adamiamelia

my babies

Friday, November 21, 2008

Simple Living - Introduction

We live in a world of consumerism. Everyday I spend my money on things I want, rather than being thrifty and spend only on things I need. Our lives are so polluted, and we don’t even know it. For a while now I’ve been thinking a lot about changing our lives slowly – to simplify, to live more naturally, to be frugal, to be greener. How?

There are so many goals I want to achieve, some of them are;

- To pay off our debts – make budget, live within budget, reduce spending on unnecessary items, reduce grocery/food bills, etc.

-To get rid of all the chemicals in the house – living with a baby and now toddler makes me realise the urgency of getting rid of so many hazardous item in the house. Floor cleaner, toilet cleaner, detergents, shampoos. These things are not good for the environment, what more if they come into contact with your baby. I’m looking into natural, green cleaning and starting to incorporate them in our house to replace these chemical cleaners.
-To cook nutritious food from scratch – prepared processed food are full of so-called ‘permitted’ additives, preservatives, coloring etc. No wonder we cancer is spreading like mushrooms nowadays. I want to start stockpiling, buying fresh staples, organic whenever possible and eat healthily, as well as saving money by not eating out anymore (or less eating out at least). I struggle on this idea because of time constraints. But I really want to achieve this. For now, only Adam gets the luxury of homemade food.

-To purge out the plastics – I would like to start using fabric bags to shop and not accept anymore plastic bags.

To try out CDs (cloth diapers) – many ppl are already doing this. But I’m still clinging on those disposables. Sigh. I can. I can. I will. Maybe next baby? Hehe.

-To start producing my own food for sustainable living – ok this is still far off but I like the idea of growing my own vegetables, fruits, or even just potted herbs. My mom and MIL has chooks, that’s even better. Or maybe cows and goats? Ok that’s too far off..hehe

-To learn new skills like knitting or repairing furniture or sewing curtains – to make and decorate my home with my own hands instead of always going to the shops and buying something ‘Made in China’.

Right, that’s all for now. Lots of things I’d like to achieve but I don’t want to overwhelm myself with too many targets at a time, that is a surefire way to failure. I’ll just start slowly and focus on one goal at a time.

Simple living is an ancient art, really. Back then, during our grandmother’s time, these things were just the way of life. They make do with what they have and they don’t waste anything. They were frugal and creative and they managed to turn their houses into homes with almost no money.

Hopefully this entry will be the start of more entries to come on this topic. I want to start recording here what i am already doing, what I am trying out, what I plan to try out in regards to simplifying my life. If there are any of you who has already practiced simple, natural living, and would like to share, pls do. I need all the motivation I can get. Maybe if I write my thoughts down I’d actually be more committed to doing them =) Although I am simplifying, taking the first few steps isn’t so simple.

11 comments:

iL4na said...

we grow our own sayur yg basic like cili merah&hijau, cili padi, daun kari, serai and daun pandan. That's a big start already i think. I pun x tau bila nak start on CD. hmm like u said, next baby kot hehehe. tapi it is amazing to think that our granny used to live that natural way dulu. Ayam kena kejar, ubi sayur buah semua tanam. Berjaya jugak anak2nye kan. iA lets live our life towards that way jom.

aidafiqs adamia said...

lana that is amazing! our rented house is sort of a townhouse (top) so no land to grow things. but i'd love to someday grow chillies or serai or other herbs. Goodjob lana! this simple honourable way of life is something i would love to have my kids remember me by, also!

Anonymous said...

this is great aida! we tried to plant tomatoes tp tulah tak berapa green fingers kan, tinggal pasu and tanah kosong ja tp nasib baik daun kari menjadi.

we have started using cloth bags when shopping tapi so far itu sajalah yg plg eco-friendly pun, recycling, cloth diapers etc blum lagi..

Anonymous said...

aida cut a mineral water botle, put a lil water & tanam daun kesum in it.u can hav it just beside your cooking station.

Anonymous said...

malunya.. i ada tanah utk cucuk tanam kat dpn rumah.. thanks sbb buat i insaf sikit dari beli serai& daun pandan kat pasar. and i have to put more effort to cook everyday instead of "penat balik kerja"..

eh i always learn something new from your entries. thanks aida!!

Ismahani said...

sila la amik award from me...from silent reader...hehehe

NEEZAneedles said...

go green - pliz drop by. tq. :-)

Unknown said...

dot,
u know what?i just thinking about going green these past few weeks..for the baby of course. ingat nak berubah b4 baby coming out.then,there u are..bagus2..ade geng!for now i just bought organic vegies and tanam bunga jek..pasni tanam sayur plak la..u can always have herbs or vegies in a pot then put it beside your kitchen sink. tak payah tgg ade tanah pon..g.luck!

salzahari said...

dah start on recycling plastic bags and home-cooked..tgh nak start use paperbag when shopping (tp Carre4 and Ikea ni suke sgt bg byk2 which my hubby refuse to tolak:p)! will plant my own chillies, serai dll juga di tanah rumah baru...ehhee, tak sbrnya!

aidafiqs adamia said...

mama syazmar,
congrats on the daun kari and also cloth bags..i pun lama pikir nak bwk fabric bags..asik lupa jer...

along,
great idea...err..camne nak tanam daun kesum ek...(from daun?from batang?where to get?) ok i'm really a beginner here...byk nak learn...

tuty,
no need to malu. i pun tak buat lagi bende2 yg i tulis ni. simply put it here so that becomes a written commitment for myself to actually do it! 'penat balik kerja' is definitely a real disease! hehehe....

ismahani,
thank you ! *blush*

lampin kain,
thank you..i'll visit..

chun,
where to buy organic eh?yes aku pun pikir about potted herbs/veges for now but where to get eh? nnt tepon2 la jom talk about this!

salzahari,
congrats! seems like you're achieving quite a lot there! nak buat jugak!!!

Hada Masayu said...

i'm totally AGREE..nowadays byk sgt isu alam sekitar..and that's really make me sad & angry..kat berita mcm2..isu balakla, kemusnahan hutan payala, makanan2 yg musykil utk dimakanlah..so, we have to ACT!!

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