Your kind of living is truly one great example of effective and efficient downsizing. Many may find a 70 square feet home very small but those people would surely be surprised with the kind of simple living you currently have. You are utterly inspiring. Andrew Kozlowski: downsizing your home

Hi, I just read this series of posts.  They are great!You mentioned you also carry "full food for four to five days hiking and 1/2 gallon / two liters of water."  Did you cover that part already?  I've been wondering how/what about food.

I have something to say on this topic, having been into hell and back in an emotionally/mentally abusive relationship.  I hope what I say may help someone who is in an abusive relationship.  Bear in mind that my case involved no physical abuse, only emotional and mental stuff, (with someone with serious untreated mental illness who wouldn't recognize their illness and get treatment).  So some things I say may not apply to cases involving physical abuse.No matter how helpful and liberating it may feel for the abused to accept
responsibility for being in an abusive relationship, (ie. for getting into it in the first place, not getting out, or for possibly triggering abuse at times, etc. etc.), accepting blame still doesn't get you out of one, nor does it absolve the ABUSER of the responsibility for THEIR
actions.  Accept the blame for your part, yes, but don't stop there.  It is much more
productive to: focus on learning how to recognize the signs of abusive relationships, figure out a plan of action to get yourself out, and learn what healthy relationships are, than it is to get hung up on what could turn out (for some people) 
to be a pointless
and drawn out self flagellation session.  Acceptance is great, but protracting the blame game into a serious guilt complex gets you nowhere. Case in point, I had accepted the blame (mentally) for years for my part in being in one of these, but that didn't get me out until I decided I didn't deserve it and that I could figure a way out.  It took years of careful planning, and an unusual living arrangement (me not divorcing but moving out and the abusive one visiting kids and I on weekends which allowed me to be more in control of things).  You see, most hard-core abusers (physical and/or emotional ones) are difficult to get away from, and often the worst damage happens AFTER the abused person leaves (in the case of physical abuse, this sometimes means serious injury or even death).  So you have to plan carefully and have some kind of sound support system in place and you have to find your own answers, not just do what other people tell you.  The most important thing is to get away from serious abuse of any kind, and to get into a situation that will be more safe, not less, irregardless of what the relationship status is on paper..One thing is clear to me though, and that is that serious hard-core abusers can't be fixed by their partners, they have to want to change.  People shouldn't waste their time, energy and life on folks who don't see the need - or have any motivation, to change. This means moving forward, not backwards, might mean giving up on someone.  It's a fact of life.Getting everyone in the family to a safe place, can call for creative solutions and sometimes even compromises (such as waiting for full freedom/divorce til later).  I say this because unless someone has been in one of these (I am talking about emotional/mental abuse only), it is hard to understand how trapped you feel and how difficult these kinds of abusers can be to get free from without more damage, especially if minor children are involved.  The temptation is for people outside your situation to give simple one size fits all solutions, without knowing all the circumstances. In some cases, if you attempt to achieve permanent solution right away (such as divorce) these very clever and calculating abusers often resort to hurting those around you, particularly children, by the most sinister and insidious means they can (especially if mental illness is involved).  This makes getting everyone to a "safe place" that much harder.  All the abusive people I have known were diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and these folks are very paranoid about abandonment issues.  It is best to plan carefully and calmly in cases of any kind of abuse.  You want to have your ducks in a row so that things don't get worse.  If kids are involved, things are more complicated than just "getting your freedom and life back".  One complication with the non physically but still abusive spouse/partner is that they can often easily obtain visitation rights with the children, and they end up with years of unsupervised, potentially harmful weekends alone with the kids.  There are alternatives that may work, such as holding off on the permanent solutions so that you can call the shots.  You could insist on supervised visits.  For me, as I said, it was leaving the spouse and establishing a separate home elsewhere (but not divorcing) and having the spouse visit us on the weekends. I had the most control in that scenario than in any other since because I didn't go to court, where court ordered visitation surely would have been a result, and since he didn't go either, I remained in the drivers seat about where and when he would see the kids. This may not work for most people, but if anyone out there is in this kind of situation, dare to be creative and think outside the box.  Sometimes it is best to let sleeping dogs lie for a time.  The goal is to find a safe way out that does the least amount of damage to all involved, even if that takes some time and unusual living arrangements to achieve complete freedom.  My last piece of advice is to not be in a rush to start something else.  I have known several people (mostly women) who were so anxious to rush all the way to the "permanent solution" (in these cases, divorce) so that they could be free to start something with someone else, that they made hasty decisions and usually ended up in other bad relationships, sometimes going from the frying pan to the fire.  Not good.  Take as much time to plan as you can safely afford, be calm, have a support system behind you, and put sound solutions into action.  And above all, don't rush into anything else til you have figured out what went wrong, and how to have healthy relationships.  And "healthy relationships" doesn't have to mean "romantic" relationships either, good friends from both genders can fill in much of the gap and help you heal.For a helpful page on warning signs of abusive relationships, go here:http://www.recovery-man.com/abusive/abusive_signs.htmFor an interesting page on the differences between abusive and healthy relationships, go here:http://www.recovery-man.com/abusive/healthy_abusive.htm

No, this was never intended to imply that we can prevent bad things from happening.  Sometimes for no reason other than being born in the wrong place, people are presented with nothing but bad choices.  Of course, even when all choices are bad ones, some are still worse than others.  The main point is to recognize our role in what happens in our lives and learn from it so we can make better choices and/or be better prepared for the next thing life throws at us.  Too many people reject any responsibility for the consequences of their choices, learn nothing, make no behavioral changes, and then are surprised the next time something similar happens. 

After working several years at jobs I hated but stayed because the money was good, I finally and happily got laid off due to the economic downturn. It has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me. It forced me to put the brakes on and STOP! From a very young age we are brainwashed into thinking that  we measure our success and self worth by the things we can acquire (especially Americans). I was lacking spiritual success in a big way. I have now divorced my husband, sold my big house, studying Buddhism, and I am still jobless. This journey is showing me that I do not need the extra baggage to live happily. It is simplicity at its best. The most important thing to me now is more time to enjoy nature, animals and my family. You can't put a price on that! It is separating the NEED for things and the WANT for them and doing it without destroying the environment that we are all connected to. I am glad we are kindred spirits in our thinking!

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/The shoes are like gloves, they are supposed to be like not wearing shoes at all. I found An
Uncomfortable Life | Life Statement on Stumbleupon and submitted it to Digg as well. Keep on living well.

I wonder why there seems to be no wrist watch monitors which measure calories used throughout the day - not just during exercise.Shannon mentions she thought this was essential, as it is not possible to calculate it 'on paper',  but she had to use a chest strap to do it. Whenever I ask if one is available people look at me as if I am mad!Is there some technical reason which makes this difficult?I've read all your on-line articles and I think they are the best I have ever read.Sincerely,                 Peter

I found alot of space saving toilets at better bathrooms.com

An interesting article about shoes.  Here is a website for helping more people get a pair of shoes.  soles4souls.org.  They coordinated relief efforts providing shoes for the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina & Rita with many shoes donated by the shoe industry as well as new and gently worn shoes donated by individuals.  Billie

I recall reading somewhere that Native Americans typically lived with little or no clothing year-round, and that they blamed the loss of their natural good health and vitality on being forced (or otherwise influenced) to wear the white man's clothing. I was raised in Texas and used to "freeze" at 68 degrees. Now I live in the Pacific NW and I can hardly ever even find an occasion to wear a wool sweater. For me, 68 is now a nice, warm day, and like you, I find myself wearing shorts in 40-something-degree weather. I have a feeling we'd all be healthier if we tried, as you suggest, living WITH natural temperature swings instead of always fighting against them.

Your views are both right and correct, however, getting to the point of having that choice in a petroleum-based, work oneself to death society is quite an accomplishment.My wife is physically disabled so I am currently enslaved to the system in order to pay for her care.I have been fortunate and hard working and now have the choice of lifestyle, but we need to keep an understanding that the society built upon owing our souls to the company store does not let go easily without one making a massive leap of consciousness similar to the yogis of India who spend the retired years begging. 

Just wanted to tell you I think the article titled "Success is not an Option"  is excellent.   It helped galvanize my resolve to make the health changes written about in this article. I'm very deliberate and determined about goals/things I decide to do, but needed a good pep talk to get going on making the health changes, as do many of us.  As a result of getting and following the book (Burn The Fat Build Muscle), I have received a constant unexpected boost of energy from following the author's suggestions. (esp. eating every three hours and doing consistent cardio and weight training exercises). After three weeks of doing most of this, my slightly elevated blood pressure has dropped to normal and the mild chronic headaches that went along with it are gone, probably due to all the walking.  My four weekly work days are 14 hours long (due to long work hours and lots of traveling), so previous to this change my three days "off" were half wasted trying to recover energy and sleep. If someone had told me that I would now feel this peppy all the time, despite my schedule, by raising my metabolism rate through proper diet and exercise, I would have been skeptical.So thanks for doing the blog. I think that if people will take your health suggestions seriously (and try the book no matter where they get it from), they will be pleased with the energy gain, which is probably the real hidden treasure of the starve fat feed muscle method.   Maybe you will never know how many good changes your blog will trigger in people's lives, but hopefully they will write and tell you.  Perhaps only a fraction of the people will.  I really do appreciate the blog, and this information came to me just at the right time.Anon