With the increasing awareness of global warming and peak oil, not to mention an exhaustion with the pace of the modern world, many people are turning to a simpler life. There are many parts to this, analysing consumerism, reducing waste, recycling where possible, owning less, making it yourself, growing a garden, eating fresh or unprocessed food, and reducing water usage.
There are a lot of benefits to simple living, and I like a lot of the concepts myself. There’s something pretty amazing about eating food you’ve grown in your own garden or baked yourself, or wearing clothes that you’ve made yourself. And reducing your shopping not only simplifies your life, it saves you money as well.
But there’s a fine line between the benefits of simple living and the benefits of the amazing technology in the world we live in. And it’s different for everyone. For me, I’m not prepared to give up my computer or the internet. And running water and electric lights are pretty cool too.
For the characters in my novel, Reckless Rescue, they don’t have these choices. Forced to leave their home planet and all the comforts it contained behind, they could only take what they could carry with them in their spaceship. It was the ultimate in simple living. They learned to build their own homes, grow and prepare their own food and clothes, all without electricity or the internet!
So the question is, when another ship unexpectedly crash lands on their planet, you’d think they’d be excited about the possibility of leaving, wouldn’t you? But are they? Check out Reckless Rescue if you want to find out.
What about you? Do you like the idea behind simple living? How do you simplify your live, and what aren’t you prepared to give up?
I love the idea of growing my own veg or making my own clothes, but I’m not very handy at either. Reading Reckless Rescue inspired me to make bread, but it was inedible, so I only did it once! I disappoint myself, because I thought I’d be that kind of Mummy who would do homemade and organic everything. I underestimated my laziness. Even washable nappies only lasted six months, although we did pay to have our nappies recycled for 4 years (until they went bust, thankfully just when youngest went into pants except at bedtime).
My first attempt at making bread was like that too! A breadmaker helps, as does actually weighing the ingredients. (Cup measurements just aren’t accurate enough.)
That’s the other thing about simple living I forgot to mention – it’s hard! Technology is so much easier.
We sold our breadmaker as it stayed in the box for five years from wedding onwards… I didn’t know, then, how much bread kids eat!
Nice little cliffhanger at the end there.