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At a meeting this morning we had an interesting discussion about how certain actions, (and being frugal with frugal actions was the topic), differ greatly from one geographical area to the next along with a persons family background. At the crisis center we often help people who just were not raised in a frugal home and how we could almost tell if they were raised around here or not before we even asked during the interview process.
I used several comments from this site as examples. Comments such as where people thought a clothes dryer was a necesitty, or a dishwasher, or cable tv or internet or cell phones for every member of the house, even the 7 year old.
Several at the meeting, including me, grew up in an area with a lot of Amish, currently live in an area with Amish, and had Amish grandparents.
For me, a clothes dryer, dishwasher, tv, radio and such are wants, not needs.
I grew up with no furnace. We burned wood for our heat, and often for our cooking as well. We have a furnace now, but it is one of the last ones in the county to get fired up at winter as we start out with wood.
I pumped for my water (when at my Grandmas farm, helped her carry in wood, used an outhouse, hung clothes on the line, and helped in the garden. She didn't buy items she could make cheaper herself, such as soaps of all types, bakery items, clothing, cheeses, peanbutters, candies, candles and a lot more.
Many of these things I do now, as my parents (who are not Amish and neither am I--my Grandma was the last of our direct line to be but I still have cousins and Aunts who are).
I do my own baking, gardening, perserve food, use a clothes line, grow my own herbs, breast fed and used cloth diapers, make my own yogurt, vanilla, cleaners, soaps, about 1/2 our clothing, candles. We butcher our own meat, raise chickens, hunt and fish. We have an orchard and vineyard. And, we are teaching our children to do the same, yet they are not forced to do them. But, we feel to know how is important.
If the power goes out here (as it often does) we fire up the wood cookstove and move food over to the icebox. We can still cook and have heat. We have a well we can go pump from if the water goes out. We have lamps and a good supply of oil on hand for lights. We don't go into panic mood like some of the neighbors do. We once went without power for almost 3 weeks during the winter and we had people wanting to come stay with us as they saw we went on as usual.
Where I live, this is the norm as many people, like I had parents, grandparents or great grandparents who were Amish. They grew up this way.
But there are those that if you moved them here or even left them where they were, but took away anything requiring electric, they could not survive on their own.
Yet, when you look at the history of mankind, we lived without electricty and running water far longer than we have had it. How did we become so dependent on it within just a few generations?
And, are we healthier for it?? Studies show we now expose ourselves to the point of often getting cancer from chemicals, radiation, plastics, overhead power lines, and possibly constant cell use. We sit on the couch in front of the tv turning ourselves into couch potatoes.
My grandparents and up all lived to be in their 80's at least, and quite a few to over 100, and mobile and mentally alert until the end. Most died in their sleep, not from cancer or heart disease. (I keep the family geneology records)
So, do we keep on inventing and creating new gagets for the fun of it?? Is it all worth it?
People say its is how society is, and you have to because all your peers do, yet, the Amish, Mennonites and other groups have proved you don't HAVE to. Its more of a want, than a have to.
That was just a portion of the meeting this morning. We were brainstorming how to get some to understand they won't die tomorrow if the cancel cable tv so they can pay the water bill. Many of our clients have no concept of how to prioritize.
I used several comments from this site as examples. Comments such as where people thought a clothes dryer was a necesitty, or a dishwasher, or cable tv or internet or cell phones for every member of the house, even the 7 year old.
Several at the meeting, including me, grew up in an area with a lot of Amish, currently live in an area with Amish, and had Amish grandparents.
For me, a clothes dryer, dishwasher, tv, radio and such are wants, not needs.
I grew up with no furnace. We burned wood for our heat, and often for our cooking as well. We have a furnace now, but it is one of the last ones in the county to get fired up at winter as we start out with wood.
I pumped for my water (when at my Grandmas farm, helped her carry in wood, used an outhouse, hung clothes on the line, and helped in the garden. She didn't buy items she could make cheaper herself, such as soaps of all types, bakery items, clothing, cheeses, peanbutters, candies, candles and a lot more.
Many of these things I do now, as my parents (who are not Amish and neither am I--my Grandma was the last of our direct line to be but I still have cousins and Aunts who are).
I do my own baking, gardening, perserve food, use a clothes line, grow my own herbs, breast fed and used cloth diapers, make my own yogurt, vanilla, cleaners, soaps, about 1/2 our clothing, candles. We butcher our own meat, raise chickens, hunt and fish. We have an orchard and vineyard. And, we are teaching our children to do the same, yet they are not forced to do them. But, we feel to know how is important.
If the power goes out here (as it often does) we fire up the wood cookstove and move food over to the icebox. We can still cook and have heat. We have a well we can go pump from if the water goes out. We have lamps and a good supply of oil on hand for lights. We don't go into panic mood like some of the neighbors do. We once went without power for almost 3 weeks during the winter and we had people wanting to come stay with us as they saw we went on as usual.
Where I live, this is the norm as many people, like I had parents, grandparents or great grandparents who were Amish. They grew up this way.
But there are those that if you moved them here or even left them where they were, but took away anything requiring electric, they could not survive on their own.
Yet, when you look at the history of mankind, we lived without electricty and running water far longer than we have had it. How did we become so dependent on it within just a few generations?
And, are we healthier for it?? Studies show we now expose ourselves to the point of often getting cancer from chemicals, radiation, plastics, overhead power lines, and possibly constant cell use. We sit on the couch in front of the tv turning ourselves into couch potatoes.
My grandparents and up all lived to be in their 80's at least, and quite a few to over 100, and mobile and mentally alert until the end. Most died in their sleep, not from cancer or heart disease. (I keep the family geneology records)
So, do we keep on inventing and creating new gagets for the fun of it?? Is it all worth it?
People say its is how society is, and you have to because all your peers do, yet, the Amish, Mennonites and other groups have proved you don't HAVE to. Its more of a want, than a have to.
That was just a portion of the meeting this morning. We were brainstorming how to get some to understand they won't die tomorrow if the cancel cable tv so they can pay the water bill. Many of our clients have no concept of how to prioritize.
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