Optimism Week: Finally got my money back!

Hello everyone,

Today I have good reason to celebrate, because today I finally got all of my money back!

Thank you all for your empathy and well wishes.

While I am very happy with getting my money back, I still have serious concerns about their processes. The mistake shouldn't have happened in the first place - let alone happen twice. The resolution should not have taken as long as it did, nor should it rely on my tenacity and the assistance of certain people who intervened on my behalf. (Thank you K!)

As a result, I have written a letter to the Directors of the Corporation, as well as the ACT Essential Services Consumer Council, highlighting serious flaws in their payment and customer service processes.

What happened to me should not happen to anyone else.

On a happier note, getting my money back meant that I could buy food again! (Yay!) I think its not until you lose the power to do something like that do you truly appreciate the process of grocery shopping.

Having said that, my emergency menu planning (ie making up meals using ingredients I already have at home) meant that I only had to buy milk...and so I also bought myself some Scarborough Fair chocolate and two azaleas to celebrate. Total cost for my week's meals (including chocolate and plants) = $16.99.

And here's another thing I am really thankful for - I'm thankful that I already have the skills to cook from scratch and make different meals just using ingredients I already had at home. I think if this had happened to me before I adopted a simple life, I would have probably gone ahead and bought groceries using my credit card. And I would have bought groceries with no menu plan in mind so it would have cost double to triple my average grocery bill (currently I average $70 a week for groceries - and I buy free range meats and fairtrade cocoa products). On a side note, since I have adopted a simpler life, I no longer have a credit card - how far I have come!

Speaking of groceries, I made some more biscuits today. I had one banana in my fruit bowl that was a tad over-ripe. So I didn't have enough to make banana bread but I did have enough to make biscuits. Here's the recipe:

Eilleen's Chewy Banana Biscuits

1 x large over-ripe banana
50g butter
60g oil
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups of flour

Cream sugar and butter, gradually adding oil. Add banana and mush it all up. Add flour and mix thoroughly.

Spoon on to greased baking tray, leaving room for it to spread a bit.

Bake in oven at 210 degrees Celsius for about 10 mins.

And here's the result:



On another note, Anonymous asked in this post whether it would be worth coming to ONC* for a visit with her children. Short answer is "yes!!". I truly believe that ONC would have to be one of the most family friendly places to be. I will write a more comprehensive post tomorrow about ONC. (I want to do a good job writing it up).

In the meantime, I hope you are all well!

*Our Nation's Capital

Optimism Week: Writing in my gratitude journal

Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who commented and offered their sympathies in my last post. I will reply there soon but the short answer is that I have now received half of my money back. I don't know when I'll receive the other half.

I'm kinda mentally exhausted today but I felt that it was really essential to write in my gratittude journal just to not get down over it. I have also started sharing my gratitude journal with my daughter. After I have written in it, she then draws a picture to accompany what I wrote.



I am already treasuring this book. Reading its pages reminds me how much joy there is in my life.

Here are some entries I thought I'd share here:

Today, I am grateful for quiet nights after busy days.

I am grateful to my parents who have helped me so much, in so many ways.

I am grateful to my friends and neighbours for always willing to listen to me when I'm feeling down and un-considered.

I am grateful for those times in my life when I am faced with difficulties - I always learn so much from them and I re-learn that I can rely on the strength of my family and friends.

What are you grateful for?

Optimism Week: When a global company illegally cleans out your nest egg.

Hello everyone,

I've had a hell of a day (Monday). See, ACTEWAGL took my ENTIRE nest egg!! Yep, the same nest egg I have been working so hard to build up. For those not in the ONC*, ACTEWAGL is my local Electricity, Water and Gas supplier. The Electricity and Water component is partly owned by the ONC Government. And I've NEVER had trouble with them. The AGL (gas component) part is owned by global company and they have given me headaches in the past but not as big as this.

It started off on Friday when I noticed that rather than taking out my regular fortnightly payment of $88 for my gas, AGL took out $1,072. So I ring and point out their error. They apologised and told me that they would give me a refund.

Then this morning, I went to pay some bills online only to find that AGL took out ANOTHER $1,072 AND took out my fortnightly payment of $88! Worse, I still have not gotten that refund they told me they would give me. So they totally cleaned out my account.

I have a total of $15 to my name.

After a good cry, I decided to pick myself up and focus on the immediate things. This is where I am so thankful that I have learned so much in my journey to simplify my life.

Going through my pantry, fridge and freezer, I have managed to come up with a menu plan for the next 5 days just using ingredient I already have.

I even managed to bake some chocolate biscuits for dessert(s)! I just made up the recipe and its YUM!

Eilleen's Emergency Chocolate Bikkies

1 cup of flour
1 cup of oats
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 a block of crushed milk chocolate chunks (I had half a block of Green and Black's Milk Choc)
About 7 teaspoons of chocolate drink powder (I had a little bit of Oxfam drinking chocolate left in the can)
A small teaspoon of butter (I wanted to save my butter in case this mess takes a bit longer to fix up)
1 tablespoon of oil (to make up for the small bit of butter)
Enough water to bond all of the above

Mix everything and separate into little balls. Pop the little balls in the oven for about 15 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.

And here are the results:



This incident also brought home other more positive things:

• When I rang up all the other companies today explaining why I can not pay my other bills they were all very understanding and agreeable to an extension.
• That I have many, many people around me willing to help me out. Thank you to all my friends and neighbours who offered food, care and cash. For now, I think I will be okay but its good to know that I can fall back on you guys.
• That living frugally has meant that I now have skills and knowledge that I can use in emergencies like these.
  

I am also able to keep my promise to get my kids a 'new' DVD on Wednesday. I realised I can still get this for them because I can just trade in our old DVDs in exchange for a new one. There would have been a time when I didn't really take care of my things - I just bought and replaced things frequently. Living a simple life meant getting into the habit of looking after what I do have. So we actually do have DVDs that are still in good enough quality to be exchanged. (For those wanting to know, Revolution CD does DVD and games exchanges.)

There are of course, still some problems.

I have not been able to get hold of the accounts office for my daughter's holiday care (school holidays at the moment). This was a treat for her and I had promised her that she can spend some of her school holidays with her friends at the local holiday care (they go horse-riding and various other activities).

The holiday care has a strict policy that the full fee has to be paid BEFORE booking is confirmed. So now I am not sure if she will have a place (they tend to get booked out quite fast) towards the end of this week.

AGL have also not been able to confirm exactly when I will get my money back. My last conversation with them today confirmed that they will pay me all of the money back BUT they will do it in installments. I will of course, keep calling them tomorrow to address this. Paying it back in installments is NOT good enough. (On that note, there is a website called "Not Good Enough" where you can get help on disputes with companies).

But in the spirit of optimism week, I am focussing on the positives that have come out of this - we have enough food and my children are happy. The picture really isn't that bleak.

I hope your week is going better than mine. :)

*Our Nation's Capital

Optimism Week!: Food Order Songs

Hello everyone!

On impulse, I've decided to dedicate this entire week on OPTIMISM and LAUGHTER.

I am emerging from a wonderful weekend of catching up with friends and family, and allowing my energies to focus on where it should. I have had a challenging time the last few weeks (sorry, not really anything I'd like to share publically on this blog). When I am going through some tough times, I've learned to start looking on the bright side of my life and take concrete steps to acknowledge it.

I have a gratitude journal where I write every few days or so 5 things I am grateful for. Reading and writing through my gratitude journal focusses me.

I also try to fill my days with activities that give me joy. Blogging (usually) is one of those activiites for me.

Another thing that helps me look on the bright side is to indulge my quirky sense of humour.

Case in point = I've always wondered what would happen if I lived my life as if it were a musical. Its why the "If my life was a musical" segment from The Chasers really tickled me.

Anyway, a few vids on musical food orders caught my attention the last week and it made me laugh, so I thought I'd share.



And next, this one from Rhett and Link (thank you Al for alerting me to this!) The Taco Bell guy is amazing!



p.s. despite funniness of above, still not advocating fast food (though I have resorted to it now and then too.) oooh now there's an idea - a musical fairtrade order to Oxfam (or similar)...pity I don't have a guitar. :P

How to make a newspaper indoor compost bin

Hello everyone!

Amazing how quickly this week is going by for me. As usual, I've been busy doing things but I'm afraid this week, much of my energies are going towards things that are not really the focus of this blog.

These things will continue to take up my energy over the next few days so I'm afraid I will be taking a mini blogging break over the weekend.

In the meantime, I thought I'd leave you with a little "feature" on my indoor compost bin. (xpost from SGFC)

While I am a newbie gardner, one thing I have done for years has been to compost. To be honest, I didn't really know what I was doing. I just put organic scraps (minus meat scraps!) into a black bin...and that's it. The bin never got full and after about 2 years, we just dug out the bottom part of the bin and spread the soil on to the (non-edible) garden.

Reading through Compostwoman's SGF post on composting, I realise now that the composting I've been doing is called the "cold" method. I now know that its entirely normal for the compost bin to never get full and for it to take up to 2 years to get some soil out of the compost bin. For a newbie like me, I find knowing this reassuring.

Whoops have gone off on a tangent again.

Okay, so here's how I make my newspaper indoor compost bin. You can see it next to my sink in this picture (circled in green):


I get the free local community newspaper once a fortnight and after I've read it, I fold the sheets into my compost bin. The origami fold that I use is shown here:



But instead of using an A4 sheet, I use two layers of newspaper broadsheets. Once its full (which it is in the picture below), I just pick it up and throw it in my compost:


Now since my post in SGF about my indoor compost bin, I've had a comment that coloured newspaper is a big no-no for the composting - especially if you are putting the compost in the vege garden.

I consulted GSFs (garden-savvy friends) and they've advised me that as long as its kept to a minimum its okay. I also consulted the Google gods and found this thread in Burkes Backyard where a person said that most newspapers now use vegetable dyes so its okay.

I guess if you really want to find out, then best to call the newspaper and ask whether their ink is vegetable based or petroleum based.

Me - well, I'm sure I'll get around to calling my local community newspaper to find out what ink they use. In the meantime, I now just use pages that have less colour on them and put those with lots of colour in the recycling bin.

Anyway, that's it from me this week. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and I hope to be back and blogging on Monday.

Checking out other sites: Sexualisation of Children

Hello everyone,

You know, I've noticed in many blogs that there are regular "round-ups" of some sort. I always enjoy these round-ups and discovering new sites or new information.

Anyway, I thought I might start one here and have a "theme" for each Wednesday, based on what's been happening in my world.

Regular readers here know that children's rights is an important to me...and a huge part of that is because I truly believe that every child should be able to have a childhood. While child-slavery is a big concern of mine, there is another one that is close to my heart (and also closer to my home). I am talking about the huge part the media, industry and our society plays in "sexualising" our children.

You know, I have trouble with this term "sexualisation of children" - I am a believer that children are sexual beings BUT I do know that there is a huge difference between a child being a sexual being and an adult being a sexual being. When I say "sexualisation of children" what I'm talking about here is the repeated and overwhelmingly large number of ads, programs, clothing and games that place our children in the role of adult sexuality.

So this is my round-up theme for today.

Photo by Glen Scott

A few days ago, the ABC (the Aust Broadcasting Corporation) reported of four boys - aged between five and seven have been sexually assaulting girls of the same age. Many reports have quoted various psychologists who have stated that it is highly likely that early sexualisation of the boys played a part on why this has occurred.

Some of the longer term readers here would remember my family's own brush with early sexualisation when my then five year old daughter came home from school asking me if she was "hot".

My heart bleeds for all the families involved in that school and I hope that all the children are being given a lot of help and support.

I truly believe that regulation is needed to stop this. Parents can only do so much and in the end, our resources can not even compare to the resources of the thousands of companies who persist in marketing the image that it is normal for young children to be placed in an or be constantly exposed to explicit and implicit adult sexual roles.

Having said that, it is good to get as much information as we can on this issue!

Several of my older blog posts on this issue have links and even videos of things we can do.

In addition, I notice that the ABC have a podcast called Adproofing. It is chilling to hear what 10 year olds believe is true and "normal" today!

This blog post from the ABC is also highly relevant: Sexualisation of Children

The Radical Radish blogged about this too: "Bratz Versus My Scene"

And finally, Bek blogged about this last year and I really liked how her post approached the subject.

So tell me - have you come across any websites on this issue that you've found on helpful? Let me know and I'll add them to this post!

I hope your week is going well.

Edited to add:

You may want to get the book: Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls - a book drawn from many Australian authors and approaching this issue from an Australian context. Thank you Rachel for alerting me to this!

Mmmmm....macrame....

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post today 'cause its been one of those days for me. No biggie, just more feeling the need to craft rather than blog. (I'm sure every craft blogger gets days like this - don't they? Please confirm if you do so I won't feel too much of the weirdo. :P)

I've been toying lately with macrame. Now, everyone I've mentioned this to over the last couple of days gave me that look and said " you mean those 70s owl wall hangings?"

Photo by Turkeychik

Ahhh owl - your contributions to the macrame craft are dubious infamous well-known.

Yep, I am doing macrame - the same technique to do those owl hangings. But no, I am sadly not doing owl hangings.

Many of you know that I have had a hate/love relationship with knitting. After many a go, I just can not get into to knitting. I keep losing my concentration and I end up skipping stitches, losing my place. It frustrates me no-end - so I hate knitting BUT I do LOVE knitted things. I love the look of wool items and clothing.

Now, I have thought of crotcheting but I would need to learn from scratch with that. And since I am already learning how to garden, learning another skill at the same time just sounds a bit overwhelming for me.

BUT a long long time ago, there was ONE home ec project I didn't get a "D" for. I got a B+ for a macrame project. Yep, we did wall hangings but I actually have a knack for it. So for me doing macrame is not so much learning a skill but remembering it again.

I can promise you though that you will not see wall-hangings from me. (I am so sure that sentence is going to bite me in the bum someday). I have decided that I want to see if I can macrame items that I would normally want knitted up - eg. scarf, beret, hell, even mittens. Then going from there.

But baby steps first. I am re-learning how to do it again and learn how to tie those knots evenly - clothing wool acts very differently to macrame wool. So far, I've made a bracelet using just square knots. Sorry no pic - after I finished it, I wore it and liked it but I decided I prefered something more elaborate so I unravelled it and added a few more strands and made this instead:

Photo by me :)

The above bracelet was made using just the double half-hitch knot but in a chevron pattern (basically that means that I did a row of diagonal double half-hitch knots on one half of the dangling cords and mirror diagonal row on the other side of the dangling cords). It ended up looking pretty cool (I think).

Now I must go. I really want to get back to my macrame.

I hope you all had a good start to the week!

Gardening karma?

Hello everyone!

Yep, today I am kinda breaking my no-technology Sunday because.... I didn't use any technology yesterday (Saturday). So I figure I've got "credits" owing to me.

Speaking of credits, I (kinda/sorta) believe in "pop karma" - that's the sort of urban credit/debit system that many people seem to believe in - you know where if you give to the op shops, then you will find treasures at the op shops; or if you decide to volunteer to (say) Meals on Wheels, then the next time you are in the supermarket, you will stumble upon a red light special and get a truckload of organic veges for 90c (okay that one hasn't happened to me yet, but I think its only because I have been a bit slack on the volunteer front the last few years).

(getting back on topic)

So it was a HUGE surprise to me that my garden is suddenly giving me food...for free. Yep, they were not vegetables that I planted or cultivated...or hell, even watered!

First, there was my lemon tree. After almost 10 years of only bearing one or two lemons, it suddenly went "berko" and gave me HUGE amounts of lemons.

My homemade lemonade and check out the basketfull of lemons in the background.

Then, I find PARSLEY growing near my fence line - this is the fence line that backs on to the road - so I have no idea how the parsley got there. I find so much parsley that I had to give some away to friends. The coriander which I planted next to the parsley is also doing well.

Then last Friday night, as I was pulling what I thought are weeds in my vege garden, I pull out a particularly big one and... POTATOES!! I have heaps and heaps of potatoes in my vege garden. The only thing I can attribute it to is that they sprouted from my compost as I had applied a layer of my compost to my lasagna bed.

Potato which I accidentally harvested because I thought it was a weed. Since I harvested this before the vine died, the Google gods tell me that I have to cook and eat this soon as the skin has not "set" and will decay very quickly.

Then yesterday, I had one of my garden savy friends over and she identified CARROTS and STRAWBERRIES growing very happily in a part of my garden that is probably the "crappiest" in terms of soil.

Carrot! Photo by me.

The only thing I can attribute it to is that I chucked some very old vege seeds into my compost bin and while I was preparing my vege garden, I chucked one spadeful of the compost on to the crappy soil part of the garden.

Oh and going back to the potatoes, I have to admit, I don't buy organic potatoes regularly so what's sprouted are probably the commercial ones. My garden-savy friend (I must start calling her "GSF") told me that the commercial ones are more prone to disease and bad yields but even if they don't yield much they appparently do wonders for the soil so I still win out.

So where is all this garden karma coming from? I haven't even started in my garden. The only thing I've done is to severely prune back some ivy that had creeped over from next door's backyard, to uncover a fig tree and to prepare a vege garden plot. But surely that's not enough gardening karma yet to make up for all this food?

Incidentally, the fig tree (which I had thought was killed by the ivy) is now sprouting little leaves, so I may have figs in... um...when do figs grow? Oh the Google gods tell me they should bear crops in Spring and Autumn. Since its already too late for Spring (or is it?), then maybe Autumn.

In the meantime, the plants that I did purposely plant are not going too well. Something is eating the pak choy but I've now planted marigolds all around and in between them so hopefully that would stop. My onions haven't grown at all (or am I being too impatient?) and I've killed my tomato seedlings.

The guy in the shop told me not to plant my tomato seedlings when I bought it and to just store it in a place in my house that has an "even" temperature. So I did... but he didn't tell me that seedlings needed to be watered. (Yes, I admit that I am totally lacking in basic gardening common sense).

Now I'm afraid to buy more tomato seedlings in case my "debt" to the garden has not been balanced yet.

Today, I mowed the lawns with my push mower, watered all my newfound food plants and started to make fertiliser using weeds. How much more do I have to do, do you think, before I can buy those tomato seedlings?

Revisiting: The cracked pot

A story...

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots,each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its complishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them."

"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

Each of us has our own journey to walk. And its the cracks and flaws in that journey that lets in enough light for us to take the next step.

Believe in yourself and follow your own path.

So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great weekend and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.

Photo by me :)

Checking out other sites...

Photo by Wasabi Noise

Hey everyone,

Its raining here at ONC today! How wonderful! While I love love beautiful clear days, the drought (is it really a drought? maybe its permanent climate change?) has made me fully appreciate rainy days and nights. The ONC have been on water restrictions now for over 7 years! That's longer than my daughter's entire life.

I think this climate change did not really sink in for me until about 5 years ago (this is despite experiencing the Canberra bushfires a couple of years before). It was on a rainy day. My daughter, then almost 3 years old came out of her room for the morning and sat down on the couch staring outside. After about 5 mins, she said to me:

"Mum, what's that?"

I looked and she was pointing at the rain.

I said "That's rain, honey."

Her response: "Its okay for the sky to waste water?"

And it struck me then that at almost 3 years old, she had never seen rain and saw it as a "waste of water".

Until that time, I had not realised how much I had changed my habits so that we wouldn't waste water and had subconsciously drummed it into my daughter the importance of not wasting it.

Anyway, I've digressed from the original purpose of this post! I have been reading with interest some things happening on the net.

Dixiebelle has set up a food challenge that is near and dear to my heart. She is doing a guilt-free chocolate month! Regular readers here will know that I have often blogged about the existence of child-slavery and exploitation in the cocoa industry. Check out how she's going, along with Mountain Wildlife.

For new readers, I thought I'd post this video again as an intro to the topic. It was made by Cody Maasen as part of his highschool project. At the end of his video he lists more websites that you can check out to read as well:



I am pleased to announce that I have been buying only slave-free chocolate and coffee now for 2 years now. I slipped up in Aug 2007, when I accidentally bought chocolate covered pretzels (thought they were plain pretzels) but prior to that, I had not bought blood chocolate and coffee for just over a year. So except for that one slip-up, I've been experiencing the joys of chocolate and coffee without the expense of the suffering and exploitation of children.

Anyway, I'm off now to read to my children and spend the last few hours of the night sipping Chai tea (fairtrade, of course :P) and listening to the wonderful sounds of rain pattering gently on my roof.

Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Spending time in the garden and a giveaway for ONC'ers

Hello everyone,

Sorry for not updating here yesterday. I had posted in the Co-op and didn't get the chance to also write another article here.

See, last 2 days, I've been spending some time in the garden. Just pruning, watering and mowing the grass with my push mower. You know there's something cathartic about spending time in the garden. Its a pleasure I've never really sought before. Sure, I've lounged in the garden, reading books and sipping my homemade lemonade but I've never really spent time just enjoying caring for a garden.

Gardening, like housework, has often been something I wanted to get over with as soon as possible - an unavoidable chore at best, a burden at worst. But the last few weeks I've been making a conscious effort to change my mindset about the garden. I'm trying to see the garden now as yet another outlet for creativity.

Its a different type of creativity - its a lot more physical work than sewing, crafting or painting for one. And the results....well, I'm not really seeing too much of it at the moment. I understand that it would take time. Today, I'm not minding the fact that I will not see results for a long time with my garden.

Anyway, working in the garden has made me so much more aware of my limitations - not just physical limitations but also knowledge. I can barely name a single plant in my garden!

No idea what this tree is called, or the plants underneath it....but its very pretty.

I do have some very garden-savvy friends though so I will soon be asking them more and more questions about my garden soon!!

For example, what's eating my pak choy and how do I stop it?



On another note, I have these trees that look too crowded in my back garden. And they're in the spot where I want to eventually expand my vege garden. Now I don't have a wheelbarrow or a trailer. I also seriously doubt I have the physical capability to lift them out of the garden.

So I would like to give them away for free to anyone in ONC* and surrounds.

Four mature trees that have been pruned quite a bit. They currently stand about 6 feet tall.

I'm sorry I don't know what their names are. They are quite pretty trees but they're definitely in the wrong spot there.

So if you are in the ONC or willing to travel to the ONC, then these trees can be yours. Just email me at consumption dot rebellion at gmail dot com.

Anyway, I must go. I am going to Floriade today so I need to prepare our picnic for that.

Hope you are all having a good week!

*ONC = Our Nation's Capital.

Reflections on doing without

Flowers getting ready to bloom at Floriade Photo by Digika

Hello everyone,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

I read with interest this week's Blog This challenge: "Can you do without..."

You know, I think, many people would see this entire blog as a journey about doing without.

After all:

I've done without - buying brand new for a year.
Ive done without - buying anything at all for a week at a time.
I've done without - buying brand new to furnish my house (with the exception of the piano).
I've done without - buying chocolate and coffee containing cocoa harvested by child-slaves.

The funny thing though, is that I haven't seen my journey as doing without at all! At least its been a very long time since I've seen it as "doing without".

If there's one thing that my journey has taught me, its been that lasting change can only happen when you are joyfully running to something.

"Doing without" is the opposite of that - its running away from something - its about sacrifice, instead of gaining.

Running by Phil H

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Sometimes, one has to run away from something before one can see where they can go. I know for me, what started as a journey to get away from materialism and clutter has now become a journey of exploring new and wonderful worlds!

So what am I gaining in the process?

I'm gaining skills - I'm learning how to cook. I'm learning how to sew. I'm discovering my creativity in fulfilling my needs.

I'm gaining friends - there is no way I can be where I am without asking for help. And through asking, I am getting to know people better.

I'm gaining a community - both online and in real life.

But I would be wrong to say I'm no longer "doing without".

I'm now doing without anxiety - from having too much stuff and trying to keep up with it all.
I'm now doing without guilt - from acting in ways that were not in accordance with my values.

I'm enjoying the freedom to consume only what I need.
I'm enjoying creativity in ways that surprise and delight me.

I've learned to have faith:

Faith in myself
Faith in my friends
Faith in my community

And because of that I know that I will never have to truly "do without".

Tulips in full-bloom
Photo by Justin Knol

Last "room" !!! I've actually furnished my entire house for under $1,000!!!

Phew I've had a very very busy day today and I'm so glad to be finally sitting down to blog!

Last night and this morning, I went to the Handmade markets and bought a TON of goodies (actually nowhere near a ton - that's me dreaming). This is my second time at the markets and I am once again blown away by the talent of so many ONC'ers* (and surrounds). The next market is on 20-21 November. For those who are thinking of a holiday - that would be a great time to come!!

Anyway, after the markets, I got cracking on my deck and its FINALLY finished! Here are the results:



The table and chairs were all from Freecycle - accumulated this over a long period of time. I painted the table white and decoupaged the top using old recipes from Campbell's Soups (the book was unintentionaly hilarious and while I don't ever see myself using the recipes, I wanted to keep them for posterity.)

Here's a close-up:



I'm thinking of maybe adding a laquer over the top...but I don't like the thought of working with fumes. Perhaps at a later date I'll put glass over the top but will have to save for that. There are already about 5 coats of mod podge on the top so maybe that is enough? What do you think?

On the other side of the deck, is this:


The rocking chair and stool I already owned and I just painted it white and put slip covers over the top using scrap fabrics.

The chest/side table is actually a wooden filing cabinet that I got from Salvos for $20. I covered it using fabric given to me a long time ago from a friend. The wooden filing cabinet is really solid (and heavy!) and can also be used as a bench seat. The cool thing about having it out there is that I now have storage for my garden tools!



The cabinet also opens out and turns into a proper table as well but its a bit ugly (plus parts are missing) but once I do it up and find suitable replacement parts I'll show that off.

Total cost for furnishing the deck = $20

SO THAT'S IT!! I have successfully furnished my entire house for under $1,000!!!

So here's a round-up of the rooms and total costs.

Living room = $75 - this includes artwork and my shabby chic cupboard, not mentioned in the original post. It does not include the books inside the bookcase.

Dining room = $11 - this does not include the actual dining suite which I had from before.

Craft Room = $65

Kitchen = $255 - includes fridge, cutlery, pots and pans. I did buy an extra pot, an extra saucepan and a frying pan after the original post - hence the different amount.

My bedroom = $150 - this includes an extra doona set that I bought after the original post.

Children's bedroom = $40

Music room = $165 - which doesn't include the piano...because that was my early "reward" present for achieving this challenge.

Deck (this post) = $20

Laundry (didn't blog about it) = $80 - that's how much my second hand front-loader cost me.

Garden and household tools (also didn't blog about it) = $40 - some I got from freecycle and the rest was second-hand.

Grand total = $901

Aside from the piano and one canvas (for the music room), everything was sourced second-hand. Crafting materials used to re-finish bits and pieces (eg fabrics, threads, bean bag beans, etc) were also sourced second-hand with the exception of the contact paper in the dining room and the mod podge.

So there you go - it IS possible to furnish an entire house with a very very little carbon footprint and HUGE savings for me (hence me being able to buy a piano).

Thank you everyone for encouraging me along the way and sharing this part of my journey with me.

Well-being and financial goals update

Hello all!

Just a quick post because I'm about to head out to the Handmade Markets tonight.

I just thought I'd update on how I'm going with my well-being and financial goals.

Well-being

Now my original goals were:

1. Read fluffy book - and I've now read two!! Have enjoyed both very thoroughly but I have to admit that I've had my fill of fluffy novels and its time for me to go back to "heavier" stuff again. Recommendations most welcome! Though I'm now reading "Ophelia Speaks". It is the book answering "Reviving Ophelia" which I talked about in my last post, and it is written by teenage girls. So far its been a very moving and sad book..... hmmm....maybe after this one I will need to read another fluffy book while I process what I've read from Ophelia Speaks.

2. Massage...um not yet booked.

3. Kinesiology session - DONE! And as usual it was a very satisfying session. I am very lucky to have a good kinesiologist near me.

So that leaves me only the massage now and I need to do this sometime next week or else I'll just keep putting it off (the above are my well-being goals for September).

Financial goals

Of course my frugal decor project is still on-going with only the outdoor furniture to go. I just realised though - my frugal decor project didn't actually start as a financial project. My "furnish my entire house for $1,000, including kitchenware, diningware, tools and gardening" was something I made up later when I was about 1/4 of the way through. Really, the project just occurred when I realised that I just automatically decided to furnish my house with as little a carbon footprint as possible by buying/acquiring second-hand and re-finishing those things using second-hand materials. So its really an environmental goal that's had huge benefits for my savings.

Which turns me to my nest egg. Welll, I've had my garage sale and that's made a little contribution towards it. I've now recouped 25% of the money I lost when I made my huge frugalling mistake. I'm slowly getting there. My efforts to re-build my nest egg have been slowed somewhat by me opting to drop down a level at work, (another story I'll blog about later), but I have to admit, I am feeling the better for it and now have more time with my family.

Anyway, I have to go. (I'll be late for the Handmade markets!)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend! I'll be crafting this weekend, so hopefully you guys will see my crafting efforts soon.

What are you doing this weekend?

Beauty is not how skinny you can be

Hello everyone,

As many of you know, I am a big believer that media literacy is an essential part of a simple life. Media is such a pervasive part of life that one needs to be able to deconstruct its messages in order to be able to make informed decisions.

One aspect of media that really concerns me are the constant messages it sends to women, and in particular, young girls. Some time ago, I blogged about reading Reviving Ophelia. The book is written by Mary Piper, a psychotherapist, who specialises in working with adolescent girls. In the book, she talks about our "junk culture" and how that culture poisons our girls' authentic selves as it forces them into living in a mould with very narrow and shallow definitions on what it means to be female.

To me, the problem with media messages and our daughters is the overwhelming quantity of those messages. Its not about one Barbie or Bratz doll, or one ad, or one magazine article. Its all those things combined being present in everything we do - every day. Its the reason why I have limited the amount of media for my children. The sexualisation of our children is a very real problem today.

Anyway, today, I was reading some articles on this issue when I stumbled across this video and thought I'd share.



If you are interested in this topic, you may want to visit The Butterfly Effect and Kids Free 2B Kids.

Latest sewing project: Bean Bag

Hello everyone,

I've had a wonderful day today sewing. Its been awhile since I've embarked on a big sewing project. I find that when it comes to sewing and crafting, when I take a long(ish) break from it, doing a project is like finding a long lost friend. There's an element of familiarity as well as discovery.

Anyway, some of you may remember that Irene from Re-Vintaged generously gave me some vintage fabric a few weeks back. She wrote me a lovely letter to accompany her package and in it she suggested that perhaps I may want to make a bean bag out of the fabric. (Slightly off-topic: its been so long since I received a letter, I had to read hers a few times just for the pleasure of holding and reading an actual hand-written, sent by post, letter). Anyway, my children did need one more "seat" for themselves so I followed her suggestion and made this:



I used the following tutorial from Threadbanger to do it (warning - annoying intro at the beginning - fast forward to 1:28 to go straight to the tutorial:



I found sewing the bean bag a lot harder than the way they portrayed it in the video (isn't that always the case?). So here are my notes and extra tips...

2:03 - arc was harder to draw. I think it would have made it easier if I had marked the halfway mark on the inside line so I knew where the top of the arc should be.

2:55 - This is where I made a mistake. I didn't leave a large enough gap. When the inner lining is full its very hard to stuff it inside the outer fabric. Next time I know to leave a full circle as the gap. (In fact the people at Threadbanger did have a full circle as the gap but they didn't say that in the video.)

3:00 - Instead of snaps (because I don't have any) buttons do just as well.

3:19 - I found stuffing the lining took a longer time than I thought. Putting old bean bag stuffing in (given to me by a friend (thanks T!)) took forever (about an hour for me!). Just trying to put bean bag stuffing in without spilling took awhile - plus I realised I didn't have as much old fabric scraps as I thought I had so I really relied on the bean bag stuffing to stuff the lining.

3:31 - there's no such thing as a "quick whip stitch". Anything hand-sewn takes time and again I spent longer on this than I had planned...either that or its because I took so long stuffing the lining that I no longer had any patience and 5 mins of hand-sewing was 4 mins too long by this stage... hehe

Anyway, I really love how this bean bag really shows off the vintage fabric. Its just big enough for me too and I found it really comfortable.

This weekend, I'll be concentrating on getting my outdoor table finished, so hopefully I'll be able to show another craft project soon!

I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

I'm the luckiest person in the entire wide world.

it's true, I am.

I came home from a long day at work today to find unexpected gifts. In the mail, I received chocolate from The Crone.

Oops already opened! I couldn't resist!

And then as I sat down to play on my piano after dinner, I found a beautiful hand-bound journal from my guests over the weekend (one of whom has a blog: here).

This will be my grateful journal. Look at the gorgeous hand-bound spine!

But you know as wonderful as these presents are, I am lucky not only because I received them but because for a little while, these amazing women let me into their lives and shared a little of themselves with me. All of these women have, over the last 4 or so years, offered their advice, supported me and provided me with much needed laughs. I am lucky to have known them online and now in real life.

Then as my children and I settled for the night, I walk into my living room to read to my children and found this from my daughter.



I am the luckiest person in the world. I truly am.

"but I'm not creative!"

Hello again,

I've had a busy day today. I wanted to make a start on my outdoor furniture and so spent most of the morning painting, decoupaging etc. I'm slowly getting there. My neighbour stopped by this morning and watched me working on my table and she said "you know after all these years living next to you, I never knew how creative you are!" (We have been neighbours for 10 years.)

Her comment put me in mind to something I wrote in the Co-op a few months back and so I thought I'd share it here.

Whenever I hear people commenting on my creativity, I always feel like laughing. See in highschool, I never saw myself as "creative". In fact, when it came to the arts and home arts my grades were:

Art = 'C-' final comment by my art teacher in my highschool certificate was "Eilleen draws/paints to the best of her ability".
Cooking = "D"
Sewing = "F"

My experiences in highschool pretty much ended up with me believing that I was not creative at all. In many ways, this view stopped me from trying to live a simpler life for a long time. To me living a simpler life would mean that I would need to learn how to cook (but I can't cook!), I would need to learn how to sew (but I can't sew!) and I would need to learn how to make do with what I have (but this would mean my house would look like crap because....I'm not creative!!)

For years, I fell into the "commercial" view of what makes a beautiful home (ie buy furniture/home decor to look exactly the display room), what makes a good meal (ie a good restaurant) and buy all my clothes. Every now and then I would have "brilliant" ideas of how something could look better or taste better but I would quickly dismiss those ideas because....I'm not creative.

Believing I was not creative left me no option but to be an over-consumer.

Then one day, I stopped consuming. I made my impulsive decision not to buy anything brand new for a year. And I learned home skills...bit by bit. I still didn't believe I was creative, but now I was forced to sew buttons back on shirts and coats. I slowly learned how to cook.

And then something strange happened, the more I did these things, the more ideas I had about how something could be altered in a different way to achieve different looks. Now that I can sew on a button, I can now sew on lots of buttons (to hide stains on my daughter's shirt):



Now that I learnt that I can add flour to a basic stew recipe to thicken it and that thickened stew can be the filling for a meat pie:



And the more I did these things, the more confident I became of what I am capable of doing. My children started to ask me to fix or make things for them. And I was now more willing to give it a go. And one day, as I finished a drawing my son had asked me to draw, I realised that little voice inside me that used to tell me that I was not creative had been silent for a long time.



And its amazing how freeing that can be. So now I try my hand at anything. Some things don't turn out well, but I learn from it. Being creative doesn't mean not making mistakes. To me, being creative is having ideas and turning those ideas into reality... and this includes working out what won't make that idea work.

For me, being creative meant having to learn some basic skills then surrounding myself with people in real life and on the internet who can show me the many ways of using those basic skills to maximum effect.

And more importantly, being creative means NOT listening to that voice telling you that your idea will never work because you're not creative.

Fabric decal that I designed and then cut for my bedroom

So now whenever I hear other people say "but I'm not creative!" I tell them, "Me too! but its amazing what non-creative people like us can do!"

Round-up for the weekend - events happening for the activist

"And so I become a knight of the Kingdom of dreams and shadows" Photo by raceytay

Hello everyone,

Just a short post today because I just posted in the Co-op about media and consumption.

As many of you know, I am passionate about children's rights and have often blogged about things that trample on our children's right to be children. There is an organisation here in Oz who champion children's rights when it comes to the media - they're called "Kids Free 2B Kids". They run a whole heap of seminars and events around Australia. Unfortunately I have not yet attended any of their events but would one day like to as they really represent many of the things I believe in.

While we're on the topic of activism, I am really excited to be finally meeting several wonderful women, also activists, this weekend. On Monday, 7 September, there will be a Homebirth Rights Rally here at the ONC. Some of you may know of my son's birth story. His birth was a pivotal point in my life and I truly believe that every woman and child deserves an empowered birth. Homebirth needs to be available to those women who wish to do so. Check out Save Birth Choices for more information on the issues surrounding this rally; or you can check out this page as a starting point for further research on what homebirthing actually means. Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend the rally as I can not get time off work but I do wish everyone who attends well.

In other news, as many of you know, in my 26 Aug 09 post, I announced that Cadbury in Australia, NZ and Canada have decided to follow the steps made by Cadbury UK and gain Fairtrade accreditation for their dairy milk line. What I neglected to say was that not only have they listened to what people wanted, but they have also reversed their decision and will now NOT be using Palm Oil in their products. (Thanks Eco-chic Mummy for the reminder!)

I know I have criticised many chocolate companies in this blog, but I have to say all my dealings with Cadbury have been good. Even back in the days when I first wrote to them, they admitted up front that they most likely did have child-slavery in their production line(very different to the evasive responses made by other companies) and then proceeded to outline the steps they have taken so far. Their response was initially why I had created the "uses slaves But..." category in my list. I could not honestly place Cadbury in the same category as Nestle or Lindt. Anyway, their recent decision to not use Palm Oil and to also go Fairtrade for one of their product lines should be commended. Here is my little email of congratulation to Cadbury - if you have the time, feel free to drop them a line too.

Hello there,

I read with interest that Cadbury Australia is now in the process of gaining Fairtrade accreditation for your Dairy Milk chocolate. I think this is a fantastic move would like to convey my congratulations to everyone in the Cadbury team who made this possible.

As a mother to two young children, I have become increasingly concerned with child-slavery in the cocoa industry, It seems wrong to me that my children and I could enjoy chocolate that have an element of child abuse in its supply chain.

I would like to also commend you in reversing your decision to use Palm Oil in your products.

Your responsiveness to ethical and environmental issues has been amazing and is a true role model for many companies in your industry.

I look forward to buying Cadbury Dairy Milk again soon upon you gaining Fairtrade accreditation.

Regards,
Eilleen

oops this post has gotten long. If you have gotten this far, then congratulations to you too!

I wish you all a wonderful weekend.

"Decluttering" my retirement

Photo by jamelah

Hello everyone!

The last few days, I've been thinking about retirement. Retirement is one of those things that often flit in and out of my thoughts every now and then, but to be honest, until recently, I have not thought about it in any great detail. I didn't think about it much because, for me, retirement seems so far away.

Having said that, I think those of us who embrace a simple life will at some point start saying "no" to more income. I recently did. After months of negotiation, I have finally "decluttered" my work and as of this week, I am now working a lot less than before. (I'll blog in more detail about this once I've adjusted to the reality of it all.)

Saying "no more" (or in my case, "I want less") to income involves having to think not only of how this would impact my current life but also how this would impact my future - my retirement.

Here in Oz, we all have compulsory retirement funds (called "superannuation"). Basically a small percentage of our income goes towards a retirement fund. We can opt for larger percentages or go with the minimum. Regardless of what option you choose, in the end, a smaller income will invariably mean a smaller amount would go towards retirement.

When I first started thinking of retirement, I had vague thoughts of travelling the world, and a little chalet in mountains. I envisaged a retirement where my days would consist of lunches with friends in arty cafes followed by "quiet" dinners in top notch restaurants.

What's wrong with that picture? Its a *very* expensive retirement. In order to attain that kind of retirement I would have had to pursue a high-powered career and with it, an extremely high income. I would have to consider several income streams and investments and pursue those with high returns and manage the high risks involved in such investments.

And even if I delude myself in believing that such a life would not mean higher stress for me, I would have to face the fact that living that sort of life in order to have that retirement, would mean that I would have less time with my children.

...and that's where my "dream retirement" fell flat. I am not willing to sacrifice my time with my children now in order to have a "rich" life later.

So where did I go from that reality? I mentally decluttered my idea of retirement.

I threw away my thoughts of that chalet - the reality is that I would find the long travelling distances and the maintenance of a 4WD too stressful anyway.

I threw away my thoughts of travelling the world. By having more time *now* I can travel the world (albeit on a budget) during my holidays while I'm still working.

I threw away my thoughts of constantly eating out. The price of being able to do that is simply not worth it.

Mentally decluttering my retirement allowed me to face up to more realistic choices for me.

I can see now that while I romanticise living "on the land" I am a city girl at heart and I would miss the city too much if I was to go to that chalet in the mountains.

I can see now that I would be happy to retire in a small apartment close to amenities, including public transport.

I can see now that I would be happy to supplement my food with food that I grow in pots.

I can see now that being close to my children and their grandchildren (if they have them) would be the kind of socialising that I would find fulfilling.

And seeing that alternative retirement has empowered me to make career choices that I would never have considered before.

Wholly unprepared, we embark on the second half of life. Thoroughly unprepared, with the false supposition that our truths and ideals will survive as hitherto. But we cannot live the afternoon of life according to the program of life's morning.
Carl Jung (1875-1961)

found on Gleaner's blog,post: "Afternoon of life"

How do you see your retirement?

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Some other blog posts you may want to read:

• Rhonda's post on The Simple Life and Retirement; and

• Gleaner's ponderings on ageing

Spring!! Start of my vege garden.

Hello everyone!

We've had a wonderful day, weatherwise, here at the ONC - a perfect Spring day.

Thank you to everyone who gave me tips in my Update on Goals post! I read with interest your thoughts on my lasagna garden bed and as some of you suggested, I decided to plant some vege seedlings in my garden bed anyway.



Not much at the moment - just onions and pak choy. The man at the garden shop said I should wait until late Sep before planting any more. I also checked out the Canberra Organic Grower Society's (COG's)planting calendar and have chosen my "wish list" veges from there.

I'm hoping to plant some potatoes and tomatoes at the end of this month, early October.

Oh and while I was at it, I also decided to transplant some parsley I found growing on the side of my house in a pot and along with some coriander I bought at the local markets here. Hmmm....now that I've done that, maybe I should've looked up whether or not they could grow together....



The pot gets partial sun throughout the whole day. Hmmm....maybe I should've looked up whether or not they need full sun. *sigh* Defintely not instinctive this planting business.

Unlike learning how to sew - where I, at least, knew which fabrics look nice together, I'm completely going in blind here. Ah well.

So what are your plans for Spring? Will you be concentrating outside or inside? Do you celebrate the changing of the season?

Oh and before I sign off, Eco-chic Mummy asked if she could see the detail a bit more on the two bits of artwork in my music room. So here it is!



Hope you all had a lovely spring day.