A Simpler Life 2018

villagelife

After DS1 moved out and we redecorated his room we needed a new bed in the room. The bed in there was old. We decided that it would be best to have a single far-reaching for space but with additional bed underneath so it can be used as a double bed or two singles. This has been well worth the extra cost. The room is partly used as a study and generally the single bed is used but it means it's easy if DS1 and girlfriend come to stay. Though it has meant DS2 friends are more likely to come back to sleep after a night out.
It was the solution to a simpler life but not the most frugal option. The bottom sheet is left in the bed and I leave the spare duvet folded in the bottom of the sing!e bed so looks tidy and not taking up storage space elsewhere.

moneyistooshorttomention

ani*fan wrote: »

That looks like madness to me, plus we all work and can afford a hotel when we visit so what's the point?

Totally agree that being cold at night is a no-no. Maybe you could say to your mum that you need loads of blankets at night (make it sound like it's you!) and check that she has enough before you go? If not, take your own? I have a baby duvet my mum gave me years ago that folds up into a little bag for transporting. It's invaluable.

Some people can't afford a hotel when visiting - it's fortunate that you can. I'm not in the same position myself and that is one of the problems of not living in my home area any longer - ie how to afford the cost of visits to my home area. Her choice - and it means that I'm only rarely going to be able to visit (by the time I factor in hotels in my dear area - so each visit will cost hundreds of £s extra).

I have explained things like this to my mother - but she just "decides" and then no-one can budge her and she doesnt take anyone else into account (other than my father and my brother and his family). Everyone else isnt considered basically (including her daughter:cool:) - and one can't change her mind by explaining things logically to her.

I'm unable to take any bedding with me (which I certainly would do of myself) - because I don't have a car. So it's down to lugging a suitcase around on public transport across the country.

WartimeScrapingofMarmite

Longtime lurker here, I’ve been watching this thread with interest as I made a start on Simplifying last year. There are some brilliant tips on here that I hadn’t even thought of!
I made another step towards simplifying my life yesterday by having my highlighted hair dyed back to its “natural” colour. In a few months I can start dying it myself when it fades, until the bleach has grown out.....then I may embrace the grey streaks (eek!) or continue to dye it myself but either way this is going to save me two hours in the hairdressers every 6 weeks as well as lots of money!
I’ve never really been a hoarder, but do declutter once a month, it’s amazing how much stuff builds up particularly when DH is not really on board with a clutter-free lifestyle....
I’m trying to reduce my plastic use - I live in a rural area and have a fruit and veg box every week from a local supplier but other opportunities to buy things loose as it were are few and far between round here - nearest Ecover refill centre is 40 miles away and everything in our local supermarket and shops seems to be swathed in plastic, most of it non- recyclable :-(

moneyistooshorttomention

Did you see the news today? The first supermarket has started - Iceland is going to phase out plastic on its own brand products. They will be taking quite some time to do it - ie 5 years. But it's a start and the others have got no excuse now.

I can just picture the fact they'll get the odd comment from a "Mr and Mrs (couldnt be bothered) Average" complaining that, for instance one of their products is now going to go straight into its cardboard box - rather than being wrapped in plastic first and then put in the cardboard box. But, hopefully, the rest of us can outweigh that sort of comment by weight of numbers "on the side of the angels".

dolly84

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Did you see the news today? The first supermarket has started - Iceland is going to phase out plastic on its own brand products. They will be taking quite some time to do it - ie 5 years. But it's a start and the others have got no excuse now.

I can just picture the fact they'll get the odd comment from a "Mr and Mrs (couldnt be bothered) Average" complaining that, for instance one of their products is now going to go straight into its cardboard box - rather than being wrapped in plastic first and then put in the cardboard box. But, hopefully, the rest of us can outweigh that sort of comment by weight of numbers "on the side of the angels".

A massive step in the right direction - fingers crossed others follow suit.

In our village in the 90's we had one of those bulk shops which are now super trendy in London and Brighton and that type of place, you took a container and filled it with rice, cornflakes etc, obviously somewhere along the line packaging had been involved but overall much less was being used. It's long gone now.

I had a massive clear out yesterday. We have a huge built in dresser in our dining room which is original to the house and a fantastic storage place, yesterday I took some random Christmas bits out of there and put them in the loft then cleared the mountains of stuff off of the top of DD's wardrobe, recycled some, donated some and put the rest in the dresser. Still a long way to go but it's a start.

SimpleLiving

ani*fan wrote: »

I have also simplified my kitchen and that involved taking down all the wall units and reducing the amount of stuff I had. Our dinner table seats 6, so we kept 6 of everything, plates, cutlery, whatever. The space you have with no wall units is amazing, and it's not a small kitchen at all. I still have 2 cupboards though that have not been minimised. Thanks for the reminder, I'll get onto it this weekend.

Hope your new kitchen looks simple and fabulous!

Thank you. I have waited many years to decorate the kitchen so looking forward to less stuff and more workspace.

Cottage_Economy

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I try to do it with clothing, but I do love a bargain.:p £1 charity shops are dangerous for me.:D

Hopefully now I'm trying to have this year not buying clothes I can start to be more picky when I do buy clothes.

I haven't been in a charity shop for about three weeks now and that is longest I have gone in my life. Apart from the books I was stacking up, I realised that I was also spending money on bric-a-brac that I didn't really need. I love vintage stuff so it is a real problem for me to leave something on the shelf. I feel like I have to 'rescue' it.

I remember having a discussion with someone years ago after reading the Simple living Guide about how the process to transform to a simpler life is a long one and a very individual process. It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion over the years as you mature and you find out what’s important to you.

Our ideal life is one of self-reliance away from the consumer culture with enough
time to enjoy our hobbies and the company of friends. DH and I bought a smallholding (well a tinyholding, as it is only 1.5 acres) in 2016 and we had to be bare bones frugal for 11 years to achieve it so that's where some of the conflict is coming from.

We had already embraced some of the ‘Good Life’ prior to that, growing our own fruit and veg, making jams, chutneys and drinks, keeping chickens and ducks, crafting, driving fuel-efficient classic cars only) but wanted to go further and keep our own animals for meat so we knew where they came from, and ensured they were properly cared for outside of a commercial system. We wanted a small orchard plus enough land to raise a pig or two and keep sheep.We also wanted somewhere that my husband could restore his beloved classic cars.

However, since being here our idea of simple living is evolving somewhat. Keeping livestock is hard. The emotions involved are complex, and at times have brought me very low when they’ve had to go to slaughter. Also, we both work full-time, although I work from home so a lot of the tasks fall to me as I can organise my day to fit things in. The amount of equipment you need is also considerable; animals trailers, field shelters, fencing, feed, straw, hay, semi-commercial hedging equipment to keep the boundaries under control, and then there are the equipment and freezers needed to produce and keep the finished meat. When you produce your own food, you produce a lot in one go! I spoke to someone who keeps bees as a hobby and out of a couple of hives he obtained nearly 140lbs of honey in a year.

There is nothing simple about smallholding so once again I'm looking at every area of our life and beginning to really consider what is most important, peeling back the layers to see what lies underneath.

I'm hoping in time it will settle down and reach an equilibrium though.

fuddle

I hadn't seen that about Iceland. I think if a frozen food store can find ways of reducing plastic packaging then fresh food suppliers have to follow suit. I think there is a snowball effect happening with 'the plastic bag around the bunch of banana' type scenario in terms of consumers rolling their eyes.

I have a small kitchen. I have every single free space filled with a cupboard. I've even invested in longer wall units because I have tall ceilings. I keep my kit to a minimum. That cupboard space is for food and water storage. I'm gradually making the switch from tinned goods in water to dried goods so I can store more food in the space.

That said I don't have a vast array of ingredients. I know what I use and I only stock those items on a rotation. My system is well thought out and works very well for me and my need to be able to bridge a hungry gap, whatever the cause may well be.

For me, and I've lived in 6 houses in the last 8 years, a lack of cupboard space complicates life. I have the smallest kitchen in my home right now but I feel the most content and organised I have done even compared to vast kitchen sizes in 2 previous houses.

Again, we're all so different.

Wednesday2000

WartimeScrapingofMarmite wrote: »

I made another step towards simplifying my life yesterday by having my highlighted hair dyed back to its “natural” colour. In a few months I can start dying it myself when it fades, until the bleach has grown out.....then I may embrace the grey streaks (eek!) or continue to dye it myself but either way this is going to save me two hours in the hairdressers every 6 weeks as well as lots of money!

I stopped colouring my hair in 2009 and have my natural colour now. I always used to dye it blonde or very dark brown. I probably have saved a lot of money.

I'm not sure what will happen if I go grey as I'm 41 and haven't got any yet. My natural colour has some red and we are supposed to avoid going grey for a long time so I hope that it is true.

Not that I think grey or white hair looks bad as it suits many people, I'm just not sure how it would look on me.:)

[Deleted User]

I think life is simpler by far if you have the mindset that you feel slightly sorry for the 'Joneses' in the first place. We have all we need and live a comfortable life without frills. We could have the frills if we so desired but we both don't understand why other people do have them. I don't understand 'designer' anything, jewellery, make up, hair dye, special 'just going out' clothes, designer shoes, the latest colour scheme in the house, new cars, new furniture, food fads, celebrity chefs. bake off and master chef programmes on the TV, just keeping up really! We really are dinosaurs in many ways we have comfortable furniture to sit on, we have duvets and enough blankets to be warm in the cold weather, we have plenty of basic food ingredients to make tasty meals with, we have a Skoda car (I know but they really are good old workhorses) we enjoy growing our own food and I enjoy cooking it and making preserves etc. to liven up the menu, we have good comfy shoes to walk in, waterproofs to keep us dry and comfortable practical clothing to wear. I don't see anything that the 'Joneses' have that would add to our happiness or comfort, we're fine just as we are and happy to have baked bean soup for lunch as a treat because it's delicious. I think we're lucky and I feel sorry for those poor 'Joneses' chasing their own rainbows and never finding them!