Saturday, March 5, 2011

Simple Living #1 - Baby Steps

A link from Sinfonia had me seriously thinking on this topic again. This particular family (Dervaes Family) has an urban home which they transformed into an organic and sustainable micro-farm.

Going through their blog has me thinking - do we really need lots of money to live? Or can we live simply.. with minimal income.. yet live really quite well.

I've blogged about Simple Living before. At that time, I said I'd make a plan.

Sadly, I haven't really done anything since then.

It's time to do something. For starters, a few things about our lifestyle bothers me -
1) We consume lots of electricity at home - our air-conditioner is always switched on most of the time and the TV is always on, although no one may be watching it
2) I buy too many things I do not need. I'm a bit of a facial products junkie - I think I have supplies enough for 2 years, at least.. with what is in my dresser at the moment. Maybe not 2 years.. but at least 18 months.
3) We stock too many things in our larder and end up having lots of food expiring, then throwing them out. It's a similar situation for the fresh food we buy. We put them into our very full fridge and don't cook them quick enough so they turn bad

It's going to be hard to move towards simple living. I'm just going to take baby steps for now by:
1) Cutting down on my consumption of electricity when I can
2) Not buying facial products for the next 6 months
3) Being careful about what I buy in the supermarket and at the market to reduce waste

 Thinking time.. what else can I do?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like I very good idea!

My Sinfonia said...

I have to freeze the meat I buy and store in single portions in the freezer as the supermarket I go to is about 30min drive and I do not want to go zipping out every time I want something. I find that reduces food wastage. Facial products? I use only Johnson's bb oil, Nivea cream and Hazeline snow. So cheap, think nobody can fault me. Good luck with the aircon though. Might have a very bad-tempered husband on hand!

Open Kitchen Concept said...

Thanks Theanne!

YM, yes, actually I do that too to meat. What I always tend to throw away though is bread, milk and vegetables.. and all kinds of sauces that I don't use and end up expiring.

With facial products, I go mad when I shop online or travel - especially Japan!

With the aircon - I think you are right! That's the hardest for me! :P

Wen-ai said...

it's a very good start! As for me, whenever I realize that I have some canned foods or ingredients expiring, I will... hrm, invite friends or family over for dinner to help me "clear stock". haha!