Freeconomics and Mark Boyle, The Moneyless Man

I just finished reading Mark Boyle’s book The Moneyless Man and found it hugely inspiring. Mark was an economics graduate and businessman who discovered Ghandi. Ghandhi’s “Be the change you wish to see in the world” became the ethos by which he began to live and Mark started a Freeconmic movement, one in which members gave freely to those in need. This movement operates in over 150 countries around the world in town and city communities. The Freeconomic Movement operates on a Pay-It-Forward ethos. As he puts it in his speech (linked below) “For thousands of years we have been looking at life through a lens of “What can I take”. Imagine on a table in front of you there are different lens and we take off our old and put on a new one of “What can I give?”

“Imagine a world where we can give without expectation of receiving anything in return to someone who needs help.”

From an ecological viewpoint Mark discusses the toll consumerism has taken on the planet, the wasteful nature of it. In the UK 1/3 of all food traded through supermarkets etc is wasted, thrown out by either the stores or the consumer – much of this food imported from all around the world just to be dumped. Much of this food is grown by poorer countries who use low paid workers to produce it, the expense of getting it to our shops/homes grows with every step of the journey not only adding to the cost of the product but it takes a toll environmentally…then so much of it is dumped. The same could be said for many of our purchases which end up in landfills sooner or later.

From a humanitarian viewpoint, how much food, warm clothing, furniture etc is dumped when so many have so little and go hungry, not in only third world countries but in our own?

In late 2008 Mark made a commitment to try living one year without money. He advertised on Freecycle for something he could live in and was given an old caravan, he made a rocket stove to cook on. He found an organic farmer who was willing to let him live in a small area in return for some work. He dug a hole to use as a loo, surrounded it with a makeshift tent he could also use as a camp shower. He also was given a fire and used waste wood to heat his caravan. He used an old bike to get around or walked many miles many days. He grew his own food, foraged and went skip diving. He talks of feasts him and his friends threw for up to 1500 people on waste from supermarkets, donations from many different sources (though I expect his profile in the area possibly helped alot there) He not only survived the in the year but at the end of his time realised how much happier he was, that he was a better person for it and decided to stay. The proceeds from his book are going towards land for a Freeconomy Community to set up their own place and this will not be a closed community but an open one.

Few of us would be willing or feel able to give up money, for those who would like to he shows it’s possible. But I found him inspiring for many reasons …he puts his money (or lack of!) where his mouth is, he fosters generosity rather than greed, he raises awareness of all sorts of ecological and society issues, he is a man who has taken up the “Be the change you wish to see in the world” challenge and run with it expecting nothing in return. His Freeconomy communities run much like Freecycle, people can advertise for stuff they need whether it be a lift somewhere, a couch to sleep on, tools, food…whatever. People can trade good for services or skills or just give freely. I am seriously considering starting one up here in our town but it does need thinking about. There will always be the takers who use something like this the wrong way, there is always potential for not so nice people in society to take advantage but… there are alot of good reasons to do this too. Many years ago I belonged to a Green Dollar Community where people traded skills and items with others expecting they in turn will recive what they need from others. I became very frustrated by doing alot of work for others who weren’t prepared to do their bit in return. This is different, there is no expectation here that you will receive anything in return, only that those you give to may one day pay-it-forward. People can get together to hold book or clothing swaps, family days etc. As an introvert I find this idea a bit scary 🙂 as a person who does care about the effect poverty has on people and communities I think it’s a brilliant idea. Anyway….bears some consideration.

 To watch Mark Boyle’s talk on Ted X see here It runs for 15 minutes. Or an article he did for The Huffington Post here

The Sydney Morning Herald did an article on the rise of this in Australia while people are finding things tough and it appears to be successful and well used.

 

Pathological consumption

A great article on Whole Larder Love I found really interesting and other’s might (Thinking of you Jess). Rowan has a great blog on living off the land. The writer here discusses the behaviour of novelty gift buying for the people who already have “everything”. My thoughts are what a difference it would make if those loved ones were bought something from local artists or producers instead – handmade soap, chutney or even a basket of nice breads etc would be preferable to me that any “novelty item.

 

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 11 December 2012

There’s nothing they need, nothing they don’t own already, nothing they even want. So you buy them a solar-powered waving queen; a belly button brush; a silver-plated ice cream tub holder; a “hilarious” inflatable zimmer frame; a confection of plastic and electronics called Terry the Swearing Turtle; or – and somehow I find this significant – a Scratch Off World wall map.

They seem amusing on the first day of Christmas, daft on the second, embarrassing on the third. By the twelfth they’re in landfill. For thirty seconds of dubious entertainment, or a hedonic stimulus that lasts no longer than a nicotine hit, we commission the use of materials whose impacts will ramify for generations.

Researching her film The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard discovered that of the materials flowing through the consumer economy, only 1% remain in use six months after sale(1). Even the goods we might have expected to hold onto are soon condemned to destruction through either planned obsolescence (breaking quickly) or perceived obsolesence (becoming unfashionable).

But many of the products we buy, especially for Christmas, cannot become obsolescent. The term implies a loss of utility, but they had no utility in the first place. An electronic drum-machine t-shirt; a Darth Vader talking piggy bank; an ear-shaped i-phone case; an individual beer can chiller; an electronic wine breather; a sonic screwdriver remote control; bacon toothpaste; a dancing dog: no one is expected to use them, or even look at them, after Christmas Day. They are designed to elicit thanks, perhaps a snigger or two, and then be thrown away…. Read more here: Whole Larder Love

Normal…….

My son shared this on Facebook today. My son hates his job, he has been working for the same company for 18 years having worked his way up from a junior position, working now as an area manager for a boss he can’t stand. He doesn’t read my blog, (neither does his boss) so hopefully doesn’t find out I have been talking about him behind his back… I shall keep him identity-less! He stays there because in our small area this job provides security and decent wages which he needs now because he has family. This post is not to discuss him so much as dissatisfaction in our lives. I am not knocking the above, some thrive in big cities with well paying jobs and holidays to relax into. Not knocking it at all. This is not my life and I am happy for that, my way is not other’s way and their’s is not mine, we are all different.

But seeing this set me off on a tangent (as is my way!) How many of us fall into the lives we have, no conscious decisions made, we just live them. We do our 9 – 5, struggle to pay our bills, do whatever to make ends meet, many lucky to even get a holiday!!! My life is far from this picture above but today I was walking around with a mumbling going on deep down, feeling crabby and distracted. When I read this I laughed it off, made a joke, yep that’s life. Later on when thinking about it and thinking about the dissatisfaction with life some must feel, I recognised my own.

Roger and I have been discussing a few things recently, much of it centres around nooses we have around our neck – mortgages, insurances etc. We are very lucky to have our own home but fact is the bank owns half of it. It’s unstable times, if the economy gets worse (a possibility) there is no guarantee we could even keep it. Both of us have to work and there is never any money left after mortgage, rates, big insurances, utilities, the costs of running vehicles to get to work etc etc. There are no holidays bar a quick weekend away. We would quite like a new normal even though we are far from normal. We have spent 7 years here, we do what we do because we need to, we love our home and garden but there are problems here. Our neighbourhood has gone from a quiet country one where everyone got on fine to one where we are growing a high front hedge to keep away from. We walk through the gate and sigh. Glad to get home from work, because let’s admit it, work is not always fun! but no longer enjoying our situation of where we live. We are virtually surrounded by transient vineyard workers, loud parties and arguments, lousy attitudes, gang members wearing patches etc are the norm here now. I don’t want to sound judgmental here, that’s not really my thing, live and let live. But….we are living in a different environment from that which we moved into – we have escaped town to have it follow us! I went down the shop the other day, drove, and pulled up at a give way. An error in judgment in driving by someone else had her glaring at me and yelling “You stupid f….bitch” at me through car windows. Roger was out mowing the front berm when a car full of young guys pulled up beside him and a pile of rubbish thrown out the window by his feet before they drove off laughing…apparently that was really funny!

What we have been thinking is to move, there are other towns over the west coast of the island which are really cheap, we COULD be mortgage free. We could live in a more settled area. We could leave our home and garden. We could invite my son and fiance to join us, how nice that would be – or leave them behind because they have different ideals. We could live in a wee structure and get more land. Could… maybe…..!!!

So, this is where my mind is at this morning. Dissatisfaction, with everything we thought we were doing right not feeling so right. It’s led me to think of others, human nature, why we are so stuck in our ways doing nothing to change them, why we live lives we aren’t really happy with. Why we complain so much and don’t just feel grateful for what we DO have 🙂 Why people don’t just live lives they love in order to conform, then how hard it is to get unstuck because we have families to support, expectations,bills etc. Then the fact there are homeless people who would be grateful for anything, the fact transient workers have to live somewhere and are probably all very nice people even if some seem a little aggressive at times lol. Giving away eggs and veges over the fence doesn’t seem to work anymore in helping neighbourly connections.

Happiness and what it takes to make ourselves happy, in our own individual and sometimes different ways, seems to be hard to find. I don’t think wanting happiness is a selfish thing, shouldn’t it be the norm? There’s only so much TIME in life with which to find happiness….if only we could bottle time.

An oldy, Jim Croce – Time in a Bottle

Anyways, my rambling for today is true rambling! Now I have to go and get the carpet shampoo unit from the shop and clean my carpets, probably the real reason for my grumpy mood today! Sometimes I think it would be nice to not be broke, you could pay to have your carpets cleaned. Maybe we just need better jobs, more money…. holidays……..! 🙂

Simplicity in the Making; Guest post and giveaway

I wanted to share this guest post at Simply Free. Both this blog and the blog of her guest Handcrafted Travellers are just wonderful. This bright young couple share a lovely life of simple living that is just so right. I am excited to say I just won their giveaway, an e-course in Everyday Simplicity. Am very excited and heartfelt thanks to Roland, Cheryl and Lois for making it possible. Please do check out their site, it’s simply hours of very gentle reading that will reasonate with many of my readers.

Food Anarchy

Smart thinking from a funny lady, I just love this.

My Watering Can

The GMO labeling fight is raging, but one has to wonder, if you don’t buy processed foods and grow a lot of your own, you can avoid these kinds of shenanigans. Personally, I try to avoid most things that are GMO foods these days anyway. I do hope it becomes a law, but in the meantime, for your viewing pleasure…. I posted this from Youtube (so no it’s not me in the video)

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Mind the Gap – A Report on Inequality

A heavier post than my usual but since watching this documentary on TV a couple of months ago it has been playing on my mind so I thought I would share it.  The statistics here speak for themselves and while I doubt me sharing it makes a scrap of difference in the world (!) it is something that concerns me, concerns everyone. This documentary investigates the new working poor.

Most of us realise that world governments are doing things wrong and we, the little people, are suffering for it. New Zealand is a small country with a population of only 4 million, but still we have followed the examples of bigger countries (America, England) to our detriment and our statistics echo what is going on elsewhere.

The video here, Mind the Gap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__2EdGFdgTA is 45 minutes long and I am not really expecting anyone to watch it however these are a few statistics I have written down from it.

In 1984 our government changed from neo-liberalism, following America and England. They changed from a focus on social policies, brought in after the war, to business and industry… encouraging consumerism. They hoped by providing tax breaks to wealthy business owners this would have a “trickle down effect” providing better business, more jobs.

In 1953 there was a large working class in this country, a medium sized pool of medium class, a small group of rich. Today there is a large percentage of people living in poverty, a large group of what we call the new “working poor” paying large taxes to support those living in poverty, a distinct group of wealthy.

Today the top 10 % of the population own over 1/2 of the country’s wealth.

Detected social welfare fraud last year – $23 million and 800 people were prosecuted. Detected tax evasion (business, corporate) – $1 billion and 50 people were prosecuted. Undetected tax fraud is thought to be $5 billion. There is a much higher rate of welfare defrauders going to jail than those who rip off their investors.

Our government pays $1.2 billion in accommodation supplements to the poor and another $2 billion in their Working For Families scheme to supplement the low working wage or to support the unemployed.

Food costs have risen 217% in 30 years while the dollar is buying 2/3rds less.

The bigger the inequality in a country between rich and poor the higher the rates of crime, disease, infant mortality, mental illness, incarceration rates and teenage pregnancies and there are shorter life expectancy rates. Governments/taxpayers pay the costs for all this, for how long is this sustainable to support the people AFTER they have fallen off a cliff?

Have any of you seen Kid President. He’s a little American kid who has alot to say, he’s funny (loud!) but he’s also serious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZGyUZ9YrM. In this video he discusses internet use – 14 million human beings follow Miley Cyrus on Twitter – on purpose! 60 million photos are uploaded on the internet each day, many of them are “selfies” or photos of what people are eating. People spend $600, 000 a day on Candy Crush!! His message in this, it’s Socktober, donate a pair of socks to a homeless person, or a tin of food, donate to a shelter. 600,000 people are homeless in America, including kids.

We can walk past the homeless with averted eyes pretending we didn’t see them, or we can help. We can keep voting the way we vote out of habit or we can start voting with a social conscience, can’t we? WE are the future, our children are the future and right now the future isn’t looking great for too many. Where are we going to be in 10 – 20 years time if WE don’t bring in change …….and maybe there is something in that saying “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.

Thoughts At The Supermarket

This original article linked through this worthy post is so worth a look. It’s just crazy – non-food food.

Awesome Åshild

I was going to share some of my day with you from yesterday today, but I came across this article on my morning browse over a cup of coffee (iced of course, when in Greece..) and decided this is so much more important.

I have thought these thoughts so many times when going to the local supermarket on Sundays for my weekly shop. The 2 litre bottles of soft drinks and the half a kilo chocolate bars are being pumped on the end of the isles, with promises of happiness, consert tickets, winnning a trip to paradise and meeting your footy hero. And at the checkout you will find even more sugar PLUS (and this is the big plus) all the magazines you need to deal with it all. I have described my love for magazines to you earlier, and this is no better. All the magazines you can…

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Woody Harelson – Thoughts From Within

Because I loved it ….and sometimes I feel like an alien watching us too and thinking what a crazy world we live in 🙂

Frugal Food – please share your tips :)

I have been wanting to do a Frugal Living post for some time and have decided to do this in a series of posts that I am hoping others will add to from their own store of tips for cutting living expenses…because I consider that those who read my blog (and myself) are a community of like-minded people and I often receive comments from others sharing their wisdom on frugality. Please do feel free to add yours in the comments section.

So, because my blog is mostly about food I’ll start here with a few of my own tips for eking out my food dollar.

1. Has to be growing whatever we can ourselves, wherever we can and with whatever we have at our disposal. Not everyone has a garden but there are many containers we can use to grow in from buckets to shopping bags to juice containers. Seeds can be taken out of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini etc to start off new plants. Explore the net for ideas and inspiration. I have articles here on frugal gardening for beginners.

https://quarteracrelifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/06/10/my-list-of-the-best-value-for-money-vegesand-fruits-for-the-home-garden-pantry/

https://quarteracrelifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/beginners-guide-to-frugal-food-gardening-1/

https://quarteracrelifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/beginners-guide-to-frugal-food-gardening-2-seed-saving/

There are other articles in the gardening section reblogged from others for ideas and inspiration.

2. Foraging. Easier if you live near rural areas, there may be wild blackberries, apples, nuts etc just growing wild around you somewhere. This is a great article on food foraging http://www.realfarmacy.com/foraging-52-wild-plants-you-can-eat/. I can tend to be a bit shy about doing this but my husband is not, he is very quick to notice fruit trees that are un-owned and to raid them 🙂

3. Develop a from scratch mentality and rely little on convenience foods because we pay dearly for that convenience. For the price of pancake mix we can buy a bag of flour and a packet of baking powder that will yield a whole lot more than one batch. Make your own yogurt for 1/4 the price https://quarteracrelifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/crockpot-yogurt-yogurt-ricotta-and-labneh-yogurt-cheese/. Seeking information, improving our own cooking and baking skills pays off big time over the years, I am 54 and have raised my family but am still always seeking new, better, cheaper ways of doing things. I buy things like chickpeas, lentils and pulses because they are cheap and nutritious to cook with. Buying them dry, cooking a whole pot and freezing in cooking sized portions means I am unlikely to buy them canned for convenience sake.

4. Shopping. I buy house branded (cheap branded) flour, cocoa, toilet paper etc etc rather than more expensive brands, the quality is often the same, they are often packaged by the same companies. I get to the checkout and look through what I have…there is nearly always something I have picked up on impulse that I will return because I no longer feel I need it. I stock up on different things on special each week and will forego something else in order to buy 1/2 dozen (or more) somethings that are extremely cheap if I use alot of it eg coffee on extra special. I check that an item on special (often a leading brand) isn’t still dearer than a cheaper brand. I don’t buy anything I couldn’t make myself cheaper. We don’t get coupons here now but I remember years ago spending ages before I went shopping cutting out coupons. I base meals around what I have and what is on special rather than just buying random foods to make up meals I feel like and I always write a list of what I NEED, there is always room to accommodate specials too good not to stock up on.

5. Make use of the freezer. I will buy something like a 1 kg packet of bacon on special and split it down to use in odd recipes to eke it out. I use mine alot for freezing leftovers to use for another meal eg a smallish amount of meat or chilli sauce sauce can be mixed later with pasta and topped with cheese sauce for another meal. Excess grated cheese can be frozen. A large pot of soup can be frozen in serving sized quantities, Fruit given from a friend can be cooked and frozen, extra sausage rolls, leftover homemade scones, milk bought cheap…virtually anything can be frozen.

My Provident journey has started a series on using the freezer, find the first one here http://myprovidentjourney.wordpress.com/2013/07/15/provident-uses-for-your-freezer-dairy/

6. Minimise food waste: Don’t purchase more than you can realistically use, store well, either freeze or plan leftovers for another meal. Be creative…my husband cooked a few nights ago and used leftover sliced lamb on toast with barbecue sauce and cheese, grilled…I thought it sounded weird but it was delicious, leftover sausages are nice like this too or sliced, dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried lightly. Fritters, quiches, frittata, pies, soups are all good ways of using leftover meats and vegetables.Baked goods can be refreshed in the oven, or re-crisped. Turn over ripe bananas into cakes, breads or fritters…I will also make a carrot cake or dog biscuits out of softer carrots , or they go into soup. The list in endless here.

7. If using alot of citrus save the peels in cheap white vinegar for cleaning.

 

8. Porridge is the cheapest breakfast cereal on the market and is nutritious. Rolled oats are great in baking and homemade muesli and muesli bars. I wouldn’t be without rolled oats in my kitchen, or shredded coconut. These form the base of muesli and many times I have made it just because I have odd quantities of dried fruit sitting in the cupboard (or lots of my own dried) This recipe will use any dried fruit, nuts etc in the cupboard https://quarteracrelifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/homemade-toasted-muesli-with-figs-walnuts-and-feijoa/

9. Preserve, make jam, sauces etc. If you have access to large amounts of fruit or vegetables at times learn the skill of preserving, jam making etc. I buy jars from thrift shops, garage sales…friends save them for me. If you can’t bottle them they can be cooked in syrup and frozen, some fruits such as berries and plums can be frozen as is. Your first ever batch of homemade jam is something to be proud of…I will just share a story of mine 🙂 I was very young and left a large plastic salad server in the pot to stir with – never to be seen again and that batch had to be thrown out, trust me no one can do worse than that, so give it a go!! Only months ago I lost a whole batch of cranberry jelly to the floor, I am still trying to be an expert preserver!! If you are dreading Christmas  now is the time for many to make homemade jams etc that would make nice Xmas gifts, they keep for over a year.

10. Distinguish between wants and needs. Supermarkets are chock full of yummy things we’d all like to be able to afford and this can be hard to begin with but when things are tight we can’t afford to come out through the checkout with a heap of not such great buys in favour of good nutritious NEEDS and staples. I used to drink only ground coffee but that is no longer affordable and now instant seems perfectly fine (yes, in this house coffee is needed), I don’t need the magazine I often go to throw in, neither do I need the flower oil I used to use in my hair. These are only things I desire, not needs….realising of course that very OCCASIONALLY some little thing is needed as a morale booster because sometimes you need chocolate, or the magazine. Sometimes I get fed up with going without but generally I can manage to get through with only the milk and toilet paper I went in for! I haven’t always been like this and had to learn alot of discipline but it’s actually really rewarding to end the week well knowing I have managed to shop this way.

11. Develop a survivor mentality in dire cases of needing to save money.  There is poverty and there is voluntary simplicity and I have done both…at the same financial level. I am now choosing to live at a level I previously found very stressful (but I’ve been worse) and we are thriving….it’s just taken a different mindset and we work hard at making it work because it needs to. In saying that I have always had a roof over my head. Most would agree there are 3 basic necessities in life food, warmth and shelter and I am always aware many don’t have these things and I am gratified I am not one of them. We can afford shelter, we get free firewood and grow most of our own food. We both agree we live abundantly, but we live within our means and it all takes work. We can afford insurances etc only because we buy few groceries. Not everyone can do this but thinking outside the square and doing what YOU can do well can make a difference.

There was an item on our news yesterday about a primary school in a poorer area of our country who are teaching life skills such as food gardening, cooking from that garden for lunches many of the kids can’t supply themselves, making fire bricks from shredded newspaper etc. These children are already learning how to make something from nothing, how to be self reliant etc….the teachers told how the kids are so much healthier for it, how much more animated they are and how they are all striving to learn as much as they can. I loved this because God knows, it’s needed there, it’s needed everywhere at present.

So please, do share your tips here or link to your own blog of a similar nature, my list is nowhere near comprehensive and there is alot to be learned from each other. Food tips only as I will do another for household etc. Don’t be shy, your tip might be the only one another can use:)

Breaking Free of the Supermarket Mentality with a Milky Challenge

I love this blog by non-supermarket as she explores local food.