thriftiness.

I feel very privileged to count myself amongst the people who have discovered the art of being thrifty or canny as an enjoyable lifestyle option. Thriftiness does not indicate meanness, canniness does not mean bland, it can mean a way to a much higher standard of living and personal satisfaction with life.

I have always been fascinated with "Mending and making do". I am not sure if it is stories from the Depression from my Grandmother or an even more romanticised version through novels, movies and TV shows but the idea of making the best of what's available has always appealed to me. I derive a lot of satisfaction from a thrift drive and a good session of belt tightening and creativity (rather perversely some might say!). When you trade a mindless consumption habit for a mindful one you are exploring beyond the realms of the norm, thinking outside the box, it is a subversive subculture of practical domestic creativity which not only holds it's own with the end result but is great for your bank balance and in a lot of cases it is better for the planet and your health too.

There are the obvious things you can do like have a budget or a meal plan or no credit cards or pay off  your mortgage early with large repayments but let's be frank, these things can be so boring if you don't spice it up a bit! I am one of those strange and wondrous creatures, a (semi) reformed compulsive shopper (I used to smoke like a chimney and could drink a football team under the table too but that's another story) who has channeled the energy previously used for soulless consumerism into a more productive outlet. Don't get me wrong I still shop but I make sure it is mindful and wise shopping, not just for the hell of it. I still make extravagant purchases on occasion but they are well researched purchases at the best possible price. I still have play money but I get it from surveys, mystery shops, I receive samples and sell scrap metal and goods I have finished with to get it. We eat out but have coupons or special offers when we can and enjoy a lot of free activities like walking, the beach, have a museum membership so we can see all the exhibits that come to town and ten percent discount at the gift shop (which is a great place for gifts).

I think that increasing your standard of living without increasing your budget is about getting to know the area around you, where the best places for cheap fresh local produce are, what the best charity shops are, where you can go for free entertainment, even where the cheap petrol is. 

There are other thrifty tricks which are more universal, using an snipe program on eBay and learning which misspelled keywords might find you a treasure, going "Worldwide search" from another country's eBay site is a good one- it can pickup lots of items you would never see even if you tried Worldwide from your local eBay.

I never buy new for most things, I find that quality goods are so much better and cheaper second hand than cheap new products ever were. There is no saving if you have to keep buying cheap t-shirts which go all shapeless and pilly after one wear, second hand products have been put through their paces and if they are still looking and performing well they will out last cheap rubbish every time. There is obviously no saving if you aren't going to where it or use it either and no-one's standard of living is increased by having too much "stuff" no matter how cheap!

Blogs and forums are a wonderful resource of thrifty ideas and a sort of unofficial support group for those of us who prefer to be ourselves and not buy the latest tat because it is "in" or because we saw it, those of us who have home haircuts and wonderful homemade bread, who are sick of weird tasting convenience foods that don't seem to have any convenience or food contained therein, those of us who would rather take the children for a ramble around than a noisy expensive playcentre, or give them blocks than computer games, who encourage our children to grow naturally rather than scheduling them (expensively) within an inch of their lives.

I enjoy my way of living, it promotes being aware of my surroundings and my actions, is better for the planet, is healthier and I enjoy talking to like minded folk about such things, my children are growing up with skills and we are all learning new skills as a family, I hope you enjoy it too.

Return to Weirdo, Lefty, Pinko life...

We have had two little ones and their dad staying for 9 days at our hastily renovated cottage (they are co-joined and we have our office in the "spare one"which has been largely un-renovated for over a year now!).

It was even louder and more chaotic than usual but it served to highlight the difference between the way we live and "the usual" way to live.

I noticed the girls ate much more processed food than we do, (well we do eat it and of course the stuff I make is processed, but largely by myself) and also watch a lot more TV than us, (we can't stand to have the TV on during the day, it is a night time thing only and certainly not hours and hours of it for littlies no matter how "educational" the show is) lights were left on all night as the girls are scared of the dark and showers were had by all at least once a day but sometimes more- hair washed every time and the girls used deoderant each time( they are five- is this normal? It would never occur to me to deoderise a child who hasn't yet developed sweat glands like an adult). The funny thing is I didn't realise how "weird" we were until the visit. I suppose I read forums and and blogs on subjects that interest me such as cooking, natural health, frugality, simplicity and surround myself with information which gives me a bit of a skewed perspective on life- it lets me forget that most "normal"folk are very wasteful and not mindful. So I give us a smug little pat on the back for that. We also deserve one for being over 100kw down on our electricity consumption compared to the same quarter last year. Hurrah for us!

Since the visitors left I have been growing sprouts, planting vegies, making bread and fermenting kefir like a hippy possessed, I guess I had withdrawals.

I have rejuvenated some kefir grains and they are growing very very well, they seem to like ground ginger and jaggery best. They are water grains which somehow ended up with my milk ones. I don't like milk kefir so they languished in the back of my fridge for ages and I tried to convert them all the water grains but the milk ones promptly died, hence my interest in reproducing the small amount of water ones I had.

I do sleep better when I have had a cup of kefir but sometimes it is just because I think I am a bit tipsy because I brewed it for too long. I am not sure of the benefits for me really but maybe it is doing me good...

I seem to have an answer for my anxiety/depressive attacks- I take 1000mg of agnes castus vitex (the herb chaste tree) every morning with a 1500mg fish oil and every month or so I take magnesium for a week.

So far so good! I am a pretty happy camper so I am keeping up the herbs with the fish oil, exercise and sun exposure which I blogged about previously.

Another weirdo lefty pinko treatment I am doing is taking coconut oil, if you Google you will be swamped with info about how it cures everything and makes you lose weight and makes you cleverer with clearer skin etc. I don't know about that but I have been taking about two tablespoons a day in food (mixed in with muesli or in a  cup of warm soy milk) and although I am no lighter after a week I am full of energy! Seriously I haven't felt this good in years! So, although I am not fussed on the taste so much, the new lease on life it has given me is too good to pass up... we will see if it helps with weight loss later on! I have just cut myself a fringe as I was feeling decidedly unstylish but I will have to set up a photo as I am far too vain to simply post one of me with greasy hair, blotchy skin and asymmetrical face as I am now (probably stuck with the face though I guess)!

Frugal Fun!

I know some of you out there will appreciate the odd sentence that follows.

I am enjoying being flat broke. 

It really it is a wake up call as it is easy to slip into complacency and not appreciate money for what it is. We have found that once our needs are met the only  desire we have for the stuff is to try to help others (unfortunately our pie in the sky dreams for this are very large scale so we will need much money for them!).

 We have sold our little car which was excess to our needs and have managed to scrape together some big ticket items which have sold on eBay (a convertible roof hardtop, a Mazda engine and gear box) as well as my old maternity gear which are doing quite well. We collected scrap metal and we got a princely $47 for it, which paid for $20 of chicken wire and $15 for three hens rescued from the poultry farm nearby.(more on hens later) The remainder has gone on chocolate, cream and strawberries for the Little Man's second birthday today. I found everything he needed at charity shops, a toy wombat, a solid tonka digger, a hard hat and a Thomas the Tank engine doona cover all in excellent condition, this combined with a $2 bottle of bubble mix has given him a lovely stash of toys he is very impressed with and totalled $11.20. I always make my own cards and I had the whole lot set on the coffee table for him to find in the morning I didn't use any wrapping, he is too tiny to find excitement in the removal of wrapping and the mess and waste have turned me against it!

Last weekend we went to Hobart to have a look at some properties again but I made sure we didn't spend any unnecessary money. I packed a thermos of coffee (real stove top stuff, not instant) as I find that tea just isn't very good from a thermos, some popcorn, left over latkes cakes from the night before, carrot sticks, coffee and walnut muffins, boiled eggs, stawberries and blueberries,  water for the boys to drink. This went into our giant picnic basket and after our tour of real estate we went to the Royal Tasmanian Botanical gardens and had a lovely picnic. There was a curious duck who made the mistake of coming to see the Littlest man and was promptly and joyfully chased and we had a great explore of the organic Veggie patch as seen on Gardening Australia and Sir Talks  A Lot asked what every single plant in the veggie patch was... every single one!

Yesterday was the Littlest man's 2nd birthday so we went to Cataract gorge for yet another picnic (they are big in our house.. or rather out of our house) which was quite flooded due to the wild heavy rains of Saturday. We had popcorn and cream puffs and chocolate cake and went for a trek which in retrospect was a bad idea with two sleepy toddlers who made our lives difficult but hey! all a learning experience. Cataract Gorge is just amazing and we are blown away every time we visit which is why we were so determined to have a walk around despite the foolishness in hindsight (muddy tantrumming toddlers anyone?).

Over the last week we have finished our chicken coop from recycled and salvaged pallets and roof iron and we are very delighted to have our rather moth eaten looking chickens in situ. unfortunately it has been raining so the coop is in the shed but we hope to move it into the sunshine today- once those dastardly sheep have left (they have eaten all our grass and keep knocking over the gate so it is back to the farm for them.. today!) Our hens are brown hi lines and they have already given us four eggs!the eggs are much much bigger than the tiny free range ones we normally buy- I think one of our eggs is worth two shop bought ones!

All said and done we are having more fun than ever since our economy drive started in earnest!

Spontaneous path building!

It has been a surprisingly productive day here at Apple Isle Cottages.
We have a big pile of bricks recently acquired from the next door cottage we have taken over and we were lamenting what to do with it when I looked at my very temporary path made of old fence palings (which has been there since January!) and decided that it was time to upgrade to something more permanent and decided to muck together a brick path using the great bricks we have in our pile which have "jorny & campbell Launceston" stamped in the top. In typical Dull roar philosophy style I used some of our existing large gravel pile as a base and an hours work later she was done..and I even found a few treasures..( ok one treasure- a teacup with no handle and not very old)..the path is a wee bit higgledy piggledy but Apple Isle Cottages is pretty higgledy piggledy itself, being built in reclaimed swamp 113 years ago.
So a new free path which my three year old hopefully won't fall over in such a spectacular slapstick fashion (although it was amusing the first couple of times, I won't lie to you!).
I have managed to fit in one 15 minute session of tidying, got the dishes done, tidied the boys room and put away the washing in that time!
What a beautiful day it is here today, I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world for quids!

And So It Begins

First of all I would like to formally welcome you all to my first blog which is likely to be of no real interest to anyone but myself so if you happen to take the time to read it I am most gratified and hope it warrants any attention you may bestow upon it.
I have a busy life, not busy like most people's, no social calender, no office to trudge to every day, but busy with a new small business, two small children, a tumbledown house in a new state and the beginnings of a vegie garden messing up the long neglected back yard.
My long suffering and much adored husband and I moved from Sunny Queensland Gold Coast to Launceston Tasmania in January of this year and so I guess we are about to celebrate our one year anniversary in Tasmania.
We don't like waste here in our house and that is reflected in how we live our lives. Food and garden scraps are composted (food only after it is offered to the peculiar little Devon Rex cat who chooses to reside with us). Things are bought second hand where we can which is not only cheaper but means I don't feel guilty when I stain or break something and has the knock on effect of being better for the environment. To some it may seem I am an environmentalist at first glance if I am truthful it is our dislike of waste that has lead to our life style being of benefit to the planet and not a feeling of obligation to reduce my carbon footprint.
There, that feels better- what a confession- I am not a ramapant greenie, I just happen to act like one!
I of course bear no ill-will towards mother nature and am very fond of the beauty and bounty she supplies but it hasn't been my only motivation in changes I have made in my lifestyle.
We repair things when we can and repurpose things in a new way if we can.
I was always amazed at the amount of perfectly good things thrown out in the Gold Coast council cleanup- such a wasteful community up there- we have found Launceston is less like that and people are more understanding of a our mend and make do attitude.
I sound very pious and wholesome BUT I will confess that I struggle with things like keeping the house and garden in a reasonable state so I have invented my own philosophy-
The Dull Roar
it is basically an attempt to keep our heads over water domestically.
I will never have a display home clean home- even if it was just me I'm a grubby little devil who likes doing grubby things like cooking and gardening and the house would never stay clean and i also have two grubby little children and a much cleaner husband who also has grubby hobbies like renovating and repairing cars and don't forget the cat- did you know that dark Devon rex cats sneeze dark tears everywhere?
I do however recognise that a certain level of social responsibility and cleanliness is required so I am trying to work out a plan to keep the mess and rudeness down to a dull roar...
So far..
* Set the fabulous vintage kitchen timer to 15 mins and do something to help the tidiness and cleanliness. Washing pots and sweeping the floor, wiping benches generally takes less time than this.
*Time savers- food in the freezer for the boys day care lunches
-teaspoon of generic brand nappysoaker in the loo overnight to be flushed away in the morning.
-spraying the floor and cleaning with a damp towel (pushed around by my feet!) instead of mopping which never really worked.

hopefully I will build up a repertoire which will allow me to get on with running our business and doing the fun frugal stuff I enjoy, cooking, making my own salves, vegie gardening, newly interested and converted to jam making, make my own bread (use a cheaty machine- how I love it!)making my own yoghurt, cutting my boys hair (actually only one of the boys is fun to do haircuts on the other is tooo hoppity) making yoghurt....

I am looking at ways the Dull Roar Philosophy can be applied to other parts of life too...