4 ms·

But isn't buying millet just as un-minimalist as buying bread or wheat?

DubiousPusher 7y ago
In this example eating unbaked grains would be the compromise to remain comparatively minimal and yet become more self reliant. Another example would be simple car maintenance. A minimalist would pay for an oil change. One may want to become more self reliant and begin changing one's own oil. In this case you will need a catch basin, a funnel, new oil and filter. You may need a jack, jack stands and a specialty wrench. You could become both more self reliant and more minimalist by getting rid of your car. If you live in an area with good transportation you will become slightly inconvenienced. If you live in a place with bad transportation you will become significantly impoverished.
- angrais 7y ago
  What on earth are y'all talking about?! Buying unbaked grains to eat is to become self reliant? That's just unrealistic and makes no sense. Why not buy bread (as GP said), cut it, and freeze it? Surely that would be a minimalist approach. Minimalism is not reinventing how to do everything, but just having what's needed now. If bread is your breakfast, then it's what's needed daily. FYI: it's possible to be a mechanic and a minimalist. Owning equipment in a garage is not anti-minimalism, it's just common sense. Especially if you have multiple cars (e.g. a family).
  - DubiousPusher 7y ago
    Again, buying millet or raw wheat instead of bread is not more minimalist it is more self reliant. You are not using as much of other people's services. Imagine instead that you grow your own wheat. You can cook the grain for hours over an open fire. And poor people did such with various grains as their daily meal for generations. That's a state that's pretty minimalist, pretty self reliant and pretty impoverished. But if you want to make bread you must possess a mill to grind it, a source of yeast and all the other implements to make bread. To decrease your poverty you have to decrease you minimalism by owning all these things and now having them as a concern in your life or you must decrease your self reliance and depend on someone else having a mill to grind your flour or bakery to have an oven. Trust me, as someone who is very DIY. The more self reliant you become, the less minimal your life becomes.

In this example eating unbaked grains would be the compromise to remain comparatively minimal and yet become more self reliant. Another example would be simple car maintenance. A minimalist would pay for an oil change. One may want to become more self reliant and begin changing one's own oil. In this case you will need a catch basin, a funnel, new oil and filter. You may need a jack, jack stands and a specialty wrench. You could become both more self reliant and more minimalist by getting rid of your car. If you live in an area with good transportation you will become slightly inconvenienced. If you live in a place with bad transportation you will become significantly impoverished.

angrais 7y ago
What on earth are y'all talking about?! Buying unbaked grains to eat is to become self reliant? That's just unrealistic and makes no sense. Why not buy bread (as GP said), cut it, and freeze it? Surely that would be a minimalist approach. Minimalism is not reinventing how to do everything, but just having what's needed now. If bread is your breakfast, then it's what's needed daily. FYI: it's possible to be a mechanic and a minimalist. Owning equipment in a garage is not anti-minimalism, it's just common sense. Especially if you have multiple cars (e.g. a family).
- DubiousPusher 7y ago
  Again, buying millet or raw wheat instead of bread is not more minimalist it is more self reliant. You are not using as much of other people's services. Imagine instead that you grow your own wheat. You can cook the grain for hours over an open fire. And poor people did such with various grains as their daily meal for generations. That's a state that's pretty minimalist, pretty self reliant and pretty impoverished. But if you want to make bread you must possess a mill to grind it, a source of yeast and all the other implements to make bread. To decrease your poverty you have to decrease you minimalism by owning all these things and now having them as a concern in your life or you must decrease your self reliance and depend on someone else having a mill to grind your flour or bakery to have an oven. Trust me, as someone who is very DIY. The more self reliant you become, the less minimal your life becomes.