Simplifying Life - Mark II

ceridwen

Well.....seems there's a lot of people joining the Simple Living bandwagon - errr....maybe not for the usual reasons;) .

An article in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/24/credit-crunch-recession-economy

So - I can only applaud the fact that less money is being spent on material goods. I do have reservations though about the people mentioned who have:
- sacked their part-time cleaner and gardener
- swopped from a nanny to a (lower-paid) au pair

as, in those cases, people have cut back their spending at the expense of other peoples livelihoods. I've never been in a position to employ anyone myself - nor am I likely to be ever - but I do sympathise with those people who got sacked as a result of costcutting.

Obviously - this isnt an easy one - as less spending on material goods could mean someone else losing a job somewhere along the line - but I would hope there would be counterbalances somewheres along the line that would deal with that and obviously the Planet benefits from less resources being used to make those material goods. But - people employed to do services doesn't come under any Planet-saving or simpler living capacity....hmmmm....


(PS; Mary - have put a reply to your MIL's problem on your "compensation about accident" thread. HTH).

Justamum

ceridwen wrote: »

So - I can only applaud the fact that less money is being spent on material goods. I do have reservations though about the people mentioned who have:
- sacked their part-time cleaner and gardener
- swopped from a nanny to a (lower-paid) au pair

But you have to smile (in an ironic sort of way) that they are 'struggling' so much that they can no longer afford their cleaners, gardeners and nannies! It's a bit like someone a few years ago (the Aga Khan I think it was) who was struggling so much that he had to change the solid gold fittings on his yacht (a big one) to solid silver. Oh the heart bleeds!

mary43

And here's me who would give my right arm (well almost!) for a cleaner/gardner/.............well cleaner anyway. OH does his best but he just does the bare essentials really -but I button my lip and say nothing , not wanting to put him off giving a hand..............lol

I do think a lot of people are starting to think less materialistically than maybe they would have prior to this 'credit crunch' or whatever its called.
We've never been that way inclined - always been a sort of 'make do and mend' household so hopefully we won't have to make too many cutbacks.
I've cut down drastically on Christmas, everything is a charity shop purchase or something I've attempted to create myself. I'm hoping the thought and love with which is given will more than make up for the £ s d label so many people expect.

Get Christmas over and I'll be de-cluttering my little room again.
OH is already eyeing things up in other parts of the house that have no further use (i.e. defunk ewbank -was mums and no sense keeping it just for that reason is there). With any luck he'll also get rid of the three defunk portable teles, old hoover (did try freecycle you never know, some people can fix these things, but had no takers).

ceridwen

I have been thinking along the lines recently of trying to be more aware of the turning of the day/the turning of the seasons - and, sitting out in the woods, cooking up holly tea today (errrr.....well....I think I might just give it a miss on trying that again personally - but for anyone interested:

- Take one pair of protective gloves (hands for the wearing on!!)
- pick your holly leaves
- brown them slightly in a saucepan
- grind them up fairly finely in a pestle and mortar
- pour freshly-boiled water over them and leave to infuse for 10 minutes).

Anyways....it reminded me we've nearly come to the end of October - so some links:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/news_and_events/events_halloween.shtml

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/occasions/halloween/

http://www.chalicecentre.net/samhain.htm

Justamum

ceridwen wrote: »

I have been thinking along the lines recently of trying to be more aware of the turning of the day/the turning of the seasons - and, sitting out in the woods, cooking up holly tea today (errrr.....well....I think I might just give it a miss on trying that again personally - but for anyone interested:

- Take one pair of protective gloves (hands for the wearing on!!)
- pick your holly leaves
- brown them slightly in a saucepan
- grind them up fairly finely in a pestle and mortar
- pour freshly-boiled water over them and leave to infuse for 10 minutes).

Thanks anyway - but no thanks! :rotfl:

mary43

ceridwen - the idea of sitting in the woods today let alone drinking holly tea wouldn't have been top of my list I'm afraid. It's been bitterly cold...........too cold for alfresco dinining....................lol
I've stayed indoors keeping warm and doing 'christmas' things...........helps give a bit of cheer to the soul (especially when I think of how little its all costing me!)
Means I'm surrounded by clutter but purely temporary I promise. All that de-cluttering I did earlier this year made me feel so much better - once the festive lark is out of the way my little den will be back to a space of sanity.:A

Thanks for the links..............I'll have a look and proper read when I get the chance. I never really take a lot of notice of Halloween - its just the changing of the clocks that seems to signify the end of what was laughingly called our Summer ! -well we did have some good days I have to admit but nothing like we've had a few years back. Oh well, maybe next year ?
Meantime, it's time to get out the blanket for my knees when I'm watching the tele..............curtains pulled, warm and cosy...........not a bad thought.

ceridwen

Very quick "practical" type thought for the day - re saving money by mending goods, rather than replacing them:

www.howtomendit.com

Y'all have a nice day now.....errr....well 'tis an American site.:D

[Deleted User]

mardatha wrote: »

I couldnt stand city life, I would go mad fast. We are very quiet here but can hear traffic on the A7 very faintly. My son had a rented cottage a few years ago, a gamekeepers cottage, and the silence was so loud you felt your eardrums ready to burst. That was too quiet!
We have no light pollution either, tons and tons of stars, fabulous.
On our break a few weeks ago we sat one night on a concrete jetty up in the north west of Scotland, watchig the sun go down behind the mountains on Mull. The water was inky black on both sides and smooth as silk, the only lights were the buoys out on the water twinkling, and very faint sounds of a boat coming home. It was the most magic time I've had in ages.
People who live in cities are deprived of life & its so sad.

Many years ago my late husband and I lived on Mersea Island off the coast of Essex about 9 miles from Colchester. It was fabulous as my husband loved 'star-gazing' In those days, 1966 we would lie out in the garden on summer nights on loungers and just watch the sky and it was wonderful to see all those starts and to hear nothing but the sea which was one field away from us. My husband wrote to Partick Moore as asked him about what part of the sky we were watching, and he was a lovely man and replied sending us a large map of the area and pointing out some of the things to look out for. We spent almost 18 months living in that idylic part of the world. I daresay its changed now but it was a lovely memory that I have never forgotten. One day I will go back to Mersea to see if its changed much. I hope it hasn't
I now live in kent and I'm quite lucky that it is fairly quiet where I live I hate it if I have to drive into London now as its so noisy, and sadly very dirty and litter strewn

2cats1kid

Hi all, not been here for a while - hope everyone is ok.

I've been on other boards more recently, as OS was proving too damaging to my waistline! All that HM bread and strawberry jam had put lbs on me. Also been caught up in the Icesave thing, so been hanging out on the Savings board to keep up with what's going on. I was trying to be philosophical, having lost loads on my flat in the last recession (-ve equity and then having to sell because of a job move) and figured that if I'd survived that I could survive this, but I admit to relief that my hard-won savings will come home in due course. Not rich - just an ordinary Joe with money earmarked for my retirement.

I've also been recruiting staff - I am a small business owner, who in the last couple of years has started to get my business into profit after a LOT of years of paying my staff a lot more than I was making! So the current climate concerns me a lot. I have been prudent and stashed what I can in a business savings account, so I have something to draw on if things get really bad. Hoping I can ride it out with all my staff intact, although one or two of them may lose the odd hour or two here and there. Anyway, I've been working hard on building up what business we have at the moment, making sure all possible work is taken on and billed for, so we have a bit of a "hump" to live off.

And my kitchen garden is taking shape, with the front garden being transformed into a fruit garden. I hope the rain will ease off later so I can get out and get some more work done on it.

My HM wine is rather yummy - a glass of that of an evening does me beautifully at about 50p a bottle rather than a fiver. Mostly foraged fruit - blackberries etc. and I found a wild grape which is making what promises to be a really lovely wine. And I have sloe gin on the go for Christmas.

So despite everything I am OS deep down, although I'm laying off the bread and jam for a bit LOL.

Will be back for a chat again soon.

mary43

2cats - god to see you again...................hope everything runs ok for you with your business - worrying times, particularly for small businesses. I worry for my sons job - him and his girlfriend with baby - not easy at the best of times but they're pretty sensible with money so hopefully they''ll get through it and he'll keep his job.

Afraid out veg in pots section looks a bit bare now we've either eaten or frozen what we grew (apart from our miniscule carrots.............lol -well, live and learn !) Still, we've got several pots of violas blooming away to give a bit of cheer on grim grey days like today.

I'm plodding on with 'Christmas'.............nearly done -whatever will I do then I wonder ?