I want to add a little something about what we're doing and why. I know it doesn't sound realistic - but why not? We know that stresses still happen in life no matter how hard you try, but when it's for your own benefit it's not about someone external imposing that stress on you. That's the difference. And yes the regular 'job' income needs to stay for now - we know that - but the grand plan is to get away from that completely. This isn't going to be an overnight project. This is a lifestyle shift. This is about saying 'we don't want to be part of that system any more'. And it can be done. It'll involve a lot of hard work and energy. And at the start it'll involve that hard work at the same time as holding down a full time job. We're not under any illusions that this will be an easy thing to do. But it's something we are determined to make happen.
However there are lots of ways round the system if you think creatively. Things don't need to be bought - they can be made. Wind turbines etc can easily be made from scrap stuff if you know what you're doing. That's kind of the point. If you take the time to do it all for yourself, then actually you don't NEED to spend money on things. We know we need cash to start off - but once we've done that initial capital expenditure then actually running costs become self-sustaining.
The whole picture is more complex than we've posted here. We know that, and that's deliberate. This blog isn't to set out our life plan - it's to try and diarise some of the steps we take and show people it can be done. We're not eco-warriors. We're more 'trying to get back to what life should be about' - living off and with the land. Nothing more or less. Doing things for ourselves. Not being part of the system that says we need the latest gadget or label. Good honest hard bloody work for our own benefit rather than someone else's.
Watch this space. We WILL get there.
Sonia
Monday 22 June 2009
Thursday 18 June 2009
An Honest Days Work For An Honest Wage, What Is The Value Of Money!?
Hi,
I write this as I am a little P*ssed off so please bear with my ramblings, there is a point to this!
I recieved news today that my job will now basically be less enjoyable and for the pleasure of this I will also have to take a paycut. I realise there is a credit crunch happening but I work as a contractor to the Royal Navy doing an important job that culminates in saving peoples lives, both servive and civillian. The forces are not run as a business (yet) so they are fairly uneffected by the credit crunch, so why am I being forced to take a paycut you may ask??? The reason is this.....I work for a civillian contractor and they are always looking for ways to save money to keep the fat cats and the share holders happy and wealthy, at the workers (my) expence. I know for a fact that the company I work for gets paid £50 an hour to employ me and what do I get....£10 before tax. I think they have lost their way as far as fairness is concerned, but that seems to be a sign of the times. The richer get richer and the poorer get poorer. What happened to treating workers fairly? Surely a good workforce is a happy workforce!? I dont want to sound like a communist (but some of their values are making sence to me now) but this state has turned into a comsumer driven rip off and we are the ones that are paying for it. All I want is a fair wage for an honest days work, I am not interested in being exploited. After all what is the management/shareholders/fat cats/hangers on worth if the basic job at the bottom line is not done?? We are carrying too many people and the structure of modern business is too top heavy. We are told what is happening and if you fight back then you are labeled as a trouble maker and your card is marked by your employers. I am not a trouble maker, I am just an average person with a sence of what is fair and what is not. Simple. The more time that I spend lining other peoples pockets makes me realise that I am being taken as a mug and it is time to escape from it, if others are happy being treated like this then they are welcome to it. Time to move on and do something where I get a sence of satisfaction and a fair wage at the end of the day. Im not out to make a fast buck and that seems to put me in the minority so if you are reading this and do not see my point of view then thats fine, im happy to be a rebel and to persue my dreams safe in the knowlege that what I do is for ME, not to benefit some shareholder sitting on a beach somewhere at my expence!
Rant over.................!
Anthony.
I write this as I am a little P*ssed off so please bear with my ramblings, there is a point to this!
I recieved news today that my job will now basically be less enjoyable and for the pleasure of this I will also have to take a paycut. I realise there is a credit crunch happening but I work as a contractor to the Royal Navy doing an important job that culminates in saving peoples lives, both servive and civillian. The forces are not run as a business (yet) so they are fairly uneffected by the credit crunch, so why am I being forced to take a paycut you may ask??? The reason is this.....I work for a civillian contractor and they are always looking for ways to save money to keep the fat cats and the share holders happy and wealthy, at the workers (my) expence. I know for a fact that the company I work for gets paid £50 an hour to employ me and what do I get....£10 before tax. I think they have lost their way as far as fairness is concerned, but that seems to be a sign of the times. The richer get richer and the poorer get poorer. What happened to treating workers fairly? Surely a good workforce is a happy workforce!? I dont want to sound like a communist (but some of their values are making sence to me now) but this state has turned into a comsumer driven rip off and we are the ones that are paying for it. All I want is a fair wage for an honest days work, I am not interested in being exploited. After all what is the management/shareholders/fat cats/hangers on worth if the basic job at the bottom line is not done?? We are carrying too many people and the structure of modern business is too top heavy. We are told what is happening and if you fight back then you are labeled as a trouble maker and your card is marked by your employers. I am not a trouble maker, I am just an average person with a sence of what is fair and what is not. Simple. The more time that I spend lining other peoples pockets makes me realise that I am being taken as a mug and it is time to escape from it, if others are happy being treated like this then they are welcome to it. Time to move on and do something where I get a sence of satisfaction and a fair wage at the end of the day. Im not out to make a fast buck and that seems to put me in the minority so if you are reading this and do not see my point of view then thats fine, im happy to be a rebel and to persue my dreams safe in the knowlege that what I do is for ME, not to benefit some shareholder sitting on a beach somewhere at my expence!
Rant over.................!
Anthony.
Wednesday 17 June 2009
Sunday 14th June - More projects and randomness!
I write this as Im sat next to a nice warm fire in the Chiminea, enjoying a well earned glass of wine. Next door but one are having a BBQ on their big, shiney, americanesque GAS "BBQ". I sit here enjoying the warmnth and beauty of a real fire wondering why people bother having a gas bbq!? Surely its just an outside grill?? Why not just run an extension lead out and use the george foremen!!
Anyway enough of that. Had another productive day, a trip to B&Q yesterday inspired me to make a storage box (not sure what to use it for yet though!) I will make a few of these so that they will stack on top of each other and help solve the usual problem of storage. These will be made out of "scrap" wood and will be alot cheaper and alot more attractive than the overpriced B&Q version. The total cost for making the one I have already made was 28 nails and a cup full of olive oil (for preserving the wood) and the cost of approx 10 minutes of electricity.
Anyway enough of that. Had another productive day, a trip to B&Q yesterday inspired me to make a storage box (not sure what to use it for yet though!) I will make a few of these so that they will stack on top of each other and help solve the usual problem of storage. These will be made out of "scrap" wood and will be alot cheaper and alot more attractive than the overpriced B&Q version. The total cost for making the one I have already made was 28 nails and a cup full of olive oil (for preserving the wood) and the cost of approx 10 minutes of electricity.
Yesterday saw the design and completion of another little project I have been meaning to do for a while, a waste paper fuel block maker/fruit press. I was inspired to start making paper fuel blocks after almost running out of wood scraps to burn on the Chinimea, I was burning old reciepts and waste paper and remembered that my grandad used to make these little paper mache blocks to burn on his truburn. The idea is simple, simply soak waste paper and cardboard in water untill its mushy then with the aid of a press squash them into blocks and allow to dry. A good idea of how to use waste paper and provide heat for free! I am also going to experiment with putting waste sawdust into them and see how this works. Just another example of turning "waste" into something you can use!
The press will also double up as a fruit press for wine making! I will post updates on how the wine is coming along and some recipies soon. (Forgot to mension earlier on in my intro that Alcohol is number 5 on the most important things!)Anthony.
Sunday 14 June 2009
A comment from Sonia
Hi! I just wanted to add to Anthony's comments below with my own perspective and background on all this.
I am utterly frustrated by the consumerist society we live in and that is imposed on us. I think Orwell wasn't so much a ficiton writer as a prophet. We are controlled, monitored, and dictated to by people in control who want us to conform. We've gone so far away from what's "real" in life - living in harmony with nature and what really matters - that we've lost the plot. I've had enough of that and I want to change the way I live to reflect that.
I am utterly frustrated by the consumerist society we live in and that is imposed on us. I think Orwell wasn't so much a ficiton writer as a prophet. We are controlled, monitored, and dictated to by people in control who want us to conform. We've gone so far away from what's "real" in life - living in harmony with nature and what really matters - that we've lost the plot. I've had enough of that and I want to change the way I live to reflect that.
As I sit here in my 3 bedroomed house on an estate in a nice area, I reflect on what brought me here and the person I'd become. Underneath everything I've always been an anti-establishment hippy. For a number of reasons I was sucked into the consumerist way of life for a while - but now I know I wasn't happy then, and I'm very relieved to be getting out of it. I would point out that right now having made these changes in my life to get away from the consumerism I was sucked into, I am less stressed than I have ever been in my 35 years of life. I'm also a lot happier.
Another thing I've learned over the last 2 years is that if you want something enough you can always achieve it. It might not be easy, it might not be straightforward or quick - but if you want it enough and are prepared to put the effort in you can achieve ANYTHING.
I have every intention that we will achieve our dream and one day will be typing this from our self-sufficient farm.
An introduction from Anthony
First a bit about me and a chance for me to explain my reasons and motivation for choosing to change my outlook on life and to persue an entirely possible better quality of life.
My name is Anthony. I'm 30 years old and currently live at St Ives in beautiful Cornwall. Up until a few years ago I was your average young bloke, enjoying the usual things associated with being young and enjoying life (drinking, socialising, fast cars etc etc.). Through a series of events and a longing to own my own residence (and unable to afford a house) I bought a 32' motor cruiser boat to love on. It seemed like a good idea at the time! For numerous reasons it turned out to be not an ideal solution and I soon ended up depressed and pennyless. Rock bottom had sneaked up on me and life had become miserable and meaningless. I was constantly worried about money, my car at the time (Subaru Impreza) was horrendously expensive to run, payments on the boat and storage costs were spiralling out of control (when I bought the boat there were going to be two of us paying for it but for certain reasons this didn't happen). So I was sat there in the dark (couldn't afford electricity) wondering what had gone wrong.
I soon realised that I had been chasing an unachievable way of life, and started thinking about what was important in life and how to achieve that without ending up miserable and pennyless! It was a dark time in my life but I don't regret it as it taught me valuable lessons about what really matters. Most of these lessons were learnt the hard way - but that's life!
The conclusions I came to were that the most important things in life are the simple ones, and they are all achievable with a lot less money and stress than you would think! I realised that the important and essential things to me were:
My name is Anthony. I'm 30 years old and currently live at St Ives in beautiful Cornwall. Up until a few years ago I was your average young bloke, enjoying the usual things associated with being young and enjoying life (drinking, socialising, fast cars etc etc.). Through a series of events and a longing to own my own residence (and unable to afford a house) I bought a 32' motor cruiser boat to love on. It seemed like a good idea at the time! For numerous reasons it turned out to be not an ideal solution and I soon ended up depressed and pennyless. Rock bottom had sneaked up on me and life had become miserable and meaningless. I was constantly worried about money, my car at the time (Subaru Impreza) was horrendously expensive to run, payments on the boat and storage costs were spiralling out of control (when I bought the boat there were going to be two of us paying for it but for certain reasons this didn't happen). So I was sat there in the dark (couldn't afford electricity) wondering what had gone wrong.
I soon realised that I had been chasing an unachievable way of life, and started thinking about what was important in life and how to achieve that without ending up miserable and pennyless! It was a dark time in my life but I don't regret it as it taught me valuable lessons about what really matters. Most of these lessons were learnt the hard way - but that's life!
The conclusions I came to were that the most important things in life are the simple ones, and they are all achievable with a lot less money and stress than you would think! I realised that the important and essential things to me were:
- Family & friends
- Shelter
- Warmth
- Food
At the time I realised all this I was sat in the dark and hungry because I couldn't afford to pay for electricity to power my lights or my electric cooker. It dawned on me that the answer to this was simple! I bought some candles to provide light, and as I stared at the beautiful flames I wondered why I ever bought flourescent strip lights! Cooking was the next priority. I took a step back and looked at waht was available to me. I was in a boatyard with a ready supply of free scrap wood. A BBQ was fashioned out of an old steel bucket and hey presto I was enjoying beatifully cooked food! The heat and light was all free - which gave me a massive sense of achievement and also helped me financially.
Basically I learnt that most things we do can be achieved with little financial outlay, which means you are spending less, which frees up cash for more enjoyable things. If a lot of your overheads can be reduced or even removed then do you need as much money to survive? And if not will you be able to reduce your working hours?!
We as a race are very wasteful. If we can reuse things that we normally would have to buy, then this will also reduce your dependency on money. For example if you enjoy gardening why pay for bags of compost when your kitchen waste can produce better quality compost for free! If you have a woodburner, then scrap wood (often got for free in the form of old pallets from local businesses) can provide free heat. If you have a back boiler fitted to your woodburner then it will also supply hot water. Waste paper and cardboard can be made into fuel blocks to burn if wood becomes scarce.
Basically it all comes down to taking a step back and looking at what you need and look at what you waste. If you can turn your waste into what you need then you are half way there!
I am also in a good position to save money because I do a lot of things for myself and make a lot of things that others would have to buy. Two amazing skills that will help you to make your own things are carpentry and welding. If you master these skills then you will be able to make most things from wood or metal. I was lucky enough to be taught these skills by my dad (Ray) who learnt them from his dad (Ted) - so it's a family tradition. However if you are interested in learning these skills then most colleges do evening clases. I assure you that it will reap great rewards!
To sum up - basically a better quality of life is achiveable if you want it. A few sacrifices will have to be made - if you can't do without your 84" plasma TV, electric tin opener and all of the other 'necessities' that we clutter our houses with then this blog probably isn't for you. You will have to be adaptable and determined to make it work, but you wil be surprised at what you can achieve.
KEEP THE FAITH!
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