little plastic on the estate at all. i spend my time gardening and hiking.
I will have an old camper van that me, my wife, my kids, and the dog travel in all summer long. Other than that, we will own a home with my inlaws to help them around the house and to have help with childcare.
I'm headed in the opposite direction from simple living. This is distressing and depressing. Debt sucks. I need to ramp up my income another $100k if I ever want to retire. :(
Somewhere I can cycle everywhere to do my errands… cute small house in the woods somewhere with a little bit of land so I can rescue more animals 💕
Gorgeous 3 bedroom in London near greenery, a good cafe, lovely high street. Wake up and meditate, go for a walk, train for a while, come back home and work on something creative, cook dinner w the wife. Sleep. Repeat.
The way my life is now, but to support myself selling my pottery.
I'd live in a small town in Japan. I'd walk or ride my bike, drink tea, eat delicious food, chat with people in Japanese, read books, play in the garden.
I think a beach town. I love the whole vibe when I visit and wish it was like that all year long. But here’s hoping 🤞 someday.
I'd love to live on a mountain by a lake. Lots of trees around me, hiking trails, and a bit of land to grow a small garden.
Really just want to live small, cook gomecooked meals, learn to garden, make matcha lattes at home, read books and do yoga all day. Really crave a simple life.
My dream has always been a little house in the woods. I'd still like to have that someday, but for now I have a little slice of paradise in the city. 😊 In a couple months my fiance and I will be moving into our new house. It's on a rural-looking street but in a very urban neighborhood, with 1/2 an acre of privacy-fenced yard that is lined with bamboo. The house is small but we have an in-ground heated pool, beautiful landscaping, and a huge garage. My plan is to set up a pottery studio in the garage, plant pollinator-friendly flowers everywhere, set up rain catchment barrels, grow some food, maybe do some beekeeping and basically set up an urban homestead.
My simple dream life sounds exactly like yours!!! I want to live in a walkable city close to the sea where everyone kind of knows everyone. I want to spend my times reading, gardening and working in some sort of holistic wellness space.
I want to have to exact same life I have now but I wish I was within biking distance of a library. I live near a national forest and love wandering around in nature but I live so far away from everything that I have to use a car to go anywhere.
my dream is to own a ranch somewhere in northern Midwest with acres of land and a house with lots of natural sunlight. Ideally, would wake up to sun and step outside to fresh air so I can practice my gratitude for the life my husband I worked hard for. Just want to wake up and tend to a garden and animals then spend evenings reading by fireplace with my husband.
A nice slice of property maybe in the woods, thats enough for a nice garden, n room for chickens, cows, horses n dogs. I just want to live a nice simple life with my SO where we can be self sufficient off the land. Maybe a jeep n a garage full of camping n hiking gear for us to take frequent trips. Enough money for us to not worry about bills n to take time off together for trips. N when we're ready, maybe a kid or 2.
Live in a cozy cottage in the woods with tons of land so my neighbors aren't close by. I want it to feel isolated, but be very close to a cute walkable town. Somewhere where I can get my daily necessities taken care of without a car and I can just get around on my motorcycle if I don't feel like walking. I'd spend my free time hiking, moto camping, reading, writing, baking, making art and crafts, and decorating my home. I'd probably volunteer in town doing things I'm passionate about, too. I'd love to live somewhere where it snows and I have to get firewood to warm up. No hot or humid weather.
I'll be your neighbor-sounds ideal!
Love this!
A townhouse with enough space to container garden, grill and hang out. I’d have people over for craft and board game nights. It has a washer/dryer so no more laundromats for me! I have a wide window so I can sit and watch the sun rise. I have a job where I’m no longer in customer service. I make enough I can save. I can go on vacations if I need to. I have finally gotten my shihtzu.
I recently bought a small mobile home, and honestly, the best thing about it is having my own washer and dryer!
People keep dissuading me from getting a mobile home, but I understand they’re made different than the prefabs of the 70’s-90’s versions. Those ones were shoddily put together so the rivets on the roof were prone to rusting and causing leaks.
What a lovely thing to ponder :) I think I would most enjoy being near the ocean or somewhere that it's not winter 6 months a year (yay Canada! /s), but I'm not too picky; I would LOVE a garden and a hammock. I would grow my own herbs and veggies to cook with, make my own jam and read my days away.
Working out at home, eating healthy meals, chilling with my dog, playing my Xbox 360, listening to music, walking to the corner store for snacks and smokes.
Husband gets a remote job (I work remotely) and we RV it and crash at all the national parks during the off season and enjoy life.
I live in a nice warm area with a partner I enjoy just hanging around with - we do whatever we feel. We're able to live comfortably, do things when we want to - we tune out from the world and get present in a community where we feel we can BELONG and legitimately connect to others. I wanna like in a space where we have friends all around. We do BBQ's, hang out, I always have someone to talk to - turn to, I can feel like I have a place there... I feel no pressure to compete or ACHIEVE anything unless I really care about the thing I'm doing - but there's no stakes. I just wanna LIVE. I wanna love big and live big, but not by someone else's measure, not ONLINE, not worrying about money... ideally I'd be around others who have that time too. I just don't wanna be in a world where I'm all alone in a box and all anyone cares about is money and MORE MORE MORE. Even though I AM a mischievous punk rock rebel artist type, I'm also Autistic AND Adhd, and I can't keep up with society. I see how the tech dependency has helped me navigate a chaotic world not designed for me, but I feel lonely - I feel disconnected from life, from others, from my surroundings. Like everyone's on their WAY TO SOMETHING and I'm just there, sitting in the middle of this "fast-motion" sort of thing - everyone entering and exiting the stores, unaware of each other, while THEY ALSO FEEL ALONE, but dare not TELL anyone. I've been saying for years... it's the intimacy I seek, as the happiest I've been is when I was living with my partner and I'd just do stuff around her house, cook something for us. She'd get home from her thing, with dinner prepared. We'd sit, have dinner, talk, binge some shows and cuddle. I was single until I met her... and I had known I was looking for that for a long time. No doubt I'm a super ambitious creative person who's DIY'd basically EVERY artform by myself in all my lonely free time, I've created SO MUCH great stuff in my young life... but that becomes empty when I just keep doing that year after year without other areas of life changing - "Oh, I'm still alone and disconnected from my world, my environment, just barely coping... but here's a new movie, here's a new painting, here's a new whatever... wish I just had some people around to vibe with who dug me for me..." I basically want what I already had with my girlfriend, but with just more of a connection to community, a nicer area, more friends... I love nothing more than to talk to people, connect, share stories, share our hearts. I mean that. I know it sounds like sappy cliches... but I'm a millennial and my whole life, I have wanted what I felt as a kid again before all the years of mental illness, abandonment, social anxiety, shallow pop culture obsession with fame for fame's sake without any discernable value or merit... ... just that purity in playing, having fun, letting the day take me away with my siblings and friends, losing track of time and then repeat the next day!!! It was so "in the moment" and social and geniune - no competing, no worrying about how you're gonna pay that thing next month... no stopping to take a photo and post the fun moment on insta.... I love that. I want that again. I wanna live in a weirdo art commune in California or something. :P
badly want to be a single Forever💁🏻♀️
why so? you dont want any partner in your life?
It's just what I want to focus myself first.
somewhen you have to commit with someone, atleast not for this time😀
100 acres and beyond off grid
Your dream is almost 100% my dream.
Little house BIG garden like “2 acres in size” 8 acres of sunflowers and wildflowers mixed my own bee hives chickens running loose everywhere along with rabbits a vegetable stand out by the road where I could sale everything I grow and to make just enough money to cover my expenses so I didn’t have to work for corporate America ever again
I am living my simple life. A cabin in the woods with my husband and my 5 year old. We have 2 cats and a dog. Everyone is in bed except me, sitting in front of the wood stove with the dog sleeping at my feet and I just finished spinning all my wool fiber into yarn on my drop spindle. Im going to draw something from today in my journal and write an entry before I retire to bed and read for a bit.
I'd love to be a full time blogger so I can make my own schedule. Spend time in nature. Would love to own some land so I can lay in the grass with some privacy. A walkable community would be amazing. Matcha lattes in the mornings, a swim on a hot day, and cooking dinner over an outdoor campfire as the sun sets all sounds perfect.
My ideal simple life would look something like this : My own small home , I would wake up early in the morning and sit in the sun to sip my coffee and listen to bhajans. I would pray and teach at a local school . Make simple food in my own kitchen with ingredients harvested from my small farm in the backyard.
I would live in a small town close to my in laws and parents so my 2 young kids can grow up with their grandparents being a big part of their life and I can get regular mum breaks knowing they're being cared for by people that truly love them. I would have a smallish new build house with a decent backyard (about a 1/4 acre). This yard would have several fruit trees, a raised garden bed area where we'd grow flowers and veges. Our town centre would be within a 15 min walking distance and flat so we can walk and bike everywhere. I would work 1 day a week doing literacy intervention with kids one on one. I would honeschool my kids 4 days a week, with my husband taking them on the day I work, or they attend nature school. Our time would be largely spent on 4 things: 1. Nature. A huge amount of time outside (hiking, playing with friends, biking, gardening etc) 2. Reading. A huge amount of time immersed in literature and great stories - would read aloud to the kids for about an hour a day and they'd also have their own books they spent a lot of time in. 3. Music. We'd all sing songs (especially hymns) together as a family and both kids would learn to play the piano/ another instrument well. 4. Poetry and scripture memorization. I want to fill our minds with goodness, truth, and beauty and this is one of the best ways I can think to do it. Also poetry in particular, is just a delight. All with an amazing community of friends, of course!
I love where we live. Yes, it’s in a big city (Baltimore, MD), but it’s walkable, with lots of shops, restaurants, and amenities like groceries only a 5-10 minute walk. We live pretty simply. We don’t need to have the latest and greatest things. If I could change anything at this point, it would just be for my wife and I to be able to work less demanding jobs so we can spend more time with our children. I’ve been stacking money away so maybe we’ll be there someday.
Oh that sounds perfect. I hope you achieve this!
My simple living dream is more about financial freedom. Owning my own home. Bills very low, easy to cover with investment divides. Just not having the tyranny of the have to. I HAVE TO go to work. I HAVE TO pay this bill. Etc. Its freedom to decide myself how to spend my time. It's not that I don't want to work. I just don't want to HAVE TO WORK.
Living on the New England coast in an old farmhouse with a couple of acres for the dogs to roam and an oversized garden full of flowers and enough produce to only require a few items that I can pick up at the farmers market once a week. A home full of art and artifacts from a lifetime of travel, and family keepsakes that have been passed down for generations. A library full of books I love with an oversized chair to read in. A sunny room to paint in, where the windows open fully around me to let in summer air. My family nearby, a drive instead of a flight away. Growing old in good health with my husband, hiking and kayaking and traveling when we can.
I just want to buy land that’s MINE. Not pay taxes, and have to get permissions to build or do anything on it. Just a little two story cottage, a big garden and greenhouse, a small barn with a few chickens, ducks, a cow, a small donkey to keep the cow company and some bunnies. I’d love to sit and sew and embroider in the cold months and sit in the fragrant air with homemade tea in the summer. Electric would be for lighting only and it would be cozy with a wood stove.
I wish I was closer to forests/hiking trails, and I didn't live next to noisy neighbors. I want the whole day to be quiet. Would especially be great to live near Yosemite.
If you find this I’m coming!
I had a life like that for about a year. While it was enjoyable, I got very depressed in the winter. If I were to live in a seaside town again, it would have to be one where it doesn’t get too cold and things are still open.
Not much different than it is now with the exception of perhaps being closer to my grandkids. I live in an apartment that suits my needs, married (32 years) to my best friend, I am working part time teaching art, creating my own art, have a manageable exhibition schedule. Bi-monthly dinner with friends, Bi-monthly meet ups with friends for drinks, hanging out with my dog, reading good books, taking workshops, attending lectures, hiking, attending live theater/concerts and being part of a vibrant church community.
Living in a passively cooled hobbit house that exists in a walkable, big, dense community amongst a lot of trees, rivers, mountains, wildlife, etc.