Escaping the system

I'm fortunate to be able to afford a new oil boiler; although the Plumber who inspected my old boiler was being a bit smart with me; as if I had no idea about the Skyrocketing of prices.

Then, a friend from Belfast, got a little demanding about considering used Boilers. However, I have the money. And I'm beginning to get a grip on my spending habits.

I think that sounds like a good balance. Buying things second hand is such a good idea, and I think when we saved up for things we appreciated them and took care of them more. These days everyone just puts everything on credit which is also part of the con

Being content without the latest things is a great gift 

What a thoughtful and interesting reply. I really get what you are saying about gardening. I spend a few years watching The Good Life and dreaming of living that way. However, at the time me and my wife were living in my parents house, unable to afford to even rent a flat of our own so the idea of your own house and garden that you could do all that with seemed a distant dream. I was able to grow a few potatotes and carrots in my parents garden however.

I think it is a very good point you make that Tom had to tow the line for a long time to get into a position to do what he did. I dont think the self sufficent life is something you can go out and live at 18 and less you are extremely fortunate in your background or life circumstances. 

We have now been blessed enough to have a council house and a small garden so I am hoping next year I can do a bit more.

I agree with you about not being able to opt out completely. For instance I dont want to have home internet or sky TV but since me and my wife both work from home and couldnt do our jobs without the internet it is unavoidable and, as a sports writer, it would be pretty difficult for me to write about sports if I didnt have sky TV to watch them. 

I have managed to make small steps like getting rid of my smartphone contract and things like taht. Im doing it a bit at a time and certainly feeling a lot freer.

I think the most important thing though isnt necessarily a complete change of life but instead a change of mindset. Once you mentally step outside the system and realise that none of the things you are being told matter actually matter and that you dont need all the stuff society tells you you need you can feel freer in your mind and change your life even if you cannot completely change your way of life if that makes sense 

I like your idea of a community orchard, that sounds lovely and I hope you achieve your dream someday 

Sorry to hear that you are going through this and your businesses have been ruined. It seems like there is one thing after another at the moment and just as one crisis finshes another one starts. I hope and pray the stress eases and you are able to get back on your feet a bit

Some interesting thoughts on here. 

When I grew up my parents didn't have a lot of money, probably average. Food was quite expensive and we had had basics, some vegetables and fruit grown in the garden. My Mum baked cakes. Chocolate and crisps were treats. My parents were children during the war so were used to being careful. My first tape recorder I bought second hand. Then later saved up for a music centre. I played with friends but also enjoyed my own company.

I often wonder now how we managed without mobile phones. I do remember once calling my parents from a call box and asking to reverse the charges as I didn't have change.

I now have a smart phone but only in last few years. I was quite late getting an ordinary mobile phone.

I guess now due to my upbringing I am content with not many of the latest things. I tend to go for basic things but good enough quality that they last.

I like re-using things or creating things from something I already have. However I do like a bit of comfort too so I guess I am somewhere in between.

I agree with those who like to be in nature and I try to walk if I am going somewhere locally.

www.101bananas.com/.../sandburg.html

I'd really love to escape the system but I often feel my hands are tied. 

I don't need the latest gadgets or regular holidays or a new car, that much is true.  But I do value having the resources - and let's face it these are very often financial - to access the things I believe will be helpful or genuinely improve our lives in sme way.

E.g. I find gardening really therapeutic.  I'm sure I could go forage for a few bits and pieces or it might be possible, especially if I were a younger or healthier person (I'm getting further and further away from being that!), to live in a caravan, camper van or small hut somewhere, alongside nature, join a commune or even do a bit of a "Good Life" makeover on our situation.  In gardening groups, every so often someone will comment on how cheap gardening is, usually on the basis that you just need to buy a few packets of seeds and off you go. 

But really, land ownership is instantly a problem, either acquiring it or gaining access rights when someone else has already acquired it.  Even when I watch Gardeners' World (which I know probably isn't the best programme as it's too mainstream) there often seems to be a lot of classism, inequality and privilege lurking not so far in the background.  So Charles is praised for all his "work" at Highgrove, Heseltine proudly shows the audience around his ample garden and Monty himself can do an awful lot of self sufficient stuff at Longmeadow while most of us have to make do with our "shortmeadow" version, if we have access at all. 

The presenters often tell us that we can go to big gardens or estates for ideas to use on a smaller scale (for our window box, presumably?) but it's really not as easy as that.  The best, most exiting self sufficiency projects need space.  And, although I loved the Good Life and would want to emulate that in whatever ways I can, I'd need more information on how to acquire that property with a sizeable garden in the first place.  It seems to me that Tom first of all had to toe the line and take a conventional job for them to get into that position.  And likewise I'd need some serious money to buy my first smallholding.  

Another example:  I'd also like to be able to help my family (some of them are really struggling).  But even when it comes to basic mental health care and indeed an autism diagnosis, if that is felt to be helpful, the NHS waits are often far too long.  I really appreciate the NHS and will use that first.  It also aligns with my principles and going privately sticks in my throat.  But when my family are suffering, I do the best I can.  And I was really glad to be able to afford a private assessment for one family member.  Time, in this case, was of the essence.  My principles went down the drain and what we needed was money.

It's all wrong, utterly wrong, I know.  The game is rigged.  But sadly I've found that when I opt out things get worse for me and mine.  Low income = fewer choices = reduced happiness.  :( 

I tend not to chase happiness per se.  And I'm not an adman's dream.  I think I recognise the con and yet I'm still bound by it in many ways.  All I'm left with is my voting rights (Bye bye Heseltine and your ilk!) and a bit of protesting/activism (joined Republic and a few other groups that align with my beliefs) plus a few local acts of defiance - I have my seed bombs ready for appropriate areas plus do a bit of phantom planting when I can (fruit trees usually).  

The latest iphone, concert tickets or clothes might as well not exist for me.  But one day I might save enough to buy a field and create a community orchard.  :)             

Well put. 

This ^^ is what we offer the world: A fan, from off stage, to present the smoke machine and positioned mirrors (analogy to the Smoke & Mirrors effect of creating a phantasy everyone is buying into).

But honestly, this stuff plays into not just the desire to be an individual, but the desire to not be excluded. It's a bit of a mind-numbing loop. And participants actually enjoy it. Better to unplug the fan, exit the Stage Door and go get a drink. 

"All the world is a stage and some of us are in the orchestra pit"

This is something that I really struggle with. It’s ridiculous that’s we spend our entire lives working so many hours to finish the day being completely knackered to eat go to bed and wake up and do the entire thing again. I’ve never had a lot of money and don’t care for the latest whatever, but it’s now got to the stage where I am struggling to make enough money to just pay the rent and bills that I need. And that is because the pandemic ruined one of my businesses, which was okay because my other online business grew, but now the economic crisis has ruined that business too. My life is consumed with stress because of money, I despise money and feel like a robot every day and I’m so tired of the whole thing. 

In essence I end up slagging offthe people on the show because they are brave enough to do it and I'm not ;-)

Oddly enough, the characters were Marxists; the Rooster's name was Lenin.

Many modern preppers had Leftist/Green origins, but found it wanting whenever Obama entered the stage.

I have TWO Huawei phones, but one was bought used in 2018; and the other in 2020. There are ZERO plans to 'upgrade'. I use technology, rather than let technology use me.

Free Market Capitalism never truly existed, Post-War, as the Political Class demanded a cut of the cake. All those Seppos who burned their Draft Cards in 1967 ended up sending their Forces to War in 2003; without proper preparation.

All I ever wanted was a job, a wife and kids. I had no interest in working for a Fortune 500 company, or spending my entire weekend cycling or golfing. But all those US Movies promoted 'Dreams'. It was all to snare us.

The World Economic Forum wants us to own nothing, eat bugs and 'be happy'. 

This thread has made me think too much for a Thursday morning....not that they are new thoughts. Indeed I think about all this stuff a lot and its been nice to get my thoughts out. Big brother knows even more about me now! I always know when it's time for me to go back to work. I get too much in my head about existential matters. I'm just going say I'm more aware now that work does do me some good as it stops me ruminating on the big stuff ;-) you might say this is capitalism keeping me in my place but that's a whole other story. 

I have respect for people who have a faith. This is something that has always been missing from my life. However I would say I'm quite spiritual. You said about motorways etc. For example, I don't like the noise of aircraft flying over and how they pollute the environment but at the same time find it fascinating that there are tin cans flying through the sky. What would people have thought 200 years ago?! There's a part of me which is amazed at what humans have come up with and i love learning about stuff. Then there's the other side....in the western world we seem to place such high value on science and education and rationality and see other cultures who are really connected with nature and living more as a human animal as "savages". Like they way they are doing things is somehow inferior....I'm not explaining my point well but I think you probably get it.

We aren't living how we were designed but it's just how we have evolved.

Thats a fair point. I think it is harder to do when your living in a council flat without a lot of financial security

I'm too envious of the people on this programme to watch it. At the same the ones I have seen always seem to have people who are in a comfortable position to begin with. Not that there's anything wrong with that but I think it's out of reach for a lot of people.

Do you remember the TV show The Good LIfe? That has always inspired me

I will look this up. It sounds very interesting, my sort of thing. Yes the system is a con, it tricks us into thinking we need all this stuff so we will stay inside and work and produce for them for 50 years. The corperations and banks etc dont want us to realise there is another way

I think what you have said is so true. So much of it sums up what I am thinking at the moment. I am the same with my possesions, I look around the house and it is so cluttered and I have so much stuff and direct debits etc and its hard to give it up cos our brains are hardwired by society that we need this stuff to be happy. I think giving it all up in one go would be too much and we might end up losing stuff we actually do like so what I am doing is getting rid of stuff slowly and a bit at a time. That way I can think about what I really need and whether each thing is actually worth having. It is very liberating i must say. I have closed so many direct debits for streaming services, phone contracts etc and got rid of a lot of the clutter and stuff in my house

I think what you said about self imposing big brother on ourselves is so true. Its like the CIA or MI5 or whoever dont have to try and find out about us or get our information, we are voluntarily giving it up on social media to anyone who wants it. It is a snoopers dream

I completely agree about being out in nature too. When i am at the river feeding the ducks i just look at them and think, they dont worry about any of the stuff I do, they dont need things and look how happy they are. It is so peaceful and calming. I agree about contentment too, it is far more stable than happiness.

I think for me, believing in God and having my faith, I just look and think God made the rivers and the trees and the animals and birds, he didnt make motorways and shopping centres and smartphones. We are not living how we were designed to live

You have seen the light and there is another way.

Google FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) and you will find a worldwide online community of people who have decided to take a different path and reject consumerism.

Once you realise that you can live frugally you no longer need to be a slave to the workplace for 50 years. It gives choices. You may decide to work full time and build up enough savings to retire early. Alternatively you could choose to work part time or take a lower paid job doing something you love.

However the current cost of living crisis does make it increasingly difficult to live frugally. Finding enough to keep a roof over your head, eat and pay the energy bills is hard enough without all the extra consumerism.

I like to watch the TV show 'Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild' for some inspirational and more extreme stories of people who have escaped the system.

I totally agree and its really difficult once you know this and I feel I'm caught in a double bind. I woukd love nothing more than to give up most of what i have. I can't believe how many possessions I have, even the ones we think are "necessary" are not. It's quite scary but I'm sure it's very liberating to just f--- it all off and start again. Things likeadvertising i dont think work much with me and i dont engage in fads like uber eats. I think all political parties totally have it wrong, they are all about economic growth. This is at the expense of the planet. I often think back to how we used to live (as far as we can tell...)as hunter gatherers, respecting the land and animals. Only taking what we need. It's really hard but I have to tell myself that although I don't like it, this is just how we have evolved - there's no right or wrong way. We still migjt only be at the very beginning of human evolution, who knows. The thing I have issue with is now we know we are wrecking the planet but just carry on. I actually think living a simple way of life is more in tune with the autistic way of being. I think to escape the system is hard but when I have seen people on telly do it they seem to be quite well off to begin with. Lastly, we have self imposed big brother onto ourselves through the use of smartphones, social media and the like. 

Edit. Actually lastly....my partner and myself have naturally become more about being content. I think contentedness is more realistic and means you are not constantly chasing happiness which is often unachievable. For me happiness is actually being in nature, something which doesn't cost anything. We are so far removed from the natural world in this day and age, it's quite unbelievable. 

Questioning everything is certainly useful.  Unfortunately some minds are so open that they will come to wrong conclusions about the solutions. An example of this would be Racial war and/or racial superiority. Rather than improving the system this would drag it back into an even more terrible abyss.  We need less hierarchy rather than more.  

Nothing disagreeable about your post though OP. It's great to question things.