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| After a few weeks infusing dilute 50:50 with Water or Vinegar (I dilute with Vinegar) |
Rhonda over at Down to Earth was interviewed for the "Live for Less" theme for the October Issue of The Australian Women's Weekly magazine....It's only the largest magazine in the country...and probably the most popular this month too for a number of reasons. heheh! During the interview Rhonda was asked to recommend two other people who enjoy doing the same as her, living in a similar frugal way.I was pleased, no I was gobsmacked that she had chosen me to be interviewed as well. I can understand that she chose Christine from Slow Living Essentials, but I never dreamt that she would choose me too. Thank-you Rhonda for sharing your spotlight with both of us. Congratulations on your new column as well.
After chatting with the lovely reporter from WW for what seemed like close to an hour on the phone.....I was so excited, but knowing that the magazine wouldn't be published for an entire month, nearly drove me mad. I usually get excited about new buds forming or newly found fruits or veg developing around my garden.....but this.....this was something else.....Now, I had to wait and see, just like Rhonda
and Christine.....Let me tell you.....it was a long month waiting.
The waiting finally simmered down to waiting for the newsagents to open one morning after dropping DS20 off at the train station for another day at work......I was half an hour early for the newsagents to be opened, so I just sat in my car. I finally got the Australian Women's Weekly...and flicked through to page 40...I started to quickly scan through the words, looking for anything that mentioned what I do.....I was amazed when I turned the page to find out that my Citrus Cleaner had made it as a special recipe into the magazine. I'm now sharing my easy cleaner with more readers than I ever could have imagined, and that's great!...The article goes on to mention how I learn't to sew at a time when I needed it the most....I was 21 and found out I was pregnant with my first child (now DS 20). I took myself off to Puckapunyal to my sisters....and she taught me stretch sewing with an over-locker and a normal sewing machine. I guess it all started long before that though...as I watched my mother and my grandmother do a lot of work from scratch over the years.....
No-one expects you to learn it all in one day!
I've done hoards of different things since those times..and learn't many new skills as well....I love learning new skills, but don't be thinking that you can do it all at once, because you can't. You can't possibly learn everything at once, and begin 'Living for Less' completing all the tasks that others do. Start with something little...like building a compost. After-all, you will need somewhere to put all those food scraps when you start cooking from scratch....and your going to need good hearty compost to grow some lovely veg, flowers or herbs in your garden. Save your strawberry punnets to plant seeds in...It all starts with something little, and before you know it, you have a list of tasks that you are enjoying. You may already have a list that you don't realise....
*When I heard the word Permaculture a few months back.....I had no idea I already practice many of the Permaculture methods in my own garden.
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| Always make time to enjoy the little things. |
in the beginning to live more frugally. Baby steps are the way to go.... Remember that frugal doesn't mean cheap.....Cheap often adds to waste, which adds to consumerism, which adds to landfill, which adds to contamination of our earth, and just as important to look out for, Cheap often adds to our money going overseas. No matter what country you live in, you should be supporting your country by buying items made in your country, even better....support the small business's in your local community.
- Living more frugal.......means getting the most of out of your money, caring for the items you already have........
- It means organising your time to give you the best value for the work you do......
- It means thinking more about the gifts you give with love.......
- It means living below the wage/s that comes into the home, and not relying on credit cards...When you need something new to the house, firstly try to source it somewhere other than new from the huge stores that are ripping you off and helping with huge masses of landfill each year.
- It means living with less waste. If you don't want the waste, don't generate it.
- It means using your little space of this huge ball we call Earth, to the best you can and not destroying the earth as you live.
- It means exchanging goods with one another, instead of exchanging money....Try to share with your neighbours, and barter often comes your way. Get the word out, that you are looking for X in exchange for Y. Money doesn't need to change hands every time you source something you need.
Well, that's some of what it means to me, anyway.
I'm working on these steps each day, some days I can accomplish soooo much and some days, I don't achieve much at all. Life in general and family.....it all takes time...making changes takes up that time too.
It also takes a bit of organisation and patience to do things from scratch.
So take baby steps, one at a time....Before starting a new task, try finishing or refining the other ones first, before moving on to the next. Ha!....Easier said than done my friends....take it from someone who knows....
What does 'living for less' or 'living frugally' mean to you?.....
Have you exchanged goods with someone this week where money wasn't needed?
