Household Economy:
Question: What is the household economy? Hentrepreneurs (Household Economy Entrepreneur)
Answer: The household economy has been almost lost to modern people who have become known as consumers, where corporations make and supply everything. North Americans used to be the workers in those corporations producing the goods – that is no longer the case. We are now mostly post-industrial. Most manufacturing is now overseas and our population works mainly in the service industries that support the marketing, sale and distribution of goods, and the public sector.
The consumer economy really got going in the 1920s to maximize the consumption of over-producing factories. Meanwhile, the household economy ran alongside the industrial economy. Before industrialization, the Western world was almost 100% a household economy, much like two-thirds of the rest of the world today. There are two kinds of household economy: 1) The closed household economy which are the benefits of the collected efforts contained within the household that do not leave the household, and 2) the open household economy where the benefits of the collected efforts may be bartered or sold for monetary gain. This document is mainly about the Open Household Economy.
Question: Why do we need to return to a household economy?
Answer: Some people now realize that it’s time to rebuild the household economy – especially for lower income and less educated people whose jobs were more dependent on a manufacturing base.
Other reasons may include:
Question: What does the 21st century household economy look like?
Answer: Many factors determine it. For example geography. The Japanese version may look different to the North American. Local communities may have varying needs for products or services such as a farming community versus an urban one. How about the income levels of communities? Some may buy a locally made item to support an emerging artisan, or because they want a hand-made item instead of a factory mass-produced one for that particular function. This would create very interesting products.
It may seem like a lot of trouble to start a household initiative if your job hasn’t been affected, or you draw down a great salary, and perhaps have little extra time for these activities. However, some countries in Europe already experience 25% unemployment, the U.S. true number may be as high as 17% already. With under-employed households an extra couple of thousand dollars a year is greatly appreciated. Indeed, with the lack of jobs we may all need small, multiple streams of income as the world changes. Of course these household-income products can also be bartered.
At the moment our communities and regions are very vulnerable to the outer shocks from the world economy insecurities, from food production (6% of our food is grown within the 8 counties around Philadelphia), lack of preparation around climate change, to uncertain energy prices and supplies; this all leads to the smarter initiative of re-localizing our basic needs worldwide. If every community is locally sustainable and resilient, then everyone in the world is protected.
Ideas that may constitute the new household income initiatives in North America -
or they could be called micro-industries:
Food system:
Crafts/products:
Home-based Education:
Services:
This Household Economy Entrepreneur suggests a new name and I'm calling us Hentrepreneurs!
Although many of us are very concerned about food production and energy shortages, other complex systems affect the Hentrepreneur. These categories need a sustainable framework: food, shelter, water, clothing, transport, energy, economic system, education, law, security, waste disposal, culture, community, spirit, belonging, localization, communication, innovation/experimentation, health, and diversity.
Let's not forget that the financial system has already collapsed several times in recent history with dire consequences. The hentrepreneur is defending against this system by default.
1) Less dependence on the money system, mainly due to home manufacture of our own needs and goods that are barter-able;
2) Less dependence on the health-care system, mainly due to consumption of higher quality food, if growing your own is part of your effort; and more consciousness in general about what to eat (I think we can scientifically say now that modern corporate edible substances, products referred to as ‘food’ by these industries) are in fact detrimental to human health because they have been engineered to use cheap subsidized ingredients without regard to nutrition content and also manipulated to be addictive. If the hentrepreneur can find an extended community of like-minded people, one’s mental health is probably going to benefit, not to mention the empowerment benefit of being pro-active, alleviating thoughts of hopelessness. (Consider the synergy of the different skills within the community that can save us money, put more expertise at our fingertips, helping to solve day-to-day (even complex) problems.
3) Less dependent on worldwide industrial manufacture mainly due to the ability to repair and self manufacture.
“Use your resources to make wealth, don’t sell them to make money.” Odum. Meaning: If you have trees don’t sell them, use them to make furniture and sell that.
Conclusion:
There is little financial slack in the system at present. The modest income generated by bartering or selling a few products from a household businesses could be a lifeboat. Lower income people are often more innovative and resourceful than wealthier folk because their resources and wealth are limited. Indeed, fashion designers have been known to scour low income neighborhoods for innovative ideas, and new music forms often bubble up there. In nature it is at the edge of ecosystems where you see the most activity and biodiversity – it is the same in human culture. The unemployed or under-employed could become a new edge.
Encouraging the Open Household Economy could lead to more robust neighborhood and regional economies, reducing financial stress, with less needs from the global economy. This makes our local environ more sustainable, resilient to worldly shocks that we don’t control and even regenerative.
Question: What is the household economy? Hentrepreneurs (Household Economy Entrepreneur)
Answer: The household economy has been almost lost to modern people who have become known as consumers, where corporations make and supply everything. North Americans used to be the workers in those corporations producing the goods – that is no longer the case. We are now mostly post-industrial. Most manufacturing is now overseas and our population works mainly in the service industries that support the marketing, sale and distribution of goods, and the public sector.
The consumer economy really got going in the 1920s to maximize the consumption of over-producing factories. Meanwhile, the household economy ran alongside the industrial economy. Before industrialization, the Western world was almost 100% a household economy, much like two-thirds of the rest of the world today. There are two kinds of household economy: 1) The closed household economy which are the benefits of the collected efforts contained within the household that do not leave the household, and 2) the open household economy where the benefits of the collected efforts may be bartered or sold for monetary gain. This document is mainly about the Open Household Economy.
Question: Why do we need to return to a household economy?
Answer: Some people now realize that it’s time to rebuild the household economy – especially for lower income and less educated people whose jobs were more dependent on a manufacturing base.
Other reasons may include:
- Larger percentage of unemployed among certain populations
- Lack of job opportunities in a de-industrialized economy
- No-growth, steady-state economy due to world economy (marks a new time in history for Western nations, never been here before)
- Many fiscal slopes ahead for Western economies: unfunded pensions, expensive crumbling infrastructure, lower tax revenues, lack of political and corporate will to plan for this future due to causing marketplace uncertainty, threatening the legacy providers (status quo)
- Unknown impacts from climate change to North America and the rest of the world, we may see climate change refugees, some arriving on our shores, but also vacating the desert states due to water shortages
- Energy supplies will almost certainly be more expensive as supplies reduce and demand increases (3 billion people in India and China want to become middle class, and will strive for this)
- A new group of unemployed are on the horizon: they will be known as the techno-unemployed, the people put out of work by robots, this wave is just about to hit along with the unemployed from the digital disruptive innovations
- The availability of money as currency in the economy will shrink
Question: What does the 21st century household economy look like?
Answer: Many factors determine it. For example geography. The Japanese version may look different to the North American. Local communities may have varying needs for products or services such as a farming community versus an urban one. How about the income levels of communities? Some may buy a locally made item to support an emerging artisan, or because they want a hand-made item instead of a factory mass-produced one for that particular function. This would create very interesting products.
It may seem like a lot of trouble to start a household initiative if your job hasn’t been affected, or you draw down a great salary, and perhaps have little extra time for these activities. However, some countries in Europe already experience 25% unemployment, the U.S. true number may be as high as 17% already. With under-employed households an extra couple of thousand dollars a year is greatly appreciated. Indeed, with the lack of jobs we may all need small, multiple streams of income as the world changes. Of course these household-income products can also be bartered.
At the moment our communities and regions are very vulnerable to the outer shocks from the world economy insecurities, from food production (6% of our food is grown within the 8 counties around Philadelphia), lack of preparation around climate change, to uncertain energy prices and supplies; this all leads to the smarter initiative of re-localizing our basic needs worldwide. If every community is locally sustainable and resilient, then everyone in the world is protected.
Ideas that may constitute the new household income initiatives in North America -
or they could be called micro-industries:
Food system:
- Small homesteads producing locally grown fresh fruit and vegetables for local markets (this will further stimulate more producers, farmers, processors, markets, produce swaps, storage facilities, soil services, etc. More info: here
- The food initiative is a signature activity that can stimulate so many other initiatives:
- Food processing like canning, drying and jarring
- Home bakeries
- Locally cooked food distribution for busy families who want to eat home-cooked food
- Specialty food preparation
- Education around food production
- All services like composting, vermiculture, soil delivery, garden installations, growing structures
- Greenhouse construction for extended season growing initiatives
- Homestead-size aquaculture farms (integrating fish and vegetable production)
- Micro-greens and sprout production
- Soy dairies
- Plant nursery
- Fruit orchards and fruit products
- Productive edible garden design
Crafts/products:
- Pottery
- Custom wood products
- Garden structures
- Sewing repair
- Short run clothing manufacture
- Specialized clothing manufacture
- Repurposed clothing manufacture
- Recycled tools, shoes/boots, car parts, clothing accessories
- Knitting/wool products
- Picture framing
- Re-purposed anything
- Soap making
- Specialized paper products
- Toys
- Art products: paintings of local views, portraits, etc.
- Bamboo products
Home-based Education:
- Math, reading and writing tuition
- Skills training (re-skilling for new challenges)
- Specialized subjects like Permaculture, Draft-busting, Health-related cooking, Child rearing, etc.
- Music studio
- Tuition on how to set up a household business
Services:
- Child care
- Hairstylist
- Incomplete lists, add your own ideas.
This Household Economy Entrepreneur suggests a new name and I'm calling us Hentrepreneurs!
Although many of us are very concerned about food production and energy shortages, other complex systems affect the Hentrepreneur. These categories need a sustainable framework: food, shelter, water, clothing, transport, energy, economic system, education, law, security, waste disposal, culture, community, spirit, belonging, localization, communication, innovation/experimentation, health, and diversity.
Let's not forget that the financial system has already collapsed several times in recent history with dire consequences. The hentrepreneur is defending against this system by default.
1) Less dependence on the money system, mainly due to home manufacture of our own needs and goods that are barter-able;
2) Less dependence on the health-care system, mainly due to consumption of higher quality food, if growing your own is part of your effort; and more consciousness in general about what to eat (I think we can scientifically say now that modern corporate edible substances, products referred to as ‘food’ by these industries) are in fact detrimental to human health because they have been engineered to use cheap subsidized ingredients without regard to nutrition content and also manipulated to be addictive. If the hentrepreneur can find an extended community of like-minded people, one’s mental health is probably going to benefit, not to mention the empowerment benefit of being pro-active, alleviating thoughts of hopelessness. (Consider the synergy of the different skills within the community that can save us money, put more expertise at our fingertips, helping to solve day-to-day (even complex) problems.
3) Less dependent on worldwide industrial manufacture mainly due to the ability to repair and self manufacture.
“Use your resources to make wealth, don’t sell them to make money.” Odum. Meaning: If you have trees don’t sell them, use them to make furniture and sell that.
Conclusion:
There is little financial slack in the system at present. The modest income generated by bartering or selling a few products from a household businesses could be a lifeboat. Lower income people are often more innovative and resourceful than wealthier folk because their resources and wealth are limited. Indeed, fashion designers have been known to scour low income neighborhoods for innovative ideas, and new music forms often bubble up there. In nature it is at the edge of ecosystems where you see the most activity and biodiversity – it is the same in human culture. The unemployed or under-employed could become a new edge.
Encouraging the Open Household Economy could lead to more robust neighborhood and regional economies, reducing financial stress, with less needs from the global economy. This makes our local environ more sustainable, resilient to worldly shocks that we don’t control and even regenerative.
