Since starting our budding YouTube channel, I have spent a lot of time contemplating the ways we are living simply and what simple living means to our family. We have been on this path for quite a while now, and it's become our normal. I sometimes get a reminder that not all people live like us. Particularly when someone emails me or messages me on IG asking for advice or thanking me for helping them see how they can make simple changes in their own lives.
Our kitchen dining area in the yurt. Though the yurt is only 30ft or a touch over 9m in diameter, there is always room for everyone.
I have also been watching YouTube to see how others are living simply, and the stories they are sharing through their channel. There are some people who have big families often share quite practical videos. Then there are people who are trying to live and maintain the old ways of doing things. These tend to be both informative and beautiful. There are people who use their unique sense of creativity to express their lives with beautiful filming and music. There are some people who appear to live a more ecologically conscious lifestyle than others, and people who live simply in towns as well as those who live on smallholdings or farms like us.
Which raises the question, what do we have to offer in this space?
For us, simple living is a continuing journey, which fluctuates depending on the season of life we are in. But the thread that seems to connect everyone who is trying to live simply is a sense of mindfulness and consideration for each other and the world in which we live.
Recently a friend of ours who is gluten and dairy intolerant went to a party. Quite a fancy one at that. However, despite that, he was shown little consideration. Rather than the hosts quickly frying him a steak and tossing together a simple garden salad with a shop-bought loaf of gluten-free bread, he was tossed a bag of plain corn chips and told that was his dinner while others feasted. While listening to his story it dawned on me it was a sad reflection about how many people choose to live their lives. Not bothering to consider how their choices impact others and make them feel. (I say this as a white woman of privilege. Who makes imperfect choices due to budget constraints and from living withing a consumerist model society.)
One of the biggest shifts for me in trying to live more simply has been the conscious consideration about how the choices I make affect others and make them feel. I want as many of the daily actions I undertake to be kind. Kind to the earth, and kind to the people who have been a part of the process of getting an item in my hands.
On a small scale, I want those that visit our little home to feel welcomed. I want to feed them nourishing food which they enjoy, prepared with love. When they leave the table, I want them to feel as though we have shown them love.
When it comes to purchasing food, we aim to buy Australian made independent brands because we feel the farmers and producers are often paid a fairer price for their produce. If there is an option packaged in cardboard I'll choose that as it will leave the smallest environmental impact on the earth as it will be composted or burnt in one of our regular campfires. The ash then gets tossed back into the bush as organic matter.
We choose second-hand items where appropriate. Shopping at local op-shops is not only utilizing other peoples unwanted items, but it also put the profits straight back into the local community, supporting vulnerable people. However, we don't buy everything secondhand. When we buy new we first try to shop local to support the local economy and jobs. We then look online to support an Australian business and if the item is still something we need but can't get in Australia, then we will buy from overseas.
We cloth nappy and use white cotton flannels as baby wipes. Our clothes are line-dried. Though we have a generator, we don't own a dryer.
Elsie is perfectly happy in her cloth nappies. Despite expensive marketing strategies that aim to convince us that disposables are better, Cloth nappies are perfectly absorbent, easy to care for and leak-free when washed properly.
There is always washing either being hung, folded or patiently waiting to be put away. It's a perfectly normal on-going reality of family life.
I want my children to know the comfort of clean warm clothes and warm cosy beds that smell like sunshine when they hop in. To be excited when served their favourite foods just because I wanted to see their pleasure. To see their delight when they open the sweets tin to discover an abundance of their favourite homemade biscuits has appeared while they were at school.
The consumerist model in which we have become accustomed to living within belittle these kinds of tasks. It tells us that things should be fancier, bigger, newer. That we should buy foods for convenience and that making these kinds of items is a hassle. That housework should be outsourced if you can possibly afford too, that it’s dull and uninteresting. Even menial. Whilst cleaning a house might not be a particularly complex task, the feeling of coming home to a safe, clean home where the members of the family feel loved and valued is powerful and not to be underestimated.
So I wonder, what does simple living mean to you? And what aspects of simple living would you like to hear more about, or personally explore this year?
Much love,
Emma
xx
Emma
xx
