Living more simply...

Well, my year-long experiment of living on a shoestring is coming to a close today.  I have learnt so much this year: so much more than simply learning not to spend!  I became more in tune with my home, my family, creative arts, and with the seasons, and focussed more on the important things in life.  We probably all say that the important things in life are our family and the friends around us, but I think it is all too easy to take them for granted - to assume that they will always be there and sometimes to let them fade into the background while we focus on more superficial things (such as buying new clothes, shopping for convenience and filling every minute with something).

What I found most interesting were the unexpected things I learnt from this year.  The simple action of not spending made me think more; I became more thoughtful and philosophical about what we need.  Not buying things meant that my focus turned to making things and enjoying nature - using things around me instead of always buying them.  As a result, I have found new hobbies such as knitting and mending clothes. I am much more aware of the money that can be spent so easily, without thinking, and instead of convenience being the top priority, I've slowed down and spent time at home with my family. Enjoying the river and the woods on our door-step was a much more satisfying way of living.

This was never meant to be a year of struggling by taking things to extremes, but rather of taking time out to think a little bit more about how we live - to step back from the whirlwind of this modern, commercial world that we live in.  Changing shopping habits is easy and I have kept up my mantra of "do I really need it?" before parting with the cash.  The richness that I feel from fixing things myself, passing things on to others who need them more than me, cooking more and finding fun for free: that is what I hope to keep and nurture.  As this year went on, life did take over again and the blog did not get updated religiously once a week as I had hoped. But the sentiments carried on within my daily life and I still recorded my thoughts when I could.  I wouldn't want to stop writing in this format, and so am currently thinking of what I could move on to in another blog next year.  We will be moving house next year, so perhaps renovating a house will be the focus; or perhaps I'll do some more research into "slow living", pagan celebrations and the simple life - I will keep you posted.  I have really appreciated having some dedicated followers and passers-by who would read the posts from time to time - thank you, and Happy New Year.

Winter solstice

The shortest day of the year: 21st December.  This is significant when thinking about seasonal celebrations.

I celebrated this Winter Solstice by taking our dog for a walk at sunset in the woods, savouring every last moment of light on this shortest day of the year.  It was a special day; our boys had their last day at school, which always finishes with a Christmas church service.  So we all walked back to the car, happily singing Christmas carols that we had just sung in the service; then one more stop to collect Yasmin from the child-minders before officially being on holiday.  There is something really nice about collecting all the children up and breathing a big sigh of relief / relaxation that another hectic school term is over and we can all chill out together, be creative and catch up as a family.

I find it funny to think that the shortest day of the year marks the beginning of winter - as it seems like we have endured enough bad weather and darkness already - but I do love the crisp, sunny and cold winter days. Perhaps we will have more of those now.

I like the pagan celebrations, perhaps because they are so intrinsically linked to the seasons and natural environment that they just seem to make sense.  Different places celebrate the winter solstice in various ways, including music, dancing and feasting.  In Roman times, the shortest day fell in the middle of a week long celebration of Saturnalia, respecting the God of Saturn and in the days after the solstice, honouring Mithra, the God of Light as the days slowly lengthen.  I can't work out what came first: was I interested in folklore to begin with, or has the interest developed more strongly since I've been living on a shoestring?  It has certainly awakened my senses to simple things around me: which must be a good thing.

In tune with the seasons

I think the best memories I will have of my year on a shoestring are of all the creative projects I have done, having been encouraged find alternatives to retail when decorating or celebrating for a special occasion.

When you simplify any aspect of your life, I believe you can become naturally more in tune with the natural environment around you.  Shopping for food in season automatically reduces food bills - as well as meaning that you can grow a lot of the produce yourself - as the climate will accommodate those fruit and veg that are naturally used to growing in the environment at certain times of the year.

Sewing and knitting are both pursuits I have done much more this year.  I still have to 'make friends' with my sewing machine - it is a little scary, but fixing clothes and knitting gifts have been a highlight!  I guess it is the satisfaction that comes with growing or fixing something yourself that makes it so rewarding and beats the act of going shopping and paying for goods any time!

My favourite activity has been creating (and then watching) activities for the children, once more often defined by the seasons.  Playing with ice and snow in the early months of the year; making Easter decorations with eggs in the spring; being in the woods and by the sea for much of the summer building dams or sandcastles or dens - all great fun for hours!  Then later in the year, foraging for fruit in late summer, doing more creative projects at home such as dressing up, making cards and beautiful pictures, whether that be for a birthday or Halloween  or some other seasonal festivity.  Lately we have had great fun collecting autumn leaves for garlands - all the family involved in finding an array of colours from greens, to yellows, oranges and reds and even some rich dark brown leaves.  They have all been put to dry in the utility room and are now ready for stringing and hanging up in the house.

We have now come to that part of the year which involves much creating in the home, from decorating the tree, to preparing and cooking festive food, making and finding gifts and catching up with friends and family: Preparing for Christmas.  Today is our tree day, as we have come to have a family tradition of putting up the tree around the second weekend of December.  My husband and children would happily have the tree up on the first day of the month, but I like to eke out all the celebrations, doing one thing at a time in the build-up to Christmas Day.  Anyway, the decision was made on Friday by our 3-year-old daughter: "Daddy, we going to get our Christmas tree today or tomorrow" - was her announcement on the way back from the child-minders; being exposed to Christmas trees and houses lit up with lights galore in the neighbourhood had made her mind up that it is time!  So today we will choose our tree from a local garden centre (this I am afraid is an item we don't save money on: we have considered a good artificial tree which after the initial expense would last many years - but it's just not the same).  My favourite part of the day is putting on the Christmas music in the afternoon, fetching the decorations from the loft and allowing the children to place the ornaments where they choose to. This means we end up with not a shop-window designer tree but one that has given our children much pleasure and satisfaction and a home-made feeling that we love.

Children's parties on a shoestring

I know that this blog strictly speaking is about my non-essential spending on myself, but I thought that ideas on keeping the expense of children's parties to a minimum might be of interest as well.

Our three lions for the party!

My little girl turned 3 last Monday and so for the past month (no kidding) she has been meticulously planning her celebrations!  Given her age I was hoping to get away with a little family birthday tea, and perhaps a weekend day-trip out to a farm park or somewhere similar that she would like.  But no: my daughter had other ideas!  I suppose that being the youngest of three she is accustomed to birthday parties, and so of course, she expects the same!

And so for the last 4 weeks or so, the topic of birthday parties has dominated our conversations... initiated by her.  We (she!) sorted out who was to be invited, what games we would play and what food would be provided, the most important item being the CHOCOLATE CAKE!

Although a proper party would not be my own choice for such a little one, we managed a very relaxed chilled-out affair *on a shoestring* which everyone seemed to enjoy.  The only expense (which was optional) was the accessories - such as party hats, and themed paper plates.  Party food expenses were low - jam or cheese sandwiches, chopped carrots, grapes, tomatoes and cucumber, a pack of biscuits and crisps and the all important chocolate cake.  I am not a fan of party-bags and certainly don't feel pressure to conform for this age group, so instead we had a basket of sweets and stickers that the guests could choose from before they left. There were also sweets and a little gift in the pass-the-parcel, but all in all, it was a lovely homely event focused on the children having fun, rather than being sucked into the commercial whirl of party expenses which is so easy to fall into.

Dog in a party mood...

Halloween on a shoestring

It is so lovely to watch the children tonight, so excited to answer the door to neighbours who are out and about trick-or-treating!  It gives them so much joy, and such a simple pleasure that barely costs a penny!  All that is required in preparation is a trip to the local shop for some sweets, a dig around in the dressing-up basket and some face-painting: this year I have a little fairy, a skeleton, and Dracula - and a big daddy skeleton as well.  Then all we have to do is wait... knock, knock sends our three kids to the door to greet the other beasties with treats of sweets and chocolate ... again and again!  What fun!

My scary family!

Preparations for Christmas

It seems appropriate this year for us to do what we call our "Victorian Christmas".  This is what we tried a couple of years ago, and it worked really well.  I don't mean that we dress up in Victorian costume and eat traditional dishes which have taken weeks to prepare.  Our Victorian Christmas consists of asking family to contribute what they are happy to towards one present for each of us.  So we basically each get one present (plus, perhaps, a few small gifts from friends we exchange presents with: we don't always feel we can ask them to partake in our eccentric ways!)  So the boys got a table football set last year, Chris and I bought a bread-maker with the money given to us both, and Yasmin got a trike.  As everyone contributes, it means that the children are each able to buy something fairly substantial, rather than having lots of plastic toys that very quickly get discarded anyway.  And generally, it means we all get something that we really need, or would find very useful and engaging.

So, as this year is "living on a shoestring" for me at least, it seems right to have another go at our Victorian Christmas.  It was actually Felix's idea to repeat the experiment, as he enjoyed it last time round. So that's decided.  We just have to let our families know! But I think they're getting used to our funny experiments of electricity-free days and Victorian Christmases!

Bartering

Since we have a couple of quite productive hens, we often give away boxes of eggs to friends and family. In the summer months the giving often extends to fruit and vegetables that we have grown ourselves.  However I have only once bartered, out of desperation one weekend when I had friends coming over for lunch and needed a leek for the recipe.  You may be wondering why I hadn't planned a lunch party more carefully and bought all of the necessary ingredients before the night before!  Well I had, I thought, until I realised that the last leek had already been used.  So quick thinking sent me rushing around to my neighbours who have an allotment.  They are lovely, and happily accepted my proposal of swapping a couple of leeks for a box of our eggs. Everyone a winner!  I was so excited!!  It was really satisfying obtaining goods in exchange for others that we had produced, and with no money changing hands!  I think I was probably born in the wrong century...

I was in my element this morning, out in the crisp autumn air; the blues skies and leaves on the ground enticed me to get out into the garden and deal with some of our summer pots that needed clearing out and preparing for spring bulbs.  The icing on the cake, for me, was having a cup of coffee and listening to the Food Programme on Radio 4.  It was a very appropriate listen, because today's episode was on "How to waste less food".  It was very inspiring, discussing innovative people all around Britain who are joining the food revolution in their own ways (including a co-operative in London who have asked a chef to create delicious dishes out of nearly-out-of-date food that will otherwise end up as waste).  One company that I liked the sound of, partly because of the name, is Rubies in the Rubble. They collect unwanted fruit and vegetables from Spitalfields Market and turn them into delicious chutneys and preserves.  Similarly, The Garden Cider Company in Surrey make use of their community's glut of apples, turning them into cider, giving their donors part of the produce and selling some as well.