Monday, October 26, 2009

Less is More

I grew up hearing stories of how my Dad grew up in the depression and how my grandparents were so poor they made clothes out of flour sacks and papered the walls with newspaper. But I can't help but thinking in some ways they had it better. I mean... what did they have?

- A spotlessly clean house
-Freshly baked bikkies or scones each day
- Beautifull handcrafted cushions and furnishings
- Freshly laundered washing each day
- A made bed each night to get into
- A meal on the table each night including a pudding
and the satisfaction of a good days work well done each day

And now me, in relative luxury... what do I have?
Well, thanks to my internet habbit and the plethora of information I get each day I have...

-waisted vast ammounts of money on things I may never end up making, due to a head full of projects that change every week/day, which, if I ever get around to making a fraction of them will be badly made due to the rush to get onto the next badly made project.
And because of this I have...
- A messy house
- a miriad of chores that never seem complete
- going to bed in track pants coz I forgot to get the washing dry
- wearily making my bed last thing at night, because I never had time due to things which seemed more important at the time.

Now. I've decided to do something about this ridiculous way of living and put some good old fashioned principles back into my life.

ONE
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but over the last few weeks I've been taking a big hacksaw to all the rubbish in my life. I've got a rough principle I'm trying to live by
"Do one third of the activities I was doing, and do them 2 thirds better"

TWO
I'm also on a money fast. I give myself $20 a week of "Frivolity money". Can you believe it, but I'm actually waiting till this Wednesday till I can buy 3 pieces of art paper and a packet of marigold seeds. Then it'll be another 2 weeks before I can buy 4 metres of pyjama material for Catherine

THREE
And principle no.3 is "Make do with what you have"... and in conjunction with my frivolity allowance will be a piece of cake considering all the wool and material I have stockpiled.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

interesting isn't it, how simplee life seemed for our parents and grandparents. Sometimes I think those times might be better.
And I love your plan. good luck