What inspires and motivates you? Or not?

downshifter

Having just seen Frugal Millionaire's post about inertia,and is it all worth it - which I can so identify with, I just wondered what sources of inspiration and energy other people find to keep going when sometimes you feel like putting the heating on because tomorrow never comes, or buying veg in the supermarket because it's raining and you'll get wet digging the spuds, or that ready meal that's in the freezer that you once thought you'd rather die than eat, suddenly looks most yummy! Most of the time I feel energetic and motivated, but there are times when I need all the help I can get to be bothered.

In my case the writings of John Seymour set me going on this lifestyle, and I thought his biography would also inspire me, but it didn't at all, he didn't come over as an inspiration, just pretty boring really, a bit of a womaniser and not very likeable in fact. I've just read a book called Some branch against the sky, about building a garden in a difficult environment, as mine is, which was inspiring. I've also got some old household management books, including one called 'How we managed without servants' which are great. I used to find Sarah Beeney's programmes on telly would get me going with the DIY, and the other tv show is Houses behaving badly, which unfortunately I can't now get having cancelled Sky. That used to get me out of my chair to vinegar the mirrors or whatever. I hate that other housecleaning programme with those 2 who seem to delight in patronising and putting down the poor victims.

At the moment a veg stew from veg picked 10 mins ago is simmering on the stove and the logs are buring brightly, it's getting dark and there's horizontal rain, all seems idyllic, till I remember that most of the protein in the stew is from the caterpillars that are living in thick layers on everything brassica-related, that my washing on the line is now yet again soaking, and that I've got to walk up and lock the chickens away in a bit, and that all that lemon curd I made (and subsequently ate!), because of a glut of eggs, came from chickens who have now all gone broody so now I've run out of eggs!!! Oh no, and my shoes are outside in the rain. I've tried being grateful for the pots of jam and pickles etc, but end up feeling smug, a trait I hate in myself and others. Horrible.

Come on people, what inspires and energises you to keep going ? Any good books, tv programmes etc? Please.

DS

Wee_Pilsbury

Downshifter, I think anybody can get a bit tired and fed up, even the most enthusiastic Old Stylers. I'm only a fresh out of the box newbie, full of enthusiasm and enjoying it all at the moment. The thing that's delighting me most is keeping my heating off and just throwing on a jumper! It's just so sensible a thing to do yet I haven't done it for years - I usually wander (wandered, as I'm an OS convert now ) around in a t-shirt with the heating on if I feel the slightest wee bit cool! That's one of the things that I think will keep me going, that fact that most of the things people do on this forum are just sensible and things that in days gone by, people would have done as a matter of course. Obviously it will save money as well and great as that is, it's not my main motivation. My old granny always said there are no pockets in a shroud and how right she was. I try to live for today but with an eye on tomorrow.

A book that always inspires me is called Shoes Were For Sunday by the late Molly Weir. It's part of her trilogy of Scottish Childhood and it never fails to make me grateful for what I had when I was a child and what I have now. Most people of that era had to really work hard just to put food on the table and certainly lived (because they had to) what we would call old style. Molly's granny seems to have been a formidable woman and as I type this I can imagine her reaction to the very possibility that somebody feeling the cold wouldn't just put some clothes on! Makes me blush just thinking about the pre old style me :eek:

downshifter

Wee_Pilsbury wrote: »

A book that always inspires me is called Shoes Were For Sunday by the late Molly Weir. It's part of her trilogy of Scottish Childhood and it never fails to make me grateful for what I had when I was a child and what I have now. Most people of that era had to really work hard just to put food on the table and certainly lived (because they had to) what we would call old style. Molly's granny seems to have been a formidable woman and as I type this I can imagine her reaction to the very possibility that somebody feeling the cold wouldn't just put some clothes on!

Thank you, that sounds my kind of book, I'll look out for it. I suppose the difference then to now is that now we have more choices. However moneysaving, green or poor we are, it is still possible to flick a switch to get heat and light, and there are supermarkets for shopping. That to me makes it harder, sometimes the temptation to flick that switch is almost overwhelming. Anyway, need to put another paper log on the fire now!

Trinny

Hi there

What inspires me the most is the thought that i am stopping the big corporations from screwing me over and taking my money. I am starting from scratch in mid life - just cleared debts but learning now to stop the debts from starting again. Not well off enough to be a MFW but thats my dream some day soon.

Both me and OH also have pretty fragile jobs so we are MSE in order to put away a fund for emergencies just in case one of us looses our job someday soon.

My other motivation is that i believe in respecting the planet - so the grow your own, recycle and reuse, freecycle, using up leftovers, buying ethically and supporting local businesses is all part of my life philosophy.

MSE is just more of the same - reducing waste, saving for a rainy day, making sure that we are secure. its also enormous fun - i get a kick out of slowly cutting back on our shopping budget, making chicken streech for a few meals more, getting free compost from making our own, saving water so we dont use the hose to water the garden. i could go on

I think MSE is responsible, ethical and the right way to live on a planet with finite resources, in an environment where our government is up to its neck in debt.

Yes sometimes it is a challenge - but its all about the frame of mind you have - either you can see it as denying yourself or see it as a better way to live - ie your choice.

Best Wishes

Trin

ceridwen

What inspires me?

Hmmm.....

1. I would say concern for the environment - but I frequently get fed-up with just how few people actually give a darn....so it gives me intermittent inspiration - ie it inspires me one moment and then I spot yet another "couldnt-care-lesser" the next and I'm back into depths of "if they dont give a **** why should I bother on their behalf?" the next. So - some limited element of motivation there. I DO have to "touch base" with likeminded people at regular intervals to keep this motivation up...

2. Wanting to be as free as possible of the need for an employer. I dislike my job/havent got time to do it anyway - but needs must. Thats the way things have always been to one extent or another ...and I am totally 101% determined that I am going to retire on the dot of my own personal retirement age - no matter what. Even before that time - I dont want any of my own personal decisions to be influenced by financial considerations. If I believe something is wrong strongly enough - then I dont intend to do it - no matter what and I dont want anyone (Government or employer or whoever) to ever be able to affect any financial decisions I make by putting pressure of any description on my finances. I intend to live as near as I can manage to the way I have personally decided to - without financial considerations making me "sit on my conscience" any more than I can possibly help. I wont let anyone ever put me in a position where I have to go "against the grain" morally-speaking because of a need for money - hence I prefer to do whatever I can to keep my financial needs as low as possible - to minimise the risk of that ever "coming up on the horizon".

So - I guess, in my case, it boils down to "I wont sell my soul for a mess of pottage" - hence I'd rather eat vegetable soup than caviar - if thats what it takes...

...but then I always was a strongminded cussed *** (expletive deleted):D:rotfl::rotfl:





(EDIT: Just spotted Trinny's post above - a like mind there methinks....quick wave to you Trinny...)

Patchwork_Quilt

I think what inspires me is my Mum's memories of my Grandma, who was not only a squirrel (she had ten wool coats when she died) but also a woman who could virtually make something out of nothing. My Mum, as I've said before, was brought up on a terraced street in the back of beyond where some children were so poor that they didn't have underwear. I don't think the tales have grown with the telling, either. I do remember my Grandma as being very handy with the needle, a good cook, and having an extremely clean house. They never had a garden as such. It was always turned over to vegetables. It's amazing to think where we've all come from since my Mum's childhood in WWII and rather wasteful, personally and for the planet, if I don't make use of some of that legacy of creative frugality.

Or something. Got a bit poetic there. Sorry

valk_scot

I do it so that I can stay at home and look after the kids while Hubby goes out to work. He earns enough to keep us but not enough for us to be wasteful. A lot of our friends are two-income families (we're all in the same socio-economic class so comparing like with like here) with the same number of kids so you'd think they'd have a lot more spare cash? Not a bit of it...the waste and unnecessary spending is incredible, in some cases. Why go out to work to have the same standard of living when you can achieve it by a bit of thriftiness?

This is of course nothing to do with both partners working because they both want to. I'm just talking about financial necessity here. It suits all our family to have me here at home full time, I like it, it takes all the pressure of having to juggle work and childcare off us and I do think it's good for the kids. But if I wasn't thrifty, we couldn't afford to do it.

Zazen999

I got in a relationship quite late on, and we got a mortgage 2 1/2 years ago; so are trying to be mortgage free asap....so that we can put all our earnings into a fund for old age...and middle age lol.

So, although we aren't by any means skint at the moment, whatever happens I want to pay that mortgage off and every penny in my bank account and not in some faceless corporation's is a penny nearer being mortgage free.

Every courgette counts.

flutterbyuk25

what inspires me.....?

At the moment it the fact that I've moved into my first place living totally on my own. So there is no-one else to blame for leaving lights on/heating on/wasting food etc! There is just me to look out for so I can live as OS and MSE friendly as I want to.

I'm learning to cook for one (though I do batch cook on weekends too, but have small freezer). I'm learning how to use up leftovers and sad looking veg.

I've bought me a cheap £10 fleecy throw from Primark (it's giant - king size one!) and am snuggling under that when chilly rather than use my electric heating. It is on the sofa in the evenings then on my bed at night if needed.

Unlike some of the other poster to this thread, I adore my job but it is tiring sometimes (I'm a youth worker, doing a lot of outdoor activities) and I love coming home knowing I have some healthy homemade food in the freezer that will just take a few minutes to heat up.

I have followed many of Martin's and forum user's tips to set up my home as cheaply as possible, and have had many items donated to me by family members etc.

I am trying to live as frugally as possible in some areas of my life (petrol, food, utilities) so that I can enjoy other things like travel and spending time with friends

x

helyg

I don't know whther I really need inspiring as I think I've always been OS at heart, my mum is the same and so it is how I was brought up. Sometimes I might feel a little jaded, and I think it is important to keep a sense of perspective on things and realise that one frozen pizza eaten because you had a really busy day having fun with the kids won't undo all your years of hard work!

Probably though my main motivators are:

- Not having to work FT, which I did until my second child was born. I now work part time, in a badly paid but very rewarding job, and can see my kids grow up.

- Knowing what my family is eating. If I have cooked it then I know what is in it.

- Teaching my kids stuff. I want them to know that carrots grow in the ground not in supermarket plastic bags, that sausages come from pigs, how to knit a jumper, how to make jam etc etc. If we don't teach our kids these things than the knowledge will be lost forever.

Anyway, will stop swaying with my lighter and singing "the children are our future" now...