Living "both ways" at the same time, are you able to do this?

[hwillm1977]

Personally, I don't strive to live without a washing machine, electricity, or many of the 'modern convieniences'...

We will always have tv, internet, a phone (we don't have cell phones, but are getting them this year because I'm expecting a baby), flush toilets, running water and a dishwasher...

We also have a garden big enough to grow all our own veggies, chickens for eggs this year and will have meaties and turkeys next year, we strive to find a plot of land where we can be as self sufficient as possible, but still live a 'modern' life... I sew, knit, spin yarn, bake, can (am learning), do lots of crafts, garden and have animals (but would love more), and heat with wood we harvest ourselves... I LIKE being able to drive to the store and buy a loaf of bread if I don't feel like baking

We live about 50 miles from work and the nearest grocery store... hubby works in one direction, me in the other... so we have two vehicles and drive ALOT.

To keep food cold in the summer months (we used to live without electricity when I was a child) we used a natural spring that the house had been built on (it was a 150 year old farmhouse)... the water came up from the ground and flowed around our ice box and drained outside the house... it was just a wooden barrel inside a wooden insulated box filled with the spring water... that kept milk, eggs, and meat cold... along with a root cellar that's all we used. We did eventually get an electric hook-up though

 

[VickiLynn]

It's really all relative. I can judge how SS I have become by how weird my can't live without AC, goes out for every meal, thinks laundry on clotheslines looks gross, would rather eat an apple sprayed with chemicals than risk finding a worm sister thinks I am.

 

[DawnSuiter]

.... wait... my apples might have worms in them???

I guess I'll always have to pre slice my apples then, if I ever get any someday that is

I personally am on the quest to find a good balance between modern and natural living. Some advancements I believe are honestly good others however are horrific!!!

I work from home and now a Saturday Farmer's Market... so I don't have to leave my "bubble" too often. I am always distressed when I go to the grocery store as it seems each week they have less and less I can buy! It's so frustrating to stand in the midst of 2000 square feet of market/grocery and only be able to fill a small hand held basket with items that appeal to me.

 

[MsPony]

I am limited at this time. Space and financially wise. I have 4 chickens, 3 that are able to produce, and around 8-12 coming, including a goose. I made my first batch of whey yesterday and fermented pie crust dough, but I want to ferment everything I can, with fruit/veggies out of my balcony garden. I eat as healthy as I can, according to you ladies on here

I dont have a dishwasher (makes no difference, my BIL does my dishes lol!) and no oven, well a convection oven. So I am able to live without such conveniences I have always line dryed my clothes, in HS I got tired of my mom shrinking my clothes.

I would LOVE to be on a farm again. I lived in extreme weather, without AC or heat. During summer I would dig holes with the goat herd guard dogs, and they were amazingly cool. In the winter, I would be in bed by the time the sun went down and relied on my animals for warmth. We never ever bought milk, we would just go grab a full udder and point into our glass/bowl

Now thats some SS living that I absolutely love. However, I will never be without my cell phone or a phone in general! I was without TV or internet, but those are preferences.

 

[ORChick]

I don't think it is an "either-or" situation. Like others responding, I do what I can, and leave what I can't. And as time goes goes on I find myself taking on more, or leaving more, because my circumstances change. My mother taught me to sew and cook, and I enjoy both, but I don't sew all our clothes, nor do I cook all our meals. For various reasons my garden where we used to live was larger than what I have now - so I am growing less, and trying to buy local more. We don't watch television (no reception, and we don't particularly miss it), but my DH worked with computers all his adult life, and won't be without one - and I have learned that the internet is a well of information (as well as being a good time waster sometimes ), and I don't want to give up my laptop. I have chickens, but have no interest in getting a goat, and am not at all sure about meat chickens; maybe someday. I have a dishwasher and a washing machine, but a manual meat grinder, grain grinder and sewing machine. I save water and electricity where and when I can, but use it when appropriate. I add in new skills as I learn them, and don't obsess about not being 100% SS, or even 50%

 

[Nifty]

Gosh I really struggle with this! It's a bit easier to do the "100% Natural" thing when you're single or don't have a family that lives in one of the most consumer, instant gratification, wasteful areas in the world.

Over the past 2 years I've really had a hard time balancing:

cheap and easy
vs.
healthy and best for the planet

The two groups are almost always mutually exclusive... at least in the area I live and the family I have (and what they are accustomed to).

I'd love to live a 100% green, recycled, carbon neutral, sufficient life, but I don't have the wherewithal (financially, time, vigor) to do so.

So, I do what I can to do better than the majority... which in this area isn't saying much; we have friends that won't recycle unless they can get money in their pocket for doing so.

I changed jobs so I wasn't commuting 1.5 hours each way per day, try to recycle or compost everything we can, and added solar to the house, etc

 

[Mackay]

We are moving more and more into selfsufficiency but it is one step at a time.

A few years ago I was totally immersed in work and had no time or energy gardens etc.

Then I started making my own laundry soap! That was it. I was hooked. wanting to find more and more ways right where I was, in the city to be more self sufficient.

What I learned what that I can

make my own laundry soap and save about 5 dollars a month
can my own veggies, buy by the bushel at the farmers market

that was my start...

now I have found my way to the country and it is all growing but I think there is much you can do in the city and you will learn from all the great gals here.

I had a thought that if there is no community garden in your area maybe you could find a place and get one started. This is happening in cities all over the place by people exactly like you.

 

[Farmfresh]

It's really all relative. I can judge how SS I have become by how weird my can't live without AC, goes out for every meal, thinks laundry on clotheslines looks gross, would rather eat an apple sprayed with chemicals than risk finding a worm sister thinks I am.

Are we related? Or maybe we just share a sister!

Funny as she is she is still one of my strongest SS advocates. She wants this life she just can't bring herself to really do it.

 

[dntd]

I think of my self as upcycling I rarely buy full price anything, most buys are from a liquadation store, food from there as well as other things we need are greatly reduced and when they go on clearence they basically pay us to take them(.25 cereal,.5 cans of soup, .15 crackers,.10 a box fruit to go, fill a basket for $1 normally just seasonal items that way easter is only $1 all named brand and nothing has killed us yet. What i can`t produce is atleast saved from going in the waste. I do make my own soap, can, raise rabbits and chickens, have a large garden and other things. I think you can have it both ways.

 

[FarmerChick]

I don't think of it as "either or"
I don't see it in terms of cheap and easy vs. healthy and best for planet

planting a tomato plant is cheap and easy and it provides a healthy food
good for planet also cheap and easy is a clothes line

Unless u are the "I made my own materials for build my home, I provide only all my foods, I use no modern conveniences and do not ever drive etc" can u say u are truly self sufficient to the level of "the olden days" (well ya'll know what I mean)


One thing is never go overboard. Know what ur limits are and step in and do the best one can to ur own comfort zone.

I use all conveniences this life has to offer to my degree of comfort. I pick and choose what fits my family. We all smile everyday so I must be doing something right lol I live without alot that others have, yet I have alot that others can never acquire!