Dare To Dream

Hi, I'm Laura from Move to Portugal.

Sharon recently wrote a post about Fear of Failure and I left a comment quoting something that I had once read, which has always held true to me, 'I have no fear of failure, only a fear of not trying'.

This is quite an apt quote for us considering the journey we are on.

When we first started out on our mission to pay off the mortgage and move to Portugal we didn't tell anyone, we thought that friends and family would think we lived in a dream world, so we decided to keep quiet. As time has gone on we've slowly let people in on the secret and nearly everyone has the same reaction, it's impossible, you'll never afford it.

I never quite know how to react to this. It's hard to talk to people about how living frugally, having a 'less is more attitude' and not wanting to own the biggest house on the block, means that you can achieve your dreams. It's hard to get people to realise that once you stop living a consumer lifestyle then life becomes so much easier. This is something you have to realise yourself.

My philosophy is to aim high, if you don't quite make it to the top then at least you might land somewhere near it.

Recommended reading: Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominquez and Vicki Robin.

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Image Credit: Portugese Eyes

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Allotment Gardening Builds Community

My name is Gavin from the blog The Greening of Gavin. Sharon has asked me to write a post while she is away on holidays so here goes.

I live in a town called Melton West, Victoria, Australia. In our town you will be surprised to learn that there are no garden allotments like you have in the UK, which is quite a shame. I think the main reason behind it is that most houses are built on at least 500 square metres of land, and the local council sees no need in providing vegetable patch spaces when everyone has land to spare. The ironic thing is that at least 40% of the town folk rent their accommodation, so are loathed to develop a veggie patch in their landlords back yard for no compensation.

Now while I agree that they might not receive any form of monetary compensation for making a vegetable patch in the back yard, I really think that they are missing the point. I have found that you don't need to spend very much money at all to get a vegetable garden up and running. You only have to sheet mulch the area that you intend to plant out and then make some borders out of anything you can lay your hands on (there are heaps of old railway sleepers besides the railway tracks), and voila, you have a garden bed. Just whack on some manure from wherever you can get it (farmers will give it to you for $2 a bag over here), then add a mulch, even grass clippings will do, and bung in your seeds. They will grow with a bit of water and TLC, and before you know it, you have free food. Now if I was in a rental situation, free food sounds like a good proposition. Even growing vegetables in pots is a good idea. The money you save on healthy, organic produce can be put towards the deposit for your own home, or anything you like really. You could even buy a chook tractor, and keep chickens in the back yard. Free eggs from kitchen scraps and a bit of seed also is a good deal as far as I am concerned.

Earlier I said that it is a shame that we do not have allotments. The reason I say that is that this town lacks a community spirit outside of joining a sporting club. No everyone are sporting types, and most are armchair spectators (watch it on telly). For keen gardeners, it is hard to find like minded people, and I think that a community allotment would go a long way to achieving that. I believe that when gardeners get together, there is always a keen sense of competition about their how they grow their produce. Who can grow the biggest tomatoes, who's squash is the tastiest and largest, who can grow the most potatoes. You get the idea. By having this meeting place for gardeners, who all share ideas, and tips and tricks, growing your own food is a practice that is kept alive and well in the community. A great sense of pride is also kept alive and well. It is a sense of pride that also build a healthy and thriving local community.

Do you know how I know all of this? Well, I am married to Kim who originally comes from Southampton, Hampshire and that city has a huge allocation of allotments. When I lived in the UK for 6 months, I used to walk past them quite often, and there were always people tending their patches and talking to one another about this and that. It warmed my heart to see people who probably don't even know their neighbours, and taking the time to talk to fellow gardeners. That is how communities get built and towns with a sense of community thrive in troubled times like these and are much more resilient. People who talk to each other, learn more about each others lifestyle, and therefore look out for one and another.

So, don't let anyone take these wonderful meeting places away from you in the UK. If your council thinks they can get rid of the community allotment space, let them know that you care about your part of the world.

Gavin

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Image Credit: Catfunt

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Simply Spreading A Bit of Bloggy Love

Hi, I'm A Piece of Wood from the blog of the same name and I have to say I felt a bit like Stan Laurel when Sharon asked me to do a guest post, literally scratching my head wondering what to write about.

I've been blogging on and off for about 2 years. I spent the first year in relative isolation, with a private blog and then another one that no one read, which suited me fine at the time, but as my main focus for blogging changed earlier this year, so did my blog. I'm all about a green, simple and frugal life and as I started to blog about these things, within weeks I'd found others that were doing exactly the same.

If you think about the similarities between the blogging world and real life, blogging for me is like 'living' in a community. Everyone is similar in some aspects, but so different in others. It's like having neighbours in your computer, that will give you advice, share their experiences, offer opinions, help you out if they can and sometimes seriously put the world back into perspective for you. Bloggers seem to gravitate towards other bloggers that share like minded goals or whom have gone through similar experiences. Just click on blogrolls and you invariably find a whole host of other blogs similar to the writers. I spend way too many an hour surfing blogrolls, but have found some great blogs that way.

It's strange when you think about the different ways people come into your life, but blogging really made me stop and think about just that.

I find it pretty amazing how much kindness, friendship and warmth comes across the web. This is never more evident when for whatever reason, you have a day where life just isn't working out the way you planned, but when you get online, you find a comment from someone who probably doesn't know you, has never met you and probably never will, but whom has taken the time to read your post and comment back.

Many a time, I've read a comment that has cheered me up, made me giggle,or just made me beam from ear to ear. For me, you can't get much more simple than that.

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Image Credit: Andy Piper

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Living Au Naturelle

Thanks Sharon for allowing me a coveted spot as a guest blogger on your inspiring blog. I am honoured and humbled.

It’s been quite a year of discovery for me in so many aspects but one of the things I have taken on is trying to go ‘au naturelle’ when it comes to my beauty regime. I feel like an onion and over the last 12 months have shed so many layers of what I thought beauty was all about.

In my working ‘in an office’days, I wore make up every day, the hair was curled and perfect, the nails looked good, toenails painted – the works. I could not have dreamed to work in public in any other way. In fact, in the mornings when I saw myself without make up on I thought I looked ill.

And maybe I was.

When I think of the cocktail of chemicals I had put on my face, skin, nails and hair, I cringe. Have you ever noticed at the end of the day your foundation seems to disappear off your face? Well, it didn’t slide off, it absorbed and with it all the chemicals from the foundation as well – into your skin! Yuck. This is just one example but here is a list of what I used to do and what I am doing now to try to rid my own body of so many chemicals.

• Wore make up – Go without make up except on very rare occasions
• Wore lipstick – Switched to natural beeswax lip conditioner
• Spray on deodorant – Use a natural crystal salt deodorant
• Hair coloured at professional salon – Do it myself with organic herbal colouring
• Used regular toothpaste – Switched to SLS and Fluoride free toothpaste
• Wore nail polish – go without completely
• Wore perfume – rub natural amber resin on my skin instead
• Used shave gel for legs – use own homemade soap
• Used shower gel – use own homemade soap
• Used regular shampoo and conditioner – Use organic, SLS and parabens-free shampoo and conditioner
• Deep conditioning hair treatments – Coconut oil or any other oil that’s around

I know I do feel better for it. I also know the air inside my own home is better for it. It is cheaper and I’ve even re-gained a natural glow on my face.

If you would like to find out just what kinds of potentially harmful chemicals are in your own products, you can go to the cosmetics safety database here: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

Jennifer at HomeMattersMost


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Image Credit: Indabelle

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