Buy Nothing New Round Up

We have all been really sick with colds, throat and ear infections this month so it has been pretty easy to stay away from the shops and buy nothing new.

Except for this...

Sewing For Boys, 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe by Shelly Figueroa and Karen LePage

I saw this in my local patchwork shop window and could not help myself. The projects look really easy and simple but have that lovely handmade look about them that you will never get from store bought clothing.

These are called treasure pocket pants. Just imagine the gorgeous fabrics you could use.

Otherwise, our month went by without any purchasing. We didn't need to buy anything though so I can't give you any insight into how we scoured our local area for second hand items. And we (especially me) have been so sick that we didn't really venture out all that much and so haven't been tempted by the shops. I find that is my weakness - all the beautiful things available for the house and the kids. I am the main spender in the house so with me being out of action, we didn't buy anything except groceries, doctors bills and medicines.

I love these hats. It is the first thing I plan on making from the book.

October 2012 is Buy Nothing New Month

I know its the 8th October but I have decided to pledge to buy nothing new for the rest of October.

Christmas is not far now and I know I will be throwing myself into the usual frantic consumerism that Christmas usually entails. I think spending (pun intended) the next 3 weeks not buying anything new will help to put November and December in perspective. The amount of money we spend as a household on things we really don't need it crazy and frankly a little obscene. And I've been trying to limit our spending anyway to keep our budget under control. It will be interesting to see how we go.

A couple of guidelines for the month:

• Food, Medicines, Bills, Hygiene Products are all OK. ie, any essential items (a new pair of shoes are NOT an essential item no matter how I try to spin it).
• Second hand, swapping, freebies are the preferred method of acquiring things.
• Unnecessary wastage is also to be avoided in the name of the game. I will aim to use all the food in the fridge before buying more (for example).

If you are interested in joining Buy Nothing New Month you can pledge here.
 

20 Days to Organise & Clean your home Challenge – Round Up

The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to organise and clean your home challenge is over. I can't believe the 20 days went so quickly.

Unfortunately I didn't finish all the tasks from the challenge but I have them all printed out and in my folder so I can continue them over the next month.

My house is improving and I think the challenge is a big part of that. I began a daily and weekly cleaning routine about a month before the challenge started and I have kept it up. The challenge helped cement the routine. I must admit there is still a fair bit of clutter but under it there is a clean house (with snippets of organisation).

The one thing I absolutely loved was the daily tasks printable.

This is the day 1 printable. I've linked to Katrina's blog post for that day.

I am a list girl and having this each day made me all tingly. I think I'll continue something similar from now on.

So, a big thank you to The Organised Housewife for helping me to get my house in order. I really enjoyed the challenge and look forward to being part of it again next year.

20 Days to Organise & Clean your home Challenge – Day 8

Day 8 of the challenge was to tackle the craft room (or in my case the sewing room/study).

Originally this was only my sewing room but Mr Berry has been slowly moving in and using it as his study. The room is super tiny and there just ain't enough room for the two of us. And this was the result:

 

You probably can't tell in the photos but everything was super dusty. Cutting fabric and sewing creates heaps of dust. I think the dust bunnies had well and truly bred and created their own empire. So I removed everything I could out of the room and cleaned.

• windows
• light fitting
• shelves
• desk
• floors and skirting boards

Everything was put back in it's place and I burnt a lovely smelly candle whilst I was cleaning to make it all seem pretty.

 

Everyone was super impressed. I'd love to get some lovely baskets and wot not to make the shelves all pretty and magazine-like but honestly I have other things to spend my money on at the moment so it will have to stay as it is.

Want to check out the challenge? Head over to The Organised Housewife.

20 Days to Organise and Clean your Home - Back to Day 1

I  thought I would show you where I started on this challenge.

The first day of The Organised Housewife's 20 Days to Organise and Clean your Home started in the kitchen. The tasks were:

• to clean the kitchen (benches, sink, window and sill, walls, light fittings)
• clean the microwave
• clean cupboard doors
• clean tops of the cupboards
• declutter benches
• clean and organise under the sink

I felt like I'd spent all day cleaning the kitchen but the end result is well worth it.

Just to be clear, this is a before shot. I hadn't cleaned up after breakfast but let's be honest, it looks like this most of the time.

And After

I'd like to move the fruit bowl and have nothing on the main bench but then I'd just be adding something else to the dining table (which I am yet to tackle).

What I am super happy with though is under the kitchen sink.

Before 

After

I'd been meaning to clean it out for weeks now and it was filthy so it's great to finally get it done. I always feel better when my cupboards are clean and organised. It's like everything is right in the world if the insides are tidy.

Day 1 was a big day and by the end of the day I was really tired. The kitchen was a major job but now it's done maintaining it won't be so bad. Just a quick wipe here and there. The remaining days have been easier as I have a regular cleaning routine and always try to keep things in their homes.

If you're interested in checking the challenge out, it's here.

From Seed to Seed – February

As I mentioned earlier, I have taken up Melinda’s growing challenge.

I grew some veggies last year and over summer I tried a few varieties using heirloom seeds. This season I have even more heirloom varieties to try and also to save their seed to use next year.

I thought I would post a round up at the end of each month (or beginning of the following month if I am really slack) to summarise what I have been up to in the garden as well as a brief list of things to do over the next month.

If you are interested in joining the challenge or want to check out what other participants are up to, visit One Green Generation for the links.

Currently sowing
Corn Salad, Radicchio pallla rosa early, Mesclun Lettuce mix, Beetroot Melbourne early slowbolt, Cauliflower phenomenal early, Cabbage red dutch, Valerian.
Newly Planted
Dwarf Sweet Peas, Purple Basil, Thai Basil,
Harvesting
Capsicum, Cherry Tomatoes, Chamomile, Sweet Basil,
Seed Saving
Lettuce x 2 (I knew I should have marked what types they were when I planted them – all I know is that they are yummy!), Agapanthus

These are my current seeds I am saving. I chopped the heads off at the end of flowering and I am letting them dry in the garage. Hopefully, they will be successful.

To Do

• Plant out lavender, chervil, pennyroyal, and beetroot seedlings.
• Remove the last of the Lazy housewife beans from the trellis and compost soil to prepare for sweet peas.
• Continue preparing the rest of the garden beds for the winter crop.
• Look at seed saving for chamomile, borage and tomato.
• Sow next batch of winter veg.
• Figure out when and how to harvest the Rosella (pictured below)
  

The Growing Challenge – Seed To Seed

I have decided to take part in a couple of challenges this year to help inspire and motivate me. The first of these challenges is Melinda’s New Growing Challenge – from Seed to Seed at One Green Generation.

Last year I began trying to grow the majority of our veggies and I am now ready to begin learning how to save seeds for the next season.

Here are the rules for the challenge (the italics come direct from Melinda’s blog):

1. Plant at least one new crop from seed, grow it organically, and save the seed to plant next year.
Well, I already am growing my veggies from seed. I use open pollinated/heirloom seeds from Eden Seeds. I am using organic methods so I can check that one off too (of course there is more about organic gardening I need to learn). I have so far saved 2 types of seeds from my summer harvest – lazy housewife beans and a small pumpkin (I forget the name of it and I have lost the tag. I know, rookie mistake).
2. Check in here when I post Seed To Seed or Challenge posts (more or less once/week). Or if you have your own blog*, you can write about your gardening there instead – or in addition. The point of #2 is to learn from one another, inspire one another, and build our growing community. So please share questions, thoughts, and discoveries as they come up.
I will of course be posting regularly about the challenge and commenting on One Green Generation.
3. Sign up in the comments below!
That’s not my comments but the comments on One Green Generation. Interested in signing up? Here is the link direct to Melinda’s post.

So, what have I been doing in the garden lately?

Here is a photo of the seeds I have saved so far. The lazy housewife beans are on the right and the dried pods are beans I haven’t taken the seeds out of yet. The seeds on the left are pumpkin seeds. I bought pumpkin the seedling at a local nursery and lost the tag so I am not sure if I have an heirloom variety or not. The pumpkins were so yummy and it was a lovely compact plant that I figured I would see what happens. Pumpkins grow so quickly that it won’t take long to see if any fruit form or not. I will either get yummy pumpkins or compost fodder.


Here is a lettuce that has gone to seed. I need to cut the top off and put it in a paper bag to collect the seeds.


My summer veggies are pretty much finished. That week of 40oC plus temperatures really knocked them about so all I have are a couple of lettuce plants that haven’t bolted and a few bunches of tomatoes. I have begun to prepare the beds as they empty with some chook manure, compost and some dried grass clippings for mulch. In a month or so I will begin planting my autumn crop.

I have written about my seed purchasing frenzy here. And here are some pics of the some of the seeds I sowed the other week (I got a bit impatient).

Thai Basil

Dwarf Sweet Peas

From the left: Purple Basil, Lavender, Pennyroyal, Chervil

Bread and Biscuits

I have had a really slack week on the housework front and so yesterday I did all the housework. I usually like to spread the jobs over the week to keep the house looking somewhat respectable.

If I get everything done by Friday then nothing has to be done over the weekend and we can spend it as a family and do things we enjoy without having chores hanging over our head.

It wasn’t all hard work though, I did some baking in the morning so when Miss Berry went down for her nap I made myself a pot of tea and sampled my efforts.

Home baked bread with jam and oat and apricot biscuits

Both Mr Berry and Miss Berry have pretty much polished off all the bread I made yesterday so it looks like I will have to make some more. That’s the problem with taking the time to bake things – they get eaten!

Rain has been forecast all weekend but the sun is out at the moment and I am getting ready to venture into the garden and do some much needed weeding. I also have some winter vegies that are well and truly gone to seed and need to be pulled up.

When I am out the back my fingers just itch to pull up some of the many overgrown weeds we have. The back garden near the vegies is really overgrown and I don’t think it is safe for Miss Berry to go down there with me, so the weekends are the only time I can get stuck into it. Here is a picture of the area I am talking about.

Electricity and Water Update:

For the past 2 days our electricity usage has averaged 6.5kw and our hot water 8kw. This is down from 9kw each from the previous day. Our water usage has gone from 330L to 280L.
I thought we have been pretty good with our energy and water conservation but it just goes to show you that you can always do more if you try.

The big change we have made with our electricity use is to turn off the computer and any other appliances we can at the power point. Now the lady at the electricity company told me not to bother as it doesn’t save you much money over the year and maybe it won’t, but it has reduced our usage by 18%. We may have been a tad more diligent in turning off lights as well but it is still a huge reduction.

After reading the comments on my last water and electricity posting here, I had a look at the todae site that Sarah recommended – thanks Sarah!

Our toilet is very old and has a lever on the side rather than a button so I need to check that I can use a cistern weight but I have filled 2 soft drink bottles with water and placed them in the cistern (the cistern is so big that they are well away from any parts). This means that we are saving 3L every time we flush our toilet. It is making small changes like this that will add up to make the bigger savings.

Thank you to everyone for your comments and suggestions.

My Meter Readings

Here is the result from the past 2 days.

	Monday's Reading	Today's Reading	Ave Daily Usage
Electricity	72524	72541	8.5 kw
Off Peak Hot Water	50774	50793	9.5 kw
Water	1499.461	1500.367	0.453 kl
Gas	4573	4573	0

Yesterday we barely used any electricity so our average is low – we normally average around 10.5kw. It seems odd that our hot water system uses the same amount of electricity as the rest of the house. I will have to check that out. The hot water system is a really old gravity fed system that is super, super hot. I will see if I can turn the thermostat down.

I am not sure if our water usage is high or not but an average of 453L seems a lot. We are renting and our landlord is very reluctant to maintain the property and the big issue we have been arguing about is the water leaks. The backyard tap leaks and I catch that water for the garden, but the big leak is the toilets. Our main toilet is constantly running (as in the water’s running into the bowl and the cistern always needs to fill itself up). It is a very old toilet too so the cistern is huge; and there isn’t a dual flush. Any suggestions are more than welcome. Grrr, landlords.

I am going to keep monitoring our usage over the next week and try to reduce it. I know we can be a lot better – eight years ago our electricity daily average was 13kw.

Here is the link to Down to Earth. Don't forget to post your results there, and any suggestions.

Give Me the Cash

I spoke about our bare bones budget here. Over the weekend our pay period began so I thought I would talk about what we do to keep to our budget.

Making a budget is easy – it’s keeping to it that is the hard part. Our biggest weakness is the cards. We pay off our credit card each month but we often eat into our savings to do so. I think this is because when you hand over a card for credit or EFTPOS it is like you aren’t really paying for the item because there isn’t any actual cash.

To fix this we went cash.

At the beginning of the pay month I withdraw out enough cash for the month and then come home and divide it into envelopes. Our categories are: groceries, petrol, Mr Berry’s money and my money. These are the main categories that can be variable. Things like bills, insurances etc are usually paid automatically and are pretty much set each month. For anything else, we discuss it before hand and look at our budget; this also stops impulse purchases.

It takes discipline to not spend all the cash within a week. Mr Berry and I go about this in different ways. Mr Berry divides his money into weekly amounts and leaves the rest at home. I have all my money at home and just take it when I need it. I always know how much I have and monitor my spending so it is spread over the month. Use whatever method works for you – the important thing is that it works.

And for The Great Water and Electricity Challenge I started yesterday, here are today’s readings:

7am this morning (Monday 17/11/08)

	Yesterday's Reading	Today's Reading	Usage
Electricity	72524	72535	11 kwh
Off Peak Hot Water	50774	50784	10 kwh
Water	1499.461	1499.9145	0.4535 kl
Gas	4573	4573	0

I did use the gas yesterday for about 5 mins on the stove but it obviously wasn’t enough to turn the meter.

The Great Water and Electricity Challenge

Rhonda from Down to Earth has challenged us all to monitor our water and electricity usage in the hopes of trying to reduce the amount we use.

I have taken up the challenge. Over winter we received a shockingly huge electricity bill - $600! We have never had a bill over $200 for winter. Turns out the increase was due to our heaters. We were in a new home and had 2 heaters going; obviously a lot more than we normally do.

So, after that we began to monitor our usage and we had dropped right back down again. I haven't looked at the meter for a couple of months so lets see how we are doing.


Here are the readings from 7am this morning (Sunday 16/11/08)

Electricity: 72524
Off Peak Hot Water: 50774

Water: 1499

Gas: 4573


Here's hoping I have read the meters correctly. When we started checking our electricity meter both Mr Berry and I read the meter wrong for a few days and were getting really worried about our huge spike in usage!

If you want to join the challenge hop on over to Down to Earth and leave a comment on Rhonda's blog.