No matter how enthusiastically we embrace the concept of simplifying our lives, things have a way of getting complicated.

Perfect example: My family sold nearly everything and moved to Mazatlan, Mexico to explore living with less stuff and more fun. And it's been working beautifully. It's amazing how much less there is to worry about when, well, you have less.

Here's my favorite equation:

6 people (4.5 drivers) x 0 cars =

0 car insurance/maintenance/gas/worries

about being on the road

Now, that's some beautiful math.

Still, despite the simplicity of our daily routine, we all find little irritants to magnify.

In fact, we laugh every day about the ridiculous things we find to stress about. It's as though we NEED a bit of agitation--or we're still weaning ourselves from the go-go habit--so we stir it up from the dumbest things. And precisely because we have so few of these little stressors, they are easy to see--and laugh about.

We joke about the fact that the thing my husband is most likely to get stressed about is the possibility that the door-to-door water bottle delivery guy--who comes on Tuesdays and Saturdays--MIGHT come a day late, necessitating a block-long walk to the corner tienda to pick up an extra bottle.

Bottled water is important, as our tap water is not drinkable here in Mexico. In fact, there are days when it comes out brown--which does wonders for a load of white laundry, let me tell you.

Now, it is true that one time the water bottle delivery guy missed a Tuesday delivery. And yes, we ALMOST had to to get water. ALMOST. But not quite. We had enough.

Whew. That was a close one.

Another classic example: when we run out of coffee. If Tom notices that we have no more grounds in the bag in our freezer that morning, he makes a loud mental note that goes something along the lines of: "Dang it! We have to remember to get coffee today."

Several times during the day, he'll say, "Okay, after lunch, maybe we can go out and get coffee" or "Let's pick up some coffee on the way to Spanish class."

The place where we buy coffee is El Faro, a corner-facing storefront at which you walk up and get your espresso or ground coffee at the counter.

It is located approximately 50 yards from our front gate.