Back to Frugality

It felt like autumn would never arrive but the soft greyness outside my window suggests that it's here, and I'm delighted. Summer 2018 has been very long and very hot.

We spent almost two weeks of our summer camping, something of an endurance event with young children, fun but exhausting. The second week we cheated, we slept in a tent but had full use of the facilities in the house. The luxury option.

In complete contrast, the first week was spent at a small off grid camp site, a secluded pitch in the woods. Perhaps it was because we were back in my home county, but everything about it was completely enchanting. I began to remember things about myself long buried in the noise of plugged in city living.

We woke up with the sun every morning. The kids picked blackberries for their porridge and we ate that same breakfast every day. We foraged firewood. We swam in the sea. We used the composting toilet and had 'navy' showers to conserve the tiny amounts of propane heated water.  I stretched the clean clothing through the week and cooked everything one-pot. I made a single phone charge last 6 days.

It was an exercise in barebones living and conserving resources - and I loved it. I vowed that I would bring the experience back home with me. And then I got back to my regular routine, and also burned through the budget for school supplies, birthday parties and social activities.

I've felt discombobulated by it all. I know that that's not how I want to live; and I know that it doesn't make me happy. And so things need to change.