Unbought Delicacies: How little do you really need?

Friday, 8 April 2011

How little do you really need?

Imagine if you were to live in a shed/cabin/studio - say 8ft x 6ft odd. What would you consider the essentials that you would need to get by? How little do you really need?

7 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...: My cordless radio (wind up)great for when I am doing tasks.; 8 April 2011 at 12:57
Oya's Daughter said...: I've done that, actually, in several different states in the US. I found I could technically get by with very little. At the same time, however, I'm also well aware that I do NOT want to live like that anymore. I love hot water on demand. I love central heating or a wood stove that doesn't belch smoke. I love washing machines and indoor plumbing.

Need? I can get by with four walls, a roof, a stove and a nearby water source. Want? A whooole lot more than that to be comfortable. My days of roughing it are well behind me! :); 8 April 2011 at 12:57
Jane and Chris said...: A shower and toilet, something to heat food, comfy bed.
Might need more than 8x6!
Jane x; 8 April 2011 at 13:36
Hard up Hester said...: A Kindle & my sewing machine.; 8 April 2011 at 19:48
Campfire said...: Is it a battery Kindle?; 8 April 2011 at 21:10
Campfire said...: I mean, where would you re-charge the battery?; 8 April 2011 at 21:10
IslandHome said...: I lived in a little 10x10 cabin for a while (shared bathroom and kitchen on another part of the property) and was truly amazed at how little I needed. One change of linen, a bag of clothes, a table to study at and some books. I have to admit I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. My household goods were in storage at the time as it was while I was waiting to move into a 3 bed house I had just bought and I soon filled that new house but none of it was necessary really. I miss those days and my household is now in storage again - one day I hope to build myself a small space and eliminate a lot of the un-necessary so I'm slowly working through what I have stored and selling it off or giving it away.
Julia; 9 April 2011 at 04:14

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Friday, 8 April 2011

How little do you really need?

7 comments: