Simplifying Life

JoJoB

This thread is very inspiring. Thankyou Sola for the book recommendation, it's going straight on my wish list.

Reading this has made me realise how much more I can do to simplify or cut back on expenses - I really don't have tight enough hold of the purse strings. Just stupid things like buying food from vending machines at work because I have been too disorganised to bring my own lunch, or the odd magazine here and there.... It's got to stop!...We have £150 to last us till Jan 10th which is actually a lot of money when not having to buy xmas pressies etc. But the way we spend stupidly (my OH has a tendency to nip round the shops for a couple of beers in the evening, but spends £10 each time on various things) has got to stop now.

I've just been so tired that control has gone out the window, and have an unreasonable attachment to Waitrose. :embarasse

Tomorrow i will have my first day off work for ages so i shall make a nice list and go down the market and Nettos for the weekly shop.

Feel good at least about decluttering - have spent the last 3 months doing just that. Does anyone else find it makes their mind feel clearer and less anxious when all the old crap has gone and surroundings are a bit emptier?

ceridwen

Hardup_Hester wrote: »

I don't drink or smoke, but I will give up meat in the New Year & just get it for hubby.
Hester

Well - re giving up the Works Christmas Do - if my memory serves me right (from reading a certain X-rated blog produced by your good self) I seem to recall your Works do was £50 - whew! not a cheap one. I could spend quite a lot on Christmas in my workplace - its very much the "done thing" - but people accept that I will only do a fairly "token" participation - as in the Secret Santa and a charity draw. - so I dont believe that will be a problem to you.

Re your comment on no meat-eating - serious reply from me here - you may have gathered I'm a vegetarian from various posts I have made - and, believe me, there is some pretty nice vegetarian food available these days and I have fed it to some pretty surprising people and they have come back for "seconds". The health benefits are pretty well documented by now and I've even had a fellow vegetarian ask me if what I was feeding her was "really" vegetarian - as it seemed too nice. Yes - it really was.

So - being serious again - if you need any hints and tips on vegetarianism do feel free to ask me (PM if you want). Vegetarianism these days is far from food reform and self-denial - nobody I know would regard me as being a natural self-denier I can assure you!

As for any other ideas - you may like to borrow the following books from the library:

"Self Sufficiency in a Flat" - Joy O.I. Spocsynska

"Self Reliance - A Recipe for the New Millennium - A practical "cookbook" of tested ideas to secure your family's future" - John Yeoman

A lot of people would regard one or both of these as being a bit "radical" - but, even so, there is useful food for thought in both of them.

ceridwen

JoJoB wrote: »

This thread is very inspiring. Thankyou Sola for the book recommendation, it's going straight on my wish list.

Reading this has made me realise how much more I can do to simplify or cut back on expenses - I really don't have tight enough hold of the purse strings. Just stupid things like buying food from vending machines at work because I have been too disorganised to bring my own lunch, or the odd magazine here and there.... It's got to stop!...We have £150 to last us till Jan 10th which is actually a lot of money when not having to buy xmas pressies etc. But the way we spend stupidly (my OH has a tendency to nip round the shops for a couple of beers in the evening, but spends £10 each time on various things) has got to stop now.

I've just been so tired that control has gone out the window, and have an unreasonable attachment to Waitrose. :embarasse

Tomorrow i will have my first day off work for ages so i shall make a nice list and go down the market and Nettos for the weekly shop.

Feel good at least about decluttering - have spent the last 3 months doing just that. Does anyone else find it makes their mind feel clearer and less anxious when all the old crap has gone and surroundings are a bit emptier?

There cant be many of us who dont have "room for manoeuvre" still on getting ourselves/properly budgeted/etc! Dont beat yourself up if you havent made it yet.

Someone said to me recently that they wished everyone in a group I belong to was going at the same rate - or words to that effect. My reply was "They are going as fast as they can - a little way along the route is still a little way along the route - maybe they will go further later - people work at their own pace - something is better than nothing." or words to that general effect. They saw my point.

Tiredness, depression, etc can pull all of us back sometimes - as we go back into buying into the "because you deserve it" culture propagated by advertisers. We are all human after all.

FrenchMaid_2

Re your comment on no meat-eating - serious reply from me here - you may have gathered I'm a vegetarian from various posts I have made - and, believe me, there is some pretty nice vegetarian food available these days and I have fed it to some pretty surprising people and they have come back for "seconds". The health benefits are pretty well documented by now and I've even had a fellow vegetarian ask me if what I was feeding her was "really" vegetarian - as it seemed too nice. Yes - it really was.

So - being serious again - if you need any hints and tips on vegetarianism do feel free to ask me (PM if you want). Vegetarianism these days is far from food reform and self-denial - nobody I know would regard me as being a natural self-denier I can assure you!

As for any other ideas - you may like to borrow the following books from the library:

"Self Sufficiency in a Flat" - Joy O.I. Spocsynska

"Self Reliance - A Recipe for the New Millennium - A practical "cookbook" of tested ideas to secure your family's future" - John Yeoman

A lot of people would regard one or both of these as being a bit "radical" - but, even so, there is useful food for thought in both of them.[/quote]


Can only second that - have been vegetarian for years - I often have sceptical meat eater round and they go away "wow that was veggie" - no wonder most people have a negative attitude re: veggie food. Look at any pub menu and the choice is despicable - hence I rarely go out for a meal.

ceridwen

FrenchMaid wrote: »

Can only second that - have been vegetarian for years - I often have sceptical meat eater round and they go away "wow that was veggie" - no wonder most people have a negative attitude re: veggie food. Look at any pub menu and the choice is despicable - hence I rarely go out for a meal.

Dont I know it? Pubs/restaurants seem to "pat themselves on the back" for offering a choice (one and only thing on the menu - usually vegetarian lasagne). Gives a very untrue impression about what vegetarian food is like to others indeed! One still often gets the impression they just cant be bothered - and wish we would go away somewhere and quietly choke on a lettuce leaf. But - there is a whole different "world of eating" to explore - as people will find if they get invited round for a meal at the home of a lot of vegetarians. I hate soya beans as much as the next person thats for sure!

jannyannie

Hi all:hello:

Nice thread Ceridwen. OH and I frequently talk about a simple life and try to practice it. I try and only buy what I need. For years I've made my own food, mainly because ready meals taste disgusting and you don't get enough to eat! I also make a lot of jams and chutneys. Some of my friends think I'm a bit of a hippy but I don't really care. Our son never ate shop made baby food and eats anything. At 6 he thinks brussells sprouts and mussels are great. I was a vegetarian for twenty years. I learnt a simple life and cooking from my Mum. Next project is to grow more food, have always grown some and am waiting for my allotment.

I also choose to work part-time and have less money so I can see more of our Son. We really don't need half the crap we've got in life. We had far less when we were kids but were always well-fed and warm.

JoJoB

ceridwen wrote: »

There cant be many of us who dont have "room for manoeuvre" still on getting ourselves/properly budgeted/etc! Dont beat yourself up if you havent made it yet.

Someone said to me recently that they wished everyone in a group I belong to was going at the same rate - or words to that effect. My reply was "They are going as fast as they can - a little way along the route is still a little way along the route - maybe they will go further later - people work at their own pace - something is better than nothing." or words to that general effect. They saw my point.

Tiredness, depression, etc can pull all of us back sometimes - as we go back into buying into the "because you deserve it" culture propogated by advertisers. We are all human after all.

Too true. It's nice becoming more aware of all the issues involved - the more aware you become the more liberated you feel (I'm finding). The situation feels very hopeful, and it's lovely to find this site with so many like-minded souls.

larmy16

I have just been reading a book called "Lift the Label" about the hidden cost of our lifestyle. It is a Christian book but it goes into the life stories of the people who actually make the clothes we buy, the poverty and hardship they live under, and while I do struggle to stay afloat myself, it has made me think hard.

I very nearly always buy my clothes from charity shops, excepting bras and pants, but it has made me feel much more positive about doing so and not just because I cannot afford to buy "new".

Aside from that, declutter, declutter, declutter. I am being driven mad by not being able to find stuff, then having to go out and buy another gizmo (be it sellotape, stamps etc) because the ones I have are lying under one of the mountains of junk!!!

mary43

Thanks tea-cup..................brilliant list.

Exactly what I want to do but for the love of me I couldn't somehow list it out in an order that made sense (too much of a cluttered brain maybe )

Hope you don't mind if I copy and print that out as a 'reminder to me' of what to do.

malvena_2

This is such an uplifting thread. It seems a simple life is often a happier life.

:beer: