Ask:
There are so many things in this life that have been created to make our lives easier, however, not all of them are needed. In fact, it's my opinion, that in making our lives "easier" we have made ourselves lazier and have made a huge and negative impact on our land fills. Take for example: electronics. This is just one example. With technology constantly changing, more and more we're 'getting rid of things' so we can upgrade and stay current. Think about this on a larger scale: it's just just your family, it's ALL families in this country that do this. The electronic industry (alone) does not let you keep your outdated services or equipment. They want you to upgrade and they make it impossible (at times) for you to keep what you have. Think about that for a moment. What happens to all of our "outdated" things? They end up in landfills right?
Just for a moment, think about how hard our parents' lives were, and the generation before them. It was harder, because they didn't have the convenience of disposable diapers, microwaves, cell phones, etc. They were hard working generations living a more simple life. Yes, most of those items are of great use to us and have made parenting just a little bit easier, but what modern day "necessities"/"conveniences" could you go without? You may own some, but know you don't necessarily need them?
Answer:
That's a good question! So many things are ingrained as being a must-have that it is hard to imagine life without them! I think I could live without a microwave. While it is certainly a time-saver and a huge convenience, its not like I'm in college living off frozen meals anymore. I'd have to plan better to defrost my things the night before rather than depending on the microwave to bail me out, but it could be done (its probably better for us too- I wonder about all the little waves going into our food sometimes)
I do without a cell phone already. Dh hs one since he has to have it just in case so I do borrow it if I am going on a long drive alone or really late at night. Other thanit its pay phones (do you know how hard those are to find nowadays?)
TVs in every room of the house
Baby things- I could have lived without many things: wipes wamer (never used), bouncies (great, but I would have managed without them if I had to, both dd's preferred being in the sling more anyway), changing table, diaper champ, bottle warmer, lots of the must have toys
I'm sure there are more. I do like my life of convenience though. i really would not like being a SAHM back before electricity when you woke up, make breakfast, cleaned that up and started lunch, finished that and started dinner, in between trying to mend, mind the kids, make butter, etc. I feel very lucky to be in this age, even though I know I need to always be making better strides towards conservation.
I'm interested to hear other ideas- I just can't think of them right now.
Answer:
Originally Posted by pandi410
I think I could live without a microwave.
This was my first thought also. We went without one for about 3 weeks after our move, and we did just fine. We did end up buying one, but I only use it about 1/2 the time now.
In reality we could probably also go without the DVD, VCR, DirecTv, and (gulp ) the computer...we don't NEED them. It would totally bite, but we lived without them before and survived.
I would be too stingy to give up the things that make my daily chores easier...the washing machine, the dishwasher, the vacuum...and things like disposal fem. hyg products. I would also not give up my cell phone - my DH works too far away, and we live too much out in the middle of nowhere. I have to have the security of getting ahold of him from the road if something happens.
Answer:
We choose to do without a number of convenience items:
*microwave
*tv (yep, no tv. but we do watch dvd's on the computer)
*coffee maker (use a press, and are mostly tea drinkers)
*salad spinner
*garbage disposal in sink (ok, I would love to have one, but they don't exist in Germany)
*air conditioning (similar to above, but too expensive to install)
*loads of baby stuff: diaper genie, wipes warmer, swing, ... it's all clutter to me. ds has some high quality furniture and enough toys to keep him busy, plus a johnny jump up because I couldn't resist that one!
convenience items I'm glad we have:
*washer/dryer
*dishwasher
*electric kettle for boiling water
*changing table heat lamp (very useful when ds was tiny - don't use it anymore)
*2.5 bathrooms!!
*heated towel racks in bathrooms (radiators)
*central heat / hot water - you may be surprised at my considering this a convenience item, but it certainly is. My SIL +2 kids live in an apartment with wood and oil fired stoves, and they have to heat the boiler before bathing. This is so rare in modern America unless you're in a cabin in the woods!! SIL lives in a small community near a big German city, but the house is very old and unrenovated. wow.
I'm waiting semi-patiently for a real American fridge/freezer with an ice dispenser to fit into our budget. clearly it is not a must-have but I hate living with our Euro-mini-fridge and miss ice water, iced tea, etc.!
Answer:
I honestly believe I could make do with whatever I had or didn't have. I am not a materialistic person and have never been a pampered person. I never felt entitled to anything. SO I think if things were taken away I would just ajust.
Answer:
We talk about this all the time too. And it seems that some things are "going back to the way they were" but on a very slow pace. We are always saying, maybe our past generations were very smart after all.
I could probably go without the TV. I love to read, so it wouldn't bother me at all.
Other in my house would disagree, but they would find something to do. We lived in South Florida when hurricane Wilma hit, the eye went right over our neighborhood. We did not have power for 8 days!! And we managed to survive. And had fun in the process, and it was great watching the kids have to use their imagination. Something that we used to do all the time, but technology has taken that away somewhat.
I would not want to give up the hot water heater!! Gotta have that hot shower!!
Answer:
I have to agree with TV!! in the spring my dd's school has a no tv week!! last year me and the girls abided by this!! I didnt even watch the news!! I did look it up on the Computer!!
I think we did put a DVD in for us to watch as a Family one night wich I felt guilty about!! but over all it was fun to see how good we could do!! we did game night and read a lot of books and it was nice out so that was great!! Dh was the only one who would not
go along so I told him he had to wait till the kids went to bed!! (he is a jerk when it comes to his Sports watching)
Answer:
I could easily live without a dishwasher. We have one and I rarely use it. I rather remove it and have the cabinet space.
I could live without a cell phone. I have a Tracfone for emergencies only (because my dh insists that I have one). I'm not a phone person, so this is something I don't really need at all.
Answer:
I couldnt live without the washer and dryer. I can live without the dishwasher but I dont want to. Otherwise I would say I can live without most modern things if given a little time to adjust. Indoor plumbing is a must
Answer:
I could go without cable tv.
My cell phone, I would like it just for emergencies but otherwise I could deal without it. Work wouldn't be able to find me then.
There are so many things that I thought I needed when for the girls that people bought me that are still sitting in the packaging or barely getting used. Diaper genie, bottle warmer, wipe warmer, etc.
THe microwave, dh is the only one that uses it otherwise I cook everything.