I don't use credit cards. As I have explained in my own blog, I believe that Debt = Slavery, in another guise. Debt is a contract that you enter into with a financial institution that you must honour, by law. It is a burden that must be repaid.
So, to be truly free, we must become debt free, and owe nothing to anyone in the form of loans that bare interest. No Debt = Freedom. So therefore, I am attempting to pay down all my debt, including my mortgage in the next five years! When I tell other this in general conversation, I get so many questions and weird looks that you would think I had a big letter L branded on my forehead. Not normal.
I make my own stuff. I build things, like chicken coops, garden beds, greenhouses, and to make cheese, jams, preserves, bread, to name a few. Friends know why I do these things, but acquaintances always ask me how much it cost to make, or how much time it took, or that they would never have the time to do that. Well, I let them know that it is for the pleasure of having done it myself, and to learn new skills that may be required in the near future. Even more strange looks and heads shaking in disbelief. Not normal.
I like to have my voice heard. Sometimes, when I attend climate change rallies, or write letters to politicians about important issues, I tell other what I have done. You should see the look of shock on their faces, as if the things I do went out in the 1960's. I think that I am more hip than hippy, so I don't actually understand their lack of action. More people should stand up for what they honestly believe in, because these days we really need more activism if we are help others understand the urgency that is required. Not normal, but becoming more common amongst others which is encouraging.
The above points are just a few examples, but even my thought processes are different than the norm. However, I think that that is enough abnormal behaviour for now, and I will talk about that subject in my next post in two weeks time. ;-)
How do you deviate from the norm in the context of simple, green and frugal living? What do you do so differently that no-one else around you does?
26 comments:
I must agree; I feel the same way. My husband and I do things that are family and friends seem to not quite grasp. Things, as you mentioned, like canning and using what grows around you for food; things like Wild Violets for Jelly, Dandelions for Lemonade...Not eating certain things unless we grow them ourselves or buy them local.
I often get that feeling too...believe it or not, someone in my family actually thought it was strange that I wanted to hang laundry in the back yard instead of just using the dryer. "Why would you do that, is your dryer broken?" they asked. :D
Actually, as a whole I think my family pretty much thinks we're nuts for wanting to live in the country and grow our own food, but to be fair they are supportive most of the time even if they don't understand.
I put a raised bed, smack in middle of my front yard, for no other reason than I ran out of room in my back yard garden. (Which I had to transform from a driveway into a garden plot when I moved in.) To the casual observer it would look out of place. But its there because that spot receives just the perfect amount of sunlight. It might sound like a tiny deviation, but compared with the rest of the 'Round Up spraying, manicured lawn, good ol boys' on my street, my yard is anything but 'normal'.
Y'all must be travelling in the wrong crowd! Heh. There are lots and lots of us who have adopted a frugal lifestyle, and some who've grown up that way and never departed from it.
Our mortgage has been paid off for the last 20 years. We have no debts, although we do keep a Discover card for convenience that we pay off every month when the bill comes.
We are both retired now. Our back yard contains four large raised beds and two small ones. Last fall, Hubs and I tilled up a strip of the earth along the sidewalk, at the back of the iris/zinnia bed, because I had been given some wonderful garlic and had no place to plant them. Other than having to build a short garden fence to keep the postman from shortcutting through, we had few problems. I do believe I'll put a raised bed there this fall, as I have found it gets a little too wet there for some things. I grew onion, garlic, parsnips and hot peppers there; things that most children marauding through a garden would not be interested in. Also put in four blackberry bushes.
Who cares if some people don't understand? In the event of some calamity that changes the world as they know it, guess whose door they'll be knocking at!
We use our credit card instead of cash, and pay it off every month. If we need something big, we save for it first, buy it with the credit card, and then pay it off when the bill comes due. We do this because the one percent rebate we get for using it gets applied directly to our mortgage principle, and it happens automatically. I just figured out this morning that if I can swing $1500 extra every month to apply to the principal on our mortgage, I could have the house paid off in six and a helf years. I have to sit down and crunch numbers and figure out if we can live this way, because I'm still unemployed.
I have most of the backyard turned over to food production, and will turn more and more of it as I can and as I learn. We still have a long way to go to simplify our lives, but we've been living beneath our means since marrying eight years ago. I build stuff too, because it's cheaper than having it done and because I can. We hire out when it's beyond my capabilities. But instead of putting in AC, we had a pergola built across the back of the house and will grow wine grapes up it. We want to replace our asphalt roof with a standing seam metal roof so that we can harvest rainwater. We're doing it, bit by bit.
We got rid of the TV and this by far causes the most outrage and reaction! 'What do you point the furniture at?' was my favourite question.
We also refuse to use power where we can do things by hand, so m'Lady makes all our bread the good old way. She has a treadle sewing machine that she makes all her clothes on, this gets a more positive response.
I have a treadle scroll saw that I use for wood working and try to use hand saws wherever possible.
I clip the hedge with a pair of hand clippers, no mean task given the amount of hedge and the neighbours insist on trying to lend me electric clippers every time. I also bought a push along lawn mower rather than use the electric one the landlord left us.
More than this though, everything we get is second hand where possible so that we are living of what other people have finished with.
The notable recent exception to this is the recent acquisition of a pressure canner which had to come from America so was costly to the environment as well, however in the UK we seem to have forgotten how to preserve food so we had no other options.
Chickens are soon to arrive in my back garden in a home built coop which is twice the size of anything I found for sale so the girls will have more room.
We make our own soap which is lower in chemicals and additives and before long I am going to experiment with rendered fats as I know a butcher.
Then it's just the normal stuff like growing our own veg.
All this and I still find time to blog!
But when people ask me where I find the time, I always turn the question around and ask them why they don't have the time? It generally comes back to the telly.
Part of the beauty of being "online" is the ability to quickly find a LARGE community of like-minded people! I think that's why it catches me off-guard when acquaintances look at me with fear and awe when I say the butter they're eating...I made it. And the bread. And...you want a napkin? They're cloth...then they're afraid to use one. It's so funny :) But you're right- the less we use, the more we appreciate what we have, and the more free we are. I LOVE going weeks without stepping foot in a store.
You are not alone. I totally agree with living debt free and making things--and I'm just a normal person who believes in living my values and serving as an example for others.
I cook. My mother thinks I've lost my mind. "They sell that in stores now" is her favorite chide. I don't have a large garden, but my patio is full of beloved plants receiving tender care. And I rarely go to the grocery store anymore. If I can't find it at the farmers market, I generally do without.
I do not "buy" into the credit thing. I have paid all of my loans, credit cards etc. off and am now living solely on pure cash. This week I am learning the harsh reality of running out of cash before the next payday shows up, by one whole week. I have stored up grocery type items and the truck has a full tank of gas, so I am now thinking that what ever it is I think I need...I really don't.
Eyes wide open now...
I have a cable that stretches the length of my roofline... with twine from rooftop to ground. I'm growing beans up it to both shade the front of the house and to eat as dry beans in the winter. I'm the talk of the neighborhood.
I hang out my laundry, have no grass in the gardens, and have fruit trees instead of ornamentals. I have perennial vegetables or ones that easily self-seed, so that I don't have to do anything to have a meal. I made a lovely garden salad this evening from just perennial greens from the house here.
I make my own washing powder.
I make jams, jellies, and apple cider, apple sauce, and apple butter in the fall.
I forage through the neighborhood, and actively ask neighbors for fruit that they aren't eating from their mulberry trees, plum trees, crabapples, and cherry trees.
I lend and borrow as many tools as I can among neighbors. No sense in all of us having the same specialized tool we only use once or twice a year, right?
I'm still a novice at this but am happy to say that with the help from blogland I feel we're coming on okay. My partner has been bemused somewhat, particularly when I knitted dishclothes and made cloth napkins as I don't buy paper kitchen towel anymore. Some of my friends are also "less green" and wonder what's happening. But, I've learned to make bread, cheese, biscuits and cakes; I keep chickens and grow most of the vegetables that we eat and have planted stone fruit trees to keep our twenty or so apple and plum trees company. The next project is soap making and I am looking forward to that. We only shop about once every three weeks and that's for cereals and the odd free range chook. We buy our happy cow beef from a farmer friend who we trust and we know he loves his cows! I don't use any chemicals in the garden and would drive the car maybe once every three weeks, for shopping and the library. If it wasn't sooooo hilly in far south Tassie I might even try a bike! Hmmm, that could be stretching it a bit! The mortgage is paid off and we don't have any credit cards.
Jan
Its so nice to read about other people's attempts at sustainability and self sufficiency. I consider myself to be going the stealth route towards sufficiency, as I still work at a large, "old boys" financial firm during the week. I almost always have to watch what I say, but sometimes I let some things slip about making my own bread and growing a portion of my own food. You'd think I had ten heads and just flew in from Mars!
I do think, though, that in the last few years there's been a much greater awareness as "green" has become the new thing. (Although I hope people are coming around to the idea for reasons other than trendiness, but I guess we should take what we can get!)
But, yes, the lack of cable is by far the biggest doozy for most people I meet. I once had a guest literally have a temper tantrum because we don't have television - of course, we never invited them back again.
I can totally relate! My husband and I are in our mid-thirties, have 3 kids, and it seems we deviate from the norm in almost everything we do. I'm a stay-at home mom, and I could count on one hand the number of stay-at-home moms I know in real life. We garden, we cook from scratch, buy local/organic, make our own cleaning supplies and toothpaste. I knit and sew. Mend clothes that need mending. Use cloth diapers, with hand-made wool covers. Dry clothes on the clothesline. We are vegetarian. We practice attachment parenting (co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, never use babysitters, don't vaccinate or circumcize), etc. And we have recently decided to homeschool. If we're gonna be weird, we might as well go all the way, right?? It seems the "weirder" we get, the more friends drift away from us. Which is kind of sad, but I guess that means they were never true friends to begin with. Thank goodness for this wonderful online community where we can connect with like-minded people so we don't feel so alone.
Freedom Amen! I quit my job, took my children out of school, getting rid of everything I own and moving on to our Bus converted to RV that runs on waste veggie oil in a couple weeks.
www.transitantenna.com
I so agree Gavin, we are in our mid 30's with 2 young children and I know of very few other people in their 30's that are Deviating from the Norm! We grow most of our own veges and fruit, what we can't get from the garden we buy organic/local, make our own bread, soap etc. I would love to be debt free and we are working towards it but on a single income with a rural property that is difficult but we are getting there. I don't even have the conversation with most of our family and friends anymore, while the in-laws completely understand what we are doing as they have themselves, most of our friends (with the exception of 1 or 2) look at you like you've got 2 heads. Ironically I actually have to make our own bread as I have an intolerance to the additives they put in the other stuff! So, I don't think we're in the wrong crowd as someone else has responded, I just think there are very few people in their 30's who are interested in this kind of lifestyle. They live in a world of double incomes, wastefulness and keeping up with the Jones's. We have never ever had pay tv and will never get it, we live in the country, grow most of our own food and go grocery shopping once a month not several times a week like a lot of others do and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Susieq.
what a delightful post! I started living this way in the 70s, & my favorite bit was ~ 4 year stint at a worker owned coop - we produced our own power, had geothermal heat (hot springs resort) & our kitchen put out OG veggetarian food - since it's in the mountains, the resort has a weekly 'town run' to purchase the food & etc for staff. There are clothes lines in the laundry room for staff (teams - I was on Healing Arts - could use the dryers) & outside . . .
Since going Gluten Free last summer, I've been cooking more, & mainly whole (non-gluten) grains, rather than breads; & making my own kefir (I use coconut milk, which I need to get tinned - better for me not to do much dairy at this point)
I also use cloth diapers, ride a bike to work in the summer; need to dry my massage linens in a dryer - state law, but intend to put up lines for the rest of the laundry again soon . . .
I also tend to do my bit of lawn (more in back, converting to more gardens) by hand, . . .
We are taking baby steps and focusing on not eating processed crap. Taking refined white sugar out of our home has been surprisingly controversial. It was affecting my health and my step-daughter's emotional states. When some family members find out that we don't keep sugar in the house, they act like it is a betrayal of their way of life. Weird. When we called and had our cable canceled the agent kinda freaked out..."what do you mean you don't want cable?" "I don't want cable." "What do mean you don't want it?" "I don't want it"...it went back and forth like that for a minute. She couldn't fathom that someone wouldn't want it. ha ha We use the tv only for dvds now, and that is tapering off. It is so peaceful without it.
I couldn't agree more - I often feel that people look at me as if I'm mad.
Like others here we are trying to clear our mortgage and avoid using credit cards. We have allotments and try to grow lots of our own food. We also have our own chickens -- so that we know they are having a good life. As far as possible we collect driftwood locally and burn that in the wood burners.
I try to avoid spending for the sake of it. People in the UK seem to think shopping is the meaning of life.
Right now I'm lucky enough to be receiving the grass cuttings from our local cemetery which I'm using to mulch my raised beds - to feed the soil and cut down on watering/weeding. Just waiting for the comments to start!
Luckily there are some people who get it.... a young colleague of mine and his girlfriend have become vegans and are thinking about gettting an alloment for instance. Mostly I just live with it....for me there is no meaning to a life that revolves around just shopping and spending....we love our lives shared with our rescue dog and the chickens and wouldn't swap.
Most people we know think we are nuts just for not owning a microwave. Sigh.
I e you rblog and have followed it for some tim.love your attitude - oh tht I could get my daugter to understand those philosphies....now that wul make m happy. Lov
We live in a hippy neighborhood, chickens all over hte place, lots of bikes, lots of front yard gardens.
But our families...oof. It's not just that they think we're crazy, it's that they think it's petty and stupid. If we became super-religious and had a lot of rules, they'd follow them - they wouldn't like it, but they'd do it. Our ethical concerns about fossil fuels, factory meat - even simple things like recycling? They don't respect that at all.
No TV usually elicits the most response as I just have no idea what poeple are talking about when a conversation comes up discussing the latest adverts - not even a show but a bloody advertisement. Well I am soooo glad I am not normal. We also live in a very small house and opted to downsize instead of taking on the huge mortgage and the rest of the life 9 to 5 to pay for it. And yes I hang my washing on the line and even go as far as making my own laundry powder. I am lately making a game of it all and I love the shocked looks when I suggest something just so out of the ordinary for others - Just a great post - Cheers, Wendy
I do pretty much everything you mention and yes, it's treat as a bit weird. Oh well! That's why we have blogs and can find each other. :)
This topic comes up consistently for me and my husband. Living in a flat in a main city with two kids, sometimes it can be really hard to stay on the 'green' line- well thats what I thought initially anyway. But its not, I just do what I can.
I love being able to make bread, sourdoughs, preserve as much as I can, cook from scratch, upcycle, be a stay at home mum, not send my kids to childcare etc.
BUT sometimes it really does get tiring being the odd one out all the time. I guess that's where blogging and online communities really come into their own as it such a form of support when you are surrounded by people that think you are re-inventing the wheel.
It is such a happy moment when you meet a like minded person that 'gets' why you do things the way you do. I would just love it to be more of those moments.
My husband and I have no debt except a small mortgage. We have always prepayed our mortgage and this came in so handy when we had to move for my husband's job last year. We had lots of equity and thus lots of choice for a new place. It has no air conditioning or microwave, but big gardens with existing raspberries and rhubarb. We've put green beans, peas and radishes into the raised beds so far.
But I'm curious about your activism. I've sent letters to politicians and have gotten back form letters. I am continually disappointed in our political process.
A rant about legal releases is my latest blog post. But I'm not sure what to do other than rant.
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