How to develop self reliance

There used to be a time when there were no supermarkets - this was in my lifetime, few people owned a car or a phone, the only screens were at the cinema and most people knew how to cook and make general repairs and they lived their lives without much outside help. If a shoe sole was wearing out, the sole was tidied up, a leather patch was glued and tacked on, the patch was cut to suit the shape of the sole and it kept the shoes going another year. Everyone knew how to darn and mend clothes, backyard gardens and chickens were commonplace and haircuts were done at home. There were no convenience foods, few packaged products and every home had at least one person who could easily put up jam, relish, sauce and cordial, as well as store the surplus from the garden and make the daily bread and enough cake and biscuits for the family and visitors. Life was simple then.

Then it wasn't. That life started to quietly fade away in the 1960s and has been replaced by what we have now. First let me say that I love living during this time. I do not yearn for the 1920s, 40s or 60s. Life is easier now, but it's not nearly as simple and safe. We do have the luxury of choice though and many of us have chosen to modify the way we live to regain some of that lost simplicity and become more self reliant.  Those small adjustments make us more capable people and if we're going to survive during the difficult periods that no doubt will come along, we'll need some of the traditional home skills that we so quickly walked away from.

The ease we have now has been brought about by appliances that do a lot of our heavy house work in a very efficient manner, the abundance of good food, cheap shoes and clothing, a wide range of materials that were unknown earlier on and a better understanding of bacteria and viruses and how we should clean our homes. But all of it has to be paid for and often it means working longer to have the money to buy what you need and the convenience you desire.

So if you are going to buy into modern life, how do you develop self reliance? You develop the mindset, take responsibility for yourself and then carefully choose what you'll pay money for and what you can do yourself. Don't look at my life and think I'm the model for simple life. I've got time to do things during the day when you're probably at work, or working in your home looking after children.

If your time is limited, work out what changes will make the biggest difference in your life and go from there. If I were working for a living now, I'd take my lunch and a drink to work every day so I didn't have the added expense of buying something I could easily make myself. No matter how much time is available, most of us have to shop for food, so work out what your food budget is and change the way you shop to get the best value for money. Learn how to store food correctly so you don't waste any. Cook from scratch. That will save you money and keep you healthier because you won't be eating so many preservatives and food additives. If you have more time, do some batch cooking so you have a stock of your own frozen home cooking in the freezer and can feed yourself and the family without having to buy convenience or fast food on those nights when you're tired or running late.

Another thing we all have to do is clean, so find some reliable recipes for cleaners, soap and laundry products and depending on how much time you have, make as many of them as you can. This is a huge money saver and you'll have far fewer chemicals in your home as a result. Start with laundry powder or liquid because it's easy and quick to make and it will save you a packet. If you have more time, cut up old towels for cleaning rags, recycle a spray bottle, fill it with half water and half white vinegar and do some of your cleaning with that. If you have more time, make a citrus version of that. More time? Make your own homemade version of Gumption by mixing a cup of homemade laundry liquid with a cup of bicarb. Or learn how to make soap. If you have more time, do more.

It's the mindset that will see you through. If you convince yourself that being self reliant will make a real difference to your life, you'll eventually fall into the habit of looking for ways to make much of what you use instead of working longer so you can buy it at the supermarket. After a while, home production and being the person who makes that happen will become your new normal and you'll recycle, repair, cut back, save, mend, cook, preserve and make do because that is who you are.

It's a fine way to live - the choice about your level of self reliance is yours - but from my own experiences, the more I did, the more sense it made to keep going. Time is the the biggest barrier. The more you cut back and save, the less you'll have to work and that will give you time to increase what you do in your home. But what can you do right now? The important thing to do today is to make the commitment to develop the twin habits of self reliance and responsibility and then see where that takes you.