Table of Contents
Introduction, Brooke Burke-Charvet 1
1 The Freedom of Less
1 Unit 91, Phyllis McKinley 9
2 The Pick-Me-Up that Doesn't Work, Katie Bangert 13
3 Going Places with Less, Susan Leitzsch 17
4 The Liberation of Liquidation, John P. Buentello 21
5 You Must Be Mistaken, Veronica Bowman 24
6 Farewell to My Diaries, Louisa Rogers 27
7 In Love with My Life, Jill Burns 29
8 The Dream Home, Suzannah Kiper 32
9 The Decades Long Dream, Julia M. Toto 35
10 Going Naked, Sally Friedman 39
2 The Joy of No
11 Eating Lentils, Katie Drew 45
12 Mommy Your Head Is Wrong! Diane Stark 49
13 From Super to Serene, D.S.A 52
14 Silencing the "Should" Monster, Sydney Logan 55
15 The Challenge, Denise Barnes 58
16 Practice Makes Perfect, Mary C. M. Phillips 62
17 Too Much of a Good Thing, Liz Rolland 65
18 There's a Limit, Monica A. Andermann 68
19 An Idyll of Idleness, Sally Friedman 71
20 Saying No with Passion, Jill Haymaker 74
3 All You Need Is Less
21 Living the Dream, Marybeth Mitcham 81
22 The Undecided Pile, Sheila Sowder 84
23 Good Riddance, X. Jensen Lacey 88
24 Giving New the Boot, Robyn Gerland 91
25 Increasing My Income by Getting Rid of My Junk, Dee Dee McNeil 94
26 Hung Up, Ruth Lehrer 98
27 Coffee Corner, Jennie Ivey 102
28 One Bag Rule, Kelti Goudie 105
29 The Small Simplicity Challenge that Changed My Life, Dallas Woodburn 108
30 Christmas Without Electricity, Christopher F. Cantrell 111
4 Joyfully Unplugged
31 Friends Less, Melissa Wootan 117
32 Goodbye TY Cindy O'Leary 121
33 The Freedom of Shabbat, Bracha Goetz 123
34 Why I Gave My Smartphone a Lobotomy, Nicole LVMullis 126
35 Trading Bandwidth for Bonding, Mary Anglin-Coulter 129
36 Keeping the Lens Cap On, Selena Singh 132
37 Itching for a Change, Priscilla Dann-Courtney 136
38 Why I (Mostly) Quit Facebook, Kate Lemery 139
39 Cutting the Cord, Danica Favorite 143
40 The Power of Play, Barbara LoMonaco 146
5 The Joy of Sharing
41 Pass on the Party, Miriam Van Scott 153
42 Birth of the Rototiller Club, Mary Grant Dempsey 157
43 The Rain Jacket, Leah Shearer Noonan 159
44 The Joy of Freecycling, W Bradford Swift 162
45 Nun the Worse for Wear, Nancy Emmick Panko 165
46 Getting It Gone, Geri Moran 168
47 Little Free Libraries, Tanya Janke 171
48 Real-Time Inheritance, Miriam Hill 175
49 The Ugly Socks, Natalie June Reilly 177
50 An Empty Garage, Mary Grant Dempsey 180
6 Less Is So Much More
51 The Summer of Their Discontent, Debby Johnson 185
52 Priorities, April Serock 188
53 The Joy of Simpler Gift-Giving, Maril Crabtree 191
54 Downsizing to Our "Yacht" Gene R. Smillie 194
55 When Less Truly Is More, K.D. King 197
56 Warming Up to Less, Bruce Black 200
57 The Family Farm, Maggie Hofstaedter 203
58 A Second Chance at Love, Gwen Daye 207
59 Helping More Animals by Having Less,
7 Susan Kimmel Wright 209
60 De-cluttering a Brain, Julie Sanderson 213
8 Joy on the Road
61 Life in a Rolling Cardboard Box, Jema Anderson 221
62 Mental Seine, Shehfina Mamdani 224
63 Finding Mount Fuji, Stacy Thibodeaux 227
64 Trading Houses, Marjorie Woodall 231
65 Trusting Serendipity, Jerri Kafyeke 234
66 Birthday Blast, David Hull 238
67 Letting Go and Moving On, Kimberly Ross 242
68 Fire Drills, Connie K. Pombo 245
69 A Heart Full of Memories, Kaitlin Murray 248
70 Release the Stuff, Unleash the Magic, Aimee DuFresne 251
8 Count Your Blessings
71 Someone Else's Blessing, Jeanie Jacobson 259
72 The Best Choice, Brianna Bell 263
73 River Flows in You, Vidya 266
74 The Last Meal of the Month, Jill Burns 269
75 Slightly Bent Flugelhorn, Best Offer, Mark Rickerby 272
76 Happiness Is Raising a Roof, Heidi McLaughlin 275
77 It's Still Too Much, Kris Reece 279
78 The Most Valuable Lessons, Celia Jarvis 282
79 Setting the Place, Barbara Davey 285
80 This Little Piggy Came Home, Carol Emmons Hartsoe 289
9 The Joy of Starting Over
81 From Tragedy to Triumph, Kamia Taylor 295
82 Small Blessings, Elizabeth A. Atwater 299
83 Half Is More, Brenda Cathcart-Kloke 302
84 The Real Treasures, Patricia Lorenz 305
85 I Have Enough, Ava Pennington 310
86 Recharged Without the Cards, Marsha Porter 313
87 Finding My Sparkle, Susan Yanguas 317
88 What a Young Life Can Teach You, Heather Gillis 320
89 My Kitchen in a Trunk, Joan Wasson 323
90 Embracing Black, Jennie Ivey 326
91 My Father's Watch, Paula Sherwin 329
10 Lessons in Less
92 The One Thing We Didn't Have to Unpack, Amelia Hollingsworth 335
93 The Rule of Twenty Pat Wahler 339
94 The Yard Sale Party, Joan Wasson 342
95 Clearing Out the Clutter, Cynthia McGonagle McGarity 344
96 How a Clean Closet Changed My Life, Joy Choquette 347
97 The Lesson of the Mandala, Monica A. Andermann 351
98 Waste Not, Want Not, Marya Morin 354
99 What a Birthday Should Look Like, Rebecca Smith Masterson 358
100 Fifty-Two Weeks, Amy Newmark 360
101 Controlled Chaos, Brooke Burke-Charvet 363
Meet Our Contributors 367
Meet Amy Newmark 383
Meet Brooke Burke-Charvet 385
Thank You 387
About Chicken Soup for the Soul 388
