If you want to live a simpler life - identify your needs

"Why are those pots upside-down on sticks?" - that's the question I'm asked more than any other. The second most asked question is this: "How can I start to live a simple life?"  Well, that's easy - stop shopping for things you don't need.  Of course, you could also take it one step at a time and start budgeting, menu planning, cooking from scratch, batch cooking, and making your own soap and household cleaners. You could mend your clothes, plant a vegetable garden and keep chickens. You need to keep up to date with your world, I do that via crikey.com, The Guardian and by maintaining a thoughtful connection with my online tribe; and you could lobby your local MP to find out their view of climate change and what they're doing about it. But if you want to start living more sustainably in a way that will help you save money, pay off debt, cut down on paid work or retire early, don't go shopping for "stuff". You don't have to prepare in any way, you don't have to research it, you don't need any special information or skill. You just stop. And you can do that right now. Today.

I shop for food at Aldi, Woolworths and local markets and haven't been in a shopping centre since 2016 - when I was on my last book tour. I stopped shopping in department stores years earlier and if I need to replace something in my home, I make do with what I already have or try to find it second hand. If that fails, I'll make a quick trip to Ikea, or shop online and purchase that single item without looking to see if there is anything else I want.  The notable exception to that is if I'm upgrading an electrical appliance. Then I make sure I get the most energy-efficient appliance and hopefully something that can be repaired. I'm always mindful of having responsibility for what I buy from the moment I buy it until it's worn out - when it goes to landfill. I don't want to live my life knowing I'm adding more to the outrageous mountains of landfill which are not just in my neighbourhood but also in every community across the country. Wanting something because it's fashionable or wanting what I see on TV isn't good enough, in fact it's extremely destructive. If I don't need it, I don't look for it and I continue to live very well without buying things I don't need.  And I'm happy doing that, it actually makes me happy. I have fewer things to look after, more money in the bank for my future and because we have decluttered many times to rid ourselves of past excesses, we have more than enough space for grandkids, visitors and hobbies.

I reckon quite a few people already do this but if you're not, have a think about it. It is definitely a step in the right direction for many, many reasons.

Things are constantly changing here. We learn new skills, drop old ones, add and subtract what we need in our changing lives and all the while, try to live as simply as we can. While we're doing that, we're getting older and losing the ability to do heavier chores while working on ways to remain in our home, enjoy life and nurture our family. As we move closer to our final years - we're both in our 70s and Hanno will be 80 this year, we focus on leaving our land in a better way than we found it. We've been growing food organically here for over 20 years but soil health and backyard wildlife is still something we work at every day.  We both hope to live older lives that are simple, frugal and worthwhile. I write about our methods and show photos of what we do, sharing recipes and ideas, to show that if we can do it, everyone can.

I'm feeling joy and optimism at the thought of living well here at home during the coming year. We're in fairly good health and we have new projects to keep us busy and interested. The fires and the outcomes from them will take all of us Australians a lot of work to put right if we have any chance of returning to some kind of "normal".  If you need a push, my suggestion is that you stop buying "stuff", stop recreational shopping and identify what your wants and needs are.  Then shop only for your needs.  I promise you it will get easier as you go along.

And finally, hello to all the newcomers here at my blog. There's been a big influx over the holiday period. I hope you find what you're looking for here and take what you can to change your life in meaningful ways.  Have a happy 2020 everyone.  ❣️