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Michelle Surrell's avatar

I agree with so much of what you say. We’re currently living for a few months in Spain and know we have stepped off our normal spending merry go round. I think it is partly due to the fact that the weather is good so we walk and exercise more, there is just the two of us so we are socialising less…but I also think it’s to do with being less exposed to advertising/marketing. I don’t know much Spanish so watch little local TV, I look less at social media but read more books. We sleep well so are not sleep deprived. We’re relaxed so feel no need to ‘treat ourselves’ to things we ‘deserve’. It will be interesting to see how I go on once we are back in the UK

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chiara's avatar

I grew up in suburban italy in the 90s and early 2000s. My parents were working class, but they had free time at the weekend and we would frequently do something nice together: walks, hikes, sightseeing, visiting old friends… If we were going for a drive to the countryside or the beach at the weekend, we would bring some sandwiches or pasta salad in a Tupperware with us. My parents still use those very tupperware. There were restaurants there— we just actually preferred to eat our home made food because it was delicious. Sometimes we would indulge in a coffee at a bar on the way and the coffee would be drank from a ceramic cup and it would cost few cents. I hadn‘t had a coffee to go ever before moving to Germany in my early twenties. I don‘t intend to preach the „everything was better back in the days“—it‘s not comparable. It just saddens me to recognize how urban pollution, climate crisis, inflation and an overall impoverishment of most of the population (compelled to work double shifts to make ends meet, coming home exhausted, doomscrolling on social media…) have made this earlier lifestyle become exclusive, almost elitist…

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