Learn Through Your Imagination, Scene Three: Toughing It Out

You can't survive this without being extremely frugal

This one is for those with pioneer blood! Let your imagination carry you away from the city streets (or the barnyard) to this place where you can learn by dreaming up frugal methods. Your imagination is the only way to experience such an adventure, so let it roll!

Scene 3: Toughing It Out

It's late summer, fall is coming on quickly. You're about five miles from town and have one acre of land in farming country with a snug, but empty, one room structure on it. It has cold running water only and two single pane glass windows. You have no electricity, therefore, no lights or refrigeration. You do have a small wood stove already set up, a pickup truck, a hand saw and a hammer. You can choose three more hand tools. You also have a tank of gas for the truck and you have a supply of canned and dry food as well as soap, but nothing fresh or that would keep without refrigeration.

You don't have any bedding, dishes, pans or other household things, including a mop, broom, etc. You don't have any wood for burning, although there are three trees on the property and a few bushes, but you can't strip the land because it's yours and you don't want to destroy it. You have no money except for five dollars. How would you make yourself comfortable and wash clothes, cook meals, etc?

This could be fun. Imagination makes you a pioneer in a new age. Remember that you live in the most affluent and least frugal society in the world. Think of what is thrown away every day of the year and how to use other people's trash for your treasure.

Keep an imaginary journal to show how you obtained what you needed to meet the cool nights and cooking and cleanliness needs. Your imagination will probably show you other things you'll need, too.

In all of these scenes, use your imagination and frugal creativity. Be as realistic as you can. Live it in your imagination so you'll realize what you need to survive.

You should come away from these exercises with a better sense of how you can apply yourself to your own, real, circumstances and get away from the consumerist mindset. Living frugally is an attitude and a way of life that, up until the last century, was the only way to survive for the common folk. Because we can't live the way our ancestors did, going there in our imaginations will help us see what we can do in the here and now.

You can learn through using your imagination. Creativity is within each of us and once it starts flowing, it's there to meet needs in ways you might never have thought about before.