Self-Sufficiency and Frugality aren't always what you might expect.

We talk about these things, self-sufficiency and frugality, almost as if they're interchangeable. Somehow, in this shifting landscape, we've taken two distinct concepts and tried to fuse them into uncomfortable synonyms. Today is my stand against such a thing.

I love words. Our new English vocabulary program studies Greek and Latin roots. That's where I learned that I am a philologist. A lover of words. So, let's look at these words for a minute.

Frugality: noun. characterized in the use of resources. Based in frugal: careful about using money or things you need.

Self-sufficiency: noun. the quality or state of being self-sufficient. Based in self-sufficient: able to maintain oneself or itself without outside aid.

I'll be the first to agree that these ideas are companions. Using your resources frugally often leads to self-sufficiency, or self-sufficiency forces frugality of resources, or so the circle goes around. The sad truth is I'm exploring in this journey is that companion ideas are not interchangeable.
For example, our new alt. power. We've just finished installing solar panels. They were expensive. As a matter of fact, the thoughts behind this post were the result of an article talking about "cheap" photo voltaic solar panels now available at Ikea. Our panels were certainly not cheap. Are they of better quality than the Ikea version? No idea. And frankly, there's little point in tracking down that information since my system is already installed and running, while the Ikea panels are available in the UK. Back to the point. We took on the panel project knowing it was going to be expensive. It was not being careful of our monetary resources. It will be a while before we even break even on the financial investment. But the panels go a long way towards sufficiency. It's not off the grid, but part of the grid. Moving us in the right direction.

We see the same issues in our community garden planting boxes. The beds are raised, and we opted for the more durable (i e pricey). The soil compound was also expensive. In terms of time, we're in a location where we are forced to haul water and thus is not frugal in the sense of time. But like the panels, this moves us along in our journey. And in addition to the produce that comes out of the garden we get play time in the sun, hours of bike riding and tree climbing around the garden, a chance to understand where our food is coming from and what kind of work it takes to support, and opportunityto learn what works in this place and what doesn't. It's hard to qualify such things.

So here we are: frugality and self-sufficiency. 

In my head the Lion King soundtrack just kicked in with "Circle of Life."