Amazingly wonderful stuff for free!!!
The other day I was eating my first strawberry of 2025, and as I bit into that beautiful pink sweet flesh I was thinking about grocery budgets and what things cost and how nice it is to spend a bit more on things that are local and delicious and in season, and then it hit me. Strawberries actually cost nothing. Whatever you believe in - God, the 'Universe', nature, chance - it gives us strawberries for FREE.
Strawberries grow in the wild. If you want to cultivate them on purpose you need seeds, produced by the last crop of strawberries (for free), and you need soil (free) and you need sunshine (free) and you need water (free). Isn't it wonderful that we are born into a world that is literally made of the stuff you can grow things in, and where water falls out of the actual sky? Strawberries are effing free! Why do we pay for them?
Well, you could argue that humans are complex creatures who are kind of lovely but also a bit fucked-up and have a tendency to ruin everything. But like many things, you can look at this two ways. One is this: Shame on you bad humans stealing everything from each other all the time and not enjoying the free bounty of the universe! The other involves conceding that no one can individually produce everything they want or need in life, even if it is technically 'free'. I might spend time cultivating particularly delicious strawberries and you might raise pigs or grow walnuts. Our neighbour might not grow anything, but may be very talented at creating stories or music or putting on plays. Once upon a time we may have thought that a couple of punnets of strawberries were worth the entrance fee for the play or 6 rashers of bacon. But money is actually a very convenient way to not have to overthink this the whole time. It’s like when my very nice new neighbour suggested he could text me every time he or one of his friends wanted to use one of my parking spaces. 'Community' and figuring stuff out for free can be romantic and earthy but it can also be a big pain in the arse that makes everyone’s inner monkeys upset all the time.
Still, when we are trying to save money so we can live our dreams, it's a good idea to remind ourselves of all the cool shit that IS genuinely free. This is stuff that can't be controlled like strawberry seeds or theatre tickets. There’s either no way to sell it, or it is something communities have decided to share. Here's a list to start you off.
Fresh air - to breathe, dry your clothes etc.
Sunshine
Friendship
Love
Community
Laughter
Sex
Language
Knowledge
Reading any book or publication in the world (through libraries)
An email address (through Google or Yahoo)
Education
Some healthcare (depending where you live)
Birdsong
Art (in free galleries)
Some of these are totally free, while others 'cost' money (like books in libraries) but are subsidised by government or community. One of the nicest things about living a more frugal life is that you start noticing the free stuff. Now I have a smart meter that isn't in the cellar covered in literal dust and cobwebs I know what it costs to run the tumble dryer. Therefore, when I dry my clothes outside, on a washing line I put up myself, I feel like I’m being given a gift from the universe. It feels much more special now I’ve noticed it.
So, what incredible things did the universe give you for free today? Science has shown that when you make a list of the things you have and feel grateful for them, you feel happier. We usually have a choice about how we feel about the things that come into our lives. Maybe we feel guilty because we spent too much on them and didn’t even want them. Maybe we want more than we have. But if we take a moment to feel gratitude for all the wonderful bounty the world has given us, we will feel happier - and happiness is free too.
