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A New Beginning

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It’s been a while (um years!) since A Self Sufficient Life was updated and a lot has changed for the Dirty Boots Gang. The big news (well for us at least) is that we’re no longer residing on a Spanish mountain. Instead we’re enjoying the rolling hills of the English countryside. Self sufficiency is no longer quite so obvious or indeed imperative, as life is mostly “on grid”. We are however, still very much self reliant. Working from home to pay our way and ensure we enjoy life to the fullest without relying on the whim of bosses in suits. […]

Green Energy from Insects – The Carnivorous Clock

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Okay so killing insects is somewhat of an odd “green” thing.  But the other night we just wanted to zonk out in front of the TV.  An episode of “Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention” was on.  I have to admit I was pretty skeptical about stop motion animation trying to be educational. But I was wrong. We were shown an insect powered clock.  Now obviously clocks don’t use that much power.  But still seeing a very large fly paper feeding insects into something that is supposedly a battery was a little on the mind blowing side.  Not because we […]

Starting the Olive Harvest

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I don’t know how many olives we will be able to harvest this year.  Time is not something we seem to have enough of at the moment and other things are just more important.  It’s a shame seeing olives going to waste but such a low price commodity often rots on the floor I guess. We will do some though not the 150+ trees that we should.  The main olive oil crop won’t even be our trees.  Instead we will pick the Mother-in-law’s who lives on flat ground with great trees that produce fine olive oil.  Most importantly they are […]

The Most Important Frugal Living Tip You’ll Ever Need

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Or why window shopping is bad for you, oh and magazines, the internet and tv! The most simple and straightforward way to save money and live frugally is just to avoid shops.  Hardly a jaw-dropping surprise that one is it?  But it is true that window shopping whilst relaxing and an excuse for a coffee with friends, is also totally detrimental to a frugal life.  If you don’t see stuff you don’t think about all the things you are missing, or would like to have. I’m pretty lucky as I am not a big shopper.  In an ideal world my […]

Living off Grid but no Longer Under the Radar

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Living off the grid and under the radar has been fun and easy.  Just the initial round of registering on arrival in Spain for personal numbers to allow us to buy the house and get residency cards, but not too much interaction with officialdom the rest of the time.  There wasn’t much point in announcing ourselves too much, we had nothing to give the tax man or the social security office so played Russian Roulette with hoping we never needed a doctor.  Exciting but I wouldn’t recommend it!  Luckily, so far antiseptic cream, aloe vera and tea tree oil has […]

Frugal Living & Self Sufficiency Keep You Fit

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Last weekend I realised how much more fit we were when everything was about frugal living and self sufficiency.  You see, from part time olive farmers, part time vegetable growers, part time builders and full time “never really go anywhere as there is no money for fuel” type folks, we have moved “up” in the world, to become full time laptop typing folks making a living at home.  Yep we still do work on the land and we still do some building (the house will never be finished), but never for so long every day as we once did. It […]

Eco Homes and Not Going Green on Holiday

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We have an old home, a run of the mill rural home, not an Eco home.  But still we think we are a little bit Green.  But take me on holiday and it all comes tumbling down.  I confess my sins for a total disregard for Eco tourism or green vacations.  I just cannot be self sufficient away from home! Being Green at Home Right then, firstly I am not totally Green with a capital GRRR.   We have a car, we enjoy food that isn’t always local and we have a bunch of stinky dogs that cannot be helping […]