Tag Archives: making do

Lunch – Local and Leftovers

2 Comments

I dislike seeing food being wasted, so whenever I am at home during the day my lunches can be interesting, to say the least.

2012-06-08 01Here is what I found for my lunch today.Clockwise from the top – last of the home-made tortillas from the freezer, some leftover coleslaw, a bell chilli, an avocado, spoonful of cold, mashed potato and the block of cheese.

The chilli and avocado are from the garden.  I then picked a perennial onion and a bunch of parsley.

2012-06-08 02The avocado skin had been nibbled by some of the local wildlife and there was dirt on it from where it had been lying on the ground but the inside was smooth, creamy and perfect when I cut it.

2012-06-08 03I spread the potato on the tortilla and then cut and piled all of the other ingredients on top, created a wrap and toasted it in the sandwich maker.

2012-06-08 04Here is my toasted gourmet wrap and a glass of lemon cordial.  I finished my meal with a mandarin from our tree.

What do you eat for lunches – at home or when you are at work?

The Simple Stuff

3 Comments

Sometimes we can get overwhelmed by concepts, goals and methods which cause us to lose sight of our original intention.  This can also be true when the very thing we are seeking is simplicity.

So it is time to take a step back, re-evaluate and take care of the really basic things that can make a difference.

You do not need a cupboard full of the latest fancy cleaning products with a different one for every job.  I have cleaned the majority of my bathroom, kitchen and laundry for a number of years using nothing more than bicarb and vinegar.  The only inconvenience is the method of applying the products and it can be a bit messy to use.

I found this recipe a couple of days ago for a home-made ‘cream cleanser’ based on bicarb.

1 cup bicarb soda
4 tablespoons dishwashing liquid
1 tablespoon eucalyptus oil

Mix all ingredients together to form a ‘Gumption-style’ paste.

Use to clean sinks, baths and basins by rubbing a paste over the surface and rinse clean with fresh water.  You can spray with vinegar for added effect.  As always, test surface to ensure it is OK to use.

I made this yesterday and have stored it in a glass jar as the original recipe cast doubt on whether the eucalyptus oil would react with plastic.

I have used this to clean my bathroom basin today which is now sparkling.  I also tried it to see if it would remove the permanent marker that I had used to label some bulk food buckets.  It was perfect and left the bucket as new so that I was able to re-label it.

I will definitely be using this paste in future rather than a container of bicarb and bottle of vinegar.

On another note, we went shopping today to stock up on bulk dry goods at Simply Good.  It is almost 5 months since we last went there so my plan to stock up has certainly worked.  I spent just over $200 and while that seems a lot, I plan to make this last for 6 months.  I buy all of our flour, bread flour, baking goods, dried fruit and nuts, spices, cereal and beans there.

We also called in to the Co-op in Maleny and one of the things I planned to buy was shampoo.  I have bought it from the bulk containers there, however, the brand I bought is no longer available so I was left with a dilemma.  My choices were from a 1 litre container (hardly bulk), no SLS and Fairtrade but imported from USA or I could buy a 1 litre bottle of organic, SLS free shampoo made in Australia but meant that I would be acquiring a new 1 litre bottle on a regular basis.  I also bought another bottle of the body wash that we use and noticed that it actually said “Hair and Body Wash”.  We can buy this in 2 litre containers so less packaging and I can now have 1 less bottle in my bathroom and we will use the same liquid to wash ourselves from top to toe.

What tips do you have to simplify things and get back to basics?

Take One Pair of Trousers

9 Comments

I have a pair of ¾ length lightweight travel pants that I bought about 8 or 9 years ago.  I have been wearing them for some time with a patch just below one knee, however, the fabric around the patch has given way, too.  I love these trousers as they are really comfortable and have several deep pockets.

I decided to salvage what I could from them.  The latest buzzword seems to ‘upcycling’ but you could call it ‘refashioning’, ‘making do’ or just plain ‘thrift’.  I cut the lower legs off and was left with a pair of knee-length shorts which just needed hemming.  Since they are an existing garment I know that the fit and function of them will be perfect.

002The bottom of the legs had drawstrings so I removed them and they will be used for the drawstrings in two of the Christmas gift bags I am making as they match the material rather well.

003There were a couple of button tabs on the lower legs so I removed the buttons to add to my collection.

008All I had left was the lower leg pieces.

005So I cut them into strips to use for tying up plants in the garden.

006Here are my ‘new’ shorts and nothing else has been wasted.  I hope to get a few more years wear from them.

007I would love to hear your thrifty/upcycling stories.

New From Old

2 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, in this post I outlined what I was planning to do to rejuvenate an old bed.

Firstly, I covered the mattress in plastic, using one of the heavy-duty bags that was packaging from the new mattresses.

I stitched it to fit using my sewing machine.  It was a bit awkward but I was happy with the result.  Here is a close-up of the stitching.

Then I trimmed the excess plastic and set to making the fabric cover.  I made it so that it fitted neatly and at the open end I made a velcro fastening.

2012-01-29 03Here it is on the bed and you can see the straps which go underneath to secure it.  I don’t want to find the mattress at the other end of the verandah after we have a storm.

2012-01-29 04The straps are elasticated so that they easily slip over the ends of the frame and hold the mattress snugly in position.

All I need now is some nice warm days to invite me out to use my new creation.

Friday Favourites – Something Different

4 Comments

The favourite this week is a little different.  It is actually a Friday Freebie.

I brought home several containers of salad, cheese and antipasto items from work.  These came from some colleagues from interstate who were staying at a major hotel and received a special offer of a ‘picnic basket’ tea.  As is so often the case in our society, there was way too much so it was brought into the office, we all had snacks and lunches yet there was still excess so it has come home and part of it has been turned into our dinner.

I added some avocado (free from our tree) and a slice of ham plus some rice salad.  The rice was originally part of my lunch but was superseded by the freebies.  I added a chopped spring onion which was lurking sadly in the bottom of the vegie crisper plus a mild chilli from a bush in the garden.  A drizzle of red wine vinegar and herbed olive oil completed the rice salad.

I hate to see the waste of food in our society and wherever possible I use up anything that is going to be thrown out.  In fact, I even rescued 2 bananas yesterday which had been tossed on the top of the rubbish in the kitchen at work.  They had barely a blemish but were obviously too ripe for somebody’s liking.  We will enjoy a banana cake from them.

The waste of food in our society is appalling.  Do you see food where others see only rubbish?

Make Do

3 Comments

Last year we swapped the single bed in the sewing room for a new (to us) bed and trundle bed.  Miss O used to sleep in the single bed when she came to stay but once Izz was also sleeping in a bed we had to re-think the sleeping arrangements.  I was not prepared to give up what is primarily my sewing room to have 2 single beds available for occasional use so I had to think laterally.  Bunk beds were not an option due the young age of the children and the proximity to the window, so we opted for the single bed plus trundle.  We found it on Gumtree, in perfect condition and only $50.  We bought new foam mattresses and were very happy with the outcome.

The next question was what to do with the existing bed.  No-one I knew needed one and I could have advertised it on Freecycle but there was a degree of emotional attachment.  Sentimentality is the last thing a minimalist needs but this bed is one that my father made over 50 years ago and I was not keen to let it go.  However, it had to justify its existence in our lives.

We had an old day-bed which we had acquired from Freecycle about 10 years ago with the goal of restoring it for use on the long verandah – imagining lazy afternoons lying reading a book and listening to the birds in the shrubs nearby.  This was a great idea but one that was unlikely to happen due to the very poor condition of the timber.

Finally, we agreed that the day-bed could be dismantled for firewood except for the wire mesh base which The Duke has appropriated for use as a sieve.  The single bed which is quite narrow (750mm) will be a day bed.  It has been on the verandah for some months now, waiting for me to make a cover for the mattress.  Although it is undercover there can be rain blow in to that area so I had to consider how to manage this.

I decided to cover the mattress in vinyl which can be bought by the metre from Spotlight.  A few weeks ago I did some measuring and we went to Spotlight with intentions of buying the vinyl but I discovered that it would cost me about $120.  I gulped and wondered whether it was really worth spending that amount of money on something which was certainly not essential and was really a way of retaining something I did not want to part with.  So we went home and I looked for alternative ideas.

I found this heavy cotton bedspread (actually I have 2 of them) in the bottom of the linen cupboard.  I am going to use it to make a cover which can be removed for laundering.  This does not address the issue of the mattress getting wet so I found the large, heavy-duty plastic bags that were the packaging from the new mattresses we bought for the trundle beds.  I will make a cover for the mattress from one of these.  We will bring the mattress inside if bad weather is imminent but otherwise I will only have to wash the cover and the mattress will stay dry and clean thanks to the plastic cover.

This project will be completed with no extra cost.  The bed will have a new use and I don’t have to part with it just yet.  We may even put a headboard and footboard on the bed but in the meantime it will be perfectly functional.

I am looking forward to finishing this and enjoying some lazy afternoons.

SMS – Saving My Slippers

1 Comment

I have a pair of slippers that I bought from the Australian Geographic shop about 12 years ago.  They are polar fleece with ribbing around the ankle and a heavy-duty synthetic fabric sole.  They are only really suitable for indoor wear.

I wash my slippers from time to time and when I was hanging them on the line yesterday I noticed that there was a split in the sole.  The polar fleece lining was still intact but I decided that I would try to mend them to prolong the life of my slippers.

Here is the slipper showing split in the sole.

It took a bit of fiddling but I managed to use my sewing machine with a zigzag stitch to repair and reinforce the sole.  I am hopeful that these will now last a few more years yet.

You can see the zigzag stitching below.

While I was turning the slipper inside-out I decided that perhaps I will be able to make something similar.  Polar fleece fabric and ribbing are readily available.  It will just be a matter of looking for something suitable to use for the soles.

And this shows the stitching from the inside.

I will add making slippers to my list of possible projects for ‘one day in the future’.  Meanwhile, the existing slippers should be OK for another few years.