Slideshow of Tiny House Photos
For some reason, readers of WIP are fascinated by tiny houses. BTW, I’ve lived in a one-room efficiency apt for five years, and plan to move to one that’s even smaller in the fall.
Category Archives: Frugal living
So Where Do we go from here?
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So, where do we go from here?
Quiet simply the world is in our hands.. Its all about our choices, not our neighbours or our governments, Its about the choices We make which make a difference.
My own thoughts are that we have to start and embrace a simpler way of living, we have to stop ‘Wanting’ all the time..
Sue Dreamwalker is on a roll. Every one of her recent posts has been an inspiration to look at our lives and change. Simplicity, food, environmental awareness. -- John
Sustainable Living, All It Takes Is Work
Video
Couldn’t resist posting one more video. A most energetic and inspiring older couple. I guess local food and organic food is possible. All you need is dirt and work.
Food For All and Work For All
Video
A most interesting take on sustainable food and local food. I’m particularly fascinated by the part about training young people for meaningful work. A great alternative to college for many, perhaps.
Related articles
- UK News: Blanc backs food apprenticeships (walesonline.co.uk)
- Local Food and Happiness (ministryofhappiness.wordpress.com)
- Vermont professor to talk food systems at Clemson (thestate.com)
Thinking About Retirement (What To Do With The Rest Of My Life)
(Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)
The Super Bowl has come and gone, and Groundhog Day as well. And what do I have to show for the winter?
It’s been, first of all, a lazy winter. That would be an objective report.
However, I prefer to look at it as a winter of reading, thinking, planning. I haven’t done as much blogging as I’d like. On the other hand, I’ve finally joined Twitter, and I’m even beginning to see its usefulness. Feel free to follow along on Twitter @BJohnHayden.
I’ve joined the local gym, and I’m showing up on a regular basis. That’s important, because I’m now beyond denial. I recognize that if I want to do any useful work in the years I have remaining, it’s imperative that I exercise and conserve my health.
Mostly, I’ve been thinking about and preparing for retirement, Continue reading
The Best Gifts Are Homemade Chocolate-Chip Cookies
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Universal Health Care
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UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE – Possible or impossible? It’s already happening, to a limited extent. Where I live, in a remote corner of Maryland, the hospital has been providing free flu-shot clinics on multiple dates and locations throughout the county, every fall for several years. Highly efficient, low-cost, preventive health care. Are you for it or against it?
Related articles
- FLU SHOT CLINIC: Health Department Offers Drive Thru (whotv.com)
- Flu shot season starts with a bang in Triangle (newsobserver.com)
Enough Space to Make a Life
Lately, I have been extremely discouraged by what I believe are very critical challenges facing my generation. One of the primary challenges I see is the crippling amount of debt borne by the average American college graduate in times of intense competition for work.
In this climate in which individuals step out into the world with tens of thousands of dollars of debt, the dream of owning a home can seem impossible, even with a decent job.
This post from Femme Vitale raises thoughtful issues about tiny houses and freedom to live as you wish, with links for folks seeking more information. Tiny houses offer a practical way for people to cope with limits created by debt, job shortages, and slow economic growth. Maybe tiny houses will change the size of the American Dream. Zoning laws need to be updated to provide places for tiny houses, preferably mixed in with housing of other sizes. Add major improvements in public transportation, and the future suddenly looks quite appealing. -- John Hayden
Darkness in India, Drought in America; You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
The power grid in India failed this week, leaving half the population of the world’s largest democracy without electric power.
Half the counties in America have been declared drought disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Half of India in the dark, half of America in drought. Makes you wonder: Where is the tipping point? How much failure can a country endure?
E-books By Bestselling Authors Priced @ $12.99
High Cost of E-books
When I bought my Nook last winter, I was hoping to buy e-books at lower prices than hardbacks and paperbacks. But prices aren’t necessarily lower in the digital world.
Despite owning a Nook, I’ve recently splurged on two hardbacks and a paperback. They’re very different novels by three long-established, bestselling authors.
“The Water Is Being Stolen”
Quote
“We so often hear that the world is running out of water. People are dying from lack of water. Rivers are dewatered from lack of water. Because of this we need to take shorter showers. See the disconnect? Because I take showers, I’m responsible for drawing down aquifers? Well, no. More than 90 percent of the water used by humans is used by agriculture and industry. The remaining 10 percent is split between municipalities and actual living breathing individual humans. Collectively, municipal golf courses use as much water as municipal human beings. People (both human people and fish people) aren’t dying because the world is running out of water. They’re dying because the water is being stolen.”
– from “Forget Shorter Showers: Why personal change does not equal political change,” by Derrick Jensen in “Onion” Magazine. Profound and eye-opening! To read the full article, click here.
Related articles
- Forget peak oil, the global water crisis will shake humanity to its core (business.financialpost.com)
- Do You Take Navy Showers? (bellasugar.com)
“You Can Buy Happiness” by Tammy Strobel
Tammy Strobel blogs at “Rowdy Kittens” about simplifying her life, riding bicycles, and living in tiny houses (or as she puts it, finding “fulfillment in less stuff, less debt and less wage-chasing”). Simplicity! I’m in favor of it.
She has a print book scheduled for release in September. The title is: “You Can Buy Happiness (And It’s Cheap).”
If we had a Pulitzer Prize for book titles, that would be a winner. You can see the cover and read a little more about her book here. It’s nonfiction, and already listed for preorder in paperback on Amazon.com and Barnes & Nobel. I can’t wait to read it. I think I’ll probably order some happiness as well, since it’s cheap. Maybe I’ll buy happiness in large quantities, enough to share. Continue reading
The Ultimate RV Downsize
Talk about innovative, this shopping cart pop-up would have to take the prize. Shelter comes in many shapes and sizes as you can see but I totally get it. If our economy continues to decline we will see more of the camper kart pop-ups.
State of Homelessness in America 2011
Since the release of Homelessness Counts: Changes in Homelessness from 2005 to 2007…
The concept of living in a very small house fascinates at least some readers of my blog. Here is an extremely thoughtful post about homelessness, and some options for moveable shelter. These ideas probably beat sleeping in your car.
AMERICAN VALUES — “That Used To Be Us”
From That Used To Be Us, by Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum; Chapter 13, “Devaluation:”
THOMAS FRIEDMAN, Wikimedia Commons
“. . . something else that happened with the end of the Cold War and the passing of the baton from the Greatest Generation to the baby boom generation: an erosion of important, traditional American values that long underpinned our public and commercial life. . . .
“A well-functioning political system must be rooted in something deeper than itself: Continue reading
