Thursday 1 January 2015

wants & living simply :: a manifesto for 2015



I've decided to start this new year with a manifesto. Not so much a resolution, but perhaps a way of living and thinking about our footprint on this planet and our daily actions in a different way. Of not guilting ourselves, but giving ourselves a way of re-thinking how we want to live. Of choosing at each moment what we want, how we want, why we want. 

I find new year's resolutions for me bring about a guilt that I never keep them, that I've let myself down by barely lasting a month or even a week in some cases. I'm hoping this manifesto can help with my ideal of how I wish we could/would live, but also be an easier way for our whole family to be part of it. Often these ideals are pushed by one member of the family (me!) and the others don't really want to go along with it.

So.... here it is. My new year manifesto ::


If we want it, we should question our want
If we do still want it, we should make it
If we can't make it, we should get it second hand
If we can't find it second hand, we should buy it ethically
If no one makes it in an ethical manner, we should re-think our want
.....
Only after this shall we consider any other options. 


I do hope that this is a good way for all the family members to live with our consumerism, want want want. To re-think how we fit within society - to re-think if our wants are based on other people's wants, or if they really are more of a need. To retrain ourselves to work out that often our wants don't fulfil what we think they will, that just as often we actually feel remorse or disappointment, after our wants are purchased. 

I also know that this is a journey we have be on for a long time. Compared to how many many others live, we do not give in to wants and whims and consumerism. My kids are always telling me 'it's not fair, everyone else has one'..... Well, my reply is we aren't everyone else. We don't go shopping for the sake of it, we don't buy new toys or books or clothes or anything just because. We do still consume, we get things that we don't necessarily need, but my hope is that we can live this year a little less and then next year a little less.

I am going to be practical in this way of being, not enforcing this in every instance of our lives. Also, I need to be aware that there will be things we need to buy that are wants. Within our business we have purchases of new items - these are necessary for our business, for our livelihood (and I may talk about this at a later stage). Our house-building will have new-purchase needs as well. 

But, hopefully this manifesto can help us all - the children and the adults - to live a happier life with less, to want less. To actively choose to want less, rather than feeling deprived on less. That's the ultimate - to stop the wants. To change the wants. To want less, to live with less, to live on less. 

I'll be sharing this journey here this year, and on my instagram feed as well. I aim / hope to be more present here on my blog. By sharing my story and ideas with you - perhaps you'll follow along. I do hope so, even just a little. 

I'm keen to hear your thoughts on new year resolutions, on manifestos, on consumerism, on wants and wants..... 

{Hi Amy - who asked when I was coming back! Hopefully now. xxx}

9 comments:

  1. Great post Ellie! My partner is actually not mush of a consumer at all, but I have realised that I am. My main wants are clothes (so I have pledged to go secondhand and/or ethical), books (I have to stop the ohhhh-that-looks-good-I'll-buy-it-from-Amazon) and art and craft supplies. This tends to be where I get excited about a new technique or craft and buy the bits and bobs and then they get discarded whilst I do something else... this will be the hardest thing to stop.

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  2. Hi Ellie! I think your manifesto is quite reasonable. And practical. We had similar issues just today... Kids wanting more and more as we grocery shop for example. It's hard to take a step back. I liked seeing your post. :). I hope life is treating you very well. Maybe we can catch up more soon.

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  3. If you are up for two books to read around this topic... ''Affluenza"' by Clive Hamilton, and perhaps a bit more full on, but right on the money for the sense that we have to change things..well...everything, and with some urgency. It's ''Everything must change" by Naomi Klein.

    I think your manifesto is a good one..and a dam shame the whole world doesn't follow it..but then what would happen to our capitalist economy..tsktsk.

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  4. Ellie, I just adore this post so much! I've come back again and again to reread! I want that little list printed somewhere as a reminder. In fact I'd like to see it stuck on everyone's fridge. I hope you don't mind, I'm linking to this post in my Conscious Living Love List this week, to share the manifesto love. Big love to you! Sophie xx

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  5. Your are a gal after my own heart. Less is more. Quality over quantity. Simple is better.

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  6. There are so many people I know embarking on journeys like this in 2015. Change is afoot!

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  7. This is beautiful! Very inspiring words. My husband and I are starting to think this way, it so easy to get caught up buying things, and it really doesn't for fill you, keeping things simple will bring more happiness.

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  8. One of the best blog. Keep updating. One more blog for improving your marriage is how to improve your marriage.

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  9. Such a nice as well as a beautiful blog you have shared here on living a life. It will really be different. Thanks for sharing.Cellulite become a big problem today which makes our body appearance ugly but with cellulite exercises you can remove it from your body very easily.

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Thank you for your words and thoughts. I do so appreciate each and every visitor to my blog. While I try hard to reply to your comment, it often doesn't quite happen..... know that I'm sending you a thoughtful thanks xxx

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