Economic Down Turn or Opportunity?

Down turn or opportunity? How we can offset some of the economic woes ourselves?

I know many out their have now reached a turning point with the economic news, be it worrying about job’s and security to where the next meal will come from at the most extreme for many.

Living as we do in a media driven age of doom and gloom it's no wonder we are all fed up. What’s missing from all this media hype for you, Well from my perspective it's a simple one, A solution that we can all be part of! If you live as I do in a large city or a small town we can start to create a mini economic solution.

First take a look around at your local stores, see what they have to offer, are they selling local produce I.E less than a 50 Mile radius. Check to see if you have a farmers market during the week or does your local market have goods from local farms.

Do they offer a service the large Multinationals can’t or refuse to offer, you will find most do, be it a smile and friendly service’s, or a higher quality of goods, It's going to be a bit of an adventure searching out what the local businesses have to offer but you will get to know your neighbours who work near by and that’s something we should all do to build a better community.

You will also see the people you can keep in work during this credit crisis, So it will no longer be a faceless news item it will be reality, we tend to defend what we know far more than people and businesses we don’t know.

So the biggest advantages I get from shopping local is being able to build a relationship with those working locally, they get to know what I like and find new things they think I will be interested in.

I tend to buy better as I am only buying fresh produce that I will use rather than buying the so called special offers that are compulsive buys, they only add extra costs to the basket, so not saving a single penny, and you end up throwing food out if it goes out of date, not very good for the environment.

Another thing you will find shopping local is the lack of artificial colour's and preservatives because you make your own meals, be it a pasta dish or even a pizza, I make fresh pies and soups and the one thing you will notice is the taste, everything tastes real from the first mouth full to the last, and much less salt and sugar which is added to commercial soups and pasta’s along with many other things such as thickening agents, again you don’t need them as Potatoes will achieve the same results or a little cornflower.

You will also increase your vitamin intake which is seen as a bonus in mass manufactured food rather than a natural by-product from the food itself.

In addition, where you see added extra vitamins you need to ask yourself what else have they added to achieve this, lets face it why would we need added vitamins in the first place. Vitamins in to higher concentration’s are as bad as to little, creating and making your own meals will help you get the balance just right.
If you do need addition help with Vitamins then go to your local health store where you can buy what ever you need for yourself.

If you live in a rural community you could try to barter one trade against another, again this may take time to achieve but in time it will become as normal as any other aspect of our daily lives, from waking up to going to work, but the big difference will be a sustainable economy without the need to spend vast amounts of money.

A good example of this I found in Romania around the central area of the country, better known as Transalvania, it still has villages set out more or less the same way as they where during the old Saxon times. Some villages would be known for growing potatoes another for Tomatoes or corn, this was also repeated in individual homes from one neighbour to the next.
One would trade part of their crop with a neighbour and so on, anything left was sold on. It meant that each home would be self sufficient for weeks if not months, they would make preserves along with freezing as much of the produce as possible, for the winter months.

Each court yard or garden would have a grape vine as shelter from the sun in the summer and a cash crop for the fall when they would make their own wines or alcohol. Its now one of Europe's biggest organic growing areas where tradition is held dearly, but we would see it as being an alternative way of life these day’s.

It was after my visit to this truly amazing country that I decided to replicate it as much as possible, in a city setting. It was just before the food shortages that made the headlines sometime back, I thought about what I had seen and how it worked, just in-time as it turned out.

Don’t for one moment think this makes Romania to be backward or stuck in the past it’s not, they just seem to have made the right balance between the past and the future and I hope it continues this way fro a long time to come.

I have saved more money shopping locally enabling me to save a little more each week than normal, and along the way getting to know my local neighbourhood even better than I could ever have done shopping in the large faceless supermarkets. As much as avoid them there are times I have to venture into them, but before doing so I only take in enough cash for the essentials I need to purchase there.

( I know supermarkets are the only option in many areas now so another idea is to look on-line for independents that will deliver direct to your home, taking the strain out of the task for yourself and enabling the store to employ another person for the delivery service. )

If you can shop locally then give it a go the rewards are ten fold for you and your community.
Much more than anything else you will be creating a min economy in your local area, keeping jobs and service’s going.
Helping people keep there homes because they will stay in employment, the knock on effect will spread through out the community.

It will seem like a long haul I know, but will at least be better than sitting in-front of the TV watching the media’s continual doom and gloom, making you depressed feeling powerless to do anything.

It's not a solution for everyone I understand but if we can do it we should at least try, if we don’t we will find fewer services once the slowdown is over giving us less choice in the long term and more vulnerable to the next down turn as there will not be alternative work because it will all be in the power of the Multinationals who over react or create the problems in the first place.

So lets take the opportunity’s we can to make a difference now before its to late for future generations who will be all the poorer for our lack of action now.