born again creations

Done and Dusted!

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:59:00 +0000

Today marks the end of my two month No Shopping Challenge. We've been super busy lately with our wee one starting school, beginning a new job, and packing up the house for yet another move. The end of the challenge has kind of snuck up on me.

It's been a challenging, enlightening, empowering, and educational two months. My desire to buy things for the sake of shopping has well and truly gone and for that I'm thankful. I now look around the shops with a different perspective, and I'm much much better at saying no to myself.

We've saved quite a bit of cash despite having some big bills come up and it being an expensive time of year. We've learned the lesson (finally!) that just because the money is there, it doesn't mean it's there to spend. I have loved having money left before pay day and a nice little bundle sitting in a savings account.

I still like online shopping. It's still a danger zone for me for sure. My way of keeping this under control is to write a detailed list of things that I think I need (winter clothes for example) and then I am only allowed to look for those specific things. I'm looking forward to a modest bit of shopping now that the challenge is over.

I did pretty well sticking to the rules but I did say I would be honest with you so I'm admitting to buying pizza a couple of times when I was too tired to cook. We also bought some plastic crates for moving although they were kind of essential. That was it.. no clothes, books, coffees, shoes, meals out, or anything else. I'm happy with that.

Over the next year we're going to keep up most of the challenge, especially with grocery shopping and no spend weekends. I hope we can stick to it.

How did your challenge go?
What was the first thing you bought when it was over?

Crop & Swap

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:01:00 +0000

Today was our local Crop & Swap meet. I took along organic unsweetened yoghurt, eucalyptus laundry gel, four kombucha cultures, some cheesy bread rolls, and some chai tea mix and I came home with:

GF date cake
Savoury quinoa bites
Anzac biscuits
Rocky road
Sweet tomato and eggplant chutney
Blood plum jam
Apple sauce
Rose hip jelly
Nectarine chutney
Mint jelly
Pumpkin
Sorrel
Rosemary
Lemongrass
Tomatoes
Spinach
Eggplant
Bay leaves
Muesli
Coffee
Body scrub
Strawberry plant
Food grade bucket (for sauerkraut etc.)

.... and not a cent exchanged hands. Pretty good huh?

The Crop & Swap is the perfect way to shop if you're in the middle of a No Shopping Challenge like we are. I'm starting to think that bartering and swapping would be fantastic any time, not just in the middle of a frugal challenge. How great would it be if people could get rid of their excess produce and gain something back all without spending anything?

I'm off to enjoy an Anzac biscuit. Have a great Saturday!

How to build a robot out of recycled materials

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 06:33:00 +0000

This morning we woke up to rain and mist and no real plans for the day. Since we're not spending any money at the moment due to our No Shopping Challenge we decided today was a perfect day to hang out at home and get creative.

Ben was given this great book by his Auntie for Christmas. It has cool ideas for making robots using odds and ends that you have lying around at home.

We didn't end up doing a project from the book but it did give us inspiration to do this:

We had an old laptop with a broken screen stored away in a cupboard and it was the perfect thing for Mr J and Benny to dismantle. Ben loved using the screw driver and taking the pieces out by himself. Pretty soon we had a big crate of wire, circuit boards, and pieces of metal.

Next came construction:

Then spray paint using some leftover car paint we had in the laundry.. and gluing the cool pieces from the lap top in place.

This is a great up cycling/recycling project to do with your kids. Everything on "Otto Ankle" (that's what Ben named him!) was found around the house. If you'd like to make something like this yourself here are some ideas of what you may need:

Old electrical equipment such as a stereo or computer. Make sure the battery is removed if you're taking apart a laptop and be sure to supervise your kiddies just in case as there are some sharp metal bits inside.
Cut off cords from broken appliances
Tin cans
Plastic bottles and lids
Duct tape
Insulation tape
Super glue
Cardboard tubes
Sharpie pens
Spray paint or regular acrylic paint
Wire
Cardboard boxes in various sizes

We've started a collection of things of this nature for Ben to make stuff with, that way when we find something interesting it's easy to add it to the box. We're going to keep the box up high so he has to ask to use it (otherwise I foresee some 2am building sessions). Council clean up days are a great way to build up a stash of interesting building materials or ask around your friends to see if anyone has any electrical equipment they want to get rid of.

Happy building!

No Shopping Challenge - 1 month down

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:59:00 +0000

Today marks the half way point of our No Shopping Challenge!

It's been an interesting month. I remember when I first decided to commit to this challenge I was really worried about whether I would be able to follow through. The thought of not buying anything caused anxiety for a few days, which only goes to show that it was a challenge I really needed to do.

I've managed to stay motivated over the last month mainly because we're saving up a house deposit. Mr J and I are desperate to get out of renting and into our own place where we can plant trees and grow our own food. I've reminded myself of this dream whenever I've felt tempted to buy something and it's helped me to focus. Over the last year of saving I've often moaned about how hard it is to save on one income and at times I've been really discouraged about the whole thing. Tens of thousands of dollars is a huge sum to save and sometimes it just feels plain impossible. Over the last 31 days of this challenge I think I've learned a thing or two about spending & saving and it's made me realise that our goal isn't impossible at all.

Here's what I've discovered:

It's just numbers. That's all it is. To save the money we need we must spend LESS and try to earn MORE.
We can save a thousand dollars - that I know we can do, then it's just a matter of doing that over and over until we have enough in the bank.
Shopping shouldn't be a recreational activity. It's a lazy choice. There are so many things we've done with the kids when shopping or window shopping simply wasn't an option.
Every financial choice we make whether it's $2.50 or $250 has an impact on our savings.
The less I shop, the less I want. The more I spend, the more I think I need.
Life isn't going to go perfectly just because you've decided to save. The car needs new tyres or someone gets sick and it costs money. What's important is getting back on track as soon as you can.
If we keep going we will get to our goal. One day we'll get to dig a hole and plant our first apple tree. It's just numbers and simple arithmetic at the end of the day. There is no mystery behind saving, it's just one decision not to spend made over and over and over again.

Home made laundry liquid (and day 27 of the no shopping challenge!)

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 02:39:00 +0000

Since we're focused on being frugal with our No Shopping Challenge happening at the moment I thought I would try my hand at making my own laundry liquid. It only took me half an hour to make about 10L of the stuff - enough for months for my family and some to take along to the Crop & Swap next month. Nice.

There are loads of recipes online for making this stuff but this is what I went with:

8L water
1 C washing soda (NOT baking soda)
1 C borax
1 bar Sunlight soap - grated
2 Tbsp pure eucalyptus oil

Heat 4 L water in a large stock pot that will take at least 8L of liquid
Add grated bar of soap and stir until dissolved
Add washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved
Bring to the boil and let it simmer until you're convinced everything is incorporated and dissolved (about 3 minutes)
Let it cool a bit then add the other 4L of water
Once cool add the eucalyptus oil and stir
Bottle and label

For a normal size wash I use about 100ml and that works well for us. You can use this in a top or front loader but in a front loader I would try using less liquid first to see if you can get away with it. The consistency is more like a gel than a flowing liquid and you may want to give it a shake before using it. You don't have to use Sunlight soap - any soap will so.

While I was at it I thought I'd make some dishwasher powder using this recipe:

Washing soda, borax, and salt in equal parts plus a small amount of citric acid. This was my first try so I made a small batch in case it didn't work. My ratios were 1/2 C each of washing soda, borax, and salt, and 2 Tbsp of citric acid. We used 1 Tbsp in the dishwasher and everything was sparkly and clean this morning.

You can get washing soda at the supermarket for around $3.60 a kg, and Borax was just over $7 a kg at Bunnings. There are cheaper places to order Borax online in bulk if you search for them.

The No Shopping Challenge

We're almost half way through our challenge and we're doing great. Our attitude to shopping has definitely changed and we're thinking a lot more about what we want to use our money on than we did before. We've had some big bills and a holiday last week so we haven't saved as much as we wanted to but I'm hoping that will change next month!

No Shopping Challenge Day 19

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 09:50:00 +0000

So here I am on holiday almost 3 weeks into my no spend challenge and I thought it was high time for me to let you know how I'm doing.

Being in a beautiful summery tropical place with new shops to look at and new food to try is definitely making this harder than it is at home. The morning we left had us spending over $50 on train tickets to the airport and lunch when we were there - I had planned to pack a lunch then realised that it wasn't really feasible. To make it worse, I hated the lunch we spent the money on and wished I could have had something healthy at home rather than fork out over $20 for greasy chips and burgers. A bit of a rip off really.

Then there's the sightseeing here and the activities. I'm trying to have a much needed real holiday and play the tourist and I'm also trying hard not to spend money. I'm finding the two don't really go together that well. I did promise I would report back and be honest so here it is!

We've been to an amusement park and packed food which saved us loads. We did spend $10 on ice creams for the kids.

I did a big grocery shop when we arrived and stuck to the budget, but I did put in lots of treats and quick meals rather than my usual organic allergy friendly stuff.

Today we went to a mall and bought the kids school shoes and socks which was planned and we had allocated money for. I bought two singlet tops using a gift card although I cheated slightly because I had to pay $1 on top. We got out without buying anything else which was actually a bit of a major for me. I saw lots of lots of things I really wanted and it was tough. No more malls for me until this is over I reckon.

Tomorrow we're checking out a free museum but we'll be paying for parking - which I reckon is within the limits of household expenses.

So, we're doing ok so far. I'm trying hard but I'm also not going to beat myself over the head if we spend more than we normally would on food/parking/transport while we're here.

How are you doing?
Have you been tempted this week?
How long are you doing the challenge for?

Day 14 - Free fun & Fimo

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:45:00 +0000

Today started as one of those days. The kids were sick and tired of being stuck inside following a week of weather that made it too uncomfortable to go out. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to agree to disagree and tempers were frayed (including mine). Time to go out!

We had planned to do a quick trip to the park hoping that some fresh air and exercise would change their moods for the better. Then someone mentioned a walk to a cave down the road in the National Park where you can see Aboriginal hand paintings and suddenly we were on a bush walk. Half way to the cave we saw another sign to a swimming hole that we've been meaning to look at since we arrived in the mountains. Our plans changed again and we took off down some steep rocky steps.

Gosh, I'm so glad we did. We hadn't planned to visit the National Park today and we certainly hadn't planned for a swim -but with my children where there's water and a bit of sunshine someone is always going to get wet. We had the whole place to ourselves so I let them strip off to their underwear and dive in.

In seconds my tired and moody kids were happy again looking for "crystals" in the sand and splashing around in the cool water. If I'd packed sun screen and food we could have stayed all day.

With my patience restored I was in the mood for some craft this afternoon so we got out the Fimo clay and made some beads. Ben made a robot to make into a magnet.

I'm two weeks into my no shopping challenge today and we've done really well. So far we've stuck to our plan. It's been hard at times. Mornings like this morning usually make me want to go and do something with the kids - the mall, the zoo, a trip to Sydney, DVD's from the shop. Today we did get to do things together - free things - and it was just as fun.

Day 13 - You'll thank me when you're older

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 04:57:00 +0000

At around 12.30pm this afternoon I found myself swinging open the door to my pantry, balancing on one leg while drumming my fingers on the other one - all while staring into the dark nothingness before me. There is, of course, plenty of food in there. But there was nothing at all I wanted to prepare for lunch let alone eat. If I wasn't in the middle of a self imposed spending embargo I would have probably nipped out to the shops to buy the things we like for a Sunday throw together lunch - potato chips, ham, cheese, grapes, and chocolate for after.

But I am in the middle of a no spend challenge. I reached for the lentils. I don't know about other kids, but mine are less than enthusiastic about lentils. My daughter has an annoying habit of popping up every time I start making a meal to ask me "whatarewehaving?" and it's never what she wants, so it's always followed up with negotiations and bargaining that I usually have no patience for.

Clearly unimpressed with the lunch menu Jemima asked me what was for dinner. As I said Curried Cabbage Stir fry I couldn't help but laugh at her face. My poor children.

When they're grown I wonder what they'll remember about these years. Will Jemima remember that her mother made her funny looking dresses out of old tablecloths and doilies? Will they recall the felt soft toys stuffed with the rice that spent the next 6 months escaping through the stitches grain by grain? Will Ben remember his pirate pants, his "yee-ha" cowboy pants, his explorer bag? I wonder if when they're feeding their own families they'll follow the food philosophies they've been brought up with - or reject them entirely?

There are definitely things I've carried with me from childhood to parenthood.

My mum making us lunches made up of lots of little morsels of food that we rather originally named "things on a plate".
The big carton of little boxes, egg cartons, and food wrap rolls that mum had saved up for a rainy day of "making stuff".
The way our dinner plates were always piled high with mountains of vegetables.
Knowing that if you wanted something it was always possible to make rather than buy.

So early this afternoon I resisted the urge to spend money and made dal and rice with roasted cashews on top and it was actually really yummy.

But if I'm honest, what I really wanted was hot chips.

No Shopping Challenge Day 12 - Bartering

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 02:24:00 +0000

Today was my community Crop & Swap meet. Once a month we get together in a local hall and swap our home made produce with each other. It's a cashless way to get some fruit and veg that we may not be able to grow at home and stock our cupboards with delicious local chutney, jam, muesli, and more.

Today I took along 3L of organic unsweetened yoghurt (in 7 jars), 3 small jars of lemon and mint cordial, two kombucha cultures with starter tea, four tomato plants, and a big bowl of cucumbers (but forgot the camera so here is a grainy mobile phone pic of our mat).

The kombucha cultures went in seconds so I'll definitely try and get some more ready in time to take along to February's meeting. The yoghurt was another big success. At the end of the 45 minutes we had swapped everything except the tomato plants - I guess everyone has tomato plants at the moment! We popped them into the 'Share Barrow' at the end - the spot for leftover freebies as well as donated magazines and egg cartons.

This is what we received in return:

Here we have:

Coffee beans roasted yesterday
Ginger beer starter
Pineapple sage plant
Chocolate mint plant
Hummus (hommus for you Aussie folk)
Rhubarb
Apricot jam
Plum paste
Mulberry syrup
Lavender and Chamomile soap
Spicy peach chutney
Medlar fruit chutney
Medlar jam
3 magnets
Chilli jam
The most beautiful maple syrup and cranberry muesli

Isn't that amazing? I feel like I've been gifted the most incredible hamper of locally made food. For my part, it took me a couple of hours to make and bottle the yoghurt and about an hour to do the rest of it. I spent maybe $8 on ingredients for my contributions.

Bartering is the perfect thing to get into while you're doing a no shopping challenge. If there's something you need think about who might have it and see if there's anything you could swap for it. Maybe you have a crop & swap in your local area. If you do, be brave and give it a try. Not only will you come home with lots of yummy treats but you'll meet some fun and interesting people too!

No Shopping Challenge Day 11

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:29:00 +0000

Today we went to some of my favourite shops in the mountains and I managed the trip without buying anything except for a gift already saved and planned for (before the challenge).

I saw many, many things I would have bought last month and it was interesting seeing how differently I felt about it this time. It was actually ok. When I saw something I'd like to buy I knew I could have it one day, just not right now. These aren't big extravagant things by the way.. I'm a sucker for nice food items and health products over big ticket items these days.

Tomorrow in the true spirit of the No Shopping Challenge I'm taking my home made stuff to the local Crop and Swap to trade. I have 7 jars of home made organic yoghurt, 3 jars of lemon and mint cordial, a huge bowl of cucumbers, two Kombucha cultures, and some potted up tomatoes. I'm hoping for some treats and some fruit and vegetables in return. It should be a fun morning, my only hesitation is that we're in the middle of a heat wave over here and it's mighty uncomfortable being out and about.

Ill let you know how I go!

No Shopping Challenge Day 9

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 07:57:00 +0000

Not much to report today. I did the weekly shop and found it easier this week to get in and out and I'm pretty sure my desire for shopping is waning. The children have been brilliant too. Miss 8 totally understands the concept of the challenge and has stopped asking for things (why didn't I think of this ages ago!).

What I'm working on is living in the moment and not thinking ahead to what I can buy when the challenge is over. I found myself saying "In March I want a..." rather a lot, and I've decided to try and stop that.

As far as motivation goes all I need to do is look through real estate websites and dream of planting my own vegetable garden.

I hope everyone else is doing well and managing to build up a bit of savings!

No Shopping Challenge Day 8 - Simplify

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:01:00 +0000

On this intensely hot blustering day we are hiding indoors with curtains closed and windows tightly shut. The children are continuing their long running game of Lego and we are all still in our pyjamas at 10am. Since we are forced to be inside I've spent the morning walking around the house, going from room tidying and sorting as I go.

At the end of my tour I came to a realisation. Our children have too much stuff. Ben's room is overwhelming. Two big wooden shelving units full to bursting with crates of Lego, old transformer robots we've collected from op shops, Playmobil, board games, puzzles. There's so much in there I'm not surprised that he has trouble playing with any of it. It's hard to see what there is with such a jumble of colour and shapes. On closer inspection I saw that he no longer enjoys or has grown out of a lot of it. Even his closet held 5 pairs of too-small shoes that I have been holding onto so I can give them to a nephew"one day".

Under the stairs is a cupboard full of stuff. We have Ben's stroller that he hasn't sat in for two years. We've kept it in case someone with a baby visits us. Seriously.

It is clearly time for an edit of the things we deem to be essential. After all, just 3 years ago we arrived at Brisbane airport with nothing but a few bags and here we are now with too many things yet again.

What is it about humans that makes us want to hold on and stash away?

This week we are starting a list of things we'll sell and a list of things to donate. We may even come out with some money to add to our savings which would be brilliant. If not, we will still gain some space and some room to breathe.

No Shopping Challenge Day 7 - Hello Savings!

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:56:00 +0000

Today is the end of the first week of the challenge for me, so it's a good time to look at my bank account and work out how much I'm saving.

We're definitely up a few hundred dollars - which is both exciting and a bit frightening. Was I really spending that much? I realise now just how much I was spending on multiple small trips to the supermarket and at the food co-op mid week. It's so easy (in my mind) to justify buying more ingredients when they're really healthy for you. Junk food I can easily say no to. We are being more conservative with using petrol too at the moment, and of course there have been no trips to the mall or to cafes for lunch.

Today I had to hand over my debit card for the first time in a week. I bought some bananas, washing up liquid, popcorn kernels, and milk - total $13. Then I bought some vitamins for $10. I see them as household expenses even if I have already spent my grocery budget for the week. Next week I'd like to get through without having to do a little top up shop though so now I know what I need to buy more of.

It felt a little odd spending money today I have to admit. I felt a bit annoyed with myself, like I was cheating or letting myself down. It's silly really because it's not like I bought shoes or takeaways for dinner. I just would have liked to get through to next pay day without spending anything at all.

One unexpected result of the past week has been that I've been consciously thinking about how we deal with money as a family. At the moment neither child has pocket money, but they both have savings accounts. In the past when they've wanted something big like a new toy they've either worked for it by doing odd jobs for us, or they've sold something they no longer wanted on eBay. I would like them to have a better understanding of spending and saving when it comes to the every day things so I think once this is over we'll have a Family Kitty set up with some cash in it. The kids can ask if they can have something (usually for them it's an ice cream after dinner or a DVD from the shop) and we can count the money in the Kitty and see if it's a good idea to use it or not. J and I will use it too of course.

Do your kids get pocket money?
How do you handle your family's miscellaneous spending?

No Shopping Challenge Day 6 - Trigger Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:00:00 +0000

What are your spending triggers?

Like most mums I have trouble saying no when it comes to buying for the kids. They are a big trigger for sure. Books are a another one for me. I am a self confessed book depository addict. Craft items - that piece of elastic I pop in to buy inevitably turns into a $30 or $40 bag of fabric and bits.

In order to complete this challenge, and be kind to ourselves in the process, it's going to be important to identify our triggers. What are the things that make you reach for your credit card? The things that give you a rush adrenalin when you buy them?

If you impulse buy in shopping malls stay well away from them while you're not shopping. It's just plain mean to tempt yourself like that until you've really broken the habit. If you buy craft supplies commit to using up what you already have. If you love to buy books commit to using the library instead. If you buy toys for your kids make yourself really look at all of the things they already have - do they honestly need anything else right now?

To make it easier for me I'm not looking on book depository at all over the next two months. I'm not entering a Spotlight or a Lincraft. I've promised myself to use some of the many craft items I already own.

Here's your homework for next week:

Write down your spending triggers.
Talk to your family about the challenge, get them all on board. It might be wise to tell your kids what you can spend money on. When I told my 8 year old about it (after she asked me for a T-box movie for the 5th time) she looked horrified and said "what about FOOD?"

No Shopping Challenge Day 5 - A No Spend Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 02:41:00 +0000

The key to No Spend Saturday success is all in the planning. I don't want to wake up and mope about thinking about the things we can't do because we're not spending any money. I don't want to feel deprived or like I'm missing out on all the fun.

So over the last few days I've been checking out the free things to do in our area. I knew today was going to be hot (currently 34 degrees and climbing) so I wanted our freebie activity to be somewhere with shade and preferably near the water. As it turns out we have a river about 25 minutes drive away in the Hawkesbury region.

I packed morning tea and lunch for a picnic and we spent a few hours there hanging out and eating. The kids had a splash in the river which they loved and we realised that freshwater swimming is way less hassle than beach swimming! Now we're inspired to look for more rivers and swimming holes.

Overall it was a pleasant morning, I didn't miss spending at all but it definitely required more time and organising to get the food ready to go.

If you're participating in the challenge I hope you managed to have a stress free No Spend day today. Let me know how you got on.

Bec

No Shopping Challenge Day 4 - Eliminating the noise

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:00:00 +0000

We went camping over Christmas. The campsite was deep in a National Park on the South Coast of NSW and it was around an hour (on an extremely uncomfortable dirt road) drive to the nearest town. For the first time in years we had no cell phone coverage at all, no 3G.. nothing. We couldn't even send a text message. It was lovely.

After 7 days in the bush we packed up and drove home and on the way I checked the phone to see if the signal was back. It was. And along with entering a 3G area came 277 emails. Two hundred and seventy seven.

When I got home I went through them and was shocked to find that just four of them were from real people. The other 273 were marketing emails telling me to buy things. And most of them I had signed up for myself not wanting to miss out on a good deal.

Is it any wonder that this generation finds it hard not to buy stuff? Everywhere we go we see advertising. The technology we have allows it to infiltrate our living rooms and our bedrooms, it comes along with us in our handbags and cars.

So my goal through this challenge is to eliminate the marketing noise as much as I can. When I get those advertising emails I'm unsubscribing myself from each one. I never read those emails, ever. From today I'm reclaiming the minute or two a day I spend deleting them all.

Wouldn't it be nice to open your inbox and see only emails from family and friends?

No Shopping Challenge Day 3 - I deserve it

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:58:00 +0000

I deserve that. I've had a really crappy week. I didn't get much for my birthday so this is a late birthday present. It's so cheap, it would be silly not to buy it when it's on sale. I'm buying things from markets and op shops so it's not really shopping. These are all organic, fair trade, ethical things that I'm buying so I'm actually helping people by shopping. This is a one of a kind, never going to find it again thing, I can't let it go.

Sound familiar?

Today I'm thinking about changing the definition of 'I deserve it'.

I deserve to be in control of my finances.
I deserve to have a healthy savings account and the peace of mind that comes with that.
I deserve to meet my financial goals.
I deserve to be a strong independent thinker who isn't at the mercy of advertising and mass marketing.

Yes. I deserve that.

No Shopping Challenge - Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:46:00 +0000

So, it's been 24 hours.

Already I've had to remind myself (or J has had to remind me - hmmm) that I can't just go out and buy if I want to. I think it's going to take a while to get my head around this, which is silly and pathetic really considering so many people in the world don't buy anything other than what they need to survive. It goes to show how normal consumerism is for western world folk like us.

Every season we create a Nature Table on the top of an old buffet cabinet that we picked up at an op shop. I like to bring some of the season indoors and it's a great way for the kids to tune into their surroundings because they're always on the hunt for something to bring home and put on display. I was working on our summer one yesterday - placing shells collected from our camping trip onto pieces of leftover blue and sea green tulle. A couple of weeks before I change over the Nature Table I like to think of ways to make it look nice.. things I could make.. things I could do with the kids. I had an artwork in mind for this nature table, and when we were away I took some close up photographs of trees and rocks in the National Park to use on it. So there I was happily getting my supplies together to make this artwork and I suddenly realised that I couldn't go and get the photographs printed. And then I saw that I'd run out of gel medium and I couldn't go and buy that either. It was a bit disappointing. And a good reality check. This is what it's all about - learning how to say no to myself. Not being able to do what I wanted to do will force me to think of another way using what I already have, and if you could see my workroom you'd understand that I have so many supplies down there - I really shouldn't be buying more.

Jemima wanted to watch a movie on the T-box yesterday. It was almost 40 degrees and on a day like that we'd normally watch movies with the house all closed up to keep it cool. I said no and explained why. She asked again this morning. Twice.

This morning I'm going out to do the weekly grocery shop. I have a budget of $175 for the week and not a penny more. I increased our budget by $25 recently because we were doing lots of midweek trips to get little things and it added up to a huge amount at the end of the month. My challenge today will be to only get food and ignore all the other things supermarkets have started selling recently. Have you noticed that a trip to Woolies is starting to look a lot like a trip to Target or Kmart? They're selling slow cookers, televisions, clothing, and a huge range of toys in there now. Just about every week I seem to find myself held captive by a five year old boy in the toy aisle staring at Transformers.

24 hours in - how does it feel? It feels liberating and exciting thinking about the money we'll save. At this stage is also feels a bit uncomfortable. It's nothing I can put my finger on really, just a quiet anxious feeling. I'm used to the freedom of buying what I like (within reason) and this feels a bit strange.

If you're joining me I'd love to hear how you're going!

No Shopping Challenge Day 1 - Cold Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 09:20:00 +0000

There's a lot to love about shopping in Sydney. Every day, somewhere in this city, there is a sale. Not just a measly 5% off sale. No, I'm talking about an 80% off-holy cow-look at that discount-sale. And then there's the online sales. And eBay. And even op shopping. Don't be in denial like me, telling yourself that op shopping doesn't count. It does. Just the other day I walked out of a Vinnie's having spent $60 on things I didn't exactly need. Self control when it comes to buying can be hard to come by in this town.

Mr J and I watched a documentary called 'I Am' recently and it got me thinking about shopping. The doco is about a Hollywood movie director who gives up his possessions and travels the world asking religious leaders, academics, poets, and scientists two questions: What is wrong with the world today? What can we do about it? It's an interesting watch.

I try to moderate the way I buy by thinking about where products are made and if they're fair trade or not. But it doesn't always work out that way, and sometimes if I'm honest, I get caught up in the moment just like anyone else.

It's not really shopping that bothers me. It's more the culture of shopping. Shopping as a recreation activity, something to do in the weekends instead of being outdoors or hanging out with the kids at home. I dislike it intensely when the kids list "look at toys" as something they'd like to do as a family activity.

Now I don't want you to go thinking that I'm one of those crazy women with fifteen identical pairs of jeans in the closet all with their labels attached. I'm not a serial shopper at all and I'm by nature very thrifty. But I am sometimes impulsive when I like something and when I look at our bank accounts I can see that there are lots of little purchases eating a large hole in our savings plan.

Which brings me back to the documentary. I had a thought as I was watching it - that I've trained myself to spend. There are always things I think I need and as we get money we go out and spend to tick things off that list. It made me think. Could I go without buying for a month, two months, three? Shamefully, as soon as I had the thought another one popped into my head. The thought was: what about the new BBQ we want to buy? And that sealed the deal. I can't even think about not buying without trying to convince myself I need to shop. Maybe it's a habit, like biting your nails or never shutting the kitchen drawer. Maybe we need to break the shopping habit so that we're no longer on consumer auto pilot.

I mulled the idea over for a few days and decided to look for some blogs written by people doing a similar challenge. I found lots of them, it seems many people are like me - trying to give up the lure of the shops and save some money at the same time. I'd find an interesting looking blog, read the opening post about the challenge, then look for the follow up posts... and find nothing. Out of the ten blogs I looked at, only one had a follow up post, and in it the writer admitted to buying a new purse!

So my pledge to you is that I will follow up. I'll tell you how I'm going, and I'll be honest if I cheat (but I'm not going to cheat).

The only thing left is setting the parameters for the challenge.

1. No clothes shopping, toy buying, book depository shopping (my weakness), no craft supplies.
2. No thrift shopping, no markets, unless I'm window shopping.
3. Food, petrol, household expenses are allowed.
4. Gift cards are allowed but only up to the limit of the gift.
5. Any birthday presents needed during the challenge will be hand made (it's OK, I can make cool stuff).
6. The challenge starts January 1st and runs until the last day of February - maybe longer!

So my first admission to you is that I've spent the last few days furiously trying to work out how I can get things before the deadline - like if I buy it just before Jan 1st is that allowed? See, I need help.

To make this even more tricksy we're going away for a week in January on holiday. Can I really not shop on holiday? I think I can do it. I'm going to try really hard to do it - because buying stuff isn't what a family holiday should be about anyway. And if I succeed in not buying anything other than the essentials while on holiday, then keeping it up when I'm at home should be easy right?

If you're game how about joining me on a month or two of not spending. Kind of like a post Christmas detox don't you think? Wish me luck, I think I may need it.

Kombucha, Gardening and Santa's Workshop

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:44:00 +0000

I've had a busy last few weeks as I'm sure most of you have had. I've had lots of sewing to do for our home made gifts, all of the usual Christmas and end of year stuff for the kids, and on top of that our laptop died suddenly.

This morning I was bottling up last week's kombucha and it prompted me to post a quick update here to tell you how we're getting on with it. We've been making kombucha since the end of September and since then we've gone from drinking 1L per week to 4L per week.. and we're still running out! The kids absolutely love it, which is a surprising bonus. I've had a play with flavoured teas and we've settled on a favourite - cranberry and pomegranate (1 cranberry and pom tea bag and 1 black tea bag per 1L of water). You can read all about my entry into the world of fermented kombucha tea including my recipe here.

As for the health benefits.. well, we haven't had any 'die off' or negative side effects at all. I do limit the kids to one glass per day but they've been known to sneak more. Jemima in particular is mad for it. Both kids have been pretty healthy lately but I think the real test will be next winter when the bugs start lurking. One thing I have noted is that both kids have been exposed to a rampant tummy bug repeatedly over the last month through friends and school/preschool and neither of them has caught it.

These bottles will go into the cupboard for a week to further ferment and fizz up a bit and then they'll be ready to drink. I was only leaving them for three or four days but we found that by leaving them longer the kombucha mellowed a bit and the taste was fresher.

As for the taste.. if you're unfamiliar with kombucha you may be wondering what it's like. The bottles above taste like an iced tea mixed with berry, a bit fizzy and really clean and refreshing. It's yum honest!

And the bonus of making lots of bottles of kombucha is that you end up with lots of SCOBY's. When you make a batch a new yeast pancake forms on the top which you can separate when it's big enough and use to make a new batch of tea. Since we're away for Xmas I've put my SCOBY's in a jar covered with kombucha tea, they'll sit dormant in the fridge until I come home.

So how's the balcony garden doing?

Thai pink egg tomatoes almost ready!

Zucchini and capsicum (looking a bit hot).

Legend tomato - just starting to form fruit.

Two heirloom Diggers tomatoes.

Cucumbers which are growing along the wire nicely.

And lastly.. Christmas. I had a goal this year of making Christmas as simple, ethical, and home made as possible. Now that my shopping and making is done - how did I do?

My first challenge was to make gift bags rather than buy wrapping paper. I've done pretty well. All but three or four presents from us to the kids and each other are in bags. I ran out of time at the end so we have a present or two for the kids in paper. Next year I'll make a couple more and we should be sorted. Jemima and Ben made their own using stencils and stamps and I sewed them up.

As far as gifts go, most of them were hand made by me. It's a cheap way of doing things but it does take planning and a lot of time. I made Jemima some clothes and a beach bag out of a vintage towel, and I made Ben an explorers satchel and a quilt for his bed. My nephews are all receiving home made presents too. For the bought presents I used the Oxfam shop for one person and I bought lots of books. The kids have one toy each under the tree that isn't particularly eco friendly or educational but it was what they'd asked for.. and it is Christmas after all! So while I wasn't 100% on track with my goal, I was definitely more mindful when buying things and I think it helped to distance myself from the mad consumerism and craziness out there at this time of year.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas season, I hope it's a special time with your family full of fun and good things.

x Becs

And then we went foraging

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 04:59:00 +0000

Down by the Nepean River lie a row of tall mulberry trees. Each summer we picnic underneath their canopy of blousy lime green leaves taking refuge from the sun. Lying on your back looking up it's possible to see a few of the last mulberries hidden from the birds and more recently, the foragers. I always seem to leave my mulberry picking too late. But not this year.

At the Crop & Swap on Saturday there was talk of ladders, climbing trees, making jams, and rocky road, and it all had to do with mulberry season. This morning we took Ben down to the river with a bucket and we foraged for berries. It was so fun. Ben quickly became our scout - running from tree to tree calling out "Over here guys! I found a goodie!" before taking a rest in the shade with some leaves and a pile of sticks.

J went up the tree and when he couldn't reach the outer branches I did something I haven't attempted in many, many years. I climbed onto his shoulders and balanced there picking berries while trying not to shriek like a little girl.

As it turns out, fruit picking is really hot hard work. Our 500g of berries took about an hour to collect and was made into just one large jar of jam. For a brief moment it seemed like a lot of effort for not a lot of food - but then I remembered Ben's little face as he wove in and out of the branches and how silly and young I felt wobbling about on top of my husband's strong shoulders.

It was a bit of fun. And a good way to spend one of these precious last home days with our Ben before he starts school next year. And it's got me thinking - what other fruit trees are out there waiting for an unlikely gang of foragers to discover them?

Balcony veggie patch update

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 00:25:00 +0000

We've added to our balcony garden after a trip to the school festival where we found lots of cheap seedlings. We added another row of rain guttering and at the moment it's free for new lettuce seedlings (apart from some basil). The zucchini is growing really well in it's storage bucket thanks to worm wee provided courtesy of the worm farm.

This is what we have happening at the moment- the weather is heating up so I expect some good growth in the next month or so. Hopefully we'll be making a salad from here soon!

Balcony Veggie Patch

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 06:41:00 +0000

In every house I've lived in I've always wanted to grow something in the ground. Even in rentals knowing that spending money on a garden was foolish, I've gone ahead and planted out. In our last house J and I spent a long weekend hauling railway sleepers and planting capsicums and lettuce before being told on the Tuesday that the owners needed their house back and we had 6 weeks to be out. Every time that happens I promise myself that I will shovel and bag my nicely composted soil and I'll take it with me to the new house. It never happens. After moving boxes and doing the final clean who has the energy to worry about dirt?

At this house we are blessed with a large sunny backyard. Perfect for vegetable beds. Maybe the disappointment of not seeing the fruits of my labour at the last house still stings, or maybe I'm just tired.. either way I just could not find it in my heart to get excited about planting in the garden this spring.

I said I wasn't going to plant anything. Then I remembered the feeling of popping outside at dusk to grab some leaves for a salad, and the taste of a home grown tomato still warm from the sun. Just a few lettuces and one tomato plant then, or maybe just the two.

Given my state of mind about planting in the ground, this garden needed to be close by and above all, portable. Thus, our balcony veggie patch was born.

Here we have one 2.3m length of zinc rain guttering and some concrete blocks that we found on the property.

J drilled some drainage holes into the bottom of it and we used the concrete blocks to hold it up above the ground.

Next we filled it up with some good quality potting mix and worm casings.

Jemima and I planted some Diggers heirloom spring onions and lettuce seedlings.

This is what we have so far. Two tomato plants (one Legend, and one Thai Pink Egg), two cucumber seedlings that I hope to grow along the wire at the front of the deck, one courgette plant, and some herbs. And the guttering garden of course, which we hope to expand with another length of zinc soon.

It's not my dream garden by a long shot, but we will have something home grown and fresh this summer, and that's always good thing. I'll update you in the next few weeks so you can see how this works out. I hope it does!

The Grapefruit Wars

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 00:22:00 +0000

When we moved into this house a few months back I did what I always do when checking out a new place. I took a tour of the garden. I always hope that I'll find something useful - abandoned vegetable gardens would be great - established fruit trees would be awesome. On this occasion I spotted a large healthy citrus tree from a distance and as I approached I was delighted to discover that it was covered with plump green balls. An orange tree! My kids love oranges. Orange juice! Orange cake! Orange ice blocks for the summer!

I waited patiently through autumn for my oranges to turn orange, keeping a careful eye on the leaves of the tree for any infestations or viruses. There was no need to worry, this tree has been here a while and she's a healthy old girl.

Then one day I was chatting to the landlord about the property and she said "You know, down there by the grapefruit tree". Ummmm... the what now? The grapefruit tree? Out of all the fruit trees one can inherit the grapefruit tree is surely the booby prize.

Nobody can eat a tree load of grapefruit, except perhaps my sister and I when we're 6 months pregnant. My kids are good eaters but they won't touch a grapefruit. My husband hates them. And as it turns out, so do most people. I couldn't give them away. Every time I presented a friend with a bag of grapefruit I got the thanks, but no thanks.

Now one thing I really hate is waste, and food waste is the worst. Every day I'd see bright yellow globes dropping from the tree onto the grass where even the cockatoos wouldn't touch them. It was playing on my conscience a bit, seeing perfectly good fruit rotting away like that.

So this week I declared war on the grapefruit tree. I decided to make as much marmalade as I could stand to make, and then I followed that up with grapefruit jelly.

Marmalade is the easiest jam in terms of setting, but it sure is a pain to prepare. All of the cutting and slicing the peel. My peel is always too chunky because I can't ever be bothered to cut it finely enough. Nevertheless, the other morning I went down to the tree and collected the best looking fruit. I added some organic oranges to the lot and gave it all a good wash. Then I cut, and diced, and deseeded, and cut some more. For two hours. Then the marmalade was made in the usual way - cooking the fruit before adding the sugar and cooking until the setting point is reached. At the end of the afternoon I had 7 nice jars of marmalade, some for us and some to swap at our community crop & swap meet (that's if anyone will want my chunky jam).

Today I tackled the rest of the grapefruit on the tree. I decided to make jelly, partly because I wanted something different but mostly because it's so much easier. I washed and chopped the fruit including the peel and pips and boiled that for about 20 minutes with some water. Once it was all pulpy and soft I strained it through an old cotton pillowcase over a bowl.

You can use a jelly bag for this, but I don't have one and this works just as well. It looks a little odd...

If you try this, don't squeeze the bag (it'll make your jelly cloudy). Once I had the juice I measured it back into the pot, added sugar and boiled it until the setting point was reached (scraping off the scum/froth as it cooked). Ta - da! This is easily enough for our family for a year, with a few jars left over to swap for some fruit and vegetables. So if you find yourself with a heavily laden grapefruit tree don't despair - there's always marmalade :)

Ben's UFO Party

noreply@blogger.com (Becs Addison) — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 08:51:00 +0000

About ten months ago (yes, ten!) Ben announced that he would like aliens, slime, and UFO's for his party in October. I was unsure. How could I make that cool and retro and well, awesome? I had those Toy Story aliens in my head and I couldn't figure out what direction to take with it.

After a bit of thinking an image from the movie E.T popped into my head. You know that part where they take poor old E.T and stick him that research lab and it's all quarantined? Believe it or not, that was my starting point. I decided to go for the science/research side of aliens and away we went.

My idea was to have an early evening party with a fog machine and glow sticks, and to try and recreate a UFO lab in our room downstairs. That was until Ben gently told me that he didn't want a big party, and he didn't want lots of people there. In his four year old way of course. I think his exact words were "You know Jemima's circus party and rainbow party? NOT like that." Gotcha.

So today we had an alien themed BBQ in the park with some close family friends and two kids from Preschool. It was relaxed and fun, and totally stress free. The kid is on to something.

So here we go, my UFO party on a budget....

The invitations were home made on the computer and the envelopes were cheapies bought at the local art shop.

At this party you had to work for your party bag. We set up a scavenger hunt for 'Alien Specimens' all over the park.

Alien gems.. these glass beads were .99c a bag (I bought two) the kids loved them. Ben and I made patterns with them all over the rocks at the park for the kids to discover.

Pieces of UFO spaceship.. my husband found a big silver coated piece of polystyrene on the side of the road and picked it up knowing that an alien party was in the works. He cut out shapes and drew designs on them and then I hid them in the trees and under bark.

One of Ben's alien patterns of gems.

Alien eyeball lollies, we're lucky that Halloween is almost here, there were lots of spooky sweets in the shops.

Alien Goop - lime shower gel in some craft storage canisters from a junk shop with some alien writing on the outside.

Decorations were cheap - we bought this yellow and black hazard tape from a hardware shop for $5.50 and some green and black balloons. A few days before the party I saw these alien head balloons for .39c each so I grabbed a few.

I wanted some kind of specimen looking thing on the science table so I made these out of some Fowler jars, a piece of yellow polypropylene, and the alien head balloons squashed inside.

I picked up these specimen jars from a pharmacy for $1 each and added the stickers onto the lids. These were the containers for the slime that they would be making.

We copied an Area 51 security pass and made our own ones specific to the park and the party. We handed them out to each child before they set off on their scavenger hunt.

I think the science was the best part of the day, the kids were amazed when fake snow appeared from nowhere, and they were so excited to see slime forming in their cups. Then we went over to the grass and set off some rockets made from water and effervescent tablets. I loved seeing their faces when we were doing these experiments! All of the supplies were from the Prof Bunson online store.

I don't have many shots of the table to show you, and to be honest it wasn't that flash. The sausages were ready and the kids were charging, and we missed our photo op. Here you can just about see the ice cream alien brain cake I made. The table cloths were lime green plastic, the plates were silver and we had green cups from IKEA. I made some alien head chocolate lollipops using a mold I bought online and I stuck them into a round piece of the silver polystyrene around the edge. It was all pretty simple really, which is just how my boy wanted it.

And then there was the alien pinata that we made out of a balloon and some paper mache. It took a long time but it was worth the effort to see them having fun bashing it up and scrambling for the treats inside.

It was a really fun afternoon and definitely one of the best parties we've done.

Happy Birthday Benny!