Corporate Freebies

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Posted on July 3, 2011

Today The Duke and I went to the football. The best part was that the only money we spent was $5 on the match magazine. We parked our car at Missy’s place and walked the 15 minutes to the ground. I made and packed our lunch and drinks and the tickets were won in a draw at work. Thanks to corporate sponsorship there are 5 double passes available to win each week. Sadly, our team lost but it was a fun afternoon for minimal cost.

This got me to thinking about other corporate freebies. During the nine years that I have worked for 2 large global corporations I have acquired all sorts of things. These include backpack, pedometers, polar fleece travel rug, sports socks, beach bags, cookbook, colander, rugby top, polo shirt, drink bottles, mug, soccer ball, beach towel, sports bag and sports towel as well as assorted foodstuffs, chocolates and champagne. This list is far from exhaustive.

I dread to think how much is spent on handouts to employees in various guises and am not sure how I feel about this. However, there are some things you cannot change overnight so I accept it all graciously. Some goes to other family members but most I use in one form or another.

Sometimes you have to think outside the square to use things. One example is a sports towel we were given recently. I do not go to the gym but decided I could do with some new facewashers. The towel was very soft and the perfect size to cut into 4 facewashers.

Here they are.

What do you think of gifts/freebies from work? Are you given any? Do you use them?

Shopping – Green, Ethical, Sustainable, Organic, Fair-trade, Local

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Posted on July 2, 2011

How do you balance the competing priorities when you shop? This is a question with which I constantly wrestle.

While meandering through blogland I found this gem of a post at Little Eco Footprints. If you are concerned about the impact of your shopping habits I would strongly recommend that you read this and also the very wise comments.

Buying ‘green’ products may salve your conscience but it is not enough to just toss a few green cleaning products in your trolley and assume that all will be well. Where were they made? How much transport was involved in getting them to your supermarket? Are they really ‘green’?

I think the priority should be to reduce consumption because everything, yes, EVERY single thing that you buy has been manufactured and that process uses resources and produces greenhouse gases.

While we can and do produce some of our own food there are still many things which I have to buy. My priorities are to buy things as local as possible and with the minimum of packaging and preferably recyclable packaging. Organic is not particularly high on my radar. Here is a reason why.

Today while I was shopping I saw a tin of organic kidney beans that were product of USA. There is nothing wrong with produce from USA if that is where you live. However, these beans had been processed, canned and then transported halfway around the world. I can buy dried kidney beans at Simply Good in Morayfield. This is a family-owned local business where I can put my purchases in recycled paper bags that I bring from home. See a previous post for more detail. Even if the beans happen to be imported there is much less weight/packaging to transport a 25kg bag of dried beans than individual steel cans of processed beans.

I try to buy some things second-hand and also re-home things that I no longer need. For this I generally use my local Freecycle group. Freecycle is a fantastic concept which was born in Tuscon, Arizona and is now a world-wide phenomenon where people can give away almost anything (there are rules).

Good quality items, which can cost a little more are also my preferred option as they have a longer life and are much more ‘green’ in the long run than something that gets used/worn a few times before it breaks or wears out and is then discarded to landfill.

What are your priorities? How do you decide? Have you tried to reduce your overall consumption?

Menu Planning

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Posted on July 1, 2011

I read a post on grocery shopping at Frugal Downunder and the question that was posed at the end was, “Is menu planning on your ‘To Do’ list?”

I have always menu planned to some degree but never actually thought of it by name until the last few years. Now that there is only The Duke and I at home and we are away from the house for long hours each day during the week I have to be really organised.

We don’t get home until after 7pm so I need to have meals that I can have on the table with 30 minutes of arriving home.

I have fallen into a pattern of doing a plan for a week at a time usually on Friday evening or Saturday morning so that I can buy groceries accordingly. My biggest failing over the years has probably been waste of fresh produce so I try very hard to only buy what I need. It is easy to fall into the trap of just buying things and finding that they do not get used. Some fruit and vegetables have a longer shelf life than others so I take this into consideration when planning meals and try to use the most perishable items early in the week.

I usually only plan our evening meals but this week have decided to plan lunches as well. I take into account any extra activities, or appointments as well as seasonal produce from the garden.

I have a well-stocked pantry and freezer and mostly cook from scratch so shopping is usually restocking the pantry and some fresh fruit and vegetables. We do not eat a lot of meat but I tend to buy 2 kilos of a particular item at a time and freeze in meal-sized portions.

Here is our menu plan for 7 days for 2 adults.

Menu Plan-Breakfast

Sat – Scrambled eggs
Sun – Baked beans
Mon-Fri Cereal & Juice (F), Grapefruit (TD)

Menu Plan-Lunch

Sat – Grilled cheese & avocado on toast
Sun – Chicken & salad rolls
Mon – Quiche & salad
Tues – Refried beans & rice (F), tuna & rice (TD)
Wed – Shepherd’s pie (TD), baked beans (F)
Thurs – Risotto (F), not required (TD)
Fri – Tuna & rice

Menu Plan-Dinner

Sat – Bean tacos and salad
Sun – Mushroom soup and grilled cheese on Turkish bread
Mon – Chicken & avocado pancakes with veg
Tues – Shepherd’s Pie & veg
Wed – Pumpkin, spinach & bacon risotto with avocado
Thurs – Pasta with tomato, bacon & veg
Fri – Steak & prune casserole & veg

Menu planning saves me money but more importantly time and my sanity.

So, I pose the question again – Do you menu plan? How effective do you find it?

Laundry Tips (Part 2)

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Posted on June 30, 2011

Following the comments on yesterday’s post I thought I would do a bit more research and here is what I have found.

Despite much googling (is that a word?) I was unable to locate any reference to a gadget to hang sweaters/delicate tops to dry. I did, however, find this article on re-using pantyhose which mentions the method I described ie: threading the legs of the patyhose through the sleeves of the sweater and pegging the pantyhose to the line in 3 places – beyond each sleeve and within the neckline.

Sweater Protector: Avoid getting clothespin marks on your newly washed sweater by putting an old pair of pantyhose through the neck and running the legs out through the arms. Then hang the sweater to dry on your clothesline by clipping the clothespins onto the pantyhose instead of the wool, or whatever material the sweater’s made from.

The quote above came from here.

This has served to remind me to take care of the hangers that I have but if they ever become unusable I can always go back to using pantyhose. I don’t have many pairs of pantyhose but I will save any once they are worn out.

I had a little more success with the soap saver/shaker

It does seem to be a peculiarly Australian invention and I found the following references.

Here is one made from a tobacco tin.

And another in the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

There is an illustration of a slightly more modern version about halfway down this page.

And you can buy a soap shaker here on TradeMe – a New Zealand site so the ‘technology’ of the soap shaker has made it across the Tasman.

From what I can see I am lucky to have inherited the soap shaker.

What do you have or use that is no longer made?

Laundry Tips and Tricks

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Posted on June 29, 2011

I have previously shown you my organised laundry cupboard so today I wanted to share a few tips from the laundry.

Our laundry sink doubles as a handbasin as the toilet is off the laundry. I keep a bar of soap in a soap dish I made from the base of a 2 litre milk bottle.

Speaking of soap, I also use a soap saver for pieces of soap. This is then shaken in a bucket of warm water and produces lots of suds which I use when handwashing. Although we do not need to save water in our current location the habit is such that I always do the handwashing in a plastic bucket.

The soap saver hangs just above the laundry tub on a suction hook.

This is what it looks like when opened out.

My soap saver came from my mother-in-law. It is plastic, although the ones I remember from my childhood were wire mesh. I have never seen one for sale in a shop despite looking on numerous occasions. Have you seen one or do you have a soap saver? A handyperson could make one, I am sure. Remember the saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention”. Perhaps there needs to be more of that in our society today.

The other thing I use often is hangers for woollen jumpers and cardigans. I have had 3 of these for a number of years and like most plastic-coated wire products they will last almost indefinitely if they are not left out in the weather.

And here they are in use……….

These are also an upgrade of an old idea. In years gone by people hung their woollen garments on old stockings by threading the legs through the sleeves and pegging stocking to the line beyond the sleeves and at the neckline which is the principle upon which these hangers are based.

Gumboots and a Gerni

Weekly Challenge – Week 7

Crisp, Clean Sheets

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Posted on June 26, 2011

There is nothing I like better than to slide into a bed freshly made with crisp, cotton sheets. No matter how cold it gets I cannot bear the thought of flannelette sheets. ‘Squiffy’ is my description for flannelette sheets.

I bought 2 new sets of bed linen from Blessed Earth yesterday. They are organic cotton and just wonderful to sleep on. We already have one set so when I saw that the 50% sale was happening it was a great opportunity to get some more. I think that most of their business is online but I am spoiled as the shop is right here in Maleny.

There is no excess packaging either. The flat sheet is folded around a piece of plain cardboard and they come in a cotton bag made from the same fabric as the sheets. Each purchase is packed in a cotton carrier bag with ‘Blessed Earth’ printed on the side. I will be proud to add this bag to my collection which I use for my shopping.

Here are the new sheets freshly washed and hanging on the line.

Then folded up and ready to go in the linen cupboard.

Now, with 3 sets of linen for our bed it will be quite a while before I need to buy any more.

The Verdict

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Posted on June 25, 2011

Off we went to the Maleny Community Centre with many others to vote on the fate of the Maleny Credit Union.

The hall was filled to capacity and the meeting became a little heated at times. Some of the speakers were heavy on emotion and light on facts but that is what a democracy is all about. Everyone who wished to, was given an opportunity to speak.

There were several television crews so I expect the issue will receive plenty of coverage.

Here is a view of some of the crowd.

And then it was time to vote. The Chairman of the Board of Directors announced the proxies that he held and it was evident that the ‘NO’ campaign was sniffing success.

There was still the casting and counting of votes.

Then it was all over, the votes counted and results declared. A ‘YES’ vote of 75% was required for the merger to proceed but this did not occur. The ‘YES’ vote was only 42% which was well short of the required figure.

When summing up the Chairman of the Board of Directors announced that it would be business as usual on Monday at Maleny Credit Union. Click here to read the media release from the website.

It was back out into the sunshine….

Time to celebrate, reflect and plan the next strategic move, perhaps?

At the Upfront Club, another Maleny co-operative.

I am pleased with the result but know that like many battles this is just the first round. Whether Maleny Credit Union continues in its current form in the long-term is still a debateable point.

What I do know is that the chance of it disappearing completely with barely a whimper from the local community is not going to happen. I feel that the Directors misread the strength of community sentiment about this institution and were not pro-active in engaging community participation and consultation if there is to be a significant change to the structure of Maleny Credit Union.

As a footnote: Acknowledgement should be given to the legacy of Jill Jordan who was instrumental in setting up the Maleny Credit Union as well as many of the other co-operative ventures in this town. Jill passed away in early 2010. You can read more here and here.