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by Lincoln Wijeyesinghe

At this moment when cost of living with housing as a major factor is a severe problem it is appropriate to draw attention to the neglected subject of low cost living which could relieve both problems considerably and

contain essential expenses within the means of the common man. Our way of life is yet geared to a by gone age when the cot of labour and materials was low, the demand was much less, and the Englishman set the fashions.

To survive under conditions now prevailing we have to adapt ourselves by radical changes in our living style and housing.

My purpose would be achieved if the following brief remarks set our people thinking in this direction. Low cost housing

We are accustomed to separate rooms for separate functions and so we need a verandah, hall or sitting room, dining room, and bed rooms with kitchen and lavatory and many other compartments to complete a house. If we could avoid defining the function of each room, then one room could be used for any of these functions (of course with the exception of kitchen and lavatory). Therefore, one single room could serve all these functions as and when required if the furniture were not there to define and dictate the function.

In Japan where this style of living is prevalent a house of 14 "Tatami" (approximately 250 square feet) is considered a spacious house, and justifiably so, for there is a sitting room of about 200 square feet, a dining room of about 200 square feet, and 2 good bed rooms when a light sliding partition moving in grooves is pulled into place and secured to divide this space at bed time. When you need a verandah you push aside a couple of external wall panels and you have a spacious verandah to sit and enjoy the sunset or the beauty of your garden and the flowers growing on your boundary wall.Due to the reduction in area very high standards of quality, beauty and comfort become affordable. If prejudice could be overcome timber walls could reduce costs still further.

Furniture is the barest minimum, cushions for seats and quilts for beds, all of which go into wall cupboards when not in use and a table. It is surprising how comfortable you could be, better health without the stiff joints of old age is a bonus from this lifestyle.

The large sums of money usually spent on building big houses with furniture, furnishings and servants to maintain all this could be invested to produce an income, buy labour saving devices and support a better standard of living while the leisure due to reduced house work could be utilised for recreation and productive work. The home could be run beautifully at a fraction of the usual cost and trouble.

Meals without tears

Many a time I have watched with wonder the nimble hands of my Japanese friends' wives produce a tasty and satisfying meal in minutes, uncomplicated boiling, frying, broiling or baking together with raw vegetables, fish etc., with sauce and other ready to hand seasonings. Why must our women folk waste half their lives in the kitchen? It is high time our style of day to day cooking was changed to suit this servantless age.

Benefits

Some of the benefits of this low cost living to individual and country would be:

1. Reduced cost of building a house.
2. Reduced cost of maintaining and repairing a house.
3. Reduced cost of furniture and furnishings.
4. Reduce cost of lighting, cooling, heating.
5. Reduced labour and time for cleaning house and consequently no servant are required.
6. Less land required for house and consequently reduced investment.
7. less worry about contents of house.
8. Reduced house rent and taxes.

Due to above savings

1. More money available for investment to generate income to support better standard of living.
2. More leisure available to devote to family, earning or pleasure.
3. More land available for more housing units.
4. less building materials consumed.
5. Savings on foreign exchange due to reduced consumption of imported building materials such as steel and glass.
6. More timber and other scarce building materials available for more housing units.
7. More labour available for productive use.
8. More money available for more small housing loans. In short the resource available to the individual and country could go a much longer way to produce a more contented and happy people.

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