Op-Shop Bargains and another Nothing New Month

I've been re-visiting a lot of the local op-shops (thrift stores for those in the US) lately, and found some real bargains. Like the cushion inserts above, at $3 each. Sure, I've seen cushion inserts in stores for $3 each, but not this size, these are about 20 inches square. Perfect for DD's reading corner. The white object folded up on the bottom is actually a thin, cotton quilt, in perfect condition, it was $7. The folded up flannel sheets were $1.50 each because they had slight marks/not in top condition, which is not going to matter once I cut them up for hankies!

Then in another op-shop (where I went to buy zippers for covers for the new cushions, which incidentally I found for 20 cents each), I found these shirts on the $1 rack. Perfect for cutting up to make some smaller shirts for DD.

I love finding bargains at the op-shops. It feels so good to not only get something cheaply, but to know that I'm recycling in the real meaning of the word. These objects, which would otherwise be thrown out, are being used again. And when I'm finished with them, they'll be passed back to be used again. We waste so much in our world, it feels good to stop even a little of that.

However, despite finding bargains and some great deals, I think I've been going a bit overboard on the buying. Things are piling up, and we need some more cleaning and organising going on here. I have more material than I have time to sew, and more things than I have places to put them. So DH and I have decided to have another Nothing New month this month. Yes, I know we're already into February, and to make it neat I should wait until March, but when the mood hits you, it's best to start while you're motivated.

The exceptions to the Nothing New will be a particular set of bookshelves, or a particular couch, if they come up second hand this month.

Oh the Irony

I was filling up the car with petrol the other day, something I very rarely do (I usually get DH to do it), and as I watched the haze around the nozzle as the tank filled, I thought how ironic it was. I go to great lengths not to bring excess plastic into the house, not to use plastic grocery bags, to buy 100% cotton as much as possible, yet here I am filling my car with petrol, simply to burn it all up.

Unavoidable at this stage, but it does make you think.

Sorry for the absences lately, we haven't been doing much to write about, the camera batteries have been dead, and all in all it's been a hectic time. Next week will probably be similar, as DD has a dentist appointment to have some fillings done under a GA, but after that hopefully posts will become more regular again.

Ditching the Plastic

Plastic bags that is. We've actually been plastic bag free (mostly) for a while now, but I've only just gotten around to taking some pictures of these. While we used green bags for our groceries for quite a while, it took a little longer to ditch the plastic fruit bags. When we started going to the markets regularly, it seemed somehow even more silly to be still putting our fruit in plastic bags, so I made up these vegie bags from some old curtain material. They're just simple drawstring bags, really easy to make, although it did take me until yesterday to get around to putting the drawstring in. They worked just fine without it though.

The trick to making these is to use as lightweight materials (material and drawstrings) as possible, so that they aren't adding weight to your fruit and veg prices. Also, make sure you use something see-through so that the cashiers can work out what you're buying. Finally, I used french seams to make sure that they weren't going to break at an inopportune moment. Several months of use, and they're still going strong. When we get home from the markets, I empty the fruit into the cupboard/fridge, and chuck them in the wash so that they're ready for next week.

Here they are full of fruit, they're about the size of an A4 page, which seems to be a pretty good size, although we usually buy two bags full of bananas! Since my green bags are nearing the end of their days, and actually aren't that green being made from what is basically plastic, I'm working on making some replacement cloth bags for general grocery shopping. This is my prototype, made form an old sheet (which is poly-cotton, so not great for clothes). It works great, but still needs a bit more fiddling with the shape and placement of the handles. I much prefer it over the green bags, although I think it could benefit from being a bit stiffer in places.

More mulch than we know what to do with

Our 50 bales of sugar cane mulch arrived a couple of days ago. All I can say is Wow. Here it is stacked up against the side of the house, where it was unloaded. DD had a ball, climbing up and down the bales, and then jumping from one to the other once we moved some to the front garden. I've started spreading them around the front area, where I hope to cover the entire area in mulch. Let me tell you, I'm going to have heaps for that, and for several other projects I have in mind. It is such a lovely feeling to have so much mulch that I can just use lots of it, and for so many different things. I'm sure these bales will feature in many of my posts over the coming months.

We also harvested the first installment of our potato patch this afternoon. (I posted about making this here and here.) We were going to harvest the whole lot, as the plants had begun to yellow a little, but found that many of the potatoes are still quite small. They are plentiful though, this is the harvest from about 4 plants that we pulled up. It will probably do us about 3 or 4 meals. We'll probably keep harvesting from this patch now instead of buying them, but do it as needed rather than pulling the lot up at once, so that some of them will have a little longer to grow. I do want to get them out soon though, as I have plans to plant corn and pumpkins where they are growing now.

It is very satisfying to harvest your own food. Tonight we had potatoes and pumpkins that we grew ourselves. A short step closer to having a fully home grown meal!

A Change for the Better

We finally switched the main lights in the new house over to energy saving compact fluro's yesterday. After taking two months to get around to it, it only took a few minutes to actually do it (the biggest problem was remembering to check what type of light fitting we had before going out!) We've switched over the three lights in the living area, the two in DD's playroom, and the bathroom light, since these are the ones we use most often. The bedrooms, toilet and walk in wardrobe came with compact fluro's, so they are fine. We still need to switch over the hallway, laundry, and outside lights, but these are only used infrequently and for short periods of time, so they can wait a little while.

The compact fluros are much cheaper to run, especially over a long period of time. These that we bought are 15 watt, but with the light of a 75 watt, making them brighter than the existing 60 watt lights, for 1/4 of the energy. I'm sure we'll notice the savings on our next bill. Although you would think that changing lightbulbs over wouldn't make that much difference, we did actually notice the savings when we changed the ones in our unit over several years ago now. DH also prefers the white light over the yellow, and I have to agree with him, especially in the sewing room. For those that prefer the yellow light though, you can get yellow compact fluro's now. We have them in the other rooms in the house, and you can definately see the colour difference.

Improving the Soil

We have our work cut out for us, to change our barren front lawn into a productive vegie garden. And this is the first step. Here are the 20 bales of lucerne hay that were delivered this morning. We will have 50 bales of sugar cane mulch arriving some time in the next week or so. I'm also buying up on compost, manure and soil food at our local Bunnings.

Yes, I am spending a lot of money on establishing this garden, and no doubt I could do it for less. I mean, we have 3/4 of an acre of grass, and plenty of kitchen scraps, couldn't I use those? The answer is that yes, I could, and yes, I do, but the amount of compost and mulch I can produce this way barely makes a dent in the amount of land I'm trying to make productive. And while there is nothing particularly wrong with the soil, there's nothing particularly good about it either. We're basically trying to grow European vegetables in Australian soil, and the difference between them is quite significant. The vegetables will grow in the soil we have, but they won't produce as well as they should be. The answer to this, of course, is to increase the amount of vegetable matter in the soil, which in turn increases the nutrients, and the soil's water retention.

So we have a busy time ahead of us, preparing all this area for our summer planting. I hope to take lots of pictures, and document our progress as I go along.

Bye Bye Teflon.

DH and I have always had an electric frypan, and up until now, they've all been teflon. It's pretty hard these days to buy a frypan that isn't teflon. Now aside from the fact that there have been numerous health risks linked to teflon (which scrapes off the pans quite easily), every single teflon pan we've had has lasted a maximum of 18 months. The teflon just scrapes off the pan so quickly, even if you're being super careful, that they have a very short lifespan indeed. Meaning that we have to regularly replace a frying pan that is working perfectly well.

This happens so regularly that we have several electric frying pan boxes holding all our Christmas ornaments. We'd buy a new one each year, when they came on special.

Well not anymore. Yesterday I went out and bought a stainless steel electric frying pan. No more icky teflon scraping off, no more replacing our frying pan each year, or feeling bad because the teflon was scraping off and we hadn't replaced it. Our new frying pan has a 25 year guarantee on the cooking surface. You won't find that on a teflon one any time soon!

We cooked pancakes in it for lunch today, and it worked beautifully. Looking forward to many more safely cooked meals, and a long and harmonious relationship with our new frying pan.

Washing Liquid

I had a whole list of things that I wanted to get done today, but seeing as many of them related to organising DD's playroom, a project I'm stumped on right now, they didn't get achieved. I did manage to make another batch of washing liquid though, and since I haven't mentioned it before, I thought I'd do a post on it.

For quite a while I've bought a laundry liquid labeled as 'green', although I've never really been satisfied with the list of chemicals in it. Just because something is derived from a natural product, or is biodegradable, doesn't automatically make it safe in my book. Then I read this article about 'greenwashing' (click on 'show transcript to get the full article), which is basically how companies use key phrases to make their products seem more green. It's a fascinating reading, and just confirmed what I was already thinking. Since we have a biological home treatment plant, with all the water being pumped by drip irrigation to my fruit trees, what we put into that system is of even more concern to me. Unfortunately it seems that as in many cases, the only way you can be sure of what your getting, is to do it yourself.

Rhonda over at Down to Earth has this recipe for home made laundry liquid on her webpage. Personally I'm not too happy using borax. It's one of those natural, but not really safe chemicals to me, and anyway, it's a no-no for septic systems. So I cut that out. Washing soda, which is basically a salt, I didn't really want to put in either, and after looking around the web, it's mainly used for softening hard water. Since we have tank water, it's about as soft as it gets, so I figured I didn't really need it anyway. That leaves... um... soap and water. Nice and basic. I bought the el cheapo home brand washing soap, and from memory, it was less than $2 for 4 bars. I'm not completely happy with it, since it still has fragrances etc added, but it was all I could find. Once this packet runs out, I'll use my own home made soap (which is another post for another day).

Anyway, it's really simple to make. Basically, you grate a cake of soap, put it into a saucepan with 1.5 litres of water, and cook it until the soap all dissolves. (Watch it carefully, it boils over really easily, although it's just as easy to clean off the stove. I was distracted making origami paper water bombs at the time.) Then add that to a bucket with about 8 litres of water in it, and mix it all up. That's all there is to it.

I store it in this plastic 10 litre lidded bucket that I bought for $2 at the markets. It used to hold yogurt. Then I put about 2 litres at a time into a leftover plastic bottle from my last lot of commercial laundry liquid, and use a capful at a time in the machine. It goes quite thick initially, then thins down and becomes globby after a while. Not sure if that was because I didn't dissolve the soap well enough, or because I didn't add all the washing sodas and stuff to it. It works fine though, and the clothes come out just as clean as they always did. (Which isn't that clean, given that I have a 4 year old in the house). It works out at about 10c for a 2L bottle, so you certainly can't argue with the price! And best of all, it's just soap, so no worries about it going down the drain.

Decluttering

Ever since I discovered Flylady about 5 or so years ago, I've been aware of the problems with clutter. Unfortunately, I'm a hoarder. I find it very hard to throw things out. Sometimes, this is because I think I might need them in the future, sometimes it is because I feel bad throwing out something that someone gave to me, but often, it is simply because the item still has life in it, and I can't bear to waste it.

This isn't helped by my new reading on the amount of energy/materials that go into making each item, or how much landfill is filled by all these unwanted items. Over the years, but especially since having a child, we have bought so many things that we really didn't need, and that both clutter up our lives, and use up resources that could best be spent elsewhere. There is nothing we can do about the past, but we can stop doing this now. Now we choose DD's birthday and Christmas gifts very carefully, going either for something that has long term usage, encourages creative play, or is an experience rather than a thing. For example, for her birthday this year, we bought DD some craft materials (paint, stickers, printed paper etc), and took her to the zoo. Once we are a bit more settled, I hope to make some of these presents, such as a doll, some dollhouse furniture (if that doll house ever gets finished) and other toys. I think these few items, chosen carefully with care or made with love, are far more valuable than a large number of packages to open.

So we have made inroads into stopping the influx of new clutter into our home. What we need to work on now is getting rid of the accumulation of clutter that we already have. I was doing very well at one point with throwing things that we didn't use out. Huge amounts of toys, bric-a-brac, clothes and kitchen items that we didn't use were either thrown out, or if there was still use in them, donated to charity. Yet for some reason I've stopped. I'm letting things pile up with the thought that I might have a garage sale, or because I think that though they're not good enough to sell, they're too good to throw out. Somehow, I need to stop this attitude, and get back into the frame of mind to throw things out.

I DO NOT want to bring all this clutter into our new home!

Staying Warm

It's been a particularly cold day here today with the rain. Mostly, though it gets quite cold overnight (down to 6 degrees Celsius some nights), the sun warms things up to quite a comfortable temperature during the day. Now I know some of my readers in colder climates will laugh at me saying that 6 degrees is cold, but remember here that we aren't in a heated, insulated house, we're in an uninsulated shed. So 6 degrees outside usually equates to 7-8 degrees inside.

I have to admit, I'm not so dedicated to low power usage that I would forgo the use of a heater, if it actually achieved anything. Unfortunately, the large area (56 square metres), combined with the lack of insulation, means it barely makes a dent in the cold.

So we have to solve the problem in other ways. Firstly, I've hung pure wool blankets (bought secondhand for $5 each at the markets) around the walls near the bed. This adds a tiny bit of insulation, as well as stopping any drafts around the garage door (which our beds are up against). I wasn't sure if it was making any difference until I realised that sitting on the couch, also right next to a garage door, was much colder, so it must do something.

I've also put another wool blanket under DD's mattress protector, and another over the head of her bed, further insulating her. Most nights she sleeps in a fleece full sleep-suit, fleece sheets and two doona's (when she doesn't kick them off). This seems to have helped, as before we did all this, she was waking up cold at about 2am.

On a really cold night, I will heat up our two wheat bags, and DH and I will use them to warm up the sheets before we jump into bed, and then pop one in with DD if it seems cold. I'll also warm it up again for her when I get up in the early hours to go to the bathroom if it is cold.

DH and I stay warm enough with our doona and bamboo blanket (king size for extra snuggle room). We also use lots of jumpers, the slippers I've knitted, and the velvet patchwork blankets I made over our laps while we're awake. Again, if it's really cold, I'll heat up the wheat bag and put it in my lap while we're staying warm.

So that is how we do it, for very little cost, and very little energy outlay, and usually, it's quite comfortable. Can't wait till we're in the house and have insulation though!

To Darn or not to Darn?

No, I'm not swearing, I'm talking about mending socks. Most of the time, socks will develop a hole at the heel or toe, long before the whole sock is worn out. I used to just throw these out and buy new ones, but as part of our quest for simple living, I've been mending them instead. It doesn't take long really, and there is an immense feeling of satisfaction in making something last that little bit longer, rather than just throwing it out. Believe it or not, I actually enjoy darning socks, and seeing that hole disappear under a neat tapestry of stitches.

One of the main reasons I never mended socks (other than sheer laziness, which certainly played it's part), was a lack of knowledge. If I had thought about it, I probably would have tried to sew the two damaged edges together, which would have made a big lump on the sock. And seeing as I'm rather sensitive, it would have driven me mad, so I never even tried. This is where the wonder of the Internet comes in. Darning instructions are easy to find, and probably a video or two if you really want. I used http://www.wikihow.com/Darn-a-Sock, But don't get put off, you don't really need a 'darning mushroom', I just used an old glass bottle, and it works fine.

It is also causing me to look more closely at the socks we do buy. Some socks are flimsy, and the material will thin and stretch before it even gets to the stage of holes forming. These sorts of socks really aren't worth wasting our money on, so in future, we'll be buying stronger, better quality socks to start with.

And no, just for the record, I don't need to mend socks, I could very easily go out and buy new ones. It's a conscious choice DH and I have made, to make do with what we have where we can, to repair, reuse, recycle, instead of buying new. To grow cotton takes an enormous amount of water, and lots of pesticides, by making our socks last twice as long, we are halving the amount of new material we need, and though it might be only a drop in the ocean, I believe every little bit adds up.

Garden Update

Back at the beginning of April, I wrote here about the Aussies Living Simply garden challenge. I thought it was time for an update on how the garden is going now, and the growth over the last 2 months.

This was my original garden when we moved here, and I totally re-mulched it, and added a lot of compost, and it's now doing very well with my peas and beans in it.

I planted both climbing peas (sugarsnap) and normal peas (greenfeast), and some slenderette bush beans. This is how much they had grown by 3rd of May.

Here they are again just two weeks later, on the 17th.

And finally, a few days ago, the 24th. You can see signs of a few pea flowers, there are even more now.

I planted my next lot of peas in the next section of the bed, massey this time. This is from the 17th of May, and they haven't grown too much since. I think the colder weather is affecting them, as it's getting quite wintery now.

I'm going to do a few more garden updates in the next few days, as it's been a while since the last update. I keep taking photos, but have so much to post about, that they often get forgotten. Tomorrow... herbs! Actually, no, tomorrow is low-tech Wednesday, so maybe on Thursday, if I don't find something more interesting to write about in the meantime!

Give it up!

That is the latest challenge on Aussie's Living Simply, and I'm doing my best to rise to the occasion. The picture I really need at the top of this post is a picture of a tissue box crossed out, but I don't have one, so you're going to have to do without. Yes, I'm giving up tissues! It's something I've been meaning to do for a while, as with all my allergies, we go through a LOT of tissues. Like a box every few weeks. At $2 a box, that's a few hundred dollars a year! And not to mention a bathroom rubbish bin that is always full of used tissues! The really cincher though was when I found out that tissues have formaldehyde in them! So DD and I are now switching over to hankies! Not a problem for DD, who prefers them anyway, I think because they are less floaty and irritating around her face.

Being me of course, I'm not going to go out and buy hankies, I set about making my own. I didn't have any suitable cotton (although I think old cotton sheets that are past their bed covering days would make lovely tissues, my old ones are all poly cotton from the days before I even looked at those sort of things), I decided to give flannel a go. I made up about 4 a month or so ago, and DD and I have been using them on and of (when they're clean), and found them definitely usable. So no more excuses! I cut up an old baby bunny rug that I found for 50c a the second hand shop, and a piece of flannel left over from my nappy making days, and overlocked the edges. Didn't take too long at all (except for threading back in the overlocker threads, I HATE that bit!)

And here they are! I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, the colours actually look really pretty together, and I think we should have plenty to last us for a week or so if necessary (or if we have a cold!)

I think this challenge is going to be pretty easy!

Solar!

I was doing the washing up this afternoon, and I just happened to glance down the hallway and out the door, and this was the view that greeted me! Our solar (hot water) panels are on! No storage tank yet, but it's a start. I guess they must have gone on today, as there were about 4 cars/ute's here today doing stuff. I thought they were all painting, but I guess not.

The painting does appear to be done though. With a spray by the looks of things. Can't see inside because the windows are all covered, but I can see where the spray has gone over the plastic covers. It's very good to see some progress, after about 2 weeks of NOTHING. I don't see any way it will be done by the 9th, but hopefully in the next few weeks.

Edited to say: I keep coming back to look at this picture, and it gives me a great deal of satisfaciton. I think it sums up our new house far more than any picture of the actual house could. The water tank in the foreground, solar panels on the roof, and gum trees (not on our place) in the distance. I finally feel like we're starting to get there!