The soul provider

Day one: Buy a packet of seeds. Pick something simple like tomatoes or potatoes, even carrots. If you live in a flat, you may want to start with herbs. Remember if it is midwinter and you want to plant outside, to buy seasonal products. Starting indoors is ok too, potatoes can be planted in a planter, tomatoes in pots and even carrots can be planted to produce baby carrots.

Day two: Plant the seeds . Join your local Freecycle or Freegle, realise that sharing has huge value and that giving and taking has already created a community that is changing the currency.

Day Three: Start investigating and choose a productive past time. Knitting, crocheting, sewing, candle making, soap making, woodcarving, toy making - anything that has value to as a currency. I'm a glassmaker and happily swap glass items for homemade soap and candles.

Day Four: Learn something new and try to every day. Something small. By planting your own seeds, you are learning something new. By watering and caring for your seeds, you are learning something new. By starting something productive, you are learning something new. I would suggest you create a small library (remember you dont have to "buy" books, you can get books from your local library or request them). Did you know if you are into knitting you could learn to spin your own wool, thus creating more personal currency for yourself? You can learn to make your own soap or candles. How about keeping your own chickens and having eggs to swap with your neighbours? Set half an hour aside before bed time, search up on youtube, search online or use our respurce page, learning something new, can cost you nothing.

Day Five: Set aside time to relax. it is important to be able to take stock of what you are doing and review it regularly. Set aside fifteen minutes everyday and relax in the way you find suits you best. Some people enjoy listening to music, others like complete silence, and yet other people need a slow walk in the park.

Day Six: Save your spare resources. Whether you can save £1 or £10 a week. This has little to do with currency, but more to do with developing a habit. Once you learn to save, you'll also learn that reducing the portion on your plate will do two things 1. Save you money and 2. help your health. This doesnt presume that every reader is overweight, but a HUGE (excuse the pun) proportion of our society is consuming and wasting far more food than is necessary. If we consume less, there'll be more to go around and prices will drop, it's a cause and effect economic fact.

Day seven: Join and create a community. If you join a community buying group, you will find that someone has access to buying food wholesale and you can share the cost of group buying, cutting the cost of your food and supplies.

 There are community groups that create new allotment sites and community groups that share childcare and skills. People form skillshare groups, which include, plumbers, electricians, builders, teachers all prepared to trade their skills. ou could babysit for several hours in return for a plumbing repair or similar.