Jammin' Econo

The concept of Jam Econo is one that I have believed in with strong conviction for a long time. It almost seems innate. This concept simply means to be frugal, and cut away all the fat from your life. The actual phrase itself was coined by a band named The Minutemen (whom you should all look into) and is a by this philosophy and means of business they ran their band. Even their songs where stripped down to under a minute to ensure that no effort or time be used on anything but the essentials. They didn't play fast, just efficiently I suppose.

Anyhow, I find this idea to be very powerful and effective depending on what one wishes to do with their time. I've always found that the more one spends they more they have to work, and the more they work the less time they have to do what they enjoy. It seemed self defeating because I noticed people would spend a great deal of time working and making money yet had very little time to use that money. Often they would just splurge it all on some stupid thing that, again, they would have little time to use. I realized this pretty early on and decided that this whole cycle was a huge waste of time, and I would rather just work less and spend less so I had time to do whatever I wanted.

During my middle teens, when I first began working, I adopted a yearly work schedule that I use to this day. That is, work in the summer and save up money, spend as little as possible, figure out what I could do without, and quit during the Fall. I chose this because I hate summer and would rather be busy with something other than laying around sweating. Also,I love the Fall and Winter and would rather spend it unemployed and enjoying myself. My parents found this to be foolish, and stood by the ethos that "you can never have enough money" and that I should keep working "just in case something happens". Things did happen that required money, but I somehow figured out a way to work through it without getting a job. I would always resume work in the late Winter/Spring and continue the pattern. This worked out beautifully because I was able to enjoy a lot of my own time and spend it as I saw fit, and also give me a goal while working. It always sucked going back to work, but I also always made the adjustment and got through it.

Now, the assumption I always had to deal with was that I am lazy. Now, laziness is an ambiguous term that is widely used, but never spoken to mean the same thing. Laziness to me is the inability for one to motivate themselves. What people often meant however, was "one who does 'nothing' or does not constantly busy themselves". I found neither of these fitting to my outlook. It took a great deal of motivation to get one's self back to work, and not to spend money on stupid shit. The latter definition does not fit as well because I never did "nothing", I was constantly thinking, planning, reading, writing, learning, growing, experiencing, etc. The issue is that my parents/society do not value the same things I do. They value something tangible, like money and products. I value the intangible, such as thoughts, personal growth, and creativity. Laziness was an easy phrase to throw on it to make me feel guilty, and it worked.

I was plagued with guilt for my lifestyle, for enjoying sitting around doing "nothing" and felt like a weirdo because I didn't crave all the glitz and glamor of hard work and stupid shit to buy. Obviously, without good reason. This is what I despised most. I didn't know why I felt so guilty, I knew what I was doing wasn't anything contemptible, and it worked! I've always justified the guilt by throwing some distant point in the future when I would have to "get serious" and drop these silly ways of frugality and idleness. However, I later discovered otherwise.

There has always been a group of people who shared my sentiment. The detest for consumerism, materialism, "progress", busybodies, and guilt-slingers. They are referred to as slackers, idlers, ramblers, flauniers, hippies, beatniks, philosophers, punk rockers, squatters, lay-abouts, bums, and deadbeats. These were, in reality, musicians, poets, writers, promoters, performers, philosophers, activists, free-thinkers, naturalists, environmentalists, socialists, comedians, critics, and various other individuals who decide to occupy their time with, well, whatever they find to be important. These are people who value the same intangible things as I do, and find them to be vastly more important than, say, a big screen television, fancy cloths, or frivolous status symbols. To us, status means dick.

Here is where I began to find a large, yet disbursed community of thinkers like myself. I began to have hope and finally shed the guilt. See, what the busybodies of the world do not see is this huge mirror in front of them called "self evaluation". They tend to ignore it and continue on their path of whatever it is they find to be important in these material and status items. Some don't know there is an alternative, some do not care, most haven't even considered changing. I noticed early on all the stress, anxiety, and all around headaches having a lot of stuff can cause. My parents started off frugal, scraping buy, working hard to get ahead. And we were happy. Then, they got ahead, got a bigger house, nicer car, name brand foods, gazebo, all the ritz a middle class family could want. They worked hard for it, mostly in spite of their siblings and parents. They're happy now, but were happy then, and had a lot less to loose. Now they have more worries, more headaches, more risks, more everything, except more happiness. And they still preach the same old ethos. Well, I love my parents and am grateful for all they have given me. BUT, I also see their shortcomings. I found out about jamming econo. About living without, being content. The antithesis of this American living.

Now we're in a recession and people are beginning to see the faults of their spending, how hollow it all is, and are finding "cheaper alternatives". This will pass, as soon as the economy starts booming. There are more TV's, Playstations, and Ipods to be bought. Now with Green Technology too! Ooooo! The problem is they haven't found that intangible stuff yet. Its there inside of them, but they won't look in the mirror to find it. This recession showed them a glimpse of the fact "wow, maybe I don't need Colgate toothpaste, this off brand stuff works fine" or "wow, going to the library saves me a lot of money on DVD's/Books/etc."

The point is, that there is an alternative way to live. It takes a lot of work, and a lot of criticism from both within and without. Living simply means evaluating what you really need, what's really important to you, and cutting away all the fat. Cloths can be the fat, activities can be the fat, friends can be the fat, diet can be the fat, your whole lifestyle can be the fat. Its about trimming your life down to the bone so you have more room to grow and more time to do it with. You don't have to live like a beggar, you can have a house, car, TV all that jazz. But be reasonable with it. Ignore the Joneses, ignore expectations on you, ignore all the ads trying to sell you a lifestyle. Jamming Econo is a way to keep your life quiet so when you want to be heard, when you want to be loud, it'll be noticeable. Its like writing a song, the softer the verse the more powerful the choruses will be. There are tons of resources out there. Look up the Dudespaper, the Idler magazine, Thearou, Nietzsche, Tom Hodgkinson, The Minutemen, punk rock, Ian Mackaye, Black Flag, Hippies, read Marx, the Yippies, the Transcendentalists, Emerson, The Beatniks, Samuel Johnson, Sartre, Epicurus, Gandhi, the Luddites, Zen buddhism, Alan Watts, and anyone who believes less is truly more. It is often with a tinge of self irony and humor.

Make more time for yourself, for your life, listen to your mind and you won't believe the freedom you find.

Jam Econo, Be True