[iceland] lesson in how to live frugally

Ever since the beginning of this blog, I've been running posts on Iceland and so the recent crisis can be seen from the Icelandic perspective.

Iceland is not Russia but there are some traits common to both. In a situation of total collapse, certain nations are going to survive and others are going to struggle greatly. Taking, say, Britain, the U.S., Australia, France, Iceland and Russia, I'd say the countries who have long enjoyed the high life are going to feel the change most.

Countries like Russia and Iceland will simply shrug and go back to what they know - living frugally, eking out an existence, keeping money in a box high in the cupboard. There is a primary produce market system. You go out and kill that cow and cut it up for the winter, you bottle vegetables, such as they are, in early autumn and you make jams and kompote, bottle them and put them in the larder.

Iceland review gives some added tips this way:

Being an Icelandic person in England right now is not what it used to be, and by used to be I mean the way it was a week ago before the virtual collapse of Iceland’s economy. It’s the people who have made it into what it is [though] and the people are stubborn.

Another reason Iceland will be fine is that we are geared for survival. At school we are taught how to sew, we are taught how to build things and use power tools, we are taught how to cook and when we are teenagers we are forced to work for about two to three months during summer doing completely basic labor jobs like working at fish factories, or as farm hands, cashiers at the supermarket… you name it! A job is a job in Iceland and no one is above any work so long as it pays the bills.

I think this attitude will be our saving grace and the cornerstone of rebuilding ourselves from the bottom up.

In the name of sensibility I have devised a list of five things that I think will help anyone navigating through the fiscal credit crunch storm.

1. Buy in bulk and don’t be afraid to go straight to the source. When I was growing up we went to the dock to buy fish and lots of it. Building up an acquaintance with a fisherman or perhaps even a number of them is easy enough.

2. Learn how to gut a fish, otherwise suggestion number one is a little pointless.

3. Buy a freezer chest. The freezer chest is an incredible invention.

4. Save money on gas, take the bus.

5. Get relatives who are living abroad to send you the good stuff.

The extended family network also helps, as all generations and branches of the family chip in to ensure survival.

I see Britain as being in a halfway position on this continuum of nations. Not having forgotten the deprivations of the past, perhaps the adjustment would not be as severe for certain sectors of society who are on the breadline even now.

There might be a certain savagery to Russian and Icelandic society at base level but they are going to survive under great duress and there's an underlying toughness there. People of this ilk in Britain might also survive.