January Round-up

Okay, so here's what I bought during January. Before I list them all, I have to say that I'm quite pleased with myself. Compared to what I was spending and buying late last year, I have come a long way.

Okay. Here it is:
$20.70 Webkinz toy for DD1. She paid me for it by washing the outside of my car, polishing the windows and vacuuming its insides. She ended up playing the online games for hours each day and I reckon it was money well spent.

$50 Bathers for DD1 from the Cancer Council shop

$40.20 Quilting fabrics for Q3. I bought these in bits and pieces throughout the month from various ebay shops. I added them all up and they came to this total.

$79.70 Bamboo, wild nettle and cotton backing for Q1, bought from WAHM online shop

$40 My sister's b'day pressie - handmade necklace from the Female Factory shop

$82.39 Quilt batting (unbleached cotton) and backing for Q2 and spool of King Tut quilting thread from online shop

$50 B'day pressie for DD1 (its not til March but I'm getting in early this year) - handmade necklace and earrings from the Female Factory shop

$48 B'day pressie for DH (not til September. Yes that's not a typo. His b'day is in Sept) - a clock in the shape of a VW combi with a surfboard on top, bought from small gift shop in city

$41 Another 2 webkinz toys. One for DD1's best friend's birthday which was a couple of days ago and another to put away for DD1's birthday (yes I know, hit me)

$8.83. DVD Mr & Mrs Smith

TOTAL - $460.82 (ouch)

A few observations. I think my high point was the bathers - before the Challenge I just would have bought onces made in China from a department store, but these ones are really nice, made in Australia and the profit goes to the Cancer Council - woohoo!! The handmade necklaces were also a great find, with the profits going to restoring the convict women's prison just down the road from us.

Low points. Hmmmm. I was surprised how much I spent on quilting - although the expenses for Q1 and Q2 are now pretty much done, only Q3 should be chewing up my money from now on. And I bought heaps of gifts!! For people whose birthdays were ages away!!! I think there is a bit of retail transferance or something happening there.

There are 2 items that I can't really justify - the extra reel of quilting thread and the DVD. I love the quilting thread, and although it was an indulgence, I'm happy with it. The DVD was a good buy I reckon - both DH and me love that movie and had recorded it when it was on TV a while ago but the recording stuffed up and each time we watch it, it cuts out at a random point. So I decided when the price was low enough I'd buy a copy.

And back to the good news, I didn't buy any cloth nappies!!!!!! For the first time in over a year, I haven't bought a cloth nappy this month. Not even a Bitti D'lish. Gosh. Who'd have thought. Anyway, I need to go and watch something on TV about Cat Stevens and I've rambled enough. SO there it is - the January round-up.

February Mini-Challenge

Okay, I 've decided what my mini-challenge will be for February. Drum roll please......I've decided that for the month of February I will only use hankies, not tissues. Yes that's no I repeat NO tissues for the entire month of February. Hankies only. I do own some hankies which is lucky, but with a box of tissues in every room in the house just about (its a small house) its just too convenient to reach for a tissue than to track down a hankie. But no more. No tissues for me for the next month. Hmmm. Hope I don't come down with a cold.

Confessions of a former rabid consumer

Gulp! I got my financial statement from my credit union today and it has a list of what I spent in the 6 months from July to December last year. At first I convinced myself it must be a mistake - there is no way I could have spent THAT much!! But gradually the denial receded and I realised I must have spent a whackload of money in the last few months of 2007.
The trouble was that I got a good tax return and a payout from work as I resigned in August 2007. The payout was meant to be my income for the next year at least ( I was even hoping I'd be able to stretch it out further - maybe 18 months) so I can stay at home with my youngest and not need to put her in childcare.
Unfortunately, a huge lot of it disappeared into a blackhole of spending before it could be put away and saved. The really worrying thing is that, other than a couple of big ticket items I bought with my tax return (awnings for the bedroom windows as we don't have aircon and the bedrooms heat up too much in summer, and organic wool toppers and pillows for the beds) I can't for the life of me remember what I spent all the money on. I worked out that if I kept spending at the same rate, I'd have to go back to work in March this year, as the money would be all gone (Shock! Shock!)

Ye Gods. Thank the heavens for the consumption challenge!!! Not only have I saved money and made a list of what I am spending my money on so I can see where it all goes, but I feel SO much better now I am not buying stuff. I have now gone into the city around 4 times and not bought anything other than what I had gone there for!!! And I've perused my favourite online shops heaps and haven't caved in and put things into my shopping cart. And it feels SO good compared to what I felt like last year.

Its hard to explain, but you know how it feels when you go into a cafe and order a slice of the the biggest, richest mudcake you can see? It comes with lashings of cream and you are really excited about eating it, but after you've finished you feel bloated, overfed and undernourished??? That's how I felt when I was spending heaps. Now it feels like I'm on a detox diet. I only consume what I need to consume and while I don't get that buzz of zoning in on an ebay item or snapping up a bargain in the sales, I feel so much better generally, all over. Its great. I'm loving it. I really think that this is actually a lifestyle change - that I've kicked an addiction and that things will be great from now on. Not only during 2008 but beyond. Woohoo!!! Go the consumption challenge!!!

Shonky Quilts

Okay, now that I've posted about my quilts (and also they've kind of blown my budget a bit for this month) here they are (if I can work out how to attach the piccies). Its a bit hard to see them in the photos - they are about the size of a double bed.

First is Q1 - butterflies and batik. I've got a bit more of quilting to do, then the front panel is finished and I've just got to work out how to extend my length of bamboo, wild nettle and cotton fabric that I bought for the backing (as it isn't wide enough) - I think I'll string some leftover fabric together.

Second is Q2 - cats and lighthouses. I've only just sewn this one together and today the unbleached cotton batting arrived along with the blue ticking I ordered for the back - woohoo!!!

Q3 - Medieval Playing Cards is just a small pile of fabric at the moment, so no piccies.

PS Sorry about the photos being on the side. Each time I tried to rotate them the computer crashed so I gave up.

Keep in mind that these are not proper quilts - I don't own a sewing machine and all I know about quilts I read in a House and Garden magazine I found at my mums (then forgot half of and ignored a lot of the rest of). But I like them and they are making my evenings and downtime very pleasant at the moment.

The Nanna Factor

I was eating my way through the best crop of apricots we have had for years, and it got me thinking about my Nanna (who gave us the apricot tree as a wedding present).

She's 84 years old and has lived alone since my Pop died about 5 years ago. She lives in the same tiny weatherboard house they built before the second world war. Before she was married, she lived with her 3 sisters and brother on a farm, during the depression.

She has a totally different attitude to consumption than the current generations. She has always had a vegie garden and fruit trees and grows most of the vegetables and fruit that she eats. She makes jam and preserves with the left-over fruit. She knits, sews, mends, crochets and does an amazing amount of handyman tasks. If something breaks, she will try and fix it rather than throwing it away. She repairs, builds and creates her own cupboards and the like. She really is an amazing person.

Anyway, it occurred to me that people nowdays rely so much on there being groceries in the shops, electricity coming down the wires, water running out of taps etc etc. If something happened to disrupt that (a natural or man-made disaster) where would all those people be who own inner-city apartments worth millions of dollars (with no garden, everything automated and electronic, and a tiny kitchen)?? What would they do? Do any of them know how to darn socks, dry tomato seeds and save them for next years crop, and preserve excess fruit so you can eat it in winter?? Don't reckon.

My Nanna, though, would hardly miss a beat. She doesn't have a cow or goat, so she wouldn't have any dairy products and wouldn't eat meat, but on her average suburban block of land and tiny house I reckon she could exist quite happily through any food rationing, electricity blackouts and no new clothes to wear. She did it before (during WW2) with 3 kids, so I reckon she'd romp it in.

I just wonder where our priorities are today, and whether we are teaching our kids the right stuff. When people like my Nanna pass away (hopefully ages yet Nan) will all that important knowledge pass with them? Will people know how to let down a hem or darn socks? Will babies have knitted beanies to wear and homemade dolls to play with? Will people be able to feed themselves if they go to the shop and find no food on the shelves?

Hmmm. I hope so.

This consumer challenge is really making me think about stuff like this. Which is a good thing I reckon.

Quilting Sustainably

Ah the challenges of sustainable quilting!! I started quilting as a hobby last year. Its not proper quilting as I don't own a sewing machine and I don't like the idea of measuring and cutting things straight. So I've been getting bits of quilting fabric from ebay and cutting them into large squares or triangles and sewing them together. They usually don't join where they are meant to and if there are gaps, I plug the gap with a scrap of other fabric. Sounds weird, but I'm getting a kick out of it.

Anyway, I have 3 quilts on the go. Q1 'Butterflies and Batik', Q2 'Cats and Lighthouses' and Q3 'Medieval Playing Cards'. Q1 I'm currently quilting the front layer onto some polyester batting. Next step is to buy some fabric for the backing and quilt that on as well. I was going to go to Spotlight and get some quilting cotton for the backing, but in light of the Rules, I decided to get something more sustainable. I ended up with some rust coloured fabric made of wild nettle, bamboo and cotton from the online shop Bamboo Fabric Store. I only ordered it yesterday so it hasn;'t arrived yet, and it won't be wide enough so I'll boost it up with some fabric from ebay. But I really like it. So Q1 is on track -woohoo!!!!

Q2 is at the stage where I am sewing the front panels together. Next step is to buy the batting. Since I'm doing this challenge, instead of using polyester, I'm going to get some unbleached cotton batting from the online shop Autumn Threads. They also have some quilting threads that are to die for, so I might have to breach the Rules and get a reel of thread as well (oops).

Q3 is just at the beginning. As its the last quilt I will make (we only have 3 beds in the house so only need 3 quilts) I chose an obscure subject in the hope that it will take me ages to source the fabrics for it. I want to string it out for as long as I can. Unfortunately I managed to find 3 pieces on ebay last week, so I might not look again for a while. Its so much fun trawling ebay for interesting fabrics that I want to delay finishing this part for as long as possible.

Anyway, I might post pictures of them when they are finished. Go the sustainable quilts - woohoo!!!!

My sister's birthday pressie

Ooh I'm quite proud of myself. My sister's birthday is coming up this weekend so I set about trying to find a present that fits within the Rules. What I ended up buying was a locally handmade necklace from the Female Factory (an old convict women's prison just down the road from our house). They are trying to get money to restore the old sandstone walls and one of the volunteers is also a jeweller and makes necklaces which are sold in a shop onsite, and the profits go towards restoring the prison. Yay!! My daugher was so impressed by the necklace that she wants one for her birthday in March (although she is only 6 years old, so will probably change her mind next week and want a barbie instead)
I hope my sister likes it....

January Mini Challenge

Okay, its time for the January mini-challenge. This month I've decided that I'm going to use up all of the shampoos, conditioners, hair products and moisterisers in the house before I buy any new ones. You wouldn't believe how many samples, half-finished bottles of shampoo and half-finished bottles of handcream (mostly gifts from relatives) I have lying around. They are cluttering up my bathroom cupboard and they have to be used!!! Now is the time!!! And seriously, I have so many bottles of moisteriser I reckon I won't need to buy any for at least a year. Woohoo!!! Go the January challenge!!

So far, so good

Well, its a week into the challenge and I think its time to do an update. I think things are going well so far. I faced my first big challenge yesterday as I went into the city to buy a pair of bathers for my daughter.
Ah the post-Christmas sales! Each summer I brave the crowds and spend heaps of money I don't have on stuff that's on sale that I don't need. But not this year! I strode past the signs saying '70% off today only' and my credit card stayed in my wallet. Afterall, its not really a bargain if you are buying something that you don't need - its just a waste of money.
Anyway, in accordance with the Rules I steered clear of the department stores and instead went to the cancer council to get the bathers. In this way, my money supports a charity instead of a big business. The bathers were pretty snazzy and my daughter likes them! Yay!
Another exciting development is the establishment of the consumption challenge blogring. I'm really looking forward to checking out how others are going with their journeys - love it, love it!!!!

The Rules

Okay, here are the rules that I will try to stick to for my consumer challenge.

THE RULES

1. Anything bought during 2008 (except groceries and other items you can buy at a supermarket) must be recorded on a monthly basis along with the cost.

2. Before purchasing anything, the questions below must be considered.

THE QUESTIONS

1. Do I really need to buy it, or do I just want it?
2. Can I make do with something else that I already have instead of buying something?
3. Is it well made? Will it last a long time so in the long run it reduces what I consume?
4. Will it save money and resources by replacing something that is disposable?
5. What is its environmental impact and its carbon footprint?
6. Is it made locally?
7. Is it made with natural or recycled products?
8. Does buying it support a small business or charity? If from overseas, is it fairtrade?
9. Is it something that I will love and treasure, or is it something I will lose interest in after a while?

Why?

Why did I decide to join the consumer challenge? Basically, to stop consuming so much stuff - most of it stuff that I don't really need.
I read somewhere recently that at any one time there are 20 million people on this planet suffering from severe malnutrition. That's insane! While so many people in richer countries are eating so much that they are getting overweight, there are millions out there sharing the same planet as us who are struggling to eat enough to stay alive. Someone once said that all you need to live is food, shelter and some clothes. Everything else is just trappings. Well, I think I am drowning in my trappings. I certainly have more stuff than I need, and during 2008 I've made a pledge to reduce what I buy.
I read in the New York Times earlier this week that a person living in the US, UK or Australia consumes 32 times more than a person from a developing country. That means that we have a negative impact on this planet 32 times more than poorer people. And this is totally unsustainable. The poor planet is groaning while we dive into the post-Xmas sales to buy cheap clothes made in China, the latest plasma TVs and gadgets and stuff that we really don't need. Enough!!! It stops here!!!! No more!!!! Go the consumer challenge!!!

Testing, testing...1,2,3

Wow! I've never blogged before. I hope this works. Hey its easy! A bit like emailing. Well, hopefully this is the first blog of many. I wonder how I get this onto my blog page? Guess I click on that 'publish post' button down there. Here goes.....