A Spending Spree

2 Comments

Posted on June 4, 2018

Sometimes I go for ages without buying anything apart from the essentials but then I seem to have a bit of a spree.

In the last week I have bought a clock and a dress. The clock was to replace the one in the kitchen which had given up the ghost. I spent a couple of hours trawling online and eventually found one that I liked. It arrived in the mail today and I was very excited to hang it up.

The dress was an impulse buy (sort of). I was at the DFO with GMan and my mother on Saturday afternoon and I wandered into Jacqui E and this dress caught my eye. It was originally priced at $170 but marked down to $50 and the final price I paid was $37.46!!

It is an almost perfect fit – I need to shorten it a little and while the bodice fit is good, I could make it better by lifting the shoulders a little and taking a small amount of width out of the upper back. It is heavy cotton, lined and looks like cutwork. I have studied the construction and the alteration to the shoulders should be easy. I will have to give the back a bit more thought.

I have a pretty cobalt blue cardigan to wear with it and now I just need a pair of navy shoes. Coincidentally, I have already been searching for the shoes.

Introducing Maggie

2 Comments

Posted on May 27, 2018

I began to write this post 2 weeks ago but set it aside until now.

The number of blog posts lately is inversely proportional to amount of things that have been going on around here. I hope to update you on a few of them this week.

In the meantime, back to the delayed post.

This is Maggie the mannequin.

2018-05-27 02

Although I have been making clothes for myself for most of my life, I have never owned a dressmaking model. After years of vacillating I finally purchased this one with some of my birthday money.

Here she is unpacked, assembled and firmly ensconced in my sewing room. I have begun making the size adjustments but have a bit more fine tuning to do.

2018-05-27 01

I am looking forward to doing some more dressmaking for myself in the not too distant future and am confident that Maggie will be a useful adjunct when it comes to getting best fit possible.

My Shopping List

Leave a comment

Posted on May 24, 2018

The impending ban on regular plastic carry bags in Queensland has created a definite upswing in interest in alternatives.

There will be heavy duty plastic bags for sale, however, these are really no better as very few people seriously reuse them and the inherent problems still exist – the use of non-renewable resources to create the plastic and the waste which invariably ends up in waterways and the oceans.

Many of the so-called ‘reuseable bags’ are also derived from plastic and are far from ideal.

2017-07-04 01

You can make your own fabric bags (preferably from second-hand or salvaged fabric) or buy from groups such as your local Boomerang Bag group. Otherwise, grab a cardboard box or two to stack your groceries.

2017-01-25 01

Beyond these obvious choices, there has been much discussion, both online and in real life, about the impact of the changes.

But what will I use to line my bin?
The fabric bag won’t fit the metal packing rack?
There is no space to pack my groceries?

And so on………

All of these questions are valid. We need to think outside the box and perhaps change some other habits.

The first thing that springs to mind is reducing waste so that there is less or no need for bin liners.

Secondly, is about how you shop, what you buy and where you buy it. This is what I want to discuss today.

In an online forum, I recently mentioned that I bought very little at the supermarket and could generally place it directly in my cloth bag as it was scanned through the checkout. I place the handle over one arm and with the other hand I load the items into the bag. I think this comment raised some interest about how I actually achieve this.

The most important tip is make the supermarket your last resort.

Eat simply, cook from scratch, grow some of your own food, support local small businesses, buy in bulk, buy online, buy at Farmer’s/Growers markets and finally, go to the supermarket.

I do not shop at either of the two major supermarkets here in Australia, Coles and Woolworths.

We live near a small town with a Woolworths and an IGA supermarket. I buy a few things at the IGA and also go to the local butcher and our Co-op which stocks a wide range of organic products from both Australia and overseas. Most of my supermarket shopping is done at Aldi which is about 10km away in a different direction. The fruit and vegetable vendor that I go to is not far from Aldi. I buy the majority of my dry goods at a family-owned shop with bulk bins. It is about 45km away so I plan my trips and stock up about twice a year.

2011-04-09 02

By shopping at small, independent retailers you will find it much easier to use and pack your own bags as there is generally more counter space, less pressure and the seller will probably be much more supportive of your decision. I also take my own containers/bags to have them refilled in almost all instances but that is a discussion for another day.

To give you an idea of what I buy and where I buy it, I have created the following lists of everything I buy, including food and non-food items.

I have not included fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer as this is seasonal and depends on my planned meals for the week as well as what is growing in the garden.

2017-07-30 03

Butcher

Beef mince
Diced beef
Bacon
Chicken breast fillets
Gravy beef

IGA supermarket

Vita Brits
Taco shells
Salmon
Olives
Salami
Cleaning vinegar
Soda Stream gas canisters

Co-op

Brown rice
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Tamari
Coffee
Honey
Shampoo
Conditioner
Face wash
Moisturiser

Simply Good

Bread flour (white)
Wholemeal flour
Rye flour
Potato flour
Brown rice flour
Chickpea flour
Quinoa flour
Arrowroot
Almond meal
Flaxseed meal
Corn meal
Raw sugar
Pepitas
Sunflower seeds
Flax seeds
Almonds
Peanuts
Walnuts
Chickpeas
Kidney beans
Black beans
Haricot beans
Red lentils
Brown lentils
Sultanas
Raisins
Mixed peel
Cocoa
Coconut
Psyllium husk
Chia seeds
Quinoa
Bicarb soda
Herbs
Spices
Salt
Pepper

Aldi

Vegemite
Corn chips
Cheese
Butter
Milk
Sausages
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Cat food (tinned)
Cat food (dry)
Frozen peas
Mayonnaise
Dijon mustard
White vinegar
Balsamic vinegar
Tuna in springwater
Flavoured tuna
Baked beans
Corn kernels
Coconut cream
Curry paste
Stock powder
Tinned tomatoes
Rice cakes
Rice crackers
Ice-cream
Skim milk powder

Online

Tea
Dog food
Eucalyptus oil

Direct from manufacturer (local)

Laundry liquid
Enzyme soaker
Dishwashing liquid
Dishwasher powder

I am sure you can see items missing from the lists, so please feel free to ask questions. It may be that we simply do not use it or that I make it myself. For example, I make tomato sauce, worcestershire sauce, tabasco sauce, jam, peanut paste, onion flakes, pasta, pizza bases and GMan makes bread.

A Smart Purchase

A Bulk Buy

1 Comment

Posted on March 10, 2018

As you know, I am not a great fan of shopping. However, there are still things that need to be purchased.

I needed more eucalyptus oil which is an ingredient of the homemade cleaner and wool wash that I make. It is also a useful disinfectant and aid for removing labels from jars and the resultant glue residue. Needless to say, I use a bit of it and was keen to buy a larger quantity than the 200ml bottle that I had recently emptied.

After some online searching we managed to source a 4 litre bottle in Australia. It is the same brand as the previous bottle and was significantly cheaper. In fact, I calculated that it cost about 60% of the cost of buying an equivalent volume in 200ml bottles from one of the major supermarkets.

2018-03-10 01

Although it is in a plastic container, this quantity will last me a lifetime and I will not be buying any more 200ml plastic bottles of eucalyptus oil.

I understand that many people would not be interested in buying this sort of quantity as there is a significant financial investment as well as storage issues. Neither of these are a particular problem for me so I am happy to have been able to buy a large quantity of eucalyptus oil.

If you live in my vicinity and would like a smaller portion of this eucalyptus oil, please let me know and I will let you know all of the details including pricing which will be the same as I paid. I am not doing this to make a profit but simply to give others the opportunity to access eucalyptus oil with minimal packaging in quantities that are appropriate to your needs.

**Please note that this is labelled ‘Commercial Grade’ and the directions are for use in cleaning applications.

There are a couple of hyperlinks in the second paragraph to the ‘recipes’ for cleaning products that I make using eucalyptus oil.

Organising Assistance

1 Comment

Posted on March 2, 2018

I regularly speak out about the fact that you can be organised without spending ridiculous amounts of money. I often read or hear about people buying dozens of matching containers to organise a linen cupboard or re-arranging their pantry with an entirely new selection of containers that happen to be the trend of the moment.

Apart from the cost, this behaviour bothers me from an environmental perspective because many of the containers are plastic and/or are manufactured in jurisdictions where workers are not paid a living wage, work in sub-standard conditions and the factories do not meet any type of environmental guidelines. Next time you are tempted to buy new items that seem very cheap – stop and think about why they are so cheap.

Back to the main topic. I did buy something which will be useful in organising numerous areas in my home and I expect that it will last me for a long time to come. It is a labeller.

2018-03-02 01

I had previously borrowed one from work to label some jars in the pantry but finally decided that it would be useful to have one of my own. It is battery-operated and the labels come in a cartridge which is inserted into the back of the machine. I purchased 2 cartridges of the clear self-adhesive labels. I also noticed that you can buy cartridges of iron-on tape so you can make your own labels for clothing. This is not something that I would use but could be beneficial for my daughter with children going on school camps and similar.

My first attempt was to label this set of mini-drawers which fit perfectly on the shelf in my sewing room. The drawers came from my mother and I have found them really useful for keeping track of some of the smaller sewing items. I have memorised what are in the top row but other than that, I have to open the drawer to check. That will be a thing of the past with these new labels.

2018-03-02 02

Now, what else needs a label? I think I am going to have fun with this gadget.

A Matching Set

Another Quilt

2 Comments

Posted on February 17, 2018

No, this is not turning into a quilting and patchwork blog, however, I am making another quilt using the same techniques as the one I have just finished. This is for another work colleague – a retirement gift this time.

It is very different colours – generally autumn tones.

2018-02-17 01

Here are some of the squares cut out. I had some of the fabric in my stash but nowhere near enough as it is not the colours I tend to use. The remainder is made up of some new fabric specifically for the project as well as some that I found on an op shop crawl this morning. We are fortunate to have no fewer than 4 op shops in the small town near where we live.

I spent the afternoon and evening cutting out and piecing fabric. It is coming together nicely and these are the first 5 completed blocks. There are another 11to do before I arrange them to get the best balance of colours.

2018-02-17 02

While I was hunting out suitable fabric at an op shop, this piece caught my eye.

2018-02-17 03

A 1 metre length of brand new cotton fabric which is 112cm wide. It cost me 50c and will be used to make a sleeveless shirt for me.

The other thing I bought was not fabric so I will save the story of that for another blog post.

In the Garden

1 Comment

Posted on January 6, 2018

After a break of almost 3 months, I finally made it back to the garden today. I have really done nothing since before we went to the UK at the beginning of November and since we arrived home in early December my intentions have been thwarted by hot weather, Christmas preparations, another holiday and numerous social events as well as being busy at work.

However, I woke up at 5am today and decided to bite the bullet before the sun became too intense. 2.5 hours later I came in after having made a start on some weeding in the vegetable garden enclosure. In all honesty, you could barely see where I had been but I felt better knowing that at least I had made a start.

We went shopping this morning and as well as food we managed to buy more than a dozen plants. Later this afternoon GMan and I weeded the area in front of the house. This runs the full length of the house and is planted with numerous hibiscus shrubs and covered with mulch. Where the hibiscus are well established and close together there was very little weed, however, there are still some substantial gaps and some unwelcome plants had become quite well established. Of course, the area is almost overrun with cherry tomato plants but I am prepared to accept them as they are food.

The next job was to tackle the raised garden bed containing the sweet potatoes. When we planted them some months ago we placed a panel of old pool fencing over the bed to keep the scrub turkeys away from it as they just dig up the potatoes and eat them and completely destroy the plants. We had intended to remove it once the plants became established but that did not happen. The plants had grown right through the fencing and far, far away………… It was not easy to remove and in the process we discovered that there was a good crop waiting to be harvested.

Here is our haul.

2018-01-06 01

I can see sweet potato fries, sweet potato mash, vegetable curry and baked sweet potato in our future.

In a recent post I published a list of some of the projects we intend to tackle this year. One of them was to create a garden outside the vegie garden. My intention is to create a mostly native garden with a seat in the midst of it. At the moment it is just grass but that is about to change. Today we took the first step and bought a selection of plants which will form the basis of this garden.

2018-01-06 02

This is the result of our garden shopping so I am quite keen to see my planned garden come to fruition. Not of all the plants we bought will be for that area but we have plans for all of them.

Hopefully, I will have some more photos to share before too long.

We are planning to make an early start again tomorrow as it is really the best option during the summer months here.

My Minimalism

5 Comments

Posted on September 9, 2017

I often read or hear people asking quantitative questions with regard to minimalism. These generally revolve around how many of something you need. Examples include, “How many pairs of shoes do you have?” or “How many sets of clothes do I need for a 2 year old?”

Additionally, there are numerous blogs and articles out there which exhort you to get rid of appliances or say that one set of crockery per person is all you need.

Conversely, I maintain that minimalism should not be prescriptive and that each person has different circumstances and will make their own choices.

The thing that defines minimalism to me is that whatever you own is mindfully curated and limits are set.

In particular, I have been reminded recently of variations in kitchen requirements. We grow some of our own food and naturally we end up with a glut of certain produce from time to time. I do my best not to waste it. Processing a large quantity of produce is generally when appliances come into their own.

I can happily squeeze 2 or 3 oranges using this vintage glass juicer.

2017-09-09 01

But when it comes to juicing the 160 grapefruit that we have picked in the last 2 weeks I have neither the time or energy to do them by hand. My trusty food processor with the citrus juicer attachment comes into its own.

2017-09-09 02

This was one batch of about 60 grapefruit that I juiced last weekend. In the space of 30 minutes I had several bottles of juice for GMan plus containers of juice to freeze for future use.

2017-09-09 03

Citrus are not the only produce that I deal with in bulk amounts.

Some time ago I bought a 20kg bag of onions. Once again, I routinely dice one or two onions using a sharp knife but the food processor with the cutting blade is invaluable for processing larger quantities of onions.

2017-09-09 04

I chopped 3kg of onions and then used another appliance – my dehydrator – to dry them.

2017-09-09 05

24 hours later – back to the food processor, but this time with the spice grinder attachment.

2017-09-09 06

The end result was dried onion flakes and onion powder which cost me $3 and a little time as compared to nearly $13 to buy the same quantity from the supermarket. As an added bonus there is no packaging either.

I have used the deydrator to make garlic powder, tomato powder and vegetable stock powder using the same general method.

2017-09-09 07

Then there is the Kitchen Aid mixer which I regularly use to make spreadable butter, pizza bases, combine various flours for my gluten-free flour mix, the occasional cake and GMan uses it when making sourdough bread. It also has a pasta attachment which I use occasionally.

2012-01-31 03