Kevin Little on the Immaterial world: Living the simple life, Part 3 of 4

While I disapprove of waste, no matter who is doing it, we all have our cravings and I am reluctant to judge anyone's taste.

That means I will shout at cars driving down the road throwing their garbage out the window, but I would never say a word to someone who liked monster truck races or health spas.

However, for some reason, my sense of frugality is alarming to some, and downright dangerous to others.

I remember walking the approximately seven kilometres from my home to the church I serve, and being picked up by a perky woman on her way to Nubodys.

As she invited me into her SUV, she asked "Don't I see you walking this road every day?" After I explained the route I take, she became rather affronted. "Do you realize the time you are wasting?" she asked. I explained that I used the 70 minutes to practise my sermons. She wasn't buying it. As she dropped me off at her gym I asked her how much it cost to belong to her club. I also asked how long she worked out each day and how long it took to get there and back.

When we were adopting our daughter, we had to declare our income and savings. Because it was an international adoption, there was an expectation, especially considering our income, that we would be borrowing money from the bank. The fact we had the cash up front disturbed some people. We must be misers.

My wife lives a simple lifestyle too, but more of necessity. We are a one-income family there days. She is a stronger environmentalist than I, constantly getting after me to put my waste in the recycling box, not the garbage. She composts, washes every glass bottle, changes all our old lightbulbs.

Where the rubber hit the road for her was the vehicle. With Lucy on board, it was very important to have an ultra-safe car, thus the Subaru Imprezza. All-wheel drive is not easy on gas!

We agree on many things. Both of us try to...(whole thing here)