A future with less debt and waste

I met Hanno on my 28th birthday, we married when I was 31 and our first baby, Shane, was born a year later. Shane turns 28 next Tuesday. He has never brought any of his girlfriends home to meet us but a couple of weeks ago, we met his girl. She admired my dishcloth knitting that was beside my chair, she's fond of vegetable gardening and chooks and she's a really lovely girl. Next week she's leaving her job and part time university to move in with Shane. They will both work at the resort and live in a house on the property. There isn't a smiley face big enough to insert here so let's just say I'm a very happy mother.

That hasn't got much to do with today's post, I just had to tell my good news. We'll be driving over there to have lunch with them next week. I'll try to slip in this subject.

The Story of Stuff

If I was setting up a home today with the same sensibilities and knowledge I have in my head now, I'd reject much of the new made in China products and go for either second hand, hand made or good quality items that would last many years and be repaired when needed. I wish I could say I did that the first time around, or even the second, but you know my story and I was caught up in the conspicuous wealth syndrome back then and I bought things that looked good. I should have known better because I am a working class woman and I feel ashamed that I fell for the advertising hook, line and sinker.

I'm glad I changed.

One of my grandmothers was Swedish, so buried deep in my genes is a love of the Swedish style of painted furniture. This style of decorating a home relies on plain and simple old wooden furniture that is painted in beautiful tones of milky blue or green with bright splashes of red. Much of this furniture could be picked up on road side throw outs, bought at garage sales or in op shops, and repainted. Often chairs and couches are covered with homemade cotton covers that have been sewn to fit the shape. Not only is this a very frugal way of furnishing a home, it's also environmentally sound and it cuts out the Chinese middleman.

When it comes to appliances, I think it's better to buy new energy efficient, good quality items that are built to last and can be repaired. Curtains and soft furnishings can be home made and bit by bit you build your new home into something unique, and not the carbon copy of a thousand other houses nearby. When I look around my home now, I love my red and white curtains the most - they were made for me in my own home by my sister, Tricia. I like and value the curtains I hand made in my kitchen much more than the custom made ones I have in the loungeroom. Those kitchen curtains are "me", they symbolise my life now, the others are just a reflection of the money I used to earn. pffffffffffft!

The same applies to clothes. I used to buy all my clothes, now I make as much of it as I can. I still buy some things, but I plan on teaching myself how to make everything I need in the coming years. I really dislike all the cheap clothes that flood in from China. It's a false economy to think it's a bargain when what it is doing is harming our own manufacturing industries, and giving us more of everything, when what we need is less. I would like to see the manufacturers in Australia regain the strength they had in former years, when they produced good quality local products and even though they were more expensive, they lasted and built our local economy. We had less waste then because we didn't have the option to go to a department store and buy a cheap replacement that we would need to replace again a couple of years down the track.

I think the current economic climate will require more prudent consumption of almost everything, and that is a good thing. It's wiser now to pay off debt than to take it on. That is what I'll try to slip into our birthday conversation with Shane. It won't be a lecture, it will be gentle and linked to lifestyle instead of economics, but the result, I hope will be the same. When they embark on a new life together, I hope they won't fall for the McMansion-I have to have everything I want syndrome, and instead be mindful of a future with less debt and less waste.

Graphics from the Carl Larsen gallery.