Monday, August 2, 2010

I am a Radical Homemaker failure

This American Girl by Brent Rodgers
visit their etsy shop Twolittlefruits

I read this article yesterday morning and found it very interesting. I have my own personal
issues with being a housewife, stay at home mother, artist, and considering myself a feminist.
It is a challenge to stay on budget( i never do) and its a lot of work to take care of children and a
home. We obviously have a garden from which we eat but it is not our main sustenance.
I do have romantic notions of canning and baking bread...but they are only notions.Do I miss
buying $15 panties and art supplies whenever I want...hell yes. However it is not necessary. I
do miss going out though. I haven't been to a regular movie with my husband since 2007. We do
have to load up the car with kids and dinner and go to the drive in. Its only 14 bucks for two
new shows for our particular carload and it is kind of fun. The thing is if my husband had been
making as much as her husband I would have said no. We have mouths to feed and a life to
live...we will just have to find a different way to pursue your dreams.I guess my point about the
article is the author is not a failure because she didnt set out to be a radical homemaker but
rather the lack of money put her in that position. She didnt trade it all in to be a chicken rancher
and to live as green and earth friendly as possible.I think she just didnt realize how hard it was
gonna be for three people to live on $36,000 a year.Perhaps they should have cut out all the
extras for a couple of years and lived as lean as they could before her husband left his job.I guess
its too late for that now. It does suck to be broke a lot in comparison to before.Whenever I think
of us being poor I try to remind myself I am only being poor of mind because we get by and
make do. Isnt it true that necessity is the mother of invention and good things can come from
that. I think I watched a little too much School House Rock in the 1970's. We are not poor when
one thinks of what poor could be and is for many people in the world and this country.

1 comment:

  1. I don't think radical homemaking is bad -- some people really take to that kind of lifestyle. But I also think those radical homemakers who willingly made the switch need to recognize that they probably have a nice safety net -- whether it be stocks, a wide net of family and friends, etc. "Radical homemaking" isn't fun when you MUST. I doubt truly poor people who are "unencumbered by corporate" blah blah blah are really rejoicing over food stamps and zero time to tend to a chicken farm and a large garden.

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