There was a column in a periodical I subscribed to years ago (no longer in print) that was called What is in Your Hand? Instead of planning for future projects which necessitated more purchases it gave innovative ideas for what might already lay beneath your nose. It helped me to look around before looking at the store. It also helped me to see the abundance that was already mine.
"I think the real trick to finding that sense of satisfaction is to realize you don’t need much to attain it. A window-box salad garden and a mandolin hanging on the back of the door can be all the freedom you need. If it isn’t everything you want for the future, let it be enough for tonight. Living the way you want has nothing to do with how much land you have or how much you can afford to spend on a new house. It has to do with the way you choose to live every day and how content you are with what you have.
If a few things on your plate every season came from the work of your own hands, you are creating food for your body, and that is enough. If your landlord can be sweet-talked into some small backyard projects, go for it with gusto. If you rode your bike to work, trained your dog to pack, or just baked a loaf of bread, let it be enough. Accepting where you are today — and working toward what’s ahead — is the best you can do. Maybe your gardens and coops will outgrow mine, and before you know it you’ll be trading in your Audi for a pickup. But the starting point is to take control of what you can and smile with how things are. Find your own happiness and dance with it." – Jenna Woganich, Made From Scratch excerpted here
baking that loaf with the little ones…
Starry Sky Journal 
This is a great post, thank you. My word for the year is contentment and this spoke to it well! And I haven’t had a chance to say that I’m so glad you’re back writing!
Beautiful 🙂
Yippee! My library has a copy!
Thank you for the recommendation and for the encouragement to do what we can, where we are.
Thank you, thank you. I have missed this! Wonderful post.
Yay, I finally, I got this page to load! Now to see if I can make this comment go through (I keep getting error messages). I want to say that I love this post– the whole spirit and text of it. I will definitely, one way or another, get my hands on that book. Your words, too, are so good and so on the mark, Kim. Thank you.