Last year, I wrote about my attempts to disentangle myself from capitalism and listed a few things I found helpful. It’s an ongoing project, and I have more tips to share. As I stated in my previous blog post, I am coming at this from a position of privilege. I have no mortgage, no debts,…
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While goofing about on TikTok last night, I was shown a clip about perennial kale. I’ve grown kale as an annual, but had no idea there was a perennial variety that produces leaves throughout the year – multiple years, in fact. We eat a lot of kale, so I immediately began searching for seeds so…
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Over the past few years, I’ve been disentangling myself from capitalism’s insidious grip. It’s not an easy process, and it’s not something I’ll complete within my lifetime, but I still find it’s worth doing. I will preface by saying that I’m approaching this from a place of immense privilege. I’m self-employed and I have no…
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As a teen of the 80s, I grew up under the mistaken impression that status was defined by material possessions – an odd assumption considering my parents weren’t overly materialistic (although, now that I think about it, every closet, cupboard, and cabinet seemed to be stuffed with rarely-used items). There were no school uniforms where…
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I’m not sure when I began to suspect that Steve Jobs might be on to something with his wardrobe. On the face of it, who in their right mind would wear the exact same outfit every day? It’s not only boring, it shows a lack of imagination. But what if your imagination is finite and…
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Every year I assure my family that I won’t go crazy with gifts at Christmas, and every year they end up staring at me from behind a mountain of things they need to find space for. At the risk of sounding weird, I can see now that I was being a bit unmannerly. Saddling people…
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Stage one of decluttering is complete! I was so tired of trying to organise and store things I was holding onto for daft reasons – the silliest being ‘I might use that one day’. If it’s been stored out of sight for more than six months, there is a good chance I’ve forgotten it, and…
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The Brexit vote kicked me hard. I’ve been deeply depressed about it since it happened, not only because of the suffering it will cause me and my family, but the awfulness it has unleashed on so many people. It’s horrible in every way, and it threw me into a dark pit. At the beginning of…
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It was unpleasant realising my clothing consumption was out of control. My wardrobe was full of things I didn’t wear, and I stood many mornings in my dressing gown thinking that today would be the day I finally went to work naked. How did it come to this? Why did I have have garments with…
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Fig and Pen 