Some Simple Savings

The simple savings we make here don't usually come via a flashy sale with price tags advertising huge discounts. Instead, they tend to reveal themselves in the everyday things we do over and again. These are some of the little savings we've made of late by making, growing, reusing, mending and finding our own:

This plant, grown from a cutting I brought home from my Mum's garden, has filled out its hanging basket. Both the wire hanging basket and its liner were 'rescued' from my stash of old pots that I keep on a table under our house. I am not sure what this plant is called but it has pretty tangerine bell-shaped flowers. A free plant from my Mum's place that's now growing here too.

I stamped a plain piece of brown paper, which came wrapped around a little bunch of flowers I received, with tiny flower heads. I added it to my ''saved" gift wrap along with this silver and black piece that came with flowers too. I think both will look lovely once re-used and tied with black ribbons.

A large dish of lasagne was baked to share as a meal with friends. I used grated zucchini and carrot and pumpkin to add to the very small amount of meat I had to make the filling. I sprinkled the creamy sauce on top with a little parmesan cheese and baked it until golden.  I served it with steamed veg. Warm and chocolatey prune muffins, from a recipe I found in a Grass Roots magazine, with homemade vanilla ice-cream, made a lovely dessert too. As we were feeding two extra hungry teenage boys, this homemade meal saved us quite a bit as I'm sure you can all imagine just how many takeaway pizzas growing boys can eat!

Little harvests from the garden are finding their way into lots of our meals. There are handfuls of crunchy snow peas for stir fries, juicy yellow tomatoes for salads that are also lovely and sweet when roasted. I've made two Silverbeet Impossible Pies now, with silverbeet and spring onion and parsley from the garden, which is just delicious hot or cold, for lunch or for dinner. The little limes, from a tree that I walk past almost every day while out with Sir Steve dog, are destined to become lime curd to dollop onto our homemade scones. At one of the big supermarkets, limes are 72c each. These were foraged and free!

 

One of my favourite op-shops is open again now and I found this black button-up cardigan amongst the racks of clothes. It cost me just a few dollars. I will get a lot of wear out of it because it's lightweight and thus perfect for our mild sub-tropical Winters. I also mended one of my son's favourite t-shirts to extend its life a little longer. 

Making things last that bit longer, reusing what we already have, growing and making our own, buying second hand and keeping an eye out for that which is free or a good bargain saves a little here and there which, over time, adds up to dollars and cents not spent but saved.

Meg

Earth Care at our Place

There is much about sustainability "swirling" around us all the time now as our world grapples with environmental challenges, not the least of which is climate change. Just recently here, there has been the popular television program, ABC TV's War on Waste, media reporting of imminent energy price hikes in some Australian states, the release of the independent Finkel Review into the future security of the National Electricity Market, the controversy surrounding the proposed Carmichael Coal Mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin, widespread coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef and so on ... 

If you are anything like me, sometimes all this can be overwhelming and can leave you wondering, "What can I do about all of this?" "Will anything I do make a difference?" The answer to those questions, for me, lies in one of Permaculture's key ethics. Maddy Harland, in an article for the magazine Permaculture (Vol. 82, Winter 2014)  wrote "Earth Care ... involves many decisions...we can make choices about what and how we consume and conserve." I think the choices we make as individuals count, I think they merge with the choices of others, like Fiona and Cheryl and Morag and Tammy, to create ripples for change in the world around us. 

So, here are some of the choices we make at our place. Did we make these changes overnight? No. Is there more we could do? Yes. But a beginning is a start, isn't it!

For the House ... 

Solar panels and solar hot water on our roof.

(We make a conscious effort to use appliances like wash machine in daylight hours.)

We collect rainwater from our roof.

(We have this small tank and a much larger one under our house.)

In the kitchen .... 

We grow and eat some of our own food.
(Reduces the food miles significantly.)

Healthy, wholesome meals made from scratch in our kitchen.

(Meat-free meals appear on our table regularly too.)

Reusable storage containers, pockets, covers and beeswax wraps.

(I no longer need to buy plastic kitchen wrap!)

Buying in bulk helps reduce packaging that comes into our home.
(Stored in good quality, air tight containers.)

Fruit and vegetable scraps go into our worm farm.

(Significantly reduces waste and returns goodness to the soil.)

In the Laundry & Bathroom ...

 The cleaning products and hand knitted washcloths we use.

(This is not a sponsored photo or post, simply the products we use.)

I buy this in bulk box of 48 double length rolls of 100% recycled toilet paper.

(Again, this is not a sponsored photo or post, simply a product we use.)

 Sunshine dries our washing.
(We have a line under the house and airing racks for wet days.)

On Our Bodies ...

Sewing some of our own clothes.
(A new skill I'm learning!)

A few simple products for skin and hair.
(Soap, coconut oil as moisturiser & apple cider vinegar as hair conditioner.)

Sourcing some pre-loved clothes from op-shops.
(I love this new-to-me top & wear it often.)

In the Garden ...

Our garden is a haven for wildlife like bees, lizards, birds and more... 
(We grow some native plants, have bird baths for water.)

We make compost from garden trimmings.
(This compost feeds our soil rather than garden waste going to landfill.)

Our garden prunings become mulch which feeds and protects our soil.

(Less waste destined for landfill.)


Handweeding instead of using chemicals.
(Fewer chemicals, that can adversely affect human & animal health, in the environment.)

Out and about ...

Reusable shopping bags and produce bags.

(Significantly reduces single-use plastic that comes into our home.)

One of our reusable water bottles. 

(We have stainless steel straws too in case we get milkshakes!)

We visit & borrow often from our local library.
(Books like this one broaden our knowledge & give us ideas.)

We spend time outside, soaking up and getting to know nature, as often as possible.
("We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know.")

~ Richard Louv

You may do similar things at your place or you may do things differently. What we do here is by no means an exhaustive list (Far from it!). In the spirit of creating and spreading ripples, I hope you'll have ideas of your own that you can share. I'd love to know what you do at your place.

Happy Monday to you all.

Meg