No one could ever accuse me of being frugal 😂. You know ‘Seen it all, Done it all, Spent it all’… On the other hand, whenever I’ve been on a significantly lower income, somehow I’ve survived. One of my favourite things to do is food shopping, book shopping, and of course bits and bobs shopping. These days though instead of heading for the bookshop and buying way more books than I can read, I head to the public library. My book buying habit had extended beyond available bookshop space anyway, so it’s best I read and return them!
In addition to a drop in income, I’ve spent some time without a driving licence due to an administration delay, so have been cycling or riding the buses. Clearly cycling has health benefits, but there are also benefits to riding the buses. It offers a great opportunity to people watch or to chat. On the down side both travel options take a hell of a lot more time. I’m getting used to the bus delays, though am definitely looking forward to being freely mobile in the near future.
All in all I cook more, wait around more(!), and exercise more.
Bizarrely, I feel calmer and happier than when I had the freedom to rush. The experience has shown me that the process of waiting and dare I say savouring the time waiting for the bus, is actually as beneficial as a meditation session. Unexpected.
I guess under lockdown while having some trouble on the money front, I’ve realised money is not as high on my priority list. I can survive without it. Whether I want to survive without it is another matter. And definitely it’s the freedom to travel where I want when I want that I really miss.
So I’m looking forward to regaining a more varied and exciting life. It’s all very well living simply, but that’s not my forever vision of life. I have always reserved a weekend a month to do nothing and I’ll continue with this. Boredom is only sustainable for so long though! Having a weekend in PJs occasionally is still on my wishlist, but so is going on a long and friend-filled weekend away. I suspect most people during lockdown felt the same towards the end… Let’s have some fun now!
Love Ruth x
Photo by Mona Eendra on Unsplash
Well Thought Through 