Well an update on our attempts to live as well as possible for as little cost as possible. Living this way does mean more effort and work though, but who ever decided that work and effort for something you want is a bad thing... The whole of the 'consumer industry' keeps churning out labour saving devices and brainwashing everyone into believing that work is bad... we think a little differently, there is good work and bad work... bad work is the one most people are trapped into, that daily slog in wind rain cold (whichever fits you) to a place you dont want to be, doing jobs you either dislike or feel unworthy of your efforts... that hamster on a wheel type of living, just to pay the bills and continue on to the next daily round of stress...
Good work is different, we work harder physically now than ever before, (we do still live in a semi ruin) but the work is good, enjoyable and for ourselves. We spend days cutting and splitting and stacking logs, hard dirty sweaty work... but the sheer joy of looking at the log barn and knowing how cosy we'll be all winter (and at no cost) makes it really satisfying. Rik is at the moment digging out the whole of the courtyard at the back of the house, our place is built into a hillside, so the lower floor which is my kitchen is half in the ground, and during wet weather water runs in.... so he has started digging out and will do a couple of hours of backbreaking labour every day possible till its done, but its for a reason, there is a good end result... again, worthwhile work...
Work doesnt rule our lives, but its something we have to do every day to live as we do.... but I dont call cooking fresh wholesome tasty food, work, nor is the quiet peaceful time I get to work on our land, watching the food we eat sprout from the ground, green and fertile.... bottling, storing, picking... its all work of a kind... but what joy.... Its all down to the way you see things...
The same goes for most of the jobs I do , in our efforts to live simply, healthily and cheaply, I bake our own bread, grow our own food, (and cook from fresh) we try to buy as few things such as clothes as possible, people have far too many... I mend ours... darn socks, patch and darn riks shirts etc, when we aworking out and about in the forest or at home, why do we need to look smart... our clothes are clean and well mended, but sometimes look a tad strange...
All we do seems to be labour intensive, old fashioned (to some) ways of living and doing things. But who decided modern, progressive living was the best way....
Electricity update.
We are still working at cutting down our consumption, but at the moment cannot afford any alternative production methods, so its using less as a way to go for now.
I've managed during the last 6-9 months to cut our bills from between 85-120 eurs per two months, to now on average, 34-45 euros per two months... and feel pretty good about that! The fridge stayed off for all but july August and half od sept. Its off again now and will stay off untill next summer. I use a 30 dg wash cycle on the machine (yes we still have some luxury) which onlt takes 30 mins, for all things that dont need a hot wash (riks work jeans and sweatshirts) the rest all goes on 30dgs and is very good.
We are still resisting the lure of TV, we do have a dvd player and borrow films, but still try to spend more evenings, reading, playing scrabble word gamnes and crosswords, complete at the moment with hot rasted chestnuts to munch on...
Frugal living in the Portuguese countryside,Eco-tourism, Agri tourism, recipes,family life, self sufficency, eco living, vegetable growing, tips and self help ideas for country living.
