I've just started reading a new blog - Notes from the Frugal Trenches, amoungst others from Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op blog. I was reading about "downshifting", as the thought of it pretty much dominates my mind atm. I thought I'd just reflect on my own downshifting journey over the past few years.
(YA = years ago, MA = months ago, ie in the past from where I am now). I've tried for chronological order;
10YA - Lived on a 33ft yacht for about a year. Realised how many more stars there are in the night sky away from cities, pollution, lights etc. Got nostalgic for the days when I used to be able to see the Milky Way from my suburban home as a child. Realised I hadn't seen many stars at all in the city for years. Quite a shock.
9YA - Did my Army preventive medicine (environmental health) training living on-base for a few months out in the sticks. Really enjoyed my lifestyle there and how good I felt, particularly my afternoon 5km run around the base through the trees on a dirt track and some grass, the fresh air, and the lack of traffic. Decided at this time I wanted to move out of the city but would still want a good career, which I didn't have on the yacht. Looked at the Army full-time, decided on becoming a paramedic.
7YA - Began becoming a paramedic. This included some clinical placements in rural locations which I really enjoyed. Started narrowing down where I would want to move to.
4YA - Got my first full-time ALS paramedic job in a rural city. Had quite a culture shock as my normal forms of entertainment were either not available at all, not readily available, or not of the same standard. At that time these were fancy dinners at restaurants, cocktail bars, Gold Class cinemas, and live shows/gigs, as well as a membership at a nice fancy gym with a eucalyptus steam room and aromatherapy room to name just a few.
3YA - Transferred my job and my life to a small rural town. Another culture shock again. No shops except the op-shop and a small supermarket which didn't contain any fancy products. Searched the supermarket shelves and couldn't find rice milk or tofu (they are now available). No free-range chicken, no fresh organic food. No takeaway food and the one and only restaurant at the pub was terrible. No gym at all. And my roster involved being on-call a lot. Had to begin shopping on-line which helped me decide what I really wanted and less impulse (still some impulse buying). Had to learn how to cook and how to use more staple ingredients. Bought a Nintendo Wii and set-up home gym and bought Tracy Anderson workout DVDs. Go for an occasional run in the fresh air around the paddocks - reminds me of the good ol' times on the Army base.
1.5YA - Bought my house so I could finally do things like install solar panels, put in a vege patch, plant some fruit trees, and get my non-existent gardens in existence. Already had some nifty devices like those standby power switches. Water tank already insitu. Grey-water hose from washing machine to vege patch in place since renting as we were ina serious drought then.
8MA - Decided I was going to go frugal. Rearranged my budget as much as possible (with more help from My Budget with who I have been with for a few years now). Reduced as much as possible. Shopped around for cheapest insurance, internet, phone etc. Simplified. Convinced myself to only travel overseas once per year instead of up to 4 times at one stage!
6MA - Found myself the perfect house-mate to take up some of the ridiculously large amount of space I have in my house and to contribute rent.
4MA - Started reducing the amount of overtime I work. Enjoy my days off.
2MA - Finally getting my feed-in sorted for my solar (so the electricity company buys-back any excess I generate thoughout the day).
1MA - Started seriously looking at rural acreage for my (hopefully) final transition to as rural as I want to go. Planning to rent my rural township house out (I wont sell it as I need a city or town house as an asset as my acreage house will firstly be my forever-home so I can freely design and do with it what I wish without worrying about resale, and secondly it will not increase in capital as dramatically as my township house, and thirdly my plan is to have a number of small-mortgage houses with people renting them off me and to never have a large mortgage to which I am chained to as per the advice from a few of the older people I'm friends with). Am still currently in the planning phase or the acreage house. Projected period of planning is 12 months, projected period of construction/moving is another 12-24 months after that. V. excited.
Recently - Bought my first few shares! They were in a co-operative wind farm! V. cool. Hoping to receive my first few small dividends in the next year. Joining some local sustainability groups.
So now I've started a new post category - the "simple life" which I hope share the more time I intend to spend on my down-shifted, frugal, green, simple life.
---------------
I'm hoping to still keep up with modernity, though. I love technology and I have no intention on rejecting modern life and living like the colonials. I'm just trying to cultivate that part in my bio that says "find the time to stop and smell the roses....."
(YA = years ago, MA = months ago, ie in the past from where I am now). I've tried for chronological order;
10YA - Lived on a 33ft yacht for about a year. Realised how many more stars there are in the night sky away from cities, pollution, lights etc. Got nostalgic for the days when I used to be able to see the Milky Way from my suburban home as a child. Realised I hadn't seen many stars at all in the city for years. Quite a shock.
9YA - Did my Army preventive medicine (environmental health) training living on-base for a few months out in the sticks. Really enjoyed my lifestyle there and how good I felt, particularly my afternoon 5km run around the base through the trees on a dirt track and some grass, the fresh air, and the lack of traffic. Decided at this time I wanted to move out of the city but would still want a good career, which I didn't have on the yacht. Looked at the Army full-time, decided on becoming a paramedic.
7YA - Began becoming a paramedic. This included some clinical placements in rural locations which I really enjoyed. Started narrowing down where I would want to move to.
4YA - Got my first full-time ALS paramedic job in a rural city. Had quite a culture shock as my normal forms of entertainment were either not available at all, not readily available, or not of the same standard. At that time these were fancy dinners at restaurants, cocktail bars, Gold Class cinemas, and live shows/gigs, as well as a membership at a nice fancy gym with a eucalyptus steam room and aromatherapy room to name just a few.
3YA - Transferred my job and my life to a small rural town. Another culture shock again. No shops except the op-shop and a small supermarket which didn't contain any fancy products. Searched the supermarket shelves and couldn't find rice milk or tofu (they are now available). No free-range chicken, no fresh organic food. No takeaway food and the one and only restaurant at the pub was terrible. No gym at all. And my roster involved being on-call a lot. Had to begin shopping on-line which helped me decide what I really wanted and less impulse (still some impulse buying). Had to learn how to cook and how to use more staple ingredients. Bought a Nintendo Wii and set-up home gym and bought Tracy Anderson workout DVDs. Go for an occasional run in the fresh air around the paddocks - reminds me of the good ol' times on the Army base.
1.5YA - Bought my house so I could finally do things like install solar panels, put in a vege patch, plant some fruit trees, and get my non-existent gardens in existence. Already had some nifty devices like those standby power switches. Water tank already insitu. Grey-water hose from washing machine to vege patch in place since renting as we were ina serious drought then.
8MA - Decided I was going to go frugal. Rearranged my budget as much as possible (with more help from My Budget with who I have been with for a few years now). Reduced as much as possible. Shopped around for cheapest insurance, internet, phone etc. Simplified. Convinced myself to only travel overseas once per year instead of up to 4 times at one stage!
6MA - Found myself the perfect house-mate to take up some of the ridiculously large amount of space I have in my house and to contribute rent.
4MA - Started reducing the amount of overtime I work. Enjoy my days off.
2MA - Finally getting my feed-in sorted for my solar (so the electricity company buys-back any excess I generate thoughout the day).
1MA - Started seriously looking at rural acreage for my (hopefully) final transition to as rural as I want to go. Planning to rent my rural township house out (I wont sell it as I need a city or town house as an asset as my acreage house will firstly be my forever-home so I can freely design and do with it what I wish without worrying about resale, and secondly it will not increase in capital as dramatically as my township house, and thirdly my plan is to have a number of small-mortgage houses with people renting them off me and to never have a large mortgage to which I am chained to as per the advice from a few of the older people I'm friends with). Am still currently in the planning phase or the acreage house. Projected period of planning is 12 months, projected period of construction/moving is another 12-24 months after that. V. excited.
Recently - Bought my first few shares! They were in a co-operative wind farm! V. cool. Hoping to receive my first few small dividends in the next year. Joining some local sustainability groups.
So now I've started a new post category - the "simple life" which I hope share the more time I intend to spend on my down-shifted, frugal, green, simple life.
---------------
I'm hoping to still keep up with modernity, though. I love technology and I have no intention on rejecting modern life and living like the colonials. I'm just trying to cultivate that part in my bio that says "find the time to stop and smell the roses....."
Looking forward to reading more in your simple life series (whenever you finally get time to do that!) I'm wondering how I'll adapt to life in a rural town as a med student, so it was good to read your experiences of that, too :).
ReplyDeleteHi InkBlot,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. Yep, I hope I can write more on the simple-life soon, and you might have already given me an idea for my next post.
I have pretty-much fully adapted to rural life now but differences are still so obvious to me that I can still compare and reflect back a little. Mind you , I now find driving to the city a scary experience!
Cheers.