“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” – ~Ayn Rand
This blog has one main purpose that is contingent on two points: I like fancy things (especially all natural, homemade things), and I don’t have any money. Instead of taking the corporate jobs of the hollow men, I chose to follow my dreams and freedom. Needless to say, that means that I have to do a lot of things myself… or I have nothing.
Fortunately, what I have discovered is that getting the things that I want is easy! Generally, all you need are a few ingredients, a book or two and a bit of ingenuity and there are very few things that you can’t DIY.
This blog was born out of that thought. Unable to afford fancy restaurants, all organic specialty foods and daily pastries and such I had no choice but to learn the techniques myself. Nobody is going to stop me from eating like a queen, especially myself.
Now, I feel like there is almost nothing that I can’t tackle! No mountain is too tall!
I thought that Van Gogh’s Fishing Boats on the Beach at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer would look nice in my bathroom so I painted it myself. And while I concede that it is a good ways off from the original, I am going to try again and again and again.
I couldn’t afford organic vegetables but refused to eat grocery store garbage, so I grew my own! It is so much cheaper than paying premiums for organic produce at the market and was really easy to do.
So now, when I want something, I figure out how to make it. There are limits on this of course but for the basics, I see no need in wasting any more money than I already have in the past 25 years. Additionally, my new skills have allowed me to barter. It is anticipated in my new move to Washington that I will actually be performing manual labor (gasp!) on a farm or ranch in exchange for my rent. This way, I get to save money that would be spent on rent as well as improve my skills for labor and manual dexterity.
This is where you come in. I have decided to do a 12 months, 12 new skills life adventure! I have already learnt so much in the past few months though that I am running short of ideas! So far, I have learnt (besides all the cooking) about how to run a farm from the lovely folks at Jenny Jack Sun farm, I have taken classes on making my own garden and growing my own vegetables (the cheapest way to eat!), I have an entire new jewelry collection thanks to Honestly WTF. And I have ransacked the public library. Books like “Knots and How to Tie them” and “Basic Ballet: The Steps Defined” litter my bedroom floor surrounded by other pieces of inspiration,
But I need more! So far, I only have two skill goals for the next 12 months. I would like to get ideas from my friends on things that you think would be interesting/useful/complimentary to my desire to have fabulous fancy things without spending money.
These are my constraints:
- Money
- Rustic living -I am fairly positive that for the next year I will be living in remote Washington state in a Pacific yurt with an icebox, a stove and a dry sink on a farm or a ranch…
- Season – I want to do things in concordance with the seasons because this is when materials will be cheapest. For example, I am hording some very exciting tomato based recipes that are waiting until June for when they are in full season.
- Personality – I don’t want to do anything boring or simple or…un-fancy.
- Processes – I want suggestions on things that require processes. Please do not send me ideas like “learn French” or “play the piano.” I would like ideas that requires steps, that can be done over a weekend and that will have lifelong benefit of learning.
*Note: I have the following year-long goals, both personal and professional,and it would be nice if my small skill goals could compliment them
- Learn to sail
- Study French
- Farm
- Learn basic survival skills / camp alone
- Learn to fish
- Basic fiddle
What I have thus far:
- Perfume making – I want to learn how to make my own perfume, specifically like Jo Malone’s Pomegranite Noir. It is a delectable, sultry blend of night scents but also rather expensive, so until I have the money to afford it, I am trying my hand at making my own blend.
- Prosciutto – Once I get to Washington and get to know some people, I plan on obscuring a ham leg and curing / salting it myself to make prosciutto. And I don’t want to hear a word of disapproval about this from my Italian friends. I miss it, I can’t afford it, it is as easy as that.
- ???
Comments, ideas and other encouragement would be greatly welcomed!
Halahtoo said:
French cooking? Perhaps you can master the perfect profiterole. : )
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Not a bad idea although I think that it would take more like a lifetime than a month to master the profiterole. At least worth a try though!
Stephanie Baker said:
How much do you know about fishing? I hear it’s a whole different thing the further north or west you go. Since it’s the only meat you eat, I assume that would be a useful skill.
Also, have you considered making other toiletries besides perfume? Read a shampoo bottle. What IS that stuff? I hear salt scrubs are a simple, cheap place to start with that.
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
I have fished a little before but perhaps fly fishing would be a good skill to pick up in Washington! And yeah, I normally make my own aspirin masks and salt scrubs and home derm stuff. I will look into shampoo though – I know that it is only oil and Castille soap really so that would be an easy way to cut costs.
Elisabeth (@Elisabeth_2020) said:
Cheese making, beer making, wine making!
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Yes, I already make my own ricotta and am going to be attempting to learn Mozzarella as soon as I can get my hands on some vegetarian rennet. I am a little concerned about the costs though of materials needed for beer and especially for wine. Unless I really went all out, harvest the hops etc!
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Actually, I just did some quick research and it looks like there is a place in Oregon that sells hops straight off the farm (http://brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.3/montell.html), perhaps I will pick some up on the way to WA!
Elisabeth (@Elisabeth_2020) said:
Awesome! I am really interested to hear about it. I have some friends here to make their own beer-I had a delicious (read: AMAZING) blueberry beer a few weeks ago… and I don’t even like flavored beer.
I was also thinking chocolate/fudge might be an awesome thing to learn to make.
Ian H. said:
Learning to sew, both with a machine and by hand, would be interesting skills to know. If you don’t know how already. Once those are down you can practically make all your clothes.
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
That is a dream of mine and I have been doing minor projects but it is a bit to undertake considering I will also have a full time job, will be tackling all of my long-term goals and doing manual labor in order to pay for my room & board. I wish that I could make my own clothes though, I would be much more fashionable if I could!
Marina Fuentes Pestana said:
My mom would help with all that: pattern making, sewing, stitching, basic alterations, (I was horrified you didn’t even know how to fix a hem !), knitting and crochet. Hell, I might even sit in on the lessons 🙂
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Well that would be wonderful if I wasn’t going to be 3,000 miles away! Does she skype? haha.
And I bet that a lot of people do not know how to fix hems!
The Man said:
Hand code a website.
Steps:
Learn HTML and CSS – free tutorials online
Pay $5 for shared space on a server.
Buy another domain name for $12.
Download a free open source program to code in or use notepad.
Build and upload.
Right now wordpress owns all of your blog posts. Change that.
Also have you seen Khan Academy? Might be useful in your journey. http://www.khanacademy.org/
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Yeah, Kahn Academy is very cool. I have used it a bit in the past. However, I am not sure that I want to take on coding an entire website until I am positive that this is something that I plan on keeping up. Good thoughts though!
Ti said:
Playing the guitar? If you can’t already… very nice complement to living alone in the wilderness, especially if you know how to make a campfire : ) One months should be enough to learn 6 or 7 basic chords that will make you able to accompany 95% of all songs in the world.
Love, Thea
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Playing the guitar would be wonderful but I don’t have one and can’t afford to get one. I have taken lessons in the past and I am not very good at it but would love to try again one day!
Elisabeth (@Elisabeth_2020) said:
There’s a beer made in Mass (Kate the Great) that is really popular, expensive, people wait in line for hours, and they only sell it one day a year…..
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2012/03/10/kate-great-day-portsmouth-brewery/HDtyjQvBBAetyDPZdqgLeL/story.html?s_campaign=sm_tw
I found an imitation recipe- I don’t know if it’s any more complicated than making any other beer, but here it is!
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/04/portsmouth-kate-great-clone-recipe.html
The Budget Bon Vivant said:
Hmm, perhaps I can make this a few month project because it seems REALLY confusing. But probably worth it! And what a fun skill to have! I will have to wait until I move and see what kind of brewing space I have.
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