Frugal and moneyless living

Hello readers today we have had a no spend day at home. I have done a little more knitting and a lot of reading. I am currently reading The moneyless manifesto by Mark Boyle. I read Mark's first book the moneyless man a few years ago and was fortunate enough to be able to help Mark out by letting him use my openzone WiFi connection so that he could continue his work on the freeconomy when he was traveling and out of range of his internet connection. I don't know Mark personally we just exchanged a few emails here and there but it felt really good to be able to help in some small way spread the word of frugal/moneyless living and the gift economy. Freeconomy has since merged with street bank a website where you can swap skills with like-minded locals. If you want to find out more about street bank you can find them here
www.streetbank.com

Whilst I don't think I could go as extreme as Mark has ( especially with 3 little ones ) I applaud his efforts to bring knowledge to the masses. I myself have learnt a lot through reading Mark's books and agree with a lot of his opinions and principles. I look forward to a day when I can downsize to an almost moneyless way of life. Reading The moneyless manifesto has got me thinking about my own way of life and the choices I have made regarding my lifestyle. I have taken a lot of flack and ribbing from both family and friends alike for moving myself and my children out of the rat race and away from consumerism ( granted not completely but a million miles away from how we used to live ). They don't seem to understand my choice to buy mostly second hand or make my own laundry detergent to name just a few of my choices. I have often been referred to as being tight. When someone uses the word tight to me it conjures up the image of an old miserable miser sitting in the cold counting out his pennies and this is so not me. I get joy out of the things I do for my family. I enjoy making gifts, I enjoy being able to feed my family for pennies, I enjoy finding a bargain in the charity shops whilst saving something from landfill at the same time, I enjoy making things from scratch, I enjoy going to the park and having a picnic with the kids. There really is so much more to life than money even if it did take me 31 years to learn this. I am so much happier now than I was when I was tangled up in that rat race. I no longer feel the need to keep up with the Jones I am me and I am happy with the way my life is in comparison to how my life was. It will take me time to become completely debt free but I am on that path. My debts are no longer rising but they are decreasing. Frugal and moneyless living are slowly becoming more popular thanks to people like Mark Boyle spreading the word. People who once mocked me and my way of life now come to me for advice on ways to save or to help them create a budget. I love my way of life and even when I become debt free will continue to live this way not through necessity but through choice because it makes me truly happy to do so.

If you would like to read Mark's second book The moneyless manifesto you can find it here
www.moneylessmanifesto.org
It is free to read online and well worth a read


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx