Since moving to the farm earlier this year, there have been many things I have learnt, but perhaps the biggest change has been living with a lot less. When I say less, I mean living without a fixed income and budgeting around this.
In my previous life in São Paulo, I would not say that I did not want for money, rather I could afford to buy what I wanted from the supermarket and did not think twice about how much I spent on food or going out. I was always careful, but lived a good life and usually had money left over at the end of the month. This meant that I would buy imported food and wine and chose products based on quality rather than price.
In my new life, my shopping is based on price rather than quality. This has meant sacrificing wholegrain food; brown rice, for example, is about 4 times the price of white rice. I have also stopped drinking, buying chocolate and any processed food (chips, biscuits, cakes and snacks).
Had your asked me a few months ago, I would probably have answered that stopping drinking would be the most difficult thing to do. Surprisingly this has been very easy! I would be lying of course, if I said that I don´t miss the occasional glass of red wine. However, I am not sorry to say goodbye to the morning grogginess that one seems to take in one´s stride. Also, when a bottle of half decent wine costs the same as month´s worth of rice and beans, one has to do the maths.
My new life has shown me what it´s like to be a true Brazilian, where according to the 2010 census, 60% of the population live on the minimum salary of R$937 per month ($280,96 US) or less. For anyone living under these restrictions, making such choices is commonplace. One only has to visit a supermarket in a poorer neighbourhood or town. There are little or few so called healthy alternatives to food (reduced fat or wholegrain). Shelves are full of staple goods: white rice, beans, cooking oil and sadly lots of sugary and salty snacks. The implications of this on people´s health is huge, resulting in obesity being on the rise in Brazil.
Learning to live with less has taught me to appreciate what I have, make the most of it and be more creative. I didn´t know before that a mashed up banana with some cocoa powder could be just a tasty as a bar of chocolate! When you really think about what you need, your shopping bag is certainly a lot lighter on leaving the supermarket.
Sources
Image
By Davide Restivo from Lenzburg, Aarau, Switzerland - A glass of wine, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11654357
Tenho certeza que esse sacrifício vai valer a pena. Parabéns pelo esforço! Vc vai criar abelhas? Ouvi de uma pessoa que tb se mudou da cidade pro campo que a primeira coisa que fez foi colocar uma colmeia, conselho que recebeu do avô, descendente de índios. Valeu! Sucesso e boa sorte mais uma vez!
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Muito obrigado @wagnertamanaha! Já pensei em criar abelhas. Nosso vizinho tem uma colmeia e prometi ajudar ele tirar o mel :)
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