Minimalism – Everyday Maintenance

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Minimalism and decluttering should not simply be an excuse for a massive clean-up followed by more of the same – buy, buy, buying of stuff.

Downsizing, voluntary simplicity, minimalism – whatever terminology you wish to use – is a complete change of mindset which requires constant vigilance to ensure that clutter does not creep back into your life.

I try to do something every day to streamline my life and enhance the way we live.  Yesterday I unsubscribed from 2 email mailing lists so that is several more emails that I do not have to delete every week.  It is much easier to eliminate things at the source rather than constantly trying remove unnecessary intrusions, regardless of their form.

There is so much we can do to simplify our lives but it is important to remember that we did not acquire all of this ‘stuff’ overnight, so it is a ridiculous goal to attempt to clear out the excess in our lives in a short space of time.    Slow down and appreciate the benefits of the space (mental and physical) you create with every small step.

By creating space you are able to embrace special opportunities that present themselves.  I am looking forward one such occasion tonight.  The Duke and I are going to a show with Belle and Missy.  It will be great to spend time together as a family doing something that means a lot to all of us.  This possible because we have plenty of space in our schedules which is often unusual this close to Christmas.  Over the past few years we have eliminated many of the Christmas functions which we attended due to a feeling of obligation rather than a real desire to celebrate.  Now we do exactly what is important and meaningful to us and a lot of the stress has been removed.

Have you simplified aspects of your life?

Festive Drinks

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As promised here is the recipe for the ginger beer I am making to have on hand for the festive season.  This recipe came from the Simple Savings website.

GINGER BEER

Plant:
In a large jar place the following:

1 tsp brewer’s yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground ginger
500ml warm water.


Stir these together and place in a warm place (for example, window sill). ‘Feed’ the plant with 1 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of ginger every day for one week. Then plant is ready. Sediment from plant can be reused to start new plant without the addition of more yeast. Excess fluid can be returned to plant.

Ginger Beer:

1kg sugar
1.5L hot/boiling water
4.5L cool water
Juice of 2 lemons
250ml liquid from plant

Place sugar in bucket and pour on boiling water. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add cool water and lemon juice. Stir in liquid from plant. Bottle. Ready for use after one week. Better after 2+ weeks.

To sterilize bottles I just clean thoroughly first with detergent (pay special attention to the bottle top and use a bottle brush), then rinse to remove all suds. I then soak in VERY hot water just before use. This seems to work well.

I will be making and bottling the ginger beer next weekend so I will do another post then.

The Duke also brews his own beer and we have a Soda Stream soft drink maker.  We do not buy the flavouring but just make soda water to add to the lemon cordial that I make.

Having a selection of home-made drinks means that we do not need to spend as much money on drinks for entertaining.

Christmas, Birthdays, Anything……..

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The byline for this blog is ‘An organised, sustainable life’.  Perhaps you wonder where the link is between organisation and sustainability.  If you think about it, the connection is there every day in everything you do but never is it more obvious than in the lead up to celebratory events such as Christmas and birthdays.

Tomorrow we will be going to Miss O’s 4th birthday party and I have been planning and preparing her gift.  Here is a dress that I have made for her.

2011-11-26 01The fabric has been in my stash for a couple of years, the facings are scraps from a dress that had been unpicked, the buttons (originally used on a dress for Belle about 20 years ago) came out of the button jar and I bought 20cm of contrast fabric for the pockets.

We bought a wooden jigsaw puzzle from Amazen.  They have a shop at Montville, which is about 15 minutes drive from us.  The range of quality children’s toys and games in excellent.

2011-11-26 02I made a bag to store the puzzle pieces as it does not come in a box.

2011-11-26 03Once again, this was created entirely from scraps.  I think it looks really effective and hope it will be useful.

I wrapped the gift using recycled paper and ribbon that I have saved.  I made a card using some white card and an offcut of the paper.

2011-11-26 04Being organised means that you can easily locate items that have been stored for future use.  Equipment is easily accessible.  Planning ahead is essential if you do not want to be rushing to the shop and grabbing something at the last minute.

It is 4 weeks until Christmas so now is definitely the time  to think seriously about preparations for Christmas.  I have already tested a couple of recipes for things I am making as gifts.  Tomorrow I will start the ginger beer plant so that the finished product is ready for Christmas.  I will share the details of that in my next post.

Now I am off to make up a platter that we are taking to a ‘Christmas drinks and nibbles’ function this evening.  It will include balsamic dipping sauce from the recipe I posted the other day and guacamole made with our own avocadoes.  I made sure I picked some avocadoes earlier in the week so that they would be ripe for today.

What have you done to get organised for Christmas?  Will it minimise the last-minute rush and inevitable overspending that seem to go hand-in-hand?

Decluttering for Dollars

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Last weekend I sorted through the non-fiction books on the bookshelves and put aside about 25 assorted books which were no longer loved or relevant.

I listed the books on Freecycle and had one response from a lady who wanted 2 particular titles.  So, today I took the books into Maleny with the vague idea that I would take them to the op shop or maybe the secondhand bookshop.  I tried the bookshop first and was delighted to receive $30 for about 7 of the books.  The rest then went to the op shop.

This has been a win-win exercise on all fronts.  I have more shelf space and $30.  People have the opportunity to buy a book in excellent condition.  The op shop will make some money and the secondhand shop has some more stock.

What do you do with items that you declutter?

Make Your Own Condiments – Part 2

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As promised, here is the recipe for another sauce you can easily make.  This is an excellent replica of the specialty product which is marketed as balsamic glaze, balsamic syrup or ‘aged’ balsamic.  I cannot take the credit for the recipe as it was posted by Mimi on Simple Savings.

Here is the recipe:

BALSAMIC SYRUP

500ml balsamic vinegar
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup port

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  Simmer gently until required consistency is reached (approximately 30 minutes).  Watch carefully and stir regularly to ensure it does not catch or burn.

Cool and pour into small jars or bottles.  This makes an excellent gift and a list of uses could be attached.

Here are a couple of serving suggestions.

A small quantity in a tiny dish with good-quality olive oil makes a perfect dipping sauce.

Mix with orange juice for a marinade for chicken.

Drizzle over your favourite salad.

It is a great addition to the festive menu and I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.

Philosophy of Space

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Last week I mentioned that I was reading “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay.  In amongst the decluttering guide are some real gems.  One stuck in my mind and I find myself thinking about it as I look around the clear spaces in my home.

I quote from the book:

“Music is the space between the notes.”  My interpretation of composer Claude Debussy’s words:  beauty requires a certain amount of emptiness to be appreciated – otherwise, you have only chaos and cacophony.

For our purposes, we’ll put a minimal twist on this idea and say, “Life is the space between our things.”

This can also be applied to our lives in general.  I am trying hard to have some space to just ‘be’ and it feels good.  It is something we should all try.

Enjoy the space. 🙂

Make Your Own Condiments

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We all know how much cheaper it is to prepare a meal at home rather than eating out, however, you can take it a step further by making your own sauces and spices.  I have previously posted my recipe for Worcestershire sauce (see the link under ‘Recipes’ on the right-hand side of the blog).

Curry powder is a perfect example of something you can make up yourself.  You probably have curry paste in the refrigerator (maybe even a couple of different types) but this powder mix is great for any recipe where it calls for a teaspoon or so of curry powder.  It is also perfect to have made up rather than trying to make a curry with 1/2 teaspoon of this and that.  I originally made this as a time-saving measure because I found it so fiddly to have to measure out small quantities of lots of spices whenever I went to make a curry.

CURRY POWDER

35 g cumin (powdered)
35 g coriander (powdered)
20 g tumeric (powdered)
20 g cardamom (powdered)
15 g chilli (powdered)
1 cinnamon stick
12 cloves
5 g yellow mustard seeds
10 g black peppercorns

Place the cinnamon, cloves, mustard seeds and peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind until powdered.  Combine all ingredients and store in a dry glass jar.

Use according to taste.

I buy all of my spices from Simply Good at Morayfield.  They are in bulk containers so I take my own paper bags and then decant them into my jars when I get home.  This helps to eliminate any packaging.

Today I have also made balsamic syrup and am making grainy mustard.  More on both of those another day.

Creative Capers

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The last week I have been working on some creative projects.  They are mostly sewing but not exclusively so.

Last week I mentioned the stands I have for making balloon topiary trees.  I recovered these for use  at my mother’s 80th birthday celebration last weekend.

2011-11-18 01Here is one of the completed decorations.  I covered the bases with recycled brown paper and the ties were cut from  fabric that was once a dress.

Meanwhile, I finally made a top from fabric that I had bought over 2 years ago.

2011-11-18 02It is quite plain and here is the back view with buttons.  I devised the pattern by modifying an existing one for a front-opening shirt with a collar.  I made a prototype in calico to check my design before cutting into my expensive embroidered linen fabric.

2011-11-18 03I think it looks better on me than on a hanger so will post another photo when I can organise a helpful photographer.

Then there is the ever-present mending!

Yesterday I darned small hole in one of The Duke’s woollen sweaters.

2011-11-18 04This is the view of the darn from the inside and below is the view from the outside.

2011-11-18 05It is not perfect but the garment is definitely wearable and quite acceptable.

Finally, I patched both pairs of The Duke’s trousers that he wears when painting/gardening and working around the house.  I used some double-sided iron-on interfacing to fuse the patch to the wrong side of the fabric.  The interfacing is some that is left from my applique supplies.

2011-11-18 06The outside of the trousers – not pretty but definitely functional.

2011-11-18 07What do you make or repair?

Rubbish Revealed and Reviewed

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Many aspects of organisation and sustainability could probably fall into the ‘sexy’ category.  They are fun, presentable and generally OK for public discussion.

But underpinning all of this is rubbish.  The stuff that gets shoved into garbage bags bought specifically for the purpose, then dropped into the ubiquitous ‘wheelie’ bin and dragged to the kerbside.  A truck lumbers past, the automatic arm grabs the bin and upends it into the depths of the truck.  We are relieved of the detritus of our lives for the week and will do it all over again next week.

It is time to get down and dirty.  This photograph shows the bag of rubbish for 10 days from our 2 adult household.  267 grams of waste for 10 days – that is less than 15 grams per person each day.  It is not zero waste and I am not sure that I will achieve that anytime soon but I do work hard to keep our waste to an absolute minimum.

Here are the contents of the bag.  Let’s examine what is in it.  You will probably have a hard time identifying some of the items so I will help you out.

2 pasta packets – I refilled the jar containing pasta in the pantry.  I am using up my stock but I will be making my own pasta with my pasta machine once the existing supplies are used up.

Foil tablet sheet – there is one each month from essential medications.

Foil pack from cat medication – one every 3 months from worm/flea treatment for the cat.

Non-recyclable lids – I always recycle any plastic bottles but as far as I am aware the lids are not  suitable for recycling.  I must check and see if this is still the case.

2 pairs of broken glasses – these are a one-off thanks to The Duke getting rid of some clutter.  I send any OK glasses to be re-used in Third World countries but ones that have broken are no use to anyone.  Check with your local optometrist for information about the recycling program.

Silver foil wrap – this is what was removed from the balloon topiary stands when I recovered them last week.  The new covering is recycled brown paper made from carry bags.  The bows are scraps of fabric from a recycled dress.

The rubbish bag is packaging from a parcel I received.  This will be sealed with a rubber band before I put it in the bin.

There are also assorted other small bits which I cannot easily identify but by now you get the picture – very little goes to landfill from our home.

We only put our bin out every few weeks or if there is something that would be unpleasant to leave for any length of time.  This means that most weeks the truck does not need to stop outside our property.  This saves fuel and the noise of the constant starting and stopping.  Consider putting out your bin only when required rather than every week through habit.

TO BE CONTINUED – There are so many other things I want to say about rubbish but I will save it for another day later in the week.  In the meantime I would love to hear you thoughts about rubbish and how you deal with it.

Read and Re-focus

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I am currently reading “The Joy of Less” by Francine Jay aka Miss Minimalist.  I enjoy her blog posts but this book is just brilliant.

Francine’s writing style is gentle and inspirational.  Unlike some decluttering and minimalism writing it is neither prescriptive nor extreme.

I am inspired and also reassured.  Inspired to continue on my quest to have only what I actually need and love as well as reassured that I am on the right track even though I am quite some way from what I would describe as a minimalist.

The best thing is that this ‘book’ is on my Kindle e-reader.  It is bought and permanently owned by me for future reference but is taking up no physical space.  How good is that?