by Megan @ The Byron Life
One of the surprise learning curves for me since making a
commitment to living more frugally has been how neatly it fits with my passion
for creativity.
I am a writer, a
photographer, a crafter and former art student and I truly enjoy creating things;
either for functionality or simply for the pure love of the creative process.
It may come as a surprise to you if, like I once did, you
see the term frugal as being one of lack, or deprivation, to instead discover a
whole new world of richness can open up when you take a simpler, greener path.
The old saying necessity is the mother of invention could
have been coined for the frugal life (and probably was!) as the more you look at
frugal, less consumer-driven ways of living, the more creative you will become.
Even if you don’t see yourself as very
creative.
Creating from scratch instead of buying new; using recycled
materials to fill a need; growing and preserving foods; mending and re-using – these are just some ways in
which the frugal life meets the creative desire in me, and with each act a new sense of accomplishment presents itself.
The frugal life is a creative life, and a richly creative one at that.
Yesterday we were at a friend’s house for a BBQ lunch and I
photographed her very clever recycled BBQ and thought it would be ideal to
share in this blog post with you.
The BBQ is so simple and creative: a hole dug in the earth which
is then lined (rather artistically, I reckon) with two layers of second-hand
brick pavers. The BBQ hot plate has been welded from reclaimed metal grills and
plate my friends found at the local waste re-use depot. It has “legs” on either
end that are attached with a hinge so that you can lower the BBQ hotplate
closer to the heat, if required.
How clever, simple, green, frugal, and creative is that?
It cost very little, was not hard to construct (although I
might have to get help with the welding part, digging a hole and laying bricks
is well within my capabilities), I love the earthy look of it and... it works!
As we cooked over this fire yesterday, it felt very much
like being around a camp fire – and I loved that feeling of relaxed
socialising.
Do you have any examples of how frugal living meets
creativity? (I bet you do!)
x
Megan
6 comments:
My husband and his friend made a barbecue each out of a steel oil drum cut in half
lov that bbq...very clever! Just got a sewing machine and have recovered some old chairs, going to make some placemats and cushion covers out of the left over material and teach my girls to alter their clothes :)
Looks great. Thanks for sharing the idea with us.
I find a way to upcycle almost everything that would normally be thrown out. Toilet paper tubes become seed planters, trashed clothing becomes scrap fabric. And I avoid buying anything that's supposed to be used once and then thrown out. For example, I carry an old wedding favor in my purse to use as a towel in public restrooms: http://renegadehomestead.blogspot.com/2011/09/simple-substitution.html.
I blogged about this myself just a few days ago.
I was never creative always too busy and felt I didn't have any talents.
Going eco-frugal has meant making from scratch, gardening and making gifts by repurposing old stuff. It's a wake up, it's exciting, it's calming and it makes me feel good to be creative.
It's like this dormant part of being a human has awoken inside me.
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