Simple Living

[Sunny B]

I definitely agree with the quote.

I have been most disheartened the past couple of days, the budget has been all about borrowing and spending and getting the economy busy again - what I say is just STOP!!! We don't need all this industry producing all this rubbish that we don't need and can't afford, we don't want to be crushing perfectly good 10 year old cars to get £2000 to put to buying a new one so the car industry doesn't collapse - let it collapse, I say, and put all this money that is going to revive it into public transport!
Stop worrying about the cut in working hours, use the time to grow some veg, make do and mend and find what you really feel you must have in the charity shops or car boot sales. And time out to watch chickens dust bathing - who could not smile when you see that?

Rant over...

[misty]

"THEY" wont be happy until there is no greenery left. Then what happens?

[Meanqueen]

I agree Sunny, let all the shops in the High Street close, just stop buying stuff so there is no need to dig up the world just to make more stuff. Use what we already have, again and again, and again, and again.

Ilona

[kew4612]

I think Meanqueen summed it up if you have all of this stuff it clutters up your brain ,and it does, I live in the so called prosperous South East and in my job work and visit quite large Houses of professional people . It always seems pointless that they are running around trying to earn all this money but I feel there is always something missing from their lives its rush to do this, rush to do that and the more they have the more they want. Its a never ending circle.

We used to live in a Town where the main industry was agriculture with Hop fields, Farms and large Estates, that has now all gone now , and what also has gone is the community spirit , nobody had much money when I was growing up but because of the hopping or farm labouring a large number in the town were on speaking terms because they had worked together at some stage or picked the hops together in season.

What I am trying to say is as we have got more wealthier and keep trying to strive for unattainable wealth or goals( not personally) we loose a lot of human basics such as community, mutual support and a common view with others in our every day lives.no one says you should be poor all the time and we are all different but as a society we have lost track of what is important, and in my personal view that is breakdown of Family values.

All I can say is thank the lord for forums such as this where liked minded people can be brought together from different areas and be involved in what is a valuable online community.

Sorry had to get it off my chest , here ends the lesson. Thank you.

[liskeardjane]

Can not agree more - life is so much simpler now I have given up shopping (I haven't succumbed in years give or take the occasional blip in a shop selling anything fair trade or recycled or charity shop) Grow it - make it - swap it - give it away - reuse it , over and over! and believe it or not my life is so much happier!

[silky]

Well I never Welly ,I was surfing just the last couple of days as one does and found this

http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/ec ... n-croatia/

I have not read it yet but are you aware of it, or the people. Did you get inspiration from the site. Am going to read this with great interest.

16 degrees already. Yes Please




Any pictures of your patch to post , would be interested am sure others would be too.

Sorry the link doesn't work for me, any idea why?

[kate egg]

The problem is that if no one buys anything and all the shops / factories etc close then how is anyone going to earn a living? I don't mean the high flyers - I mean the people who currently work in the shops and factories. And if there is no one working in shops and factories they will not need public transport as no one will have a job to go to, so bus and train drivers will be laid off too and it then becomes a downward spiral.

Then if there was a lot less people working there won't be enough tax and national insurance being paid so the NHS would cease to exist and no one would be able to claim benefits because there wouldn't be enough money to pay them....

I am not saying go buying lots of cr*p that you don't need but all money is is tokens to exchange for things you need and without it circulating no one would be able to buy anything and the country would grind to a halt.

We have cut back, I grow my own veg and have the chooks, but we will never be self sufficient and need to have shops to buy the things we need

[Babycakes]

If no-one makes new things for people to buy, where would the second hand goods for charity shops etc. come from?? I'm quite happy to let other people fritter away their money if it makes them happy - it certainly makes me very happy to pick up their "last season" goodies for a fraction of the original cost!!

[p.penn]

I think society needs to re-define 'wealth'. Many people who have, or aspire to material riches are actually much poorer than others in so many ways. As put so well by W. H. Davies: What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?

Wealth to me means good health with enough food and drink to survive, the company of friends and family and the time to enjoy the simple things. It means inner peace. Money just doesn't buy that.

[kew4612]

Try this Silky

http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/sm ... n-croatia/

look for this half way down on the right hand side - ECO-Hamlet in Croatia


It is a very aspiring website to see what is for sale in other parts of Europe and the prices attached, this was one of their articles connected with some Brits trying to form a kind of Co-Op involving other aspiring smallholders but could not afford to do it here in the UK.



Sorry have not got got hold of the 'view here' thingy yet.

[silky]

Thank you, kew4612, it worked fine. I've placed it in my favorites with my Bulgarian site.

[Evie]

Great post Kew.
I have to agree, family values are being ignored and everything seems to focus on money too much.
Everywhere you go people want your money and its very easy to give it away on things you could live without but you have worked hard for it and probably apart from your loved ones.
I have given a lot of thought to this over the years and more recently.
Several years ago I really thought about my life and where it was going and what I honestly wanted. I couldnt believe the answer was so simple.
I am responsible for my own life. I was the only one who could change it, so I did. I wanted to become F.I.
Although we are not as F.I. as some I dont care because I am not playing that stupid game "keeping up with the Jones's ". Its got a lot of people into trouble. I am on the path and having lots of fun living on very little money.

Simple living has helped me to live without meaningless stuff in my life and spend time on doing what is important to me.
For me Simple living isnt about living with little money its much more than
that. I find it hard to put into words exactly but I try to wake up every morning feeling grateful for what I do have in my life, that has nothing to do with money. I have felt lately that even though I have been frugal over the years and hate waste of any kind, I could have done better. Finding this site has given me ideas and inspiration to continue to live more simply.
I used to think there wasnt anybody else out there who thought like me until I found D.T.L. which has helped me to continue on my path.

Evie

[silky]

My friend runs a computer shop. He puts right my computer whenever it goes wrong and I give him eggs and do other small things in exchange. No money changes hands and we are both happy.

[kew4612]

Thanks Evie,

Judging by the posts on this topic there are a others on the path with you, I do have a Bee in my Bonnet over unwarranted excesses.

I think it was the late Benny Hill who summed it up. When asked at an interview that after all his Television work he must be a rich man and can buy whatever he wanted and as much as he wanted, he said why ? I can only wear one set of clothes at a time.

[Bowdon]

"Agrarianism, the viewpoint that a rural or semi-rural lifestyle, most especially agricultural pursuits such as farming or ranching, leads to a fuller, happier, cleaner, and more sustainable way of life for both individuals and society as a whole" -Wikipedia

"The harmony of this life checks the encroachments of a fragmented, alienated modern society which has grown to inhuman scale" -Wikipedia

"Well I wouldn't trade my life for diamonds or jewels
I never was one of them money hungry fools
I'd rather have my fiddle and my farmin' tools
Thank God I'm a country boy

Yeah, city folk drivin' in a black limousine
A lotta sad people thinkin' that's a mighty keen
Son, let me tell ya now exactly what I mean
I thank God I'm a country boy" - John Denver