April 28, 2011 at 9:21 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: conscious, minimalism, musings, simple, slow, thoughts
I used to play ‘the why-game’ – repeatedly asking why
Why is important.
Why do I want cookies? Sugar -> Why do i want sugar? I feel down -> now find better alternatives, eg a walk
Ask why of deeper issues: poverty, economic problems
‘Why’ finds roots and makes effective changes.
(a blog post in 50 words, inspired by the mind-blowing power of creative restraints)
April 2, 2011 at 4:36 pm (Uncategorized)
I really enjoy eating meat and as a teenager developed a rather staunch anti-vegetarian attitude, for reasons I’m not so sure of now. Anyway, my opinion of vegetarianism has remained the same until recently, although the stroppy, stompy attitude has largely gone! Yet it is hard to read much about how we can help the environment/our financial situation/our health without being told how beneficial a vegetarian diet it. Of course, there are also people writing about the cons, which I enjoy reading much more!
However, I have been living with a vegetarian since September and something seems to have rubbed off. I have been increasingly interested in vegetarian cooking for a couple of years as all the vegetarians I know can cook so well. With increasing awareness of how our meat and animal products are produced I have started to buy better quality meat and eggs. For a few weeks in February I was inadvertently vegetarian, having found some great recipes that I loved. I now probably cook meat-free once a week and eat meat-free twice a week.
I am still not completely sold on the idea, I think we are designed to eat meat and I think a little is good. But I do think changing my diet like this helps me to get more variety and to experiment more. It’s articles like this that really make me think I should change:
Time to end the insane practice of lacing chicken feed with arsenic: the article says the chickens are fed organic arsenic to make them grow faster and that arsenic in this form is not dangerous, however once the feed is digested, the arsenic can become inorganic and potentially dangerous, which may leak into the soil through manure.
US cattle being fed chicken manure?: if the suggestions of this article are true and US cattle are being fed chicken manure, we should be even more worried IF chicken are being fed arsenic.
Cow’s milk: a cruel and unhealthy product: this article really made me feel ill. Apparently the conditions that cows are kept in causes udder infections which leads to there pus in the milk they produce. Obviously the counter-argument is that pasteurization renders this harmless but still, if it is true, this is a horrible, for us and the cows.
I would still call all this pro-vegetarian propaganda, which I guess indicates my position as being resistant and not quite won yet. But it is still in my mind, being mulled over, I do need to be more conscious of what I eat, the conditions it is grown or raised in, the conditions for the people involved and the miles it has travelled. For the moment this takes the form of buying free-range or organic meat and eggs. I have still to decide about milk, my friend has suggested goat’s milk as it is less intensively produced. It is more expensive and I’m not sure about the taste though.
The reasons I think a diet with less or no meat is good are:
So I will try and be increasingly open minded about being vegetarian, rather than dismissing it without a thought as I have done in the past.
March 11, 2011 at 8:25 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: life, money, musings, simple
I while ago I read on Money Saving Expert that businesses do not have our best interests at heart. This seems really logical now but at the time it really did shock me. I did think that businesses wanted to offer me what was best and what helped me. Of course, now I realise that actually many are only interested in profit. They will put in as little money as possible to get the most gain. Realising this has changed my attitude in several ways.
Shopping – realising this helped me cut down my spending because, well basically, I stopped trusting businesses to give me value for money. It made me aware of how quickly some products wear out and need to be replaced, meaning although you think you are getting a cheap bargain, you are really just feeding the company.
Banking – although I have always been a relatively careful banker, I now look at the terms and conditions thinking ‘this is how they will make their money from me’ which makes me more careful about which banks accounts I use.
Advertising – advertising is basically manipulation I feel and usually manipulating in a bad way (it could be argued that charity ads manipulate in a good way, but that’s for another day!) Now I know that companies do not want to inform me or make my life better, but that they simply want to make money, adverts are easier to resist.
This all comes across as very cynical and I guess it is, but I do think that it has been an important thing for me to learn. I am glad there are more and more companies who are using Fair Trade and trying to be more ethical, however they interpret that. It is important to support these businesses where we can, although, unfortunately, they can be more expensive. However, rewatching The Story of Stuff has reminded me that these items are only cheap for me, not everyone else involved in the process. Plus, how expensive or cheap something is is a relative thing, relative to budget, to values and to what you usually buy. I have started buying only free-range eggs and better quality meat, small steps I know. The price increase was initially noticeable but not any more, now it’s just what I buy.
A lot of companies do not want to encourage us to think about what we are buying but we do not have to fall into that trap. By giving myself a bit more time to buy clothes, food, choose bank accounts etc, I can think about what I am doing and choose consciously.
March 2, 2011 at 8:24 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: conscious, life, musings, simple
I recently read that TV channels are now allowed to show up to 12 minutes of advertising per hour. My reaction was shock, because that means that potentially (and I’m sure there are restrictions) they are only broadcasting programmes 75% of the time, well the real statistic is 80% but still. That’s a lot of time when they’re not doing what , to me, their aim is which to me is informing, entertaining, basically putting on shows (although obviously their real aim is to make money).
Today I saw this in relation to my life. Whenever I sit down at a computer I as a reflex check my facebook and my emails. Then if I am feeling particularly distracted the newspapers I tend to read and maybe some blogs. 10, 12 or even 15 minutes easily slip by. How much worse is it that I let up to 25% of my time slip by on things that are not really my aim? Obviously emails need to be checked, but for me at least, not every hour, I’m sure once or twice a day would suffice. I really need to focus on this, I think my aim for this week will be checking emails in the morning and in the evening. Plus I might give up facebook for Lent, I have a busy period of essays and exams coming up and Facebook is such a time-eater.
It’s easy to make judgments about other people and things, it is probably an good, if unfortunate, way of finding out what our values our because they can be such a gut reaction. So as part of trying to be more conscious, I’m going to try and use those snap judgments not to judge others but to judge and change myself, to make sure I am fitting in with that I expect other people to do.
Which starts with time-wasting and Facebook!
Next: Do companies have our best interests at heart?
February 28, 2011 at 8:45 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: lifestyle, musings, simple
Recently I feel as though my life has just been checking boxes, work for uni, tick, food bought, prepared and eat, tick, clothes washed, tick, take at least photo this week, tick, play some flute or guitar, tick. By which I mean it’s all been being done out of a sense of duty. Doing them because I have to, even down to keeping in contact with friends.
Despite knowing that doing less is better and wanting this, currently I am in my final year of my degree and doing less is not an option. Which means that to fit everything in, it all ends up feeling like a conveyor belt: up next, reading, up next, tidying, etc. I have cut out my radio show because as much as I enjoyed being involved in student radio, I didn’t have enough time to dedicate to it and it was stressing me out. I have stopped going to ceilidh band because I never got round to chasing up where and when they were practicing now. I feel like I’ve pared down on everything I can.
This is exactly what I am fighting against in my plans for post-uni, working pushing out all else. So this is just convincing me more strongly that working crazy hours is not the healthy or even necessary thing. I feel like I have lost the one thing that would help me feel less stressed, my passions for music and photography, and even reading. I don’t know how to go forward.
One way I know to regain balance is to take a day off. A whole day work free and guilt free. Relaxing and doing as the mood takes me. We are not designed to work 24/7 and sometimes we can make work of our hobbies and free time, setting goals, schedules,etc. Not that these are bad things, but sometimes it is amazing to be free of pressure and timetabling.
So over the weekend I played my flute, I took a long, slow walk home through the park on Sunday and I took some photos. Just getting out in the sun and seeing the blue skies makes such a difference. Once the weather starts to warm up I will take my lunch outside in the park more often because it’s really calming.
Small things and I am not scheduling them in. I do not want to schedule in lunch in the park, flute playing after uni, photography at the weekend because for me this makes them just as much work, something to be done. But whatever I am doing, I will focus on it. So I will relax without thinking about work, and I will try and absorb myself in work without thinking about time off.
February 22, 2011 at 1:08 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: culture, lifestyle, musings, simple
Branding seems increasingly important as advertisers sell lifestyles and feelings more than products. People return to well-known brands because they trust them to be consistent in quality, taste, price etc. To brand someone is to permanently mark them with something, with negative connotations.
So why are we increasingly branding ourselves and what does this mean?
I found this article, Rebranding yourself, in The Times. Some of it is convincing and logical, for example Louise Mowbray, “personal branding guru”, states that the desire to work less and earn more is achieved through increasing your value. This does make sense, although for me it works better coupled with spending and desiring less. She also says that your personal brand is “is something that is unique and compelling about you. It has to be authentic”. This was sort of my understanding of the CV writing tip “work on your personal brand”, find your strengths and focus on them.
However, she also mentions the importance of “recognising your market value”. Though this does seem relatively logical, I just find the suggestion of thinking of myself as a brand, something marketable, sellable…..buyable….a little perturbing. Yet for working purposes perhaps this is an unavoidable fact.
What I find more intriguing is personal branding in everyday life. People will instinctively, subconsciously judge on appearances, so first impressions count. But a lot of energy and money seems to be spent on portraying yourself consistently through possessions and clothes. I must confess now I have never had particularly strong personal style, or even sense of style at all! I am a lazy dresser, jeans and t-shirt does me just fine. I appreciate that some jobs and lifestyles do often entail more effort than this!
However, I think there are a few problems with this idea. Firstly, there are many magazines and shows that sell, particularly to women, the idea that you must wear the latest fashions. This becomes an expensive, wasteful habit that I think can be harmful to self-worth. I have never really been one to follow fashions but at times I have wished I could.
Even if you are not following fashions as laid out by the industry, having a very strong personal style can lead to the ‘it was so me, I just had to have it’ excuse for buying. There isn’t an intrinsic problem with this, one of my favourite tops I bought on this principle about 6 years ago and still love. In fact, for me, part of the appeal of minimalism is really loving and appreciating all the things you have. But if it overrides logic, for example budget or even need, it could become an issue. Plus, ‘it’s so me’?! It’s not you, it’s a jumper or a pair of jeans or whatever. I am not my clothes!
I guess my main gripe though is that branding is about consistency, reliability, and I am still very much trying to find myself. Yes, it is quite ironic that I am writing this on a blog which probably brands me, by my own hand, as many things, would-be-minimalist/environmentally friendly/hippy… but to me these are all still quite flexible terms, they are not rule-bound ideas. I like being able to be many things and wear many things and question who I am. So there is no brand me and, except on my CV!, there probably won’t be one for a long time.
Next: how do I get beyond ‘checking the boxes’?
February 18, 2011 at 12:39 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: life, musings, shopping, simple, society
As a literature student at uni I can often be found ‘doing some reading’. This is quite different from ‘reading’, which is a leisure activity. I do ‘some reading’ with a goal in mind. When I am ‘reading’ I usually just…read! No pressure to finish, just enjoying it as something relaxing.
A similar difference has emerged in shopping, on a Saturday I go out to ‘do a shop’, the aim is to get all my food for the week and then I’m done. On other occasions, usually when I’m stressed or meeting up with friends I ‘go shopping’ instead, its a leisure activity, for relaxing, no specific goal in mind, just meandering through shops.
Which now just sounds like ‘voluntarily bombarding myself with adverts’. This article in The Independent calls shopping (as a verb) the ‘marketing scam of the century’. Apparently, in England, “shopping is the top leisure activity and accounts for 37 per cent of all money spent”.
A man named Barbar suggests that marketing keeps us like young children, amused by simple things and not looking for a deeper and more complex stimulation. Not to say that it is bad for adults to enjoy childish pleasures, I personally think this is very important, but they should also be looking for more.
What it all boils down to is that companies do not have our best interests at heart, regardless of what they would like you to think. I first read this on a money-saving website, it shocked me because I felt so stupid to have not realised it before. Regardless of what they would like you to believe, companies often just want to make money. Even green companies. As Barber warns: “Green consumerism is still consuming”. Although greening essentials is definitely a good idea where feasible.
Since basic human needs – food, shelter, clothing – have long since been met for most people in the developed world, marketing professionals now bang their heads together to reinvent and recreate goods in order to sell more stuff. (Independent article, as above)
I am lucky to currently have everything I need. It was only this week that I realised that that means that I do not need to ‘go shopping’. Until something essential needs replacing (or my course demands something I can’t cadge some other way), I do not need to acquire more things. I will still do a weekly shop, but I will try to avoid the non-food aisles.
As well as this, I will cultivate my leisure activities that stimulate my mind and contentment. Sadly, my laptop appears to have died. On the other hand, this takes away my biggest time eater from my room. Last time I was laptop-less I was genuinely shocked by how much I achieved. As the Independent article points out, we not only over-consume in shops, we also binge on TV and internet. Shopping and watching rubbish TV makes me feel bad about myself but its so easy and numbing after a long day. Thank you broken laptop for taking the TV temptation away!
February 17, 2011 at 8:23 am (Uncategorized)
Tags: green, lifestyle, minimalism, musings
We are surrounded by incentives to buy, adverts, television programs, even our friends and work colleagues. So a lot of minimalist/green/frugal tips will encourage you to ask yourself questions that stop spending and acquiring being so automatic and thoughtless. These are usually:
The other day, when clearing out a ton of stupid belongings from my old room, a new question crossed my mind: What will I do with this when I’m finished with it? I really wished I’d asked this question before acquiring all the stuff in my room which I now have to spend ages getting rid of!
But for me at the moment this is mainly to do with food and packaging, looking at my food and thinking, what will be left when I’ve eaten the contents and how will I dispose of the packaging. This week I am trying to avoid excess plastic packaging, so this question makes me check to see if it is recyclable or if there is a plastic-free alternative. Sometimes there isn’t, but at least this is a thought-through decision.
At my uni we have recently got new bins with one recycling section and one section labeled ‘Landfill’. This is certainly a disincentive for me! I’ve since started thinking of my rubbish not as something that will disappear but as something that is going to fill up our land and sit around for decades or centuries.
It also reminds me that things are finite, they will eventually be no longer fit for purpose. So it makes me think about how high quality a product is, whether I will soon be disposing of it only to replace it with another which will sooner or later also need replacing…and so on!
It can also help me keep some distance between myself and objects, sometimes I can fall into the trap of thinking that buying something new will make me feel better. Reminding myself that this object is temporary reminds me that the ‘happiness’ I’ll get from it is temporary too.
Next: When did shopping become a verb?
February 15, 2011 at 2:37 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: life, musings, society
It has become one of my mum’s pet hates and is becoming one of mine too, the phrase ‘it’ll do‘. It suggests making do, mediocrity, putting up with something substandard, perhaps also complacency. There are two main areas I see it in, my purchases and my work. I’ll need new shoes or a present for someone and am, as always, in a rush so I find something good enough and make do with that. I am set a piece of work and due to time constraints or pure lack of motivation I put in the minimum effort and think it’s enough.
Clearly, there are several factors that lead me to think ‘it’ll do’. They are:
However, everytime i think something along the lines of ‘good enough’ now, I also remember something my dad used to repeat to me: if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly. Why spend your time or money on something that is substandard? I know that when I have handed in poorly done work, it has a lasting effect on me. Every time I think of that piece of work I feel guilty for not having done it to the best of my ability. Everytime I buy a make-shift item, I either don’t enjoy it or I feel bad that I will soon need to replace it. To stop this, I need to address the things that cause me to compromise.
Time: I feel like society says, the more, the better. The old saying is ‘quality before quantity’ but in so many respects this has gone out the window. The more activities you do, the better. The more things you own (however poor quality or disposable), the better. The more friendships, however trivial, the better. All of this eats time and spreads us or our resources more thinly. This year I am sad not to be doing as many things as I used to, not to be seeing as many people as I used to. But I do know that the things I am doing and the people I am seeing are worth it, they deserve me to give them quality time. This applies to shopping, which is something I hate, I really am not a good consumer, it can make me feel quite ill sometimes. However, sometime I will need new clothes, right now I need new shoes. In order to make good decisions about these things, I need to allow time to find the best option.
Money: I am a student, I have no income and a lot of outgoings so money is always an issue in the forefront of my mind. So many of my clothes and possessions are cheap items I picked up to tide me over. This no longer makes me feel very good about myself. It is harder to repair cheap items and they wear terribly quickly. I am lucky to have savings so I need to remember that a higher initial outlay is often better in the long run. Plus, the internet is a brilliant resource for both finding items at the best possible cost and also for reading reviews to estimate the quality of a product.
Lack of motivation and desire: I think part of this can be solved by reducing the amount of things we do. Yes, there will always be things I have to do that I don’t overly want to (shopping and paying bills!) but if most of the things I am doing are things I really want to do, I will feel motivated to do my best at them.
Lack of an alternative: this partially ties in with money, sometimes I just do not have the money to justify on the initial outlay of a higher quality product, particularly when it is so hard to ascertain if a product really will last. My current issue is shoes. I need new, flat black everyday shoes. I could pick up some it’ll-do cheap shoes but I really would like some that will last. But I cannot find good quality shoes in my size that are a feasible price. Sometime soon the pair I have on now and almost everyday will give out and if I don’t have a new pair, I’ll probably have to give in to it’ll do mentality. So planning ahead can help avoid the lack alternative excuse.
I am aiming for minimalism and for me part of that is having little, but really enjoying what you do and making sure it is good quality. So no more it’ll-do moments for me hopefully!
Next: What will I do with this when I’m finished with it?
February 15, 2011 at 12:54 pm (Uncategorized)
Tags: lifestyle, musings, simple
There are so many things I want to change about me and my lifestyle it is overwhelming and there is no way it will all happen at once, it would be just too much. So I am going to focus on making small, fairly easy changes and monitoring them through goals. Apparently keeping yourself accountable is a good way to stay on track so I will be writing all my little changes up, but to keep the main blog from being full of this, it’ll be on the page ‘changes and challenges’ .
I have goals for things which I think are easily trackable but I will also be choosing a focus every week or two for things such as ‘try to buy local’, ‘avoid excess packaging where possible’, ‘cut down on sugar intake’. It wouldn’t be possible for me to cut down on any of these totally, or perhaps it would just be rather hard and I am a bit lazy and it would be rather daunting.
My two main goals are:
1. One meat free day a week, hopefully accompanied by one new vegetarian recipe a week
2. Get rid of 5 items a week; this seems an easy target and I hope this will help me maintain it, this week I have thrown out about 10x that but as the weeks go on it will get harder, til perhaps at some point it won’t be possible or necessary!
My focus for this week will be on excess packaging and single-use plastic. Things I think this will entail are not buying individually packed snacks, not buying packaged vegetables (which was also probably cut down on waste food) and putting sandwiches in boxes not plastic bags.
Another thing I have done this week is start using cotton handkerchiefs rather disposable tissues. It seems a bit odd and like a trivial difference but I think our culture is far too disposable orientated.
Which sort of brings me onto my next topic: Challenging ‘It’ll do’
