"Abundance is a state of mind not a quantity of consumer goods," David Holmgren (co-orginator of Permaculture)
There’s so much information currently available on the net and on people’s personal blogs about living frugally.
But I think the word ‘frugality’ needs a marketing makeover.
The Macquarie Dictionary defines 'frugal' as; economical in use or expenditure, prudently saving or sparing, entailing little expense, costing little, scanty, meager.
But I have a problem with the word.
(By the way, the same dictionary defines ‘consume’ as; to destroy or expend by use, to use up; to devour; to spend wastefully; to suffer destruction.)
And a ‘consumer’ (which we all are) as; one who or that which consumes – one who uses a commodity or service (as opposed to a producer).
But back to the word frugal.
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To me frugality conjures up images of going without – which for any of you who regularly read these inspiring blogs knows is definitely not the case.
Most of the people espousing frugality actually have very full, abundant, rich lives.
They eat better, are less stressed, enjoy life more and have more fulfilling family relationships than people who do the work/spend/time poor treadmill cycle.
I used to work full time in a corporate job – I worked for a wage, then spent the weekends cleaning a big house, shopping and spending the $$ to buy things to justify to myself giving up my whole week during something I didn’t particularly enjoy just to earn a wage.
Of course you need to work to buy a home, to buy food, clothes, to enjoy life etc.
Of course you do, but we get so caught up in the idea that you have to buy ‘everything’ and that you can’t produce anything yourself – and that every year everything has to be better, bigger, newer, have newer features – that’s the cycle I’m talking about.
That cycle of earn more = spend more – it will never be enough – no matter how hard you work, no matter how much you earn. And it costs to work, the travel, the clothes, the lunches – when you add it all up you begin to question just how much you really need.
We're conditioned to think that you have to pay people to make things for you, or fix things in your house for you.
Things are for throwing out and replacing, not repairing, recycling or even pre-cycling (not buying it in the first place).
Nowadays here at home, we’re doing a lot more to meet our own needs, producing more, growing more, making more, rather than working for someone else to get the cash to buy what we needs.
We make meals from scratch and spend whole days at home - no car travel, no spending at shops.
As a result, we actually need a lot less cash now.
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Not ‘upgrading’ our house and taking on a new mortgage when we sold our last home was the biggest step we took – we were at a crossroads some years ago – sell the big house in the ‘burbs and move to something bigger, or move to something we could afford.
We took the second option and bought this useful property that is now providing food and income for us. (Which can also be done very successfully in the suburbs too, you don’t need acreage to grow food or to do permaculture.)
Permaculture ethics are Care of Earth, Care of People and Fair Share – the last one relates to what we use, how much we use, how we use it, what we return back into the system and self-responsibility for the resources we consume while we’re on the planet.
It also questions the hot topic of population – fair share extends to all our actions, including the choices we make relating to reproducing.
David Holmgren (co-originator of Permaculture) encourages us to make the move from dependent consumer to responsible producer.
To take responsibility for what we use and produce as much as we can ourselves. It’s not about self-sufficiency, it’s about self-reliance.
Permaculture isn’t about each property being an island that is self-sufficient – it’s about meeting as many of your needs as you can as close to home as you can, then ‘fair trading’ the rest of what you need.
Here’s a quote from David, "
Abundance is a state of mind not a quantity of consumer goods."
So how could we describe that shift without locking it into the word ‘frugal’ which I think turns a lot of people off?
What about the term ‘mindful spending’ – acknowledging that yes, we all still need cash to interact with the world, but we can make the move to be very mindful of where that cash goes, who it goes to and the types of systems it supports.
Money still needs to be circulated to support other people in their employment – but where does the money end up? Overseas or local? Too many small local businesses have been lost already.
Does your money stay local, does it go direct to the producer or does a ‘middle-man’ take a cut, who sets the price (very relevant to the relationship between farmers and the big supermarkets), how is the business run, what are their ethics and philosophy, can you trade or barter rather than needing actual cash, can you produce something that is of value to someone else, can you join forces with others to bulk buy and save money?
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If you’re mindful about where your money goes and if we as consumers ask these questions, the market may just respond – it’s demand driven – and if people demand to know where their dollar goes and who it supports, then we can begin to influence changes to these systems.
Here’s a quote to leave you with
"
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has," Margaret Mead
Cheers,
Sonya