Downshifting...well, Sideshifting...

One of the things I absolutely love about my wife

(thats her -->) is that she shares my passion for a simple life. We try to always take hold of the promise that we are to have life, and have it to the full (john 10:10), and for us having life to the full means not filling it with to many things. Clive Hamilton calls it downshifting,
a system where people fed up with rampart consumerism seek to reduce their possessions, work hours and stress levels opting instead for a fulfilled and simple life. The beauty of it for us is that we decided we wanted to live this way while we were newly married students with the bare minimum of possessions (for someone in the top 3% of the worlds richest people that is). We shared a little 1 bedroom apartment while we both finished our studies, furnished it with recycled furniture, spent less than we earnt and prioritized time with each other over extra shifts.

Now we are about to move to a new house with lots more space, which means we are going to need a little bit more furniture to fill it. Things like a dining room table, that we had happily gone without before, we are soon going to need. So we are on the look out.

It is amazing how much perfectly good furniture gets thrown away...its even more amazing how much nice and handmade furniture gets thrown away to be replaced with flat pack furniture that will break within 3-4 years. These are two little things I have filled my holidays with one is an old set of draws that we found on the side of the road, and the other is some stools/bookcases/whatevers that my dad and I put together out of an old Red Gum bench.

lots of fun, good for the planet, and free...what more could you ask for?