Compact UK

Garden update

2010-06-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

Helloooooooooooo *hopes that no one notices that she's been MIA for ages*

I apologise for my absence over the last few months. I recieved an email saying that the deadline for my thesis was set to 31st December this year so in a blind panic, I've been working hard on my said thesis.

I considered closing the blog down, as I was not going to be able to update it on the regular bases for almost a year, but I didn't in the end. I just really hope you don't mind only seeing an update once in a blue moon!

Anyway, in between my work we've both been spending most of our spare time in the garden, both enjoying it and working on it. Remember how it looked at the start of this year?

and then we put in the raised beds...

Well, here's how it's all looking this morning

ohhhhh yessssss. "Pleased" is definitely how we feel :)

Finishing the Pilgrimage

2010-04-19T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have been away for several days, to complete the pilgrimage my mother and I started three years ago (almost to the day). I won't go into the details, but I thought I should do a photo diary of the trip instead, hope you enjoy it :)

The Japanese Spring

2010-04-08T03:17:00.000-07:00

There is something about Japanese people (myself included) and Cherry Blossoms (Sakura). They can't separate spring and Sakura, it doesn't matter how many spring bulbs come up, it's not spring until Sakuras flower. Spring starts with and ends with the Sakura. So it was wonderful that a cold snap slowed down the Sakura flowering that meant I arrived in Japan just as they were in full bloom.

Coming up, coming up...

2010-04-08T03:12:00.000-07:00

Hi! Remember me? I used to write this blog everyday, sometimes more than once a day. That's the sign of a manic phase. Unfortunately, after the manic phase, the depression phase always follows. This had made writing the blog an difficult task. I felt that I was better off not writing on here, than stress myself about having to write 'something interesting', when nothing seemed interesting enough to tell people about. It is part and parcel of being bipolar, and I really hope you guys don't mind me taking little breaks here and there when things get tough.

I have been doing small things here and there, mostly sowing seeds and looking after seedlings. Just doing what I can, when I am up to it, rather than stressing over all the things I can't do. However, I am many many MANY miles away from my little seedlings at the moment, as I arrived in Japan this week! I do this once in a while, to spend time with my mum :) I will be here for a month as usual.

Here is a sunrise over China I took from the air plane toilet (yup, the toilet had two windows!)

Things are coming together

2010-03-11T05:29:00.000-08:00

Isn't this sunny weather just wonderful? I've loved every minute of it, soaking up the sun rays as much as I can (without pushing myself into mania of course). Unfortunately, I've been doing a lot of coding (indoors), but have been sneaking in walks and time out in the garden here and there :)

Things are slowly coming together here, first, I'm finally getting on with crocheting together the little sakura flowers:

I'm half way through putting them together, and then I will get on with the border. I really hope I can get it done in time for the Sakura season.

The tomato seedlings are coming up really well, and sprouted way faster than I thought they would. This is the first time I'm attempting to grow them from seeds, so I am chuffed that almost all the seeds have come up already.

My very first chilli seed has also come up, about two weeks before I was expecting them!! So now I'm playing musical chairs with the tomato and chilli trays in the sunniest spot in the house.

I am loving all these signs of spring, they fill you with so much hope & joy don't they?

Now I get it about local foods!

2010-03-07T13:00:00.000-08:00

This week I spent a couple of evening reading through a new-to-me blog called Chiot's Run. The blog is a real sunshine to read, as she is so full of life, and passionate about eating food produced locally. I've always understood about the ecological and economical reasons of buying locally produced food, but Chiot's Run made me understand that it was also FUN.

So inspired, Dave and I spend the weekend discovering what local foods were available. A quick search on the good old google threw up a shower of farm shops, so many so that there was no way we could visit them all in one go!

Having got up early on a Sunday morning (I sort of got up thinking it was Monday, made breakfast and asked what time Dave was going into work, before I realised it was Sunday...) we headed to the north of the city, and went to five different farm shops this afternoon. A whole afternoon of sunny country side driving, and discovering new areas of the county we've never been to. We bought lots of cream, sausages, liver, burgers and vegetables. Some of the shops were were very commercialised, with most food coming from outside the county or even outside the UK (!!!), but we have found a two in particular that we are definitely going to return to. The Little Town Dairy was beautiful, with a very good butchery section and super friendly staff. Bradshaws Farm Shop will probably become our main shop from now as they have a wide range of fruits and vegetables and they label each as locally or not locally grown very clearly.

we also discovered a fabulous ice cream place (Wallings farm) down a country lane, which had really tasty ice creams! Yes, sugar makes me have a headache so I only had a little bit of Dave's, but if you're going to be ill over an ice cream, this was the one to be ill over!

Back home, I got inspired by another one of Chiot's Run post about making butter, so I made butter! We are so excited (well, I am very very excited, and Dave is 'excited', which averages us out to 'so excited'). I think it's magical that you take some cream, shake shake shake and there's your butter. The taste is amazing too. It's just nothing like what you get in the supermarkets. Even if you never make butter again, it is worth doing once just so that you know what REAL butter tastes like.

I made one batch by hand (a lot of shake shake shake action while watching Monty Don), and one using the food processor. You would think that doing it with the food processor is by far the easier method, but to be honest with you, I think I prefer doing this by hand.

First of all, doing it by hand creates less washing up afterwards. In the manual method, I just had a tupperware that I used to shake the cream in, a shive to drain the liquid off and a bowl to pound the butter. With the food processor, I had the food processor bowl, the mixer attachment, whipping attachment, all the fiddly bits that I don't even know what they are called, on top of the shive and bowl.

Secondly, it didn't save me THAT much time. It took me 25 to 30 minutes of manual shaking, where as the food processor took about 20 minutes. I thought the food processor would zap the cream into butter in no time! It's not really a better method when you think of all that electricity being used up too.

Thirdly, I really enjoyed that magic of cream turning into butter, right in my hand, just by the strength of my arms shaking the life out of the poor thing. For the most of part during the process, I had this tupperware full of whipped cream that wasn't turning into anything at all. I was really to give up so many times, but then suddenly, the thing turns into butter! Lovely, golden yellow butter that turns mash into the most amazing plate of food ever!

Today's lunch was (local) liver and onions with (local potato) mash (made with my hand made butter). The mash, as I mentioned already, was just out of this world. The potato tasted like a potato and the buttery taste came through beautifully. The liver was nice and tender, and very tasty too!

It was a really fun day out, and so glad we did it. Thank you Chiot's Run for inspiring us to love what surrounds us.

The Garden Project - Before & After

2010-03-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

We have finally finished the raised beds in the garden! We actually finished a few days ago, but since they were finished, I have been busy sowing seeds, so apologise for the delay of this post.

Anyway, so here it was before we started all the work:

and now...

64-fabulous-square-foot-gardening-squares for us to grow lovely things on! The green loops are for the horticultural fleece to sit on.

We are sooooo please by the beds. Dave did a fantastic job of building the beds, and I had a lot of fun turning over soil and organising the beds. I've spent the last two days pottering about and I think we got the size of the beds and the width of the paths just right, it's very comfortable to work around. The paths around the beds are actually wide enough that we can keep the plant pots all along the walls.

Dave also put up my Ikea hanging pots (that I bought last year and did nothing with until now) on the back wall and I have filled them with some late spring/summer flowering bulbs. I have some early seeds sown on the beds, some back up seeds sown in the green house (the green thing you can see on the right side of the photo), some seeds indoors on sunny windowsills and some in heated propagators.

I really hope we get a better harvest this year!

The Garden Project - Day 6

2010-02-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

Dave has worked really hard and he has finished the building work!! So we shovelled all the compost that we had at home. Managed to fill one bed up to the top, with the rest to be filled tomorrow.

We are sooooo close to finishing, but have about two more days of work to do before it's totally finished. I am so excited and looking very much forward to sowing seeds soon.

Yesterday, I finally finished making the basic flowers for my Sakura blanket. All hundred and twenty of them! Making them sometimes felt like a hard slog as my mind would wonder towards other things after making about 6 flowers!! I have now started to add the green row around each flowers now, which takes a little less time, managing about 20 an hour. Once that is done, they will all be connected into one bright springy throw.

The Garden Project - Day 4&5

2010-02-27T10:11:00.000-08:00

Dave managed to squeeze in some more work in the garden on Thrusday and today. He's almost finished with the build, and tomorrow we should be able to start filling it with soil. I'm so excited!!

We've had several seeding trays dotted around the house for the last couple of weeks but I've come to the conclusion that most places were just not sunny enough for germination. So I decided to maximise the sunniest windowsill in the house, going from this:

To this, with some scrubbed up bricks from the garden and some shelf off cuts from when we bought too wide shelves for the store room:

It's very unfortunate that the sunniest windowsill is at the head of our bed!

I also made 10 jars of olive & bees wax cream, hopefully enough to see Dave through while I am away in Japan for a month in April.

No Bake Granola

2010-02-26T00:17:00.000-08:00

I have been off any sorts of sugar for about a year, as I have difficulty controlling my blood sugar level and often suffered from too low levels. Also, I find that sugar really affects my mood and ability to concentrate. I would never go back to processed sugar, as they give me headache, make me irritable and jittery.

However, I want to start eating small amounts of natural sugars, such as honey, again. So I have started to make my own no-bake granola, based on a recipe found here (via Little Homestead in the City) but I tweaked a little to make it a double batch, with a little less honey. I also just throw in my usual seed mix (pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds all mixed up in a jar) instead of just sesame seed.

2 cups oats
1/2 cup seed mix (any mix will do!)
3 TBSP honey
3 TBSP butter
1/2 cup dried fruit(optional)

1. Melt the butter in a large frying pan on medium heat.
2. As the butter melts, stir in the honey and mix until well blended
3. Stir in the seed mix and cook for 2 minutes, stirring continuously
4. Stir in the oats, and cook until the oats are golden brown (stir constantly)
5. If you want to add dried fruits, do so as the oats are turning brown
6. Sprinkle the hot oats on oven trays evenly and let it cool
7. Store in an air-tight container
The reason why I made the recipe a double batch is because if you made a single batch, I promised you won't have any left to put away. We ate about 3/4 of the granola in one go, most of which were eaten while the granola was still warm! It smells divine, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

The Garden Project - Day 3

2010-02-25T03:32:00.000-08:00

Dave was hard at work again on Wednesday and he got an amazing amount done:

Can you tell what it is yet? :) The job is twice as hard as it should be because our garden is on a uneven slope.

In the mean time I crocheted, coded and made some granola!

Recipe: Gluten Free Drop Scones

2010-02-25T00:32:00.000-08:00

Is it drop or dropped scones? Either way, drop scones are the closest names we could think of for this recipe, but we also look at them as mini American pancakes too. I love making this for breakfast, especially on a lazy Sunday morning where it takes you two cups of coffee to start making breakfast.

Gluten Free Drop/Dropped Scones (makes 15 scones, enough for 2 adults)

1.5cup rice powder (you can use GF flour, but we prefer 100% rice flour for this for less flouryness)
3 (heaped) tsp Baking powder
3tsp sugar/sweetner
a pinch of cinnamon
2 heaped TBSP apple sauce (optional)
2 free range eggs
some milk

1) Mix all the dry ingredients together

2) Add the apple sauce (optional) and eggs & mix well

3) Slowly add little milk at a time until the mixture resembles a loose muffin batter

(There's less batter in this photo as I realised my batter was too thin after the first batch)

4) Pour table spoon full of the batter onto medium to low frying pan

5) Cook on low until both sides are golden brown and cooked all the way

6) Eat with butter, or jam or anything else that takes your fancy :)

You can add or take away any of the flavourings as you like, or even try a savoury version. Hope you enjoy it :)

The Garden Project - Day 2

2010-02-24T03:07:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was Day 2 of the Garden Project and it didn't take Dave long to get rid of those brick beds.

And here are some of the bricks...

By the end of the day, Dave had a plank up...

While I organised...

and of course hooked along some headbands (because outside is still very cold to work in and we need something to keep our ears warm).

Can't wait to see what Wednesday will bring us!

The Garden Project - Day 1

2010-02-23T07:03:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, we're currently busy working on our 'garden'. It's a very small garden, some may call it the back yard, but we insist on calling it the garden. Don't you think 'garden' gives you far more hope than 'back yard'?

Here is how it was before we got started:

We had two flower beds that have been here before we bought the house, and then lots of containers from last year when we tried to grow stuff in pots.

On Sunday, Dave started to clear the area...

And in no time he emptied the first flower bed of all its soil...

We are keeping the soil for sure, but for now they will sit in the spare pots we have...

Can you tell what we are up to yet? I shall keep you posted each day we Dave works on the garden to see if you can guess.

Day Out & a Secret Plan

2010-02-23T06:32:00.000-08:00

*runs onto the blog* Hi! I am very sorry for my absence in the last few days. Thank you for those of you who commented/emailed to ask if I was ok, yes I am ok and I was very touched by your kindness.

We are currently deeply involved in lots of planning and doing of a very exciting project for us, which has sort of taken over our lives. It involves our 'garden'. It involves breaking our compact rule somewhat, BUT we feel that this project will push us towards the direction we want to be going towards. All will be revealed soon (hopefully early next week). Dave is very busy working away, while I am very busy planning everything, organising, uming and errring over things.

On Sunday afternoon, we did take a break from the said project and went to Manchester. We went to MOSI to see the Da Vinci Exhibition, but also saw a steam engine on the go.

And also the textile room to drool at all the cotton yarn (mmmm think of all the lovely things you could make out of all those yarn!!)

We finished off the evening with a side-stitching helarious couple of hours with Stephen K. Amos. He is possibly the funniest stand up I have ever seen and I highly recommend seeing him (as long as you are not easily offended, he does not pull punches nor does politically correct).

Right, we are heading back to the project...

Garden, Flowers and Cats

2010-02-17T05:29:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely sunny morning today, so I thought I'd get some sowing done.

I sowed radishes & pak choi outside, and lavender in the green house. Aubergine, sage, lobelia, wild strawberry, basil, thyme and oregano gets to have a warmer time indoors.

I'm on a new crochet project too. I saw this fabulous pattern by Elizabeth Cat (love her stuff) on flickr, and had to give it a go. I'm doing them in cherry blossom colours for the spring. Can't wait to see some cherry blossoms soon, in Japanese culture, spring doesn't start till they bloom.

And here are some obligatory cat photos, although rather unusually, Arthur agreed to pose. So here he is sunnying himself.

Oh that dark shadow, that'll be his (unimpressed) mum!

How can you not smile!

A Sneaky Peek

2010-02-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

The problem with blogging about what you make, is that sometime you are making a gift for someone that you know will be reading your blog.

So I can only say that I have been working on a shawl, for a very special person that I love so very much, who just deserves so much more than I can give.

oh and a sneaky peek (I promise to show it in its entirety once the gift is given... sometime within the next month or so).

How to unblock a bath - the eco way

2010-02-15T00:28:00.000-08:00

Our bath has recently been reaaaaaallllyyyyyy slow at draining out after each bath. After one final time of crouching by the bath tub, waiting for ~~the paint to dry~~ water to drain out, we decided enough was enough.

But how does one unblock a drain when on The Compact Challenge, no plunger and really against pouring down chemicals?

My handy OH looked up a few options online and here is what we did.

1. Pour bicarb and vinegar down the drain
The internet warned us that although this was the most green way, it was possibly the least effective. I first piled a two hand full of bicarb over the drain hole, then poured about 2 cups of vinegar over it. Cue, a lot of fizzing, IN the bath, but not very much down the drain. SIGH. so this time, I shook some bicarb, slowly poured a little water to push the bicarb down the drain, then gently poured the vinegar little by little, letting the fizzing settle down each time. We could hear the fizzing going down the drain, good sign. However, we didn't see much improvement in the draining powder of the, erm, drain.

2. Pour a kettle of boiling water down the drain
I was a bit concerned about this, as I was brought up to have the cold water running when draining pasta in the sink so that the hot water won't crack the pipe, but hey ho, it was worth a go. Dave (because I can't be trusted with anything starting with the word 'boiling') poured it slowly down the drain.

3. Poke at it
Finally, we poked an old chopstick down the drain (I did chuck the chop stick afterwards), to see if there were anything blocking the drain near the surface.

Well, I'm not sure which of the three worked, but it's WORKED! I rather suspect it was the sum of all parts. The bath now drains beautifully, and we managed it with things we had in the house.

What Can I Do With These?

2010-02-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

They are both the tubes that some of my yarns came wrapped around. I'm mainly concerned about the one on the left, which I have 18 of at the moment (from making the first ripple blanket), and probably many more to come as I want to make a similar blanket for my mum this year.

they are 8.2mm in diameter, and 5.2mm in height. They are very stirdy, as they are about 4mm thick.

What can I do with them, that won't involve me buying anything new for them? I do have probably most crafting bits.

Any suggestion will be greatly appreciated :)

Shiny Shiny

2010-02-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

Wooooo we got rather excited! We love peppers but due to the horrendous high prices in the winter, we tend to not get many in our diet. So when we saw that Aldi putting peppers in their super 6 this week, we legged it down and bought 4 packs of 3 peppers for 53p per pack. I just love how bright they are all chopped up ready to be cooked.

We made 10 large portions of peppers, now frozen and to be brought out to cheer us up when the sun doesn't come out.

Ta daaahhhhh - square blanket

2010-02-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time, there were colourful balls of yarn, resting on some fluffy soft sheep skin rug

The yarns magically turned into small squares

And laid themselves out to be crocheted together

The crocheter had doubts and had sissy fits, unsure of how it was all going to turn out

But thanks to all the encouragement she received, she carried on, and FINISHED IT!

I am so pleased that it is done, and yes, I DO love it. The blanket it a little brighter than it appears on the above photo, but I am not the best at taking photos. It measures 123cm x 93cm, which makes it a really good size for a lap blanket. I changed the blanket size as I was crocheting the squares together from 7 x 10 to 6 by 8. So I have a few squares left over for another project.

I used 20 balls of J. C. Brett Kool Kotton, which at £1.25 per ball, works out to be £25 for the whole blanket:

1 x KK1 Pink

1 x KK2 Mauve

1 x KK3 Denim

7 x KK5 Cream

1 x KK6 Mint

1 x KK7 Coral

1 x KK8 Aqua

1 x KK10 Lilac

1 x KK11 Tomato

1 x KK12 Olive

2 x KK13 Purple

2 x KK15 Cerise

Anyway, here is Maria modelling the blanket (pre-finishing) for you:

Mine...

MINE...

I told you already, IT'S MINE!

Well actually, Maria, no, it's not going be your blanket, as your mum made that for a dear friend in Japan who has been going through a horrendous time. Let's hope she will like this blanket and that it'll bring some comfort to her.

A Whole New World

2010-02-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

I came across The Professional Hobo while reading through the pages of WiseBread. I totted across to her blog when I read about the total cost of traveling for a year.

A whole new world of permanent and long term travellers opened up to me through her blog. Now I new these people existed, but they now had faces and names and these people were real, and there are so many of them!

I wondered through the lives of those that are on constant move, those that live in one country for a few months then move on, those that stay for a little longer before moving on. The joys of flat hunting in a strange country, how to pack your backpack as light as possible, how much each country costs to stay per day, the sun, the sea, the weird local food and foreign languages. I cooed at pictures of Hawaii (I love Hawaii, it is my spiritual home), I ahhhhhed at beautiful mountain ranges.

My brain started ticking away, calculating how much I would need per day to live such a lifestyle, how much would I need to save? How long will it take me to save that amount? How much for the right backpack?

Then I remembered, I have ASPERGER'S... In the throws of beautiful photographs, I forgot that I absolutely hate flying, hate travelling, and most of all, I hate CHANGE. I have been very fortunate enough to have travelled extensively with my family when young, but I really do dislike the act of travelling. I dislike not knowing where the heck I am going, and I dislike being moved from where I am comfortable at (I also have two cats, one that is senile and cannot be left alone for even one day, which has stopped us from travelling anywhere for the time being). Ah well, I will just keep following a few of these traveller blogs to make me feel like I am travelling with them.

The Neem Soap Recipe

2010-02-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

As several people have asked me for a recipe for my neem soap, I have decided to make a post on this, as the recipe has to come with lots of safety warnings.

I really would hate to be responsible for any accidents, so I will be providing you with some really good resources that I have found helpful myself, who are much better at going over the soap making process with you. I will keep my own recipe full of technical words on purpose, and politely ask that if you are unsure about any of the words, you should read up some more on soap making basics before you start your first batch of soap.

Soap making can be dangerous, because you use lye, aka, caustic soda. No, there won't be any left in the soap afterwards, because it mixes with the oils (so your soap won't be caustic), but before that stage lye is dangerous. I wear as much protective gear as possible - at least two layer of each clothing top to bottom, feet always covered in shoes, heavy gloves for the hands and full face protection for, well, the face.

Before I made my first soap, for about a month, I read and read and read as much as I could online about soap making, so that I understood the process very clearly, knew when things were dangerous and how to react in that situation. I would plead with you to do as much reading as you can too, because it will save you time, money and possibly accidents.

Now that I rattled on about the safety side, here's the fun bits!

The first time I made cold process soap, I followed Rhonda's very clear instructions, but I used a different recipe as rice bran wasn't so easy to get hold of. I used the first recipe I found in SoapQueen's blog which says:

16 oz. Coconut

16 oz. Palm

16 oz. Olive Oil

2 oz. Castor Oil

But I work in grams, so I used:

1350g Coconut

1350g Palm

1350g Olive Oil

50g Castor oil

with 500ml water, and 200g lye, soaping at 53 degrees C. This makes the soap to be at 7% Superfat (I did put it through the lye calc).

Although I have made several other soap, I always come back to this one, because it makes a gentle soap that is rock hard when dry, and lots of lather. For my neem soap, I just add 4TBSP of neem powder mixed with enough olive oil to make it into a thin paste, which I pour into the mix at trace (again, if any of these words are confusing, please read the wealth of resources out there first, then come back).`

Another thing to point out is that if you change ANYTHING in your recipe, please put the numbers through a lye calculator to make sure you have the right amount of lye (I personally use this one). When I did my triple batch yesterday, even though it was a simple case of tripling everything, I put it through the lye calculator to make sure.

There are also many wonderful forums dedicated to the world of soap making, who are a constant source of inspiration and help for me. The one I like most is The Dish Forum, closely followed by SoapQueen's Forum

**Edited to add** Thank you to Liesa UK for pointing out that if you wish to sell or give away your homemade soap (not just this recipe but any recipe), they must be tested & certified first for safety. This link provided by Liesa UK is a very good starting point on certification. (Thank you Liesa!)

Hope you have lots and lots of fun making soap, and please be safe x

One Giant Soap for Mankind!

2010-02-10T04:22:00.000-08:00

That's a triple batch of neem soap! We made it yesterday, and it came out of its mould this morning... by mould I mean the giant size kitty litter tray, unused of course. The soap weighs about 5kg. It contained so much oil that we couldn't add the lye water to it in the big pan, so they had to be mixed in the mould (which I wouldn't really recommend anyone doing). We were relieved that it came out the mould, even if I did have to stand on it and jump up and down on the mould.

Here it is to show how big it is. See those green mugs? Those are the grande size mugs from Starbucks.

We talked about how it may be easier if we just bolted this slab onto the bathroom wall and we rubbed ourselves on it, but then thought otherwise. We managed to cut the block into 114 soaps, and stamped the date on it before sending them upstairs to be cured.

And here is something for the sake of cuteness...

2010-02-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

Remember my granny squares?

Well, I started to crochet them together and when I finished the fourth row, I was really unsure of it. My OH very wisely advised me to take a break from it for few days, and I have.

I was going out on a limb with this project. Let me explain. I don't DO randoms. My asperger's love finding pattern in anything, and therefore, random is almost painful for me, as my brain tries to find a pattern... it cannot stop until it finds a pattern. So I decided to make this blanket as randomly as I could, just to see if I could do it. The colours were chosen pretty randomly, and the layout of the squares were almost random (we did swap a few squares around). I was ok with this. No, I was ok with this concept. The reality is much different, and I am not sure if this is working...

What do you think?

I'm not sure if it's the white borders that aren't doing it for me, or if it's the randomness.

I would really appreciate any suggestions as to whether I should carry on with this blanket, or make changes to it.

Why We Don't Batch Cook

2010-02-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

I know that in my previous post, I mentioned that we batch cook - but the truth is, we don't batch cook, not in the way most people do it.

Most mean batch cooking to be making several more portions of a dish than needed so some can be frozen and then reheated at a later date. This is absolutely wonderful way to balance a busy life and cooking from scratch.

However, this does not work so well for us. First of all, I hate being told what I need to eat when. I this stems from my 8 years in boarding school, eating 3 meals a day planned weeks ahead by somebody else. Or maybe it's my asperger's. Whatever the reason, I can't look at a table and be told what to eat any more.

Second of all, our aim of freezing is to make perishable food last longer. Although we top up on fresh fruits and veg when needed, we do our main bulk of shopping only once a month. We also bulk buy them when they are cheap, so we need to make them last as long as possible.

So what we do instead is to process eat food item separately, and freeze them in individual portions. For example:

Bananas gets sliced, put in container to hold two people's portion, then sprinkled with sweetener & cinnamon (used for porridge)
Apples and plums are stewed to make sauces for porridge (with extra sweeter so when making porridge, you don't need to add anything else)
Garlics & gingers are peeled, chopped & frozen in ice cube trays before bagging
Chillies are chopped, part dried then put into glass jars
Onions, leeks & mushrooms are chopped then sauted (separately)
Beans, cabbage and most other vegs are chopped and blanched
Carrots are grated or chopped before freezing
Saveloy are sliced before putting into containers
Pumpkins are either chopped then bagged, or made into soups
Sweetcorn, peas, broccoli, chicken breasts & meatballs are bought frozen

(one of my freezer drawer that is saved for individual veg portions)

The reason why we make an effort to keep the food items separate is that it gives us the maximum flexibility in what we can make out of our frozen stock, while maximising the food's life. It allows us to cook what we fancy eating, when we fancy eating. We can even try new recipes based around what we have in the freezer.

It also does save us on cooking time. Peeling 1.5kg of onions, whizzing them in the food processor, then sautéing them to make 30 portions doesn't take that long to do. However, peeling each onion, chopping it by hand and waiting for it to cook before you can get on with the next stage in your cooking, thirty times, will add up to an awful lot of time! In fact, before we started batch cooking, we mostly skipped the onions altogether! Although we spend couple of hours processing a huge bag of garlic a few months ago, it was great relief to know that we didn't have to peel or chop a garlic at least for a whole year!

We did chat about batch cooking meals instead, but for now, we both feel that this works out best for us.

The Not So Simple Simple Living

2010-02-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

As our goddess of simple living Rhonda always says, simple living is not easy! I whole heartedly agree with this. Since I made the transition from high-spend city girl to thrifty chic, I spend far more time than I ever did doing housework. Yes, me, HOUSEWORK. I never thought I would ever enjoy housework. EVER.

Currently, I do the following tasks around our house towards our simple living (on top of the normal cooking & cleaning):

Batch cook and freeze food - anything from porridge toppings, most meats we buy, most vegs we buy
Plan and carry out stockpiling
Cleaning with a cleaning schedule (as oppose to when the house desperately needs it)
Mending things that are broken (as oppose to throwing them out and buy a new one like I used to...)
Maintaining things so that they don't break
Making my own laundry powder, soaps, creams, bath bombs, face scrubs, etc.
Crafting for gifting or things we need for the house
Fold plastic bags neatly so that they are easy to reuse again
Make note papers from envelopes
Maintain a 'reuse centre' in my living room for things like ribbons, boxes, wrapping paper, bubble wraps, used paper with plain backs, rubber bands, magazine bags (becomes poop bags) and padded envelopes.
Decluttering the house on a weekly basis
Interior decorating to make the house a calmer, more peaceful space
Growing vegetables & fruits

The difference is, back then, I hated housework. It was a chore. There was no joy in doing any of the things I was 'suppose' to do. Now, 90% of the time, I actually enjoy doing each and every one of the above tasks. Why? Because I choose to do these tasks. I choose to follow this life style. That freedom of choice puts a spring in my step and makes me feel like Mary Poppins :)

It's a lot of work, and sometimes yes, I do feel a little overwhelmed. However, the best thing about these tasks, is that they are really good at slotting around my unstable health. With a little planning ahead, I can keep all these tasks off my 'urgent to do' list. So I have enough buffer to not do anything on a bad day, but get lots done if I feel better the day after. This flexibility have really afforded me to be more relaxed about everything.

Monthly Food Shopping

2010-02-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

We only do one big shop a month. Of course we suppliment fresh fruits and vegs (mainly lots of carrot & apples for our daily juice) when we need to, but we tend to stay out of supermarkets once the big shop is done.

Yesterday, we went to the charity shop to drop off some donations, then adli, the post office to post some gifts, the indian supermarket, makro, the recycling center and ASDA. Here's what we got for £72.41:
I'm laughing my head off because I know there were two more bags of food on the floor that we couldn't fit onto our dining table for this photo!

It looks like a lot of food for two people, even for one whole month, and it is. We tend to bulk buy things when they are on sale and bulk process couple of months worth of food at a time. For example, there's 4 bags of onions in there (somewhere!) which we processed last night to make 30 portions of sauted onions with, leaving one bag of onions for when we want fresh onions. We will be doing the same with the plums and leeks.

My favourite buy this month has to be the massive 500g bag of parsley! We were starting to run low on what home grown parsley we did freeze in the summer, so it was a joy to replenish that. I can't wait to throw in hand fulls of them in my quinoa salads.

We only have a small kitchen, so most of this will be stored up in the 'store room', more commonly known as the spare bedroom. I'll show you how we converted the room into a stock room soon.

On the crochet front, here are those squares (plus cat) I was crocheting the other day, all laid out ready to be crocheted together. Unfortunately, after doing the first four rows, I run out of steam on this project, so it has been put away in my crochet bag for later.

WIP Granny Square Blanket

2010-01-31T09:57:00.001-08:00

Have been working on a(nother) blanket this week, and I have just finished the 70th square. I know I keep saying I won't do another large project, such as a blanket, but it's so hard not to when I see a gorgeous blanket.

I am just so glad that I had enough hindsight to weave the ends in as I went, so that I didn't have to use a needle at all.

And here is Maria, she is healing very nicely under that bandage. I'm just waiting for the last scab to fall off, probably end of next week, then she will be freed from the bandage.

As you can see, she's not particularly impressed with having her photo taken while she still has the bandage on...

January In Review

2010-01-31T05:35:00.000-08:00

Well January seemed to have woooshed past us!
1. Princess Granny Blanket, 2. Stripy Bag Finished!, 3. Hedgehog Bag, 4. Cat Blankets, 5. WIP Tissue Box, 6. Start of a New Ripple Blanket, 7. Dave's Hat Part 2, 8. Kitty Blanket Quality Control, 9. Work interrupted, 10. Stripy bag and kitty blanket, 11. Hat for Me, Part 2, 12. The monster, 13. Tutorial: Crinkle Free Granny Square Border, 14. Princess Granny Blanket, 15. Princess Granny Blanket, 16. The TV area - After

I thought with this month, being the first month of our challenge, that it was going to be slow moving, with lots of trials and tribulations, woes of how I was dying of the effects of not being able to buy things left, right and center.

Actually, January went very fast (thanks to many crochet projects) and it was much easier than I had expected.

OK, so I did have that emotional failure at the start of the month when I caved in and bought yarn. I am still working on the yarn urges. Yes I still get twinges of passion towards yarn, but hey, I THINK I HAVE ENOUGH! However, besides that blip, I think I did pretty well on the not buy anything new front.

Things I bought brand new:
Yarn
Bandages for my poorly kitty (I was mostly certainly not going to use a second hand bandage!!)

Bought second hand:
a sheet which I turned into speaker covers
a bin (because our wheely bin was stolen)

fixed/made/found alternatives:
Woolly hats
Gloves
reusable tissues
speaker covers
blanket for present
cat toys
a bag
lots of hedgehog bags

One giant step towards green living we took this month is that we gave up the tv. This was a scary step, but it has worked out to be one of the best decisions we've made on the eco front. So much time, so little distraction, and I can say bye bye to the TV license fees! The process of going cold turkey from the telly was much easier than I thought it was going to be. I had expected myself to be wheezing and rolling around on the floor begging for the TV, but instead, I got on with my crochet projects.

and boy did I crochet! This month I made 1 bag, 2 cat blankets, 5 hats, 2 hedge hog bags, half ripply blanket, another bag, 2 cat toys, a small blanket, and half made another large blanket. *breath in* I absolutely love how fast you can build up a project with crochet, and am forever thankful to my mum for teaching me how to crochet.

I also lost my driving license due to medical condition, but I got over that pretty quickly when I realised the savings I was going to make from not having the car.

Roll of February!

Reusable Tissue?

2010-01-25T22:22:00.001-08:00

This year, I'm on a mission to reduce the amount of disposable items we use around the house. I think we can safely say that we've moved away from using kitchen towels now, but we still use facial tissue papers.

So as a trial, I have cut up 2 of Dave's old T-shirts. Not wanting to deprive ourselves by having to use measly sized cloth to blow our noses with, I used a real facial tissue as a template for cutting the t-shirt to size. I managed to get 14 tissues out of a t-shirt. This is our trial pile, and we will decide whether this is good for keeps or not when the pile is used. If it's any good (early indications suggests so), then I shall be making more "tissues".

BTW, in case you are wondering why on earth do I not just use a hanky, there is a simple reason. I'm Japanese. Japanese people do not blow their noses with handkerchiefs. There is a reason why they are called HANDkerchiefs, not NOSEkerchiefs. I just can't bring myself to stuff a handkerchief, post-nose blowing, back into my pocket. It just eeks me out a bit too much.

At least this way, it's reusable, but I can just throw it in the washing machine after each nose blowing session.

Enough of gross topic, here is a cheerful pile of yarn for my new crochet project. It's going to be very bright!

Now you see, now you don't see... as much.

2010-01-24T02:10:00.000-08:00

See those speakers? Keep yours eyes on them...

(No, the cat didn't go away, she just moved closer...)

Ok, the speakers are not gone, but it certainly blends in better now doesn't it?

What I like even more about these covers is that the pair costed me about 60p to make. I found this wonderful stripy sheet at a car boot for one whole pound. I still have about a third of the sheet left to make more wonderful things out of.

The only problem is that I am starting to realise I really hate sewing... I would've made a sailor blush if he was about when I was making these covers.

Now what to do about those pots (probably paint them) and that cable...

Why So Hooky Ducky?

2010-01-23T01:17:00.001-08:00

I must apologise for my blog slowly but surely turning into a crochet blog, rather than the green, thrifty blog the name "Compact UK" suggests.

I was feeling guilty about the crochet stuff taking over the blog, until I realised that the crochet or any other crafting skills are actually part of the whole process in becoming more green.

Crochet has become a large part of my life for several reasons:

1. Makes things that we need, things that keep us warm
Due to our buy nothing new challenge, we have a huge challenge in replacing things when an item of clothing is totally worn out, lost or ruined. However, we can make stuff ourselves, and that's what we have done. When Dave lost his woolly hat, I learnt to make it. When I want a new scarf, hat, mittens, throw, etc. I can make it - which satisfies our need to something new. All these things, being made out of wool or yarn, obviously keeps us warm too so that we don't have to have the heating on so high.

2. Making us love what we have
Connected with my first point, when I make something from crochet, I spend hours and hours making them. This naturally makes us love that item so much more, because of the hours spent. Loving your things more is a good thing.

3. Make do and mend
Any skills like knitting, crochet or sewing is always very handy to have for when you have to fix stuff. When Dave's gloves died a death, I wouldn't been able to fix it for him if I didn't know how to crochet. If I didn't know crochet, that glove would've probably ended up in the bin.

4. Thrifty Gifting
Being able to make handmade gifts is very cost saving (although a little time consuming) and a whole lot of fun. I can make woolly hats to donate to various charities for about 90p, when second hand woolly hats are selling for £2.50+ at charity shops. This way, I will be able to donate more hats for the same money. I also made a blanket for my niece, with £5 worth of yarn but with a whole lot of love :)

5. Cheap entertainment
Crochet replaces many entertainments that costs us. Sadly, I now find spending an evening in with my crochet, Dave and the cats much nicer, than be stuck in a bar of a club. It's also kept me occupied through my first few weeks of being TV-free. I now have Crochet Sundays with couple of friends at mine, which lets us socialise, without paying out for expensive coffees or going shopping.

6. Fulfils my creative urges
I thoroughly enjoy making things with my hands. I love it that a pile of seemingly useless things can be turned into very useful things with just my hands, few hours and few tools. I love how fast crochet projects come together too.

I am so glad that I sat my mother down to teach me how to crochet. I don't think neither of us realised how useful this skill was going to be then, I just wanted her to pass me down a skill that she had.

If you want to learn how to crochet, the best way I can suggest is to find someone that can show you, because crochet is truly a case of a picture is worth a thousand words. Does your grandma or aunty crochet? You may be surprised but young people are picking up crochet too, so your friends may be able to show you. Or you could look for a local crochet/knitting group. Stitch and Bitch has list of such groups all over the world.

Failing that, or it's just too damn cold outside to go out, you could look on youtube for some very good tutorials. I'm not going to list who's tutorial is best, as everyone has different ways of crocheting. Have a look at few people's videos, try it out, and see who's way works the best for you.

Once you get going, Ravely has lots of great project patterns, most of them free, for you to try out. It's where I got my star rug pattern from.

Of course you could try other crafting skills such as knitting and sewing. My goal this year is to learn to sew properly, at least enough to make stuff for around the house.

How To: Crinkle Free Granny Square Borders

2010-01-21T14:30:00.001-08:00

Here is a tutorial on a how to make a border for your granny squares that lies flat without having to block them. This is a pre-blocking blanket I made using this tutorial. See how the border lies flat? Well I'm going to show you how to do it - it's surprisingly easy!

Just before starting to piece together my first granny square blanket, I came across this gorgeous blanket by Quincelady on Flickr (who have very kindly agreed to letting me use her photo - thank you!) I noticed that she had crinkly border, and her comment said something about getting the tension wrong. I wasn't convinced that it was her tension that was to blame, because she is clearly a talented crocheter. I also saw lots of other granny blankets that had crinkly borders that had to be blocked just to get it lying flat.
So I played around with few different stitches, and I came up with my Flat Border Cluster... so let's begin!

For this tutorial, I am going to use 4 granny squares, but as you saw in my first photo, you can do this for many granny squares. The first step is the same as the traditional method. Join the squares together, either by join as you go (via attic 24), crocheting them together (via attic24) or sewing them together (youtube) (btw, these tutorials are really easy to follow).

I personally like the joining as you go :)

Got all your squares connected? Now it's time to do the first row of your border, and this is where the trick comes in. This is the only row you have to focus a bit on. Once this row is done, any additional rows you may add can be done as you would normally crochet a granny square.

So that we don't get confused about which corners I am talking about, let's give these corners names. Here are the first two corners that meet in my blanket. The one of the right will be corner A, the one on the left will be corner B.
Ok, with the corners named, attach the same colour yarn as you used for joining the squares. You can use a different colour, but keeping the same colour will make the whole thing look neater.

let's just do normal granny stitches (3dc in gap, 1ch, repeat) all the way up until just before your first corner joins. Make sure you do the 1ch at the end.

Traditionally, this is what you do with the corner join... You pretend each corner is a gap, and stick 3 dc (double crochet - the us version) into each corner, with a chain in the middle... can you see that?

We're not going to be doing that. Instead, we're going to pretend the two corners are like 1 gap. I use what I named "Flat Border Cluster", which is 1dc in corner A, dc2tog in corner A and B, then 1 dc in corner B.

Don't worry if that boggled your mind, here it is in step by step:

1. Do 1 dc in corner A

2. The dc2tog... start by yo (yarn over), insert hook through corner A. Yo again, bring back your hook to the front...

yo again, and draw through 2 loops, so you end up with 2 loops on your hook.

Yo again. This time, insert hook through corner B, yo, hook back through stitch, yo, draw through 2 loops, so you end up with 3 loops on hook.
yo again, then pull through all 3 loops on the hook so that you are left with 1 loop on hook.
Phew! That's the dc2tog done!
3. Just one final stitch, 1 dc through just corner B.
4. Then a ch.

So you should now have something that looks like this... From the bottom of the stitches, it should look like there are 4 stitches, but when you look from the top of the row, it should look like there are only 3 stitches.
That is the Flat Border Cluster done.

Now carry on with your normal granny stitches (3dc, ch, repeat) until you encounter another corner join. Do the Flat Border Cluster on each of the corner join. In this case, I did the Flat Border Cluster on 4 points, as shown by the pink arrows...

Complete the row and tie off your yarn. Your squares should lie flat nicely with no crinkling. You can add more rows to this if you wish. There's nothing special about the additional rows, just crochet them in the normal way you would add rows to your granny squares.
Can you see how it doesn't matter how many rows I add, it will still lay flat? Here's a close up:

So that's it, it's quite easy to remember and do. Hope this is of some help in your crocheting and that my first attempt at writing a crochet tutorial wasn't too difficult.

Thanks again to Quicelady for sharing her problem with her blanket border, without which I would've never thought of this cluster, and for the use of her photo.

New Dilemma - Packaging for Charities

2010-01-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

I have a new dilemma!

While I was posting all the little packages off to charities last week, a thought occured to me. What will I do when I ran out of my reuse padded envelopes, brown paper & packing tape?

I currently have a box of used padded envelopes that I have kept from various things I have bought over the years. However, since I am not buying anything new, I am aware that this pile of envelopes will become depleted, with no new ones coming to replenish. So I am keeping these envelopes for sending stuff to "posh" people who may be offended otherwise!

I am using my roll of brown paper and packing tape to make up parcels at the moment for charities, but these will soon run out. I am not so worried about the brown paper, as I will ask people to keep small boxes aside for me to send crocheted things to charities, but what about the packing tape? I can't really see the post man being happy about untaped packages, nor a huge market for second hand packing tape...

What would you use for packing? What do you think I should do about packing tapes?

Make Do and Mend!

2010-01-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

Before I started off the Compact Challenge, I had a very disposable attitude to life. If something broke, it got replaced with a brand new one. Why bother wasting my time fixing something when I can go and buy a perfect, new one for few quids. I don't think I've ever fixed something... (that's quite embarrassing to admit to!)

However, I can't do that any more! So when my OH came home with the thumb of his glove practically naked, I realised I had to learn how to make do and mend pretty quick! This is what he brought home...

Now, knitting it back to its former glory was out of the question, as I just about know how to knit and purl, and that's it. Then I remembered about couple of cat fish toys I made a few days previously, and figured that the head of the fish was pretty similar to the top of the thumb, only with longer body. So off I started hooking. Then followed plenty of cursing and pulling out of the wool as I realise I made it too wide, several times.
What do you think? Since I didn't have any yarn that would match the colour of the glove, I used the left over wool from the woolly hat I made him earlier this month (at least it will match something).

So, that was my first ever make do and mend. Hopefully, many more to come!

Dilemma - Free but New Stuff

2010-01-15T23:37:00.000-08:00

Here is another dilemma. What do you do about free stuff that is on offer? The Thrifty Lady in me is screaming out to get free stuff, but the Compact Person in me is standing at my front door refusing to let any brand new items in.

The item in question is the new (free) Cath Kidson catalogue. Come oooooooonnnnn it's Cath Kidson!! The Thrifty Lady is whispering "Well, it's FREE. If that's not enough, you can use the catalogue as an inspiration source for all your crafty projects around the house."

I (the Compact Person) did make a decision at the start of the year that I wasn't going to apply for freebies willy nilly. If I didn't need it, then I wasn't going to ask for it. I am also very aware that this catalogue is not a need.

When I asked about this on the MSE forum, the main concern people had was whether it was going to tempt me to buy their stuff. That's not a much of a worry for me as I have always drooled at their lovely yummy products but never had the guts to pay that much for them.

How would you decide on free but new stuff? What would you consider as allowed and what's not?

Yarn Dilemma - Solved!

2010-01-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

I had been sorting out my yarn yesterday, and while rummaging through my Patons Smoothie yarns, I realised that I was missing a pack of lilac colour, and probably going to run short on the pink.

For the next hour, I was thinking up of ways to explain to my OH that this really did warrant the plastic coming out of its hiding. I mean, I can't possibly have uneven number of one colour (I very much embrace OCD...) And horror of horrors if I should run out of the pink (which is the most important colour in anything, of course) before all the other colours. How do I stress that this is a need, not a want... honest. How do I also stress that I would not buy anything new after this time.

Then I realised this was all silly. This was my old self sneaking back to try and get me to spend spend spend again. I have enough yarn. I can almost ignore that I have some colours short. I was grumpy, but I had to stick to the rules of the challenge. No, I mustn't buy anything new.

That evening, while crocheting away with a cat on my lap, it struck me. I am really not liking the blush colour from the same range. What if I could ask to exchange these yarns for the colours I want? So I quickly wrote a very grovelling email to the people I bought the yarns from. I explained the situation, yes I will pay for delivery, yes I will pay the 10% restocking fee. I told myself, even if they say no, I haven't got much to lose.

This morning, I got a lovely email saying that yes, of course I can exchange it, and since it's a swap, I don't need to pay the restocking fee! THANK YOU!! So off I trotted to the post office with the wrong yarns and now I am excitedly waiting for the new ones.

This has been a compromise between the old and new me. The old me wanted the right colour yarns, at any cost. The new me didn't want to bring in any more new stuff to the house & didn't want to spend. Yes I did spend £8.90 in postage, but this still saves £27 in comparison to buying the yarns new. What's even more important is that I have stuck to my rules of not buying new. I would've never thought of asking for an exchange before this challenge.

Progress is good :)

On other news, I have posted off all my little packets of charity donations and birthday gifts to people. You can imagine the look on the cashier's face when I turned up with 2 bags of parcels to send. I really hope people will like them :)

Savings on Getting Rid of the TV

2010-01-15T11:18:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, we are going TV free. We've already taken the TV off its stand and made the TV corner into a study area. Today, I cancelled our Sky subscription.

As I explained to the customer service guy at Sky, that I was getting rid of the telly, and no, I was not going to replace it, I felt like I was telling him that I was going to cut off my right arm. Apparently, I was the first person ever to tell him that I was going TV-free. I guess that's not surprising if he works to cater for the TV-addicted population. "Are you sure?" he asked. "When will you be replacing your telly?" "You know, people are watching more telly now because it's too cold outside", "I don't understand how you can live without TV".

PRETTY EASILY AK-TU-ALI!

Anyway, the guy was very nice (if a little persistent), and have cancelled my Sky subscription for me. This is going to be a saving of £20 per month, thus for this year (after the last payment comes out) I will be saving £200 by doing this. Together with not having to pay the next TV license, going TV free will be saving us £340 + probably a quarter of the current TV license back.

Not bad for a day's work :)

Stripy Bag Ta Daaahhhh

2010-01-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

Yes! I have finished the stripy bag, and I managed to stick to the pattern (from attic 24) this time. It was much easier following the very well written pattern, I have no idea why I went wayward last time.
I used 4.0mm hook to crochet Patons Smoothie yarns (yes I am addicted to them) in:
1025 Pink (63g)
1091 Natural (34g)
1093 Lilac (60g)
1094 Lemon (37g)
1095 Mint (50g)
1096 Foam (44g)

Total cost of bag = £1.89 x 2.88 = £5.44 I am happy with that :)

I also made a 'tissue box' with some of the left over yarn. I know it doesn't look much like a tissue box right now, but it will, in time. I will write about it when it's done.

Lack of Sleep

2010-01-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

My sleeping pattern didn't manage to fix itself yesterday. I am getting slightly frustrated at the persistence of this manic episode, but I am trying not to get stressed about not being able to sleep.

It at least allowed me to make all the small parts for the bag. I can whole heartedly say that I hate making flowers. They are so fiddly and time consuming. You have so many ends to sew in. Your hand hurts from having to squeeze in so many stitches into one stitch. BUT THEY ARE SO CUTE!

(pile of flowers and leaves for the stripy bag)

Curtains?

2010-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

So here is where I need to ask you lovely readers for some brain power. Remember my new desk area?

See those shelves? I would like to cover them with little curtains. I have the fabric (not sure exactly which one yet, but I will find one from my stash), but no way of putting them up. I have thrown this dilemma about over at the MoneySavingExpert forum and here are the list of ideas:

Make the curtain larger than required, then tuck the excess fabric under the stuff on the shelves - this seems to be the least damage causing way, and since the stuff do not get moved often, it's do able.
Use one of those plastic coated wires and hooks to make it into a proper curtain - after rummaging around the house, we have realised that we don't have any of these...
Staple the fabric to the shelf, then cover the stapled bits with ribbon.

Can you think of any other way of putting up small curtains?

On other news, I actually managed a good night's sleep, and so was able to get on with stuff like making parcels to send off to charities, including the cat blankets:

Daily Log 11th January

2010-01-11T16:17:00.000-08:00

I am struggling along with my manic phase, which means I am getting very little sleep, and many hours of being a zombie. I am grateful that I can crochet at the same time as being a zombie, as otherwise, I really would be bored (particularly since we don't have the telly connected anymore).

So in the middle of the night, I crocheted away and made two bags for hedgehogs. Don't worry, it's not as crazy as it sounds. It's for Argyll Animal Aid (you may have a problem seeing the website, I did) who not only rescues many many cats, but also hedgehogs in the spring time. They need adult sized hats to pop the little creatures into to keep them warm. I have made two to see if they are what the people are looking for.

I know what you're thinking, they look awfully familiar don't they? That's because the pattern I used is the exact same one as the one used for the numerous hats I have been making! I never thought of turning a hat upside down to make into a bag.

I then decided to seek revenge on the ripple bag (which, bytheway, has now become my laundry bag because it's so big) and started a new one. This time, I am following the pattern to the last letter, as I don't want another bag go wrong! I have done 16 rows, and yes, it is turning out perfectly :) I am also loving the Patons Smoothie yarns, they are just so so lovely.
Of course, I then realised that this bag was exactly the same pattern as the hats, only bigger...

Daily Log 10th January

2010-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

Since we have comitted to passing our TV onto elsewhere, we decided it was time to dismantle the 'TV corner' and make it into a more useful space. Unfortunately, I didn't have the hindsight to take a proper 'before' photo, so here is a 'during' shot...

and this monster used to sit on top of the stand... It is HUGE, 36 inches?

And here is the 'after' shot. Well, as 'after' as it is going to be today. We still have lots to do such as make mini curtains for the shelves, make speaker cover, repot plants into white painted pots, chair cover, paint the mantel piece white, etc, etc. We are happy with the change we've made today.

On other news, today was Seal Sunday, where we brought all the seals downstairs for the day for them to frolic...

These are the Patons Smoothie DK I made the beanie with yesterday, they are just sooooo lovely to work with.

So I have stuck to my words and have started a second ripple blanket with them. I can't wait to see what they will look like as one big blanky.
Queen Maria has been taking it easy today... Oh it has been suggested us by a flickr user that she's probably a Norwegian Forest Cat. Reading the link page, we were amazed that it described her down to a tee, both physically and personality wise.

Daily Log 9th January

2010-01-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have been overwhelmed by the amount of support and kind words I received, particularly over on MSE forum, after my manic confession. People have been so kind to take their time to write me so many lovely messages, I feel truly blessed.

I have had a much better day today, A lot better for "letting it all out". My OH and I have also been discussing a lot about what kind of things would help me deal with the manic spending urges that I get, more than just having a buffer of money, something more proactive in stopping me spending in the first place.

First is, as I wrote before, that my debit card is hidden somewhere. The second will be for me to discuss where my money has been spent on each week with my OH. This is all about increasing my accountability, and I know it will work because I hate the thought of him being disappointed. One person mentioned that I should not give the control to my OH. Don't worry, I am not. He knows and I know that I am the only one to decide whether I get to spend on that card. These two tricks are put in place for me to think twice, three times before I go out and spend it. All I have to do is discuss the spending with my OH beforehand. That should be enough to put me off going on a bender!

I have also decided to add the amount I spend on the yarn splurge into my total spend count for the year. I wasn't going to originally, justifying that the money was coming from a saving. However, I felt that this was a) cheating myself, b) cheating you guys and c) cheating on the 6k challenge. So it's all quids in ladies & gentlemen, every penny I spend, no matter where it is funded from, will be going in to the total. I am also hoping that the sting of having to put this splurge will be so painful that it will serve as a reminder not to splurge again.

I have been busy making more hats today. The previous two were to get the shape right and they will be worn indoors when it gets really cold. The new ones are our "posh" ones, ones for going outside in, made with lovely new yarns!

This one is for Dave, and I used King Cole Merino Blend DK in 96 Slate Blue (just under two 50g balls), and trimmed it with Jame C. Brett Kool Kotton in KK5 Cream.

This one was partly to see how Patons Smoothie yarn is to crochet with. I LOVE THEM! The colours are so lovely, and the yarn is easy to work with, very similar to the Sirdar Just Soya. I love these so much that I think I am going to make a second ripple blanket with them soon.

Today's log:

NSD - Yes (7/20)
Live on £6k - £336.69 (*cries*)
Words written - 0 words (weekend)
Make - Two hats :)
Urges - none today, I won't dare having any!!

Daily Log 8th January

2010-01-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

So what's a girl to do, when her OH finds out that he's lost his beanie hat, somewhere in the snow, out there in the cold? And neither you nor he can buy a new one? Learn to make one!

I found a really easy to follow instruction for a beanie. The great thing about this pattern is that it teaches you how to measure your own head and crochet accordingly, so that it will fit your head perfectly. No more having to go and purchase a yarn just to make a hat from a pattern.

Here was my first go at the pattern:

I used Sirdar Bonus DK in bright pink (left over from the star rug I made on Christmas) and Robin DK in pale pink (left over from the giant blanky)

Then I made a prototype for the OH, to get the fit right before I start using proper yarn. So here is the prototype, using scrap Robin DK yarns I had from the giant blanky:

Not the best looking, but it fits well, so the next one I make, I can start playing round with colours. We're both wearing our hats as I type this, as it's so cold!

It is a super easy and quick (about 2 to 3 hours) hat to make, so if you're feeling a little chilly, why not pick up your hook?

Daily Log 7th January

2010-01-08T14:27:00.001-08:00

My goodness it's cold isn't it! BRRRRRRR! Still feeling under the weather, so we stocked up a bit on fresh fruits to boost our vitamin intake.

After finishing the kitty blanket, I found some more left over yarn (this time from a huge blanket I made last year), so I started making another kitty blanket.

Oh and here's the original kitty blanket, took me a day to get it off my cats.

Daily Log 6th January

2010-01-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

Finally finished the bag today, and it's huge! I am going to throw it in the hot wash to see if this will make it more solid. I also crocheted a cat blanket to donate to the Cat Protection league with the left over yarns I had from making the bag.

As you can see, Queen Maria gives her seal of approval, and I've been fighting with her son over it while I was still making the blanket. I think a cat in foster care will like this one :)

For some reason, I am unable to reply to your comments on my own blog... I'm really not sure why, but I would like to reply (attempted three times and failed) to notesfromthefrugaltrenches to say:
"Thank you so much for dropping by. I've been reading your blog for a long time, and find your no tv challenge inspiring, that I started to ask myself whether I needed a telly myself.
oh, Living TV. I am going to miss Living TV so much. I still think about Dr. Phil at around 1pm, but I am sure he would want me to face my addiction and deal with it!"

Daily Log 5th January - The TV Death

2010-01-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

I am coming down with a cold, my sleeping pattern is all over the place, and I have a facial pain that I'm not quite sure of the source. So I have spent the day in bed, curled up to the kitties.

We also haven't watched telly in three days. This is something major in our household, as I thought I was addicted to TV. I would have the telly on all day, as "something to have in the background". I was addicted to Dr Phil, to the point I tried to have 2pm free each day. Dr Phil would be followed by trash TV I don't care to admit in public for watching them!

However, since we gave up shopping, I started to get sick of all the advertising since they became non-applicable to me. I can't believe I used to put up with people trying to sell me things every 10 minutes in my living room! I mean I don't let sales people into my living room that often do I?

I also realised from the past 3 days of TV blackout that while the TV was on, I was never focused on what I was doing. My mind has been stunned in the last 3 days that I am actually hearing what its saying to me. My OH and I discuss more about "stuff". I am no longer distracted by the noise and moving images coming out of the telly.

Dave and I started thinking about what a TV offers that we cannot get from another source, looking for a reason to keep a telly. Real time news is something that is quite useful, but you get even quicker updates nowdays online. We considered the entertainment value of the telly, which made us both laugh. The TV, with all the sky channels have been very disappointing in the last year or two, littered with repeats and poor programs. It's just not entertaining! Besides, if we did want to watch it, we can always go online and watch it on demand.

So we have decided to get rid of the telly. Interesting thing is, until we made a mental commitment to giving the telly a boot, we never considered the cost implications. We have sky, which is £19.50 per month, or £234 a year. Then there is the TV license, which is currently £142.50... So having a telly (and Sky) has costed us £376.50! That's a nice luxury weekend away!

yup, the telly is definitely going.

Daily log 4th January

2010-01-04T18:23:00.000-08:00

I've decided to log each urges I get for wanting something. You know those urges that you go "wooo I could do with that", knowing fully well that you are not going to go out and buy it straight away, but may buy it if you come across it while out shopping. Some times you do buy them, some times you don't.

I want to record them to see how long these urges actually lasts. Is it a day? two days? a week? I rather suspect most of these urges only last a couple of days, and if you can sit tight beyond that time, you won't WANT to buy it!

I would like to stress that these urges, are just that, urges. I am most likely never going to seriously consider buying any of them, and probably wouldn't even utter it to another person, except for this experiment.

So here were my urges today:

a hand-held single hole punch for crafting
A tag shape paper punch
Cross stitch sampler book

Can you tell I was browsing through crafting projects?

In all honestly, these urges were based on convenience, rather than need. I already have a paper punch that makes holes, just not those nifty ones where you can see where the hole is going to be. The current punch does the job fine, just a little awkward.

As for the tag punch, I sat and counted the number of times I have attached a tag to anything. I counted the grand total of ONCE in the last year, Christmas to be precise. Back then, my OH and I have a fund time making our own tags, using punches we do have. I think doing that again this year will be much more fun than using your standard shaped tags.

As for the cross stitch sampler, well I am going to confess that I am writing this on 7th January, and I honestly cannot remember what I wanted that for!

So, so far, my urges have been nothing but little moments of madness which have been quenched by couple of minutes of reality check.

Should've Listened

2010-01-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

AGH! Ok, my crochet bag is driving me crazy. I have been trying to make a bag, something resembling Lucy's beautiful bag at attic24, but I made several crucial decisions that proved to be very wrong! (I would like to stress that none of this is Lucy's fault, it's my own stupid fault for not following her pattern, Her tutorial is really easy to follow and I would highly recommend it to anyone - as long as they are capable of following instructions, unlike myself.)

I chose the wrong size hook. I don't know why, but I only went one size smaller, instead of the recommended two sizes smaller than the usual hook size. This has made my bag really floppy, not to mention larger.
I stupidly started the first few rows based on someone else's pattern. I used a Japanese pattern from a book I had, purely because it is written as a diagram, which I find easier to work with. What I didn't realise was that the Japanese pattern has 4 more dcs at the start, which were then increased exponentially as each row was done. *SIGH* so now, my bag is absolutely HUGE.
I thought I could pick colours. I was wrong. I have no eye for colours. That is all.

I am going to carry on with this though, and see how it goes...

Proud of This, Less So of That

2010-01-03T04:30:00.000-08:00

Over at the non consumer advocate, a blog I love, she has been admitting to things she is proud of to have achieved but also admitting that we're all human and not always perfect.

I think it's so important to pat yourself on the back when you do well, but be humble and admit to others that you cannot do everything. So here's my take:

I am proud that we are on the compact challenge. I am less proud that I am still in panic mode about the challenge, despite several months of mental preparation!

I am proud that we never use the tumble dryer.

I am proud that since my mother taught me the basics of crochet, I have taught myself more and can now make many things, some suitable as gifts. I am less proud of the stacks of yarn that I have bought!!

I am proud that we try to reuse everything we can. I am less proud that we haven't made much effort in reducing incoming plastic bags beyond taking our own shopping bags.

I am proud that I am in my second year of not buying any brand new fashion items. I am less proud that I topped up between the two years by artificially creating a month of not being on the challenge.

I am proud that we make all our toiletries required. Also proud that we don't use chemical cleaners. I am less proud of the stacks of ingredients I have gained in the process.

I am proud that we put a lot of effort into reducing our food bill yet eat much healthier than we used to. I am also proud that we batch process basic foods, so that it cuts down on our cooking time. I am less proud that I bought lots of little tupperwares to make this happen.

I am proud that I make most of my gifts. I am less proud that I always end up gifts to less people than I intended because I didn't get round to making their presents.

I am proud that we are really decluttering and organising the house. I am less proud that I chucked some things into the recycling center when I should've really taken them to the charity shop.

What are your proud and less proud moment?

Shopping Lists and Daily Log

2010-01-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

We officially ran out of fresh fruit & veg, so we had to brave the supermarket today. It was horrendous, full of people and full of "Sunday-trolley-drivers". We always stick to a really tight shopping list courtesy of mysupermarket.com.

I had tried on numerous occasions to shop with a handwritten shopping list, and failed miserably to stick to only what's on the list. My trolley would still be littered with temptations that I was too weak to reject. Then I found that musupermarket.com not only lets you comparing the best deals in the comfort of your home, it prints out the most precise shopping list for you. We're talking about details that I could cry in joy (I'm a bit of a detail freak)!

So now, instead of seeing 'apples' on my list, wonder towards the fruit isle and get tempted by all sorts of other things, I see 'Gala apples, 6pk, 2 for £2, offer ends 01/01/10', which takes me straight to THE particular apple I am after, and nothing else.

Anyway, so our monthly big shop came to £47.47, which I am very happy with, as we bought A LOT of food, and plenty of luxuries like a huge bag of grapes and lots of coffee.

We batch processed a lot of vegs that evening, saute mushrooms, onions and leeks, and stewed apples, all packed away in my little tupperware and tucked in my freezer :)

Seeing this makes me strangely happy :)

January Goals & Daily Log

2010-01-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

So first day of the first month of the new year!

For January, here are my goals:

have 20 NSDs (Non Spend Days)
Write 500 words in my thesis every working day
Make something everyday

It's very difficult to spend on a bank holiday, and I would've felt like a bit of a fail if I spent on the first day of my new frugal ways. However, I know we have to go food shopping tomorrow as we are totally out of fresh fruits & veg, which is driving me mad.
Only just managed to write enough words today to reach my goal, but that's ok, first day back to writing, and I happen to finish the paper I was making notes on. The next paper to go through is a HUGE paper, I didn't want to start climbing a big mountain!

I did a lot of crochet today, mostly in the middle of the night while I was waiting for Dave to come home. However, I think a certain someone had other ideas...

Isn't he handsome?

Challenges for 2010

2009-12-29T23:46:00.000-08:00

At last! The new year is just around the corner, and I can finally list my aims for 2010. I have been thinking through these goals for couple of months now, seeing if I am capable of doing each challenge. I really want to make big changes to my life in 2010.

My 3 goals in 2010 are:

To live the Compact life style.
Write everyday.

To live The Compact life style
This is a step up from my last challenge of "buy no brand new fashion item for a year" (aka "the wardrobe challenge") that I did between 2008 and 2009. The wardrobe challenge changed my attitude to consumerism so much, and in such a positive way, that I really wanted to spread the challenge through out my house, not just my wardrobe.

It has taken several months to change my way of thinking, in order to take on this new challenge.
A few months back, when I originally wanted to do this challenge, the first thing I did was draw up a huge list of things to stock up on for the year. After a week of updating this list, I realised I was doing this the wrong way. The Compact is not about stocking up, it's about making the most of what you already have! So I waited until I was at a stage where I could take on this challenge, without stocking up first (because that's cheating).

I have had to teach myself that not having something, is not going to kill you. You can risk running out of things, and if it's something you really need, you either make sure you don't run out quick, or you will find a way to borrow or buy used. I am still terrified of not being able to just nip over to the shops to buy whatever I want, but I have to give this challenge a good go.

Write everyday
This is my measurable goal for getting my PhD done! I have spent December with the goal of writing at least 500 words on my thesis each working day (although I usually ended up writing 1000 words). This is not much to most people, but it is also a heck of a lot more words written than I had been for the previous six months (zero words). It's a start, and I will like to keep at this, slowly increasing my goal words, until I get myself back to my former self, writing away at my papers!

I will have little sub-goals that with tie in with these goals, something to work on each month also, which I am still finalising and editing at the moment.

Ta daaahhhhh

2009-12-27T09:58:00.001-08:00

I've finished the ripple blanket! It looks like it's a bit wonky on the sofa, but that's only because it's on the sofa. The ripples are all perfectly even, really!

As I said before, the pattern is by Lucy at Attic 24 . If you have ever wanted to do a ripple blanket but have been confused by the patterns before, I highly recommend trying her tutorial, because it is SO clear and easy to follow.

My handsome boy decided he wanted to personally introduce you to the blanket, since it has become his new favourite blanky, even before I finished making it.

I started off with 213ch for the first row. I did 45 stripes of colour, so that's 90 rows.

(He just won't move away from the blankie...)

I used Sirdar Just Soya yarns (I love the idea that it's 100% soya). I bought them this summer when they were on half price at HobbyCraft, and have been wanting to do a big project with it (to justify how many I had bought!!) They come in 50g balls, and I used:
SH151 (pink) x 4
SH155 (raspberry) x 4
SH150 (moss green) x 3
SH152 (pale green) x 7

I used more of the pale green in this, as for some reason I have lots more of them than any other colour.

Thank you Lucy for making this possible with your wonderful tutorial!

WIP Ripple Blanket

2009-12-26T09:51:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this blanket for the last two weeks, and I think I've finally done all the crochet part of it. It is a beautiful ripple pattern by Lucy at attic24.
There are many ripple patterns out there, but her pattern is makes the smoothest ripples (I'm not a big fan of edgy curves), and her tutorial makes it so easy to follow.

All I have to do now is deal with the loose thread... I don't like doing that...

Christmas Crochet

2009-12-25T10:13:00.000-08:00

I saw this pattern at thekidneybean and just knew I had to make it for a friend. So I put down my ripple blanky for a while, and started making a star.

The first 3 rows were very confusing, particularly as I don't do word patterns normally (I learnt to crochet with Japanese diagrams). However, it was a well written pattern, so after couple of goes, my project looked like a small star.

The star actually took suprisingly little yarn and little time. I started it the day before Christmas eve, and was done my eve lunch time. I used a ball and a bit of Hayfield Bonus in 887 Bright Pink (it's a lot more neon pink than it shows in the photos) and about a third of a ball of Robin DK in black. Had to block the star to make it less wonky.
I hooked with my trusty 7-Go hook (4.0mm) that's under Maria's tail in the photo here. I think she likes it.

Some Cards

2009-12-19T08:42:00.001-08:00

and some cards...

Some Bling Bling

2009-12-19T08:38:00.001-08:00

And here are some of my blinging work...

Some Beading Work

2009-12-19T08:32:00.001-08:00

I've dug out some old photos of things I have made. Here are some of the beading stuff I've done in the past.

New Family

2009-12-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Another news on things that have changed since the house move is....

We have two new family members!

Here is Maria. We were told she was about 10 years old when we got her, but the vet thinks she's closer to 13. She is a real madam and believes herself to be the Queen of the universe.

And here is Arthur, who is Maria's son. Ever suffering son, as his mum loves to rule, but is very patient, and very loving.

We've had so much joy since they came to us from the Cats Protection Preston Branch We can't thank enough these people who work tirelessly to take care of cats in need. They are all very lovely people.

The Compact Rule Updated

2009-12-19T07:05:00.001-08:00

Earlier this year, I was playing around with the idea of trying The Compact challenge for a year. We had to put off the challenge as we decided to move house in June. However, now that we're all settled down in our cosy house, we think we are ready to do the challenge for 2010.

I know I wrote many posts about what things to stock up on, but I have since realised that this is a bit of a cheat. So we haven't stocked up on anything, other than what we already have. Fortunately, we have a lot of many things due to my hoarding nature. The whole point of us going on the challenge is to actually use up what I have hoarded!

We also made our own compact rules here, however, there's no point in doing a challenge if you don't stick to the rules, so we are going to be hardcore and do the challenge by the original rules, which are:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact
2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)
3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)
So, here goes for the rules:
# <> First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
# Second principle - borrow or buy used.
# A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:

* food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
* necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
* socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental)
* pajamas for the children

We are very pleased that our lifestyle has come to a stage where we feel we can do this challenge :)

New Start

2009-12-19T06:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago, I had to change my email address due to some technical difficulty that no one was able to solve. Unfortunately this has meant an additional difficulty in accessing my previous blogger account. So I have had to create a new blog, and I will be transferring the stuff from my old blogs to the new one. It will take some time, but it will be nice to be able to combine the two previous blogs into one.

Please be patient while I work hard in the background...

UPDATE: well, merging two blogs into a new blog took only about 2 minutes, thanks to a export & import blog function. Three cheers for the person who created that function, thank you, you saved me MANY hours of work.

I will be deleting some posts to make this blog a little bit more coherent...

House Move and Challenge on Hold

2009-06-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

As you may have gathered from my previous post, I am moving house! Dave and I are moving in together, into a small two bed house, as we thought it would be a good way to downsize from living in two two-bedroom house/flat.

In the midst of all the chaos that is caused by moving house, we decided to put on hold of starting The Compact until we are settled and back into the swings of living. I am also away from home for a month. We decided 1st September is a good time to start, as this will be two weeks after I finish my wardrobe challenge, giving me time to stock up on some things that I have identified as needing new blood!

I am still continuing with the Wardrobe Challenge, and No Online Shopping Challenge in the mean time.

OK, I confess...

2009-06-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

I shopped online the other day...

Let me explain. Well, there is no excuse for breaking the no online shopping rule, but I will try to dig myself into a deeper hole anyway. I am moving house. WE are moving house, to a small two bed house, with both of our stuff. The house is fine for one person, but not two! So I am having to get rid of a lot of stuff (as my poor friends will be able to tell you from their houses filled with stuff I dumped on the pretence that they will like them).

So it makes perfect sense to go and buy new lights from Laura Ashley just because they were on 25% off sale. OK, so I had drooled over those lights for years. Going to the store to order them wasn't really an option, as the one in our town is situated too far from the any of the car parks for me to walk from. Still, it's a FAIL!

I have attempted to online shop for other things too "for the new house", but I have managed to not click the "go to checkout" button so far. I really really must get a grip on this online shopping ban though.

Brilliant website for recycling

2009-06-05T11:43:00.000-07:00

I have found a brilliant website for anyone interested in recycling in the UK. It's called RecycleNow and it's brilliant for two reasons.

1) You can enter your postcode and search for what recycling is available in your area. This is shown in a map, which is really handy, but on top of that, you can narrow down categories of what you want to recycle to find your nearest centre. I had almost given up on being able to recycle plastic food trays and yoghurt pots, but now I have found out that Cumbria is hot on plastic recycling. Now, when I go to the lakes for a day out, I can take my plastic with me!

2) In the composting page, at the bottom of the page, you can enter your post code to see if your council will subsidise composting equipments, but get this, you can then order it straight on the website, no fussing about going to find where you can redeem the subsistence. Yes, I am on an online purchase ban, but I did order a compost bin from them, as it was totally free, I figured it's not actually online shopping!

Have a look at the website if you are at the end of your tethers about things you can't recycle in your area.

The Effects of Illness

2009-05-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have been unwell for several months, although I tried to cover it up and continued to do my regular teaching hours and submit three papers this year. However, in the last two months my health deteriorated so much that I couldn't hide it any longer. I currently get to go out of the house once a week for a short trip (to the doctors mainly).

I finally went to the doctors and I am slowly getting treatments for my ills, so hopefully, I will sooner rather than later be healthier again.

I'm not writing about my health for sympathy. I wanted to write about how being ill has made me take the leap to committing to have a simpler life.

One of my illness means that, working full time is probably not a good idea, ever. I always dreamed of being a high flying career girl, but my health is now far more important to me than things. Over the last 8 months of my wardrobe challenge I have learnt that I no longer needed to value my life by the things I own. This new freedom has now allowed me to be comfortable with the idea of working only part-time, doing the things I really enjoy doing. I don't need to choose a full-time job that I hate because I needed the money to pay for things to make me look better.

This has really pushes my desire for a simpler life from a day dream to something I am going to actively plan towards.

The Two Year Plan

2009-05-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

We have a plan to move to a small house in the countryside in two years time to start our simpler living. However, there are a lot of things we need to still change before we can get to that stage! Here are some of the things we want to/are trying to work on.

One car - We both have a car each, and at the moment, it's difficult to get rid of them. Dave works away a lot, and he definitely needs his car for work. I only drive my car when he is not around as walking is difficult for me. We have discussed this issue before and we think it will become easier to realise when he settles down for a local job.

Moving house - We keep all large cardboard boxes that come into the house so that by the time we move, we won't need to by any boxes just for the purpose of moving our stuff. I am also steadily reducing my stuff so that there are less things to move.

Finance - of course this is the big one. To live a simpler life, you need to spend less (so that you can spent less time earning the money). I have become better at not spending, but I have a loooooong way to go. I am hoping that my Compact Challenge will really help me to let go of the need to buy stuff.

Skills - To live simply, you must learn to be as self sufficient as possible. I can always learning new crafting skills, while Dave is busy learning how to grow food on the balcony. I have also ~~bullied~~ suggested that he should follow what he really enjoys and sign himself up on a woodworking course.

Less dependent on products - I have moved away from Bold-loving, Bounty-wiping, Fairy-washing, Head-and-Shoulders-bubbling, Nivea-slapping ways in the last 8 months. Out of cleaning and beauty needs, I am now only dependent on shops for soap (still too scared to handle caustic soda), razors, eyeliner and washing up liquid.

No Online Shopping Challenge - One Month On

2009-05-09T23:56:00.000-07:00

I have survived the first month of my no online shopping challenge. Not sure how, but I did.

The first few days were filled with sheer panic. I felt more cool on my driving test (and boy was I nervous on my test many years ago). Online shopping was my main source of shopping for nice stuff. Yes I used the local market and supermarket for daily stuff, but things that really excited me, like crafting stuff, books, etc. I bought online. Not being able to browse the world to find exactly what I want was really hard.

I desperately searched for local places to buy my "essentials" like skincare ingredients and American DVDs (well, Ghost Whisperer season 4 to be precise). I couldn't find anyone in Preston that sold pure Shea butter by the kilo.

Then I spent a few days coming up with all sort of cheating ways I could possibly do. Would it count if I order it online but then pay by cheque through the post (thus actual transaction of money takes place offline)? What if I can email the order in (thus the ordering of items takes place off the website)? After a long chat with Dave, it was decided that the whole point of this challenge was about going back to the way we shopped before the Internet.

We redefined the no online shopping rule that I should a) have to write down what I am ordering by hand, and b) use either fax/phone/letter to place an order. The Internet will be just like a shop window where I can browse, but the ordering and money exchange must all take place offline.

Armed with my new way of able to buy things that are online, I looked through all my favourite shops in search of things to buy.

... And I haven't bought ANYTHING that I have seen online. After I jotted down things I wanted to buy from a skincare ingredients shop, it just all seemed silly and very expensive. Then I started crossing things out because I didn't NEED them, and before I knew it, there was nothing left on the list! Turns out, nothing on that list was worth the hassle of me writing the list out in neat, and faxing/phoning/writing to someone. Same thing occur ed with a kitchen tool shop, the vintage home ware shop and mineral make up ingredients shop.

There will be things that I will have to buy in time, such as my adored Shea butter, but for now, I realised that I have enough of everything.

And that's a good feeling to have.

The Compact - Reducing the List

2009-05-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

The next task was to go through the house and see what I did already have. I found:

11 razor blade heads(now off the list)
7 manual and 4 electric tooth brush heads (now off the list)
2 packs of cotton pads (buy 1 bag instead of 3)
1.5 boxes of cotton buds (buy 1 small box instead of 2)
2 bottles of deodorant spray
2 bars of soap (buy 4 bars instead of 6)
6 months of sanitary supply (buy only 6 months supply instead of 12)
Set of sewing machine needles (now off the list)

I then started to think very carefully about the unreusable things on my list. I started to wonder if, instead of buying these things, I could find alternative things that were reusable.

Cling film and ziplock bags - we use these for freezing everything from herbs to vegetables that won't get eaten in time. We already use Tupperware to freeze large portions of homemade tomato sauces, etc, but have been using disposable wrappers for the small things. Instead of buying rolls of these things, I would much prefer to buy a set of very small Tupperware and reuse those. So cling films and ziplock bags are off my stock up list. I will use up what I have now, and no more!

Baking sheets - this is as good time as any to try the reusable baking sheet.

Planning - Stocking Up

2009-05-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Clearly, we are going to have to stock up on some things to get us through the year. I much prefer to stock up a year's supply now, and then rule that item out for the year (it just keeps things simple). I also wanted to carefully think about how much stuff I would use in a year, and use them very carefully, rather than use them willy nilly. I am hoping being on rations will make me more mindful of what I use.
So, what does a girl need in a year? I started to jot down things I could think of with guesses of how many I/We needed (Dave is taking care of his own list). I can hear you say "wait, aren't you suppose to be NOT buying things?" and you would be right. However, we don't wish to kill ourselves over the year, nor be dirty, nor be bored. I really don't think the occupants of the other flats will appreciate it if we started chucking rubbish in the communal bin loose.

The initial list (which I will narrow down in the next few days):

Wool
Fabric
Set of knitting needles
4m of wadding
bag of stuffing
Sewing threads
Elastic cords
bias tape maker
sewing machine needles
chalk
6 bars of soap
12 Razor blades
Tooth brush, 6 manual, 1 pack of electric brush heads
3 bags of Cotton pads
12 months supply of Sanitary items
Small reusable jars
HDD
Fast flatbed scanner
Hand mixer
henna dye * 2 from lush
1 box of (recycled) A4 paper
2 sets of Printer ink
2 boxes of cotton ear buds
Percolator (I would not want to feel the wrath of Dave if we couldn't have proper coffee)
6 boxes of Tissue
6 rolls Bin bags
2 rolls of Aluminium foil
3 rolls of cling film
2 rolls of baking sheets
3 boxes of ziplock bags
Spray bottles (for cleaning solutions)
white envelopes
Network cable (to network the fax machine to reduce print outs)

There are no shampoos & conditioners on my list, as I have trimmed my hair very short until my hair decides to grow back. Until then, I can just use soap, then I will go back to the bicarb & vinegar when I start growing them again. There are also no skincare and make up, as I can make everything I need (except for eyeliners which I should have enough for a year). No cleaning products are on the list, as mentioned before, I make all the cleaning things I need from scratch (washing powder, general cleaning spray, air freshner, etc.). No crafting/art materials are mentioned as they are one of the main things I would like to use up, I have beads coming out of my ears. Washing up liquid we have 3/4 of the 5 litre container we bought to save on plastic bottles. I will also learn to cope without kitchen towels when the lot I have runs out.

Now here are some justifications for certain things. Wool and fabric I would like to stock up on, as I am in the middle of learning how to sew, absolutely love crochet and want to learn how to knit this year (all these assuming I get better health wise) - it will be interesting to see how I will do on a ration! The 4m of wadding is partly for my double size patchwork quilt I have been forever making (a year at least), and some for other patchwork projects I may like to try. The network cable is desired as if I could connect up my fax/printer/scanner, it will save us having to print things out to fax through. Since I fax a lot of things to my mum in Japan, this will be quite a saving on paper. I want to get an external hard rive so that I can digitalise all my DVDs to save space that they take up. I also would love a fast flat bed scanner so that I can keep a digital library of things I like from the books, and then recycle the books to gain more space. However, I am still thinking through the scanner and HDD.

The Compact - The Rules

2009-05-06T11:38:00.000-07:00

Taken from the original SF Compact website, the rules of The Compact are:

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact
2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)
3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)
So, here goes for the rules:
# <> First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
# Second principle - borrow or buy used.
# A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:

* food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
* necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
* socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental)
* pajamas for the children

I am adapting some of these ask something I already do not buy.

MY COMPACT RULES
Things we can buy new:

Food & Drinks
Necessary medication
Cosmetic ingredients
Toilet paper (recycled)
Wood & screws from Savoy (not from B&Q, etc)
Dave's contact lenses
Seals (teddy seals)
Seeds & compost
Light bulbs (consider if we really need to replace it first)
Work related necessities (think hard)
Car related necessities (think hard)

I don't need to buy premade cleaning products, as I make all of my own from basic ingredients.
socks, PJs and underwear - I still have loads... ok not loads but plenty to keep me going.

Things we CANNOT buy new:

Books
Stationery
Cosmetic making tools & equipment
Kitchen towels
Shampoo & conditioner
Tooth paste
Soap
Razor
DIY tools
Sewing/beading/crafting/Art materials and tools
DVDs & CDs
Computer peripherals
Fizzy drinks
Batteries
Magazines (except for New Scientist)
Cleaning products (premade) and equipment.
Anything that is not on the "can buy new list"

Other items:

Sky - do not renew once the 12 months contract is up.
Mobile phone - pay as you go when contract is up.

In addition, things we will not replace at all if broken:

TV
Hoover
Microwave
Food processor
Slow cooker
Lazer printer (can use the Fax/printer/scanner instead)
Sky box
DVD player
HDD recorder

£20 gift rule - can buy anything up to £20 for each other on following occasions: Birthday, Christmas and Anniversary.

New magazine are out as we see this as being similar to books. I do have a 2 year subscription to New Scientist that has been paid for already. We won't buy any new magazines.

Light bulbs - when one goes, first decide if we really need to replace it .

Any items belonging to the flat (Fridge, freezer, washing machine, dish washer (we never use), shower, boiler, etc) are out of our controls and will be fixed/replaced according to the Landlord's wishes.

A New Challenge - The Compact

2009-05-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I came across the concept of The Compact. Back then, I mistakenly thought it was called The Compactor, that's how much attention I paid towards it. The concept, in one sentence, is to not buy anything brand new except for food and medicine. You are suppose to be sensible with this rule, such as use local business rather than global corporations, and several exceptions to the rules, which are provided here.
At the time, I was just teetering on the verge of caring about eco. I was reading my first eco-book, still buying bags and bags of clothes and general stuff every time I went out shopping... and I could go shopping several times a week! I was throwing away stuff just because I found another one that I liked more, and creating bags of rubbish every week. There was about a trip around the world between me then, and these crazy compact people. I acknowledges their die-hardness but felt that it was as likely for me to do this as me winning the lottery - only winning the lottery appealed to me a lot more.
Since then, I stopped buying brand new fashion items, banished as much chemicals out of my house, and stopped online shopping. I came across The Compact again just recently, and I realised that the trip around the world distance has shrunk to perhaps a trip across the country. My mindset had changed completely since those brand-loving shop-a-holic days. I now love charity shopping, and get far more satisfaction out of making a bag myself than drooling over my Louis Vuittons (which I still love, but no longer feel that it is as important to a girl as oxygen is).
I was tempted. Really tempted. I was getting hold of my latest challenge of no online shopping, and I needed something new. My busy mind started racing but there was one problem - there is no way I could do this on my own. All the other challenges were about personal choice. It was easy, because they were about what I spend my money on, for myself. However, when it comes to not buying ANYTHING brand new, it would be far too easy for me to cheat by asking Dave to buy it. I needed him on this boat to paddle with me.
Fortunately, because Dave is far better at being eco and thrifty, it was painless when I started the sentence "I've been sort of, kinda, perhaps toying with this new idea..." He was happy to join, but realised that we would have to think this through really well, or we were doomed from the start. I also need him on board, as being ill for the last few months with slow prospect of getting better, it is likely that I will have to ask him to do some of the legwork.
This is the first challenge in which some planning is required, so we have agreed to start the challenge on 1st June 2009 and end one year later on 1st June 2010.

New Challenge - No Online Shopping!

2009-03-30T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am now quite comfortable with my wardrobe challenge and using natural toiletry, so I felt it was time to try out another challenge.

My biggest out going expense (besides rent) is online shopping. I do most of my shopping online, and probably, make that definitely, spend way too much money each time. So, here is the new challenge:

NO ONLINE SHOPPING FOR A YEAR.

Now, to some people, this is nothing. However, I buy everything except for food online! I buy presents online and get it sent to people's houses. I need ingredients for my handmade toiletries! Where am I going to buy beads? Fabrics? Books? Aaaahhhhhhh!

So here are list of rules:
1. Period of challenge: 01.04.2009-01.04.2010
2. No online shopping for a year.
3. I am allowed to buy services online, such as train tickets, booking hotels and flights, insurances, etc.
4. If it is a crucial thing for my PhD, then I am allowed to buy it... This is because books I need tend to be antique books and a miracle if I can find them... It has to be crucial to my research, not just generic books that I could order in a real bookshop.

So what am I expecting from this challenge? The first thing of course, is that I'd save money! Cut off your main method of spending, and you're bound to cut spending right? Second, I will support local businesses more by restricting what I buy to what I can find locally. Thridly, I will need to plan more ahead for presents, so I should be able to come up with more thoughtful gifts.

I am now having the same feeling that I got when I decided to not buy any brand new fashion items for a year (that is still going btw), but since I am 7.5 months into that, I know I can get by without something that at first appears to be a crucial part of your life.

Natural Toiletry Update

2009-03-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Since my decision to change to natural alternatives for toiletry and cleaning products last September, I've been having lots of fun making toiletries! I can now make:

Bath bombs
Buffy bars
Body shuffle (which can be used for face and hair as well)
Lip gloss
Lip balm
Lip stick
Eye shadows

That covers me for most things I need, I just need to learn how to make Mineral foundation and soap next!

Natural Toiletry Addition...

2009-03-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

So here is a confession. I haven't used shampoo and conditioner on my hair for 7 weeks. I DO wash my hair on a frequent basis, but use baking soda and apple cider vinegar instead. It's called the "no (sham)'poo" method, very popular practise in sort of a cult way on the internet.

Here is the best description of the method that I have found on the internet, but there are loads of information available if you google "no 'poo".

Since I started to convert to natural toiletry last September, I had been using Lush's Squeaky Green solid shampoo, which I loved. However, they have reverted back to using Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, which I am not confortable using, so I had to find an alternative way of cleaning my hair. I had read about using baking soda and vinegar (both of which I have by the bucket load) to wash your hair before, so I thought, "well, it's worth a try".

Whether it was because I had used more "natural" shampoo and conditioners before the change or not, my hair didn't go through the horrendous greasy phase that internet warns you about. Yes, my hair did go a little greasy for the first 4 weeks, but nothing socially unacceptable. Thanksfully, it was true that vinegar does not smell once your hair dries! I actually prefer this method now to washing with shampoo, because it makes my hair feel very clean, without being coated with "stuff". My hair have doubled, trippled in volume since, and for the first time in my life, I can style my hair! I can curl, pin, preen my once-very-straight-and-stubborn hair to whatever style I want.

So would I recommend the no 'poo method to others? Yes and No. Yes, if they are the kind of person that can do it. I would absolutely recommend anyone trying it, if they can go through the initial adjustment period, which can last up to 2 months. To harness the goodness of this method, you have to be open to changes, happy to try different ways of washing (it took me a few tries to figure out the right amount of baking soda and vinegar to use), and not miss chemicals! If you love the lather than shampoos give, and addicted to chemical way of life, then this is possibly the worst thing you can try...

Wardrobe Challenge Update

2009-03-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Due to my lack of posting, most of you would have assumed that I failed at this challenge and wanted to keep quiet about it. Well, I haven't failed, and the challenge has become such an integral part of my life. I am seven and half months in to my challenge, and it has gone so quick.
Nowdays, the thought of going into primark (as much as I LOVED primark) and picking up a basket full of clothes to buy just seems boring. Where's the challenge in that? It's much more fun dig around and fall in love with ONE top in a charity shop, knowing that you will wear it many times over.

I made it through a trip to Japan (usually a shop shop shop trip), and found a charity shop buddy to go hunting with. I'm slowly learning how to follow clothes partterns and sew simple stuff. I will put up pictures of them when they become good enough to show to anyone but me. I have recently bought few pieces of clothing from charity shops, but in general, have bought very few clothes. Friends have been very kind, and donated their clothes to me, and imagine the cheers when I actually found someone to swap clothes with, yes, SWAP, she's the same size as me! Her old jeans is no my favourite going out clothes!

Last month, I found it really hard to go clothes shopping with friends and go into clothes shops. It seemed SO easy to just see some clothes I like, and look along the rail for the right size. So, I did let myself pick at clothes, to experience the shopping buzz, but put everything back (in their correct places) at the end.

So have I saved lots of money by not buying any brand new fashion items so far? Nooooo. I have instead spent the money on buying fabrics that are currently piled up in my bedroom ready to be turned into things, and beads for making accessories with. Don't do this challenge if you're looking to save money!!

To Finish A Scarf

2008-09-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the multicoloured scarf. I kept it short, and wanted to using something to keep it together, rather than a wrap around scarf.
So I purchased a kilt pin from hobbycraft, and using some swarovski beads to decorate it to match (?) the scarf. It's very pretty, but unfortunately, it is slightly drowning in the scarf pattern...

The Challenge Count:
Brand new fashion items: 0
Second hand items
Top: 1
Made by AK
Scarves: 3
Necklaces: 3
Hats: 1
Rings: 1
Earrings: 1 pair
Refashioned by AK
Bags: 1

Plastic Rose Earings Tutorial

2008-09-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the shrink plastic ring, here is a tutorial on how to make shrink plastic earrings.

Step 1: Stamp the image of your choice using Staz-On ink pad. I used a rose stamp with black ink.

Step 2: This is optional, but I find it easier to get the position of the hole (to put a c-ring through later) if I use a eyelet puncher to mark the position first. You just need to twist the puncher a couple of time on the plastic to make a mark. If you don't have a puncher, just use a permanent marker to mark the position.

Step 3: Take the back off your (normal, office) hole punch, and hold it up side down. Using the mark made above as a guide, position the plastic and punch a hole.

Step 4: Cut around the image and the punched hole, leaving a 2mm border all the way round.

Step 5: Using a sharpie in black, fill in any gaps on your image. Flip the plastic over (so that the side with the black rose image is facing down) and colour in the image with red.

Step 6: While holding down the image with tweezers, heat the plastic with a crafting heat gun. Once the image has finished shrinking, lightly press it with something flat, like a stamp pad lid.

The image with shrink to "7 times its original size" (that's what it says on the packet, not what I said), as shown below.

Step 7: Using the hole made earlier, attach it to earring parts.

Done!

Shrink Plastic Rings

2008-09-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

After an afternoon of window shopping with Nicky, being very tempted to buy new jewellery (I didn't buy any!) and inspired from this tutorial on Craft Stylish, I tried making my very own shrink plastic rings. If you want to give it a go, I highly recommend you have a read of the tutorial, as it gives a much more detailed instruction.

Step 1: Cut the shrink plastic (I used a sheet of clear) into 2.5cm x 14cm rectangle.

Step 2: Using a stamp of your choice, and staze-on ink of your choice, stamp the image all over the sheet.
Step 3: After flipping the sheet over, colour in the inside of the image with permanent markers. I used a sharpie in red. (if you don't flip over your plastic first, your pen and the stamped image with blur into a mess)

Step 4: Cut the ends into nice round ends.

Step 5: While holding one end of the rectangle with tweezers, heat the plastic up with a crafting heat gun. The plastic will start to shrink.

Step 6: While the plastic is still hot, carefully pick it up with the tweezers, and wrap it around a cylindrical object about the same size as your finger. (In this case, I used a kitchen utensil handle). This sounds easy, but it's a right nightmare! If it cools before you get the right shape, don't worry, just heat it up with the heat gun until soft, and push and prod it into shape.

Step 7: Let the ring cool, and have fun wearing it!

Notes

Note 1: It's best to use a high quality permanent marker, such as sharpie. I didn't have a pink sharpie, so I used a cheapo version and it went horribly uneven and messy, as seen on the ring on the left.

Note 2: They say that when you are heating the shrink plastic, it'll look like a messy, but not to worry as once fully shrunk, it'll flatten itself out... Well, not if it does this:

So try to keep the shrink plastic from touching each other too much.

New Hat

2008-09-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is the first hat I have made!

Necklaces

2008-09-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Along with the wool buying trips to Hobbycraft I have been doing, I have also bought some lovely beads, which have since turned into kitsch necklaces.

I wanted a green necklace to go with my new (to me) green top, so bought two packs of mixed green glass beads at around £3 each, and made a very long necklace, long enough to go round my neck once and still leave a longer loop to drape down. I opened the packs of beads on the table and threaded them as I grabbed them randomly. I used three threads for the necklace, just to give it extra strength as the glass beads were quite heavy.

Also found black plastic beads in two different sizes that were SO cheap, I am guessing the two necklaces to be around 50p each, and I still have more than half of the beads left to make numerous numbers of black beaded necklaces in the future!

Wooo my first buy!

2008-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

This is my first fashion item I have bought since I started my challenge... it's not brand new though, as that would be breaking the rules, it's genuine second hand clothes.

I finally braved my local oxfam vintage shop for the first time with my friend Nicky, and we had such a good time! we tried on all sorts of clothes, and I settled on this green number. Yes, me, green.

The photo makes the top way too garish, I assure you, it's far more muted than how it looks. As you can see from the label, it is Kookai... for those people this name does not ring a bell, expect to pay £40 and upwards for a Kookai top. How much did I pay for it? FOUR POUNDS.... £4!!!

Scarf, Scarf, and oh, another Scarf!

2008-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

So I have been crocheting scarves recently, thanks to hobbycraft doing half price on some lovely wool which has gold strands in them which makes your item all sparkly...

This took three of the wools I bought in Amethyst, and it's very long and very warm! After I made this, I went back to hobbycraft and bought the wools in different (6!) colours as I was so pleased with this scarf and made...

This scarf... well, technically, makING, I haven't decided how to finish this scarf, so it's work in progress, and thus you can see a strand of wool in the photo. The pattern is an arrangement of one on p.57 of stich'n'bitch happy Hooker book (yes, I said right).

This one is a present for Nicky, I know how she likes pink and black. I wanted to try out my new 10mm crochet needle I bought along with the new wool, and thought it would be great to crochet with two strands of wool.

Making my first bath bombs

2008-09-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, I, with good help from my OH, made my first ever batch of bath bombs. I followed recipe from this website (go to instructions & recipes, then basic bath fizzie recipe) where I also got all the ingredients from. It was MUCH easier to make than I thought it was going to be.

I made it with lemon, lime and grapefruits essential oils, which gave the bombs a refreshing aroma.

Mixing all the ingredients together while OH reads out what to do next...

Squish it into the moulds and leave it to dry over night... (in the mould)

ta daaaaa! I was so impressed that it came out so well :)

How to be eco on your travels

2008-09-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

I am away from home this week, on a conference in Liverpool. This of course warrants a post about what I am doing to stay eco while being out of the house:

1) Leave a "Please do not make the bed" sign on your bed
I don't know about you, but I don't change my beddings everyday, and I am more than happy with that. So why should I require someone to change my bedding and wash everything just because I am staying at a hotel? If you are staying more than one night, leave a sign "Please do not make the bed, thank you :)" on your bed.

2) Only use one bin in the room
It'd be much easier to chuck bathroom rubbish in the bathroom bin, but just take five steps from it and put it in the main bin in the room. Using only one bin means you cause only one plastic bag to be thrown away, rather than two or more.

3) Turn off the aircon
Hotel rooms have a really bad habit of constantly having the aircon on, often at a low temperature that freezes us. Turn off the aircon, and only put it on when you need it. (The one in my current room has the annoying habit of turning itself back on after few hours, so I am having to get up in the middle of the night to turn it off again!)

4) Don't forget your usual suspects - water bottles & reusable bags
When you are far away from the comfort of your home, you will be using these more than usual, as water in glass gets harder to find, and you end up buying presents for your loved ones at home.

5) Pack all your clothing and products that you need
It's much harder to find alternative green products in a strange city/town. You don't want to be caught short, and resorting to buying a jumper (if you are on the wardrobe challenge) or ungreen products.

6) Eat in rather than take out
On the first day, I bought dinner from a cafe to take out so I could relax and eat it in my hotel room. I was horrified by the amount of packaging this caused, just so that I could take it to the next building along, and three floors up. There was a paper cup, plastic lid, cardboard and paper construction to wrap the panini in and a paper bag to put them in (I refused the paper bag). All of these would've been unnecessary if I just sat in the cafe and ate it off proper plate and mug.

The no-brainers:
Reuse towels
Take the train if you can
Travel light

Reusable Fruit and Veg Bags

2008-08-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Reading about the zero waste challenge, I started to think about what more I could do to reduce packaging when shopping. I started to think, it's a lot of a waste with those small plastic bags in supermarkets to put your fruits and vegs in. In markets, it is greener with a brown paper bag, which can be recycled. However, surely, this is still using resources that we could avoid.

So, here are reusable fabric fruit and veg bags I made. I didn't have any fabrics to make them out of, so I did buy this cat fabric, which came in squares that were ideal size for the use. Due to buying the fabric at a chain store, and buying the fabric for the design rather than price, the bags work out to be 60p each. However, you could use any old fabrics, which would make your bag free!

ETA: I have since found this page from Life Less Plastic - I'm glad I am not the only one with the crazy idea!

Refashion with Stickers

2008-08-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

Not quite within my wardrobe challenge, which is related to fashion items, but here are some items I revamped using some stickers I bought few months ago. They are called colour dimension stickers, comes in a range of colours and patterns. You layer and layer the shapes to make your very own funky flowers and butterflies, etc.

Wii Guitar Hero Guitar:

Notebooks:

My First Refashion

2008-08-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is my first "refashion" of my wardrobe challenge. I had a pair of jeans that did not fit me well (fits fine around the bum, too big around the waist), that was destined for the bin before the challenge. I decided this was a great first item to refashion, and I really wanted to use the bum pocket to make a bag. Here is the original pair of jeans.

And here is the bag. I made it up as I went along, no pattern, no sewing machine, and not much planning!! I cut the bum pocket, and cut everything else to fit around it. It is all hand sewn, so it took a good few hours (nothing painful with a House 3 seasons DVD box set!) but I am very pleased with the way it has turned out. The bag only used up half the pair of jeans, so I may make another bag out of the other half, with a different lining, and maybe use the sewing machine this time!

Making Plugs Easier to Reach

2008-08-27T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have always been aware that you should switch off your electrical off standby when not in use. I even bought 6-way sockets that allow you to switch off individual sockets by a flick of a switch. However, as you will see, I made my life VERY difficult by putting these in very hard to reach, if not impossible to reach places. This resulted in me NOT switching things off when I should have done.

Enough was enough, and I have now moved my plugs with switches to places that are much easier to reach.

The desk area

Before: I had two 6-way sockets, one with individual switches and one without. I had both of them stuck under my desk, where it was collecting dust. I was way too lazy to duck under the desk each time I needed to switch things on and off. The area is also very messy, thanks to cables everywhere.

After: I moved plugs for all the electrical equipment which I don't need on all the time. That's everything except for the fax machine and the telephone. I moved the 6-way with switches, labeled all the plugs so it was easy to identify what was what, and now they are all within easy reach when I am sitting at my desk.
This also had the added effect of making the under desk area considerably tidier!

The TV area

Before: All the TV related equipment were all on sockets with individual power switches, but it was behind the TV stand. This is THE most stupid place to put them, you have to be an olympic gymnast to be able to reach them. So I decided to move them to the front of the telly.

After: All the plugs are now labeled, and in front of the telly. This is now very easy to switch everything off when not in use. Although I have lots of electrical equipments around the telly, I hardly ever use most of them, so it is really useful to make it easier to switch them off.

What changes did it make?
It is now much easier to switch things off, and I am now very efficient at it. I can't believe how easy it was to make this change - it only took me about 10 minutes to do both the desk and TV areas. Yet it has made a big difference in my habit to switch electrics off.

Day 12 (W.27.8.8)

2008-08-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's been like christmas all over again in my flat the past couple of days, with organic and natural products coming in to replace all the chemical filled products that I have been having problems with. The house is now totally (bad) chemical free, and I feel a lot better, with much reduced sniffling, sneezing, coughing and itchyness.

I have just tried the lush squeaky green solid shampoo. I have to admit that I was really dubius about this, I mean, a SOLID shampoo?? I want liquid pouring onto my head!
I was totally and absolutely wrong about solid shampoos. I LOVE this product, it was really easy to use and lathered well. Most importantly, it smells divine, and left my hair feeling fresh and clean. I am addicted, I want to jump back in the shower and wash my hair all over again.

I also love my new Lavera body SPA shower gel in Vervain and Lime which reminds me of the now "retro" lush back for breakfast showergel which I was a big fan of a few years ago. The Lavera is however SLS and paraben free.

Another product I am really pleased with, is the trilogy nourishing body lotion (£14.95 for 200ml). It has the loveliest rose hip scent that reminds me of ye olde English rose garden, and it leaves my skin silky smooth. A little goes a long way with this product. I used to use nivea soft before the conversion, and I am finding that I need less that a third of the trilogy cream in comparison to cover the same area.

Day 9 (Su.24.8.8)

2008-08-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

I made my own body scrub for the first time and wondered why on earth I didn't try it before...

I also made 20 brown bag replacements - I will post about this in more detail soon, but basically, they are fabric bags that I am going to use instead of brown paper bags or plastic bags at supermarkets to put my fruit and veg in.

Washed my hair for the last time using carcinogenic filled shampoo & conditioner, please, oh please, will the organic products arrive on Tuesday!

Making Body Scrubs

2008-08-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

I made my first body scrub ever today, it was so easy, I don't know why I never tried before.
For one portion of salt scrub:
3 Tablespoons of salt
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 drops of lavender essential oil
2 drops of geranium essential oil
2 drops of rose essential oil

Plop everything in a small container (I used an empty nivea body cream pot) and mix well. The salt and oil is just a guideline, as you might like to use more salt or have a runnier consistency. I also made a portion for my OH using tea tree and sandalwood. I am recommending 2 drops of each essential oil, as I put 3 drops of each and it was a bit strong.

I made one portion only, as I don't use preservatives, I want to make a portion of scrub each time I use it. It will also let me try different combinations of oils. I would like to try using sesame seed oil, as I heard it is good for your immune system. I really really wouldn't recommend using this if you are shaving, but you can replace the salt with sugar and I guess it won't be so torturous!

The scrub was gorgeous, and it felt just like those shop bought, chemical filled scrubs that I used to pay an arm and a leg for. As I used essential oils (and a bit too much of them), 6 hours later, I can still smell gorgeous lavender and geranium on my skin.

Day 8 (Sa.23.8.8)

2008-08-23T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today I cut my nails short so that I don't need to use as much nail polish. For those of you who know me, I usually have very long nails. However, with the university term starting soon, and starting to get busy, I thought it would be eco and less hassle to shorten my nails again.

On an un-eco side, we attended a wedding reception this evening. It was full of paper plates, plastic cutlery and paper napkins. The thing is, if I had gone to the same reception just a few weeks back, I know these things would've never bothered me. Now, it does. It really does. Funny how people change their attitudes in such a short time.

The CFL bulbs are going well (with the exception of two duff bulbs that died immediately). As I used to use as low wattage bulbs as I could get away with, the flat is now much brighter than it used to be, for much less energy. I actually feel guilty that my living room is so bright, even though my rational brain is shouting at the unrational that the lights uses up much less energy.

I have started a little "reuse centre" on one of my book shelf, so that I can keep packagings neatly for reuse. I will put up photos of it soon!

The Effects of CFL

2008-08-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Now that I have replaced all the light bulbs (except the kitchen), I thought it would be fun to calculate how much different it will be making. For the calculation, I am assuming that I have all the lights on in the house, which I would never ever do in real life!

Before:
Living room 6 x 40w = 240w
Bedroom 3 x 40w = 120w
Reading lamps 2 x 40w = 80w
2nd bedroom 1x 60w = 60w
Bathroom 3 x 60w = 180w
En suite 2 x 40w = 80w
Corridor 4 x 40w = 160w
TOTAL: 920w

After:
Living room 6 x 7w = 42w
Bedroom 3 x 7w = 21w
Reading lamps 2 x 8w = 16w
2nd bedroom 1x 12w = 12w
Bathroom 3 x 11w = 33w
En suite 2 x 7w = 14w
Corridor 4 x 7w = 28w
TOTAL: 166w

That's 82% reduction! I know this isn't a real represenation of day-to-day-use comparison and I am sure there are more complex but accurate way of calculating this, but it gives me a good idea about how much the bulbs are going to reduce the energy I use.

I am however, going to carry on turning lights off when I don't need it on.

Day 7 (Fr.22.8.8)

2008-08-22T14:04:00.000-07:00

I had to go and exchange some of the CFL bulbs that I ordered yesterday, as I mistakenly ordered the wrong ones. It took some time to get it all sorted, but when the light bulbs came, the staff started to put the bulbs into a plastic bag. I quickly handed him my reusable bag and asked him to put them in there.

So the man put the plastic bag with the light bulbs into my reusable bag. I'm sorry, but of course a customer who just bought 15 ENERGY SAVE light bulbs, and handed a reusable bag really wants a plastic bag. *SIGH*

Anyway, after some stroppy rant in the car, we went home and replaced all the light bulbs in the flat. I am keeping the old light bulbs though, so I can put them back if and when I move out of my rented accommodation and take my dear CFL bulbs with me to the new pad.

On other things, I read about a family who is carrying out a zero waste week at the start of next month. This has got my OH and I discussing about how we could reduce our waste even more. We do pretty well, I do the usual council collected recycling diligently, and my OH is very good at visiting our local recycling centre. We use a very small waste bin, but I have never thought about how much waste I was throwing out.

No, I am not going to do the zero waste challenge (yet) on the basis that I have enough things to be getting to grips with at this early stage in my challenges. However, it is worth thinking, how you could further reduce your waste - think of it like a game!

Fine Yourself

2008-08-22T06:09:00.000-07:00

Like most people, my first baby step towards green living was purchasing reusable shopping bags so I could stop using plastic bags. Unfortunately, I forget half of the time to take it shopping with me, or buy more than I can fit in one bag, and end up having to take a plastic bag or two home with me.

To combat this, I am going to the extreme, and going to fine myself £10 every time I go shopping without my reusable bags. This amount is huge for me, if I forget once, it is going to kill off my weekly budget.

However, I know this will work. I am an extreme person that need extreme measures in order to change a habit. Also, this is a tried and tested method - fine the person an amount that is likely to cripple them in the short term. My parents and I agreed to something similar when we had some issues, where they would be fined a large amount of money if they did this particular thing that was really upsetting me - They did it once each, fined, and never again. Of course this has backfired since in that they use the same trick on me!!

Back to the shopping bags, I am pondering what to do with the money I may collect from fining myself. Invest in green things for the house? donate it to a charity? If a charity, which charity?

Day 6 (Th.21.8.8)

2008-08-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

I spent more money...

1)Bought energy saving light bulbs (see this post)

2)Bought an adopt a giraffe at London zoo for my best friend's daughter's birthday, along with entry tickets and train tickets for the whole family go to the zoo as my best friend's birthday present. I got the idea after reading about it somewhere (sorry I can't remember where), and thought it was a great idea, as my best friend is also becoming a closet eco-warrior herself :)

Cost of CFL Conversion

2008-08-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

As we are on the topic of "how much does converting cost?", here is a post to answer the "how much does it cost to convert the house to using energy saving (CFL) light bulbs?"

I, very ashamedly, do not have any energy saving light bulbs in the house. So I decided to convert as many of the lights as I can afford that I though was worth doing. I decided to not change ones that were not used very often, and those ones that the energy saving versions were too expensive. However, that is only two rooms, the kitchen (halogen lamps) and the second bedroom (aka my walk in wardrobe).

After a long search on the internet, I figured screwfix was the cheapest by far.

The total cost of replacing 20 (out of 25)light bulbs was £37.09

This breaks down into:
9 x Candle SBC 7watt @ £1.49 each (bedroom and living room)
2 x Phillips mini lusture 8watt @ £4.75 each (bedside lights for late night reading)
3 x Low energy GSL CFL 11watt @ £1.72 each (bathroom)
6 x Phillips low energy candle ES 5watt @ £1.49 each (en suit and corridor)

This is considerable less than all the other websites I have fund, plus they deliver next day for free (for orders over £50).