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!
You are children after my own heart, as you know. i think you are so right. i am fed up with the constant stress of trying to pay a massive mortgage and I know I can be perfectly happy not having this burden. i will feel free. that's not to say there won't be stresses but I can improvise, cook , invent, create and do at least some DIY. I need to declutter my life and not jsut of material objects of which I have far too many. All power to your elbows!
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued about this idea of a boat to "love on" but enough of this.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about both introductory comments and a way to join in the debate. It seems to me that there are two things you're trying to achieve here:
1 a more sustainable way of living. Brilliant wonderful idea; whole-heartedly agree and did you see a couple of years ago (probly not since you're not big TV people) the series "It's Not Easy Being Green" where an ex-engineer (I think) from the army and his family set up home in Cornwall trying to live with modern comforts but without relying on usual gas, electricity etc. They put in solar panels for heating water, a waterwheel for electricity, a wind turbine, wood burning stoves, compost loos the lot. All very laudable
2. You want to live "stress-free" and it seems that you're thinking escaping the modern ratrace is the way to do that. Well I'm afraid here I have to disagree. All of those sustainable things mentioned above have to be bought; if they don't the land you want to build them on has to be; and unless you have rich relatives somewhere to leave you several hundred thousand, you're going to need a mortgage. A mortgage requires evidence of regular income which probably means - in the beginning at least - you need a job and all the stresses that brings.
Plus you want to live off the land: again fabulous idea but I don't see how it's stress free? Different stresses maybe but I guess anyone who farms or rears livestock will tell you stress is still a part of that job.
There are plenty of things which are good about modern life - this blog for one! ;-) - and other things which aren't. don't get obsessed with the things that aren't cos chances are a lot of them you can't control. Focus on what you can; change what is changeable and life will be good: even with the stress :-)
Hi Alex n Rik!
ReplyDeleteThe classic typo of "Love on" the boat was down to my PA (sonia!) ha ha!
We watched the "Its not easy being green" series too, very inspirational! Just so happens that we also post on the "New House Farm" website that is the new one run by the Strawbridges. Sonia mensioned about my woodworking (using recycled materals) and we got a message sent to us by Brigit Stawbridge! She is very interested in the stuff I make and our ideas......fame at last!
I take on your comments about living stress free and I must say that you do have a poybe the title of this blog needs a re-think!int, there will still be stress but it will be stress about something that matters to us, rather than stress caused by our employers complaining about meeting targets, etc,etc! Maybe the title to this blog needs a re-think!? Its all about doing things for yourself, reaping the rewards and getting real satisfaction. Yes we will need an income, it wont all happen overnight. With the skills we have between us we are more than capable of turning those skills into cash for the inevitable mortgage, etc,etc. Its kinda an ongoing process, you just have to nibble away at it over time and eventually you will get there! :)
Anthony.
Just discovered your blog (via the NHF forums). What sense you speak! I agree with so much of what you say. We too are a similar age and aiming for a better live. I very strongly feel that we should look at how generations before us lived and try to learn from them.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your plans!