Reviewing my consumer purchases of new items over the past 7 months…

Today I reflected on my purchases of new items over the past 7 months. I keep a record of these things under ” Buy Nothing New Exceptions” Page.

I focused on what I had personally bought for myself during this time.

socks
undies
bras
running shoes
sandals
MacBook Pro (shared Christmas present with husband)
book
necklace

The first 5 were to replace items that had worn out.
The MacBook Pro was a replacement for my old PC that I had owned for 7 years and kept on crashing.
The book was one that was not held by my local library, and I was unsuccessful in sourcing it second hand.
The necklace pendant was a purely spur of the moment, I “must have” that item consumer purchase. (Interesting to note that I don’t even know where it is at the moment. So much for “must have”!)

So for the 7 month period, I seem to be managing my personal spending on my “stuff”. Especially with the recent move, when I gave a lot of my belongings to the charity shop, it seems that I have had a net outflow of my stuff.

Also, all of these things, except the necklace pendant and the book, I have used a lot since purchase.

Decluttering Update #16 – Decluttering my clothes and shoes

I have way too many clothes and shoes.

In addition to my Active Wardrobes for Summer and Winter, I also had 10 plastic tubs of clothing and shoes in storage in the garage.

So I have sorted through these.

Sell. Keep. Donate.

Here are the Keepers.

Here are the Sellers. My criteria for selling vs donation was whether the item would be able to be sold for at least $20.

Here is the donation pile.

Clothing and shoes for Donation

Now I realise that the Sell pile has lots of items and that it is possible that in 6 months time they may still be sitting in the garage. So I have put a sticky label on these plastic tubs with a donation date of 6 months time- whatever hasn’t been sold will be donated.

That should inspire me to turn my clothing and shoe clutter into cash.

All sorted!

Creating my little herb garden

Now that I no longer live in a townhouse since we left Sydney, I have been keen to start a herb garden.

I’ve tried the herbs in pots thing. In the past giving me something to grow in a pot was the kiss of death for the poor plant.

As we are renting in the short term, I thought a modular raised garden bed might be the best option.

I bought a purpose built raised garden.

Modular pieces are assembled using wing nuts.

Modular raised garden bed is assembled. I have placed it next to the rainwater rank so it can be easily watered .

Lemongrass, Coriander, Basil, Mint, Rocket, Rosemary and Parsley (which turned out to be Celery!)

My herb garden is now complete!

.

I chose mint, basil, coriander and lemongrass as I love to cook Thai food and these herbs are used in Thai cooking. Also Rosemary for my favourite roast lamb and other lamb dishes. I love the peppery taste of rocket in salads and pasta dishes.

I am looking forward to being able to provide my herbs for my cooking picked fresh from my garden.

Little white dress

I have been enjoying having my sewing things unpacked and in my new studio. My studio is my creative space where I can sew, write, play the piano and make things.

This week, I made this little dress for a friend’s daughter.

I know it looks like a top, but it is a dress, and when she grows to tall for the dress, she can wear it as a top.

The fabric is the softest cotton, with tiny spots.

One of the things I like about making things for people is that I think about them as I am making the item.

Our move from the city to the country

It all happened so suddenly.

We had decided that we wanted to leave Sydney and had been considering alternatives for our “rural” move.

In our minds, we had lots of time, we were thinking that my husband might be offered a job by the middle of 2012 and then we would pack and move.

But of course, this wasn’t what happened.

Instead, a week before Christmas, D was offered a job in the beautiful Hunter Valley, starting on the 3rd of January.

As this was the beginning of the new school year, this also meant that I wanted C to start at her new school, wherever that was going to be, at the beginning of the school year.

So for the last 5 weeks, we have packed up a whole house (straight after Christmas Day), found a house to move to (hard to do over Christmas) , researched and been accepted into a school with a good reputation, hired a truck and moved everything ourselves ( 9 tonnes of STUFF! – so much for my downsizing efforts). This meant carrying everything down 50 steps to the truck, and then going back up the 50 steps to get the next item. And so on. For 6 tonnes. The other 3 tonnes was from the garage, straight into the truck., so no steps. And we moved an iron framed pianola. Not down 50 steps though.

Then we moved to our new home. It is only 4 years old and I love it. It is located in a semi rural village, on the edge of farmland. It has so much SPACE after living in such close quarters in the townhouse in Sydney.

Then there has been the whole thing of going back down to Sydney and cleaning and performing repairs/updates in readiness to rent it out. And interviewing and selecting a suitable agent. Today was the final milestone, a trip down to Sydney for a final repair, and now it is all over.

We have done it.

C is in her new school in a semi rural setting. The school even keeps chickens! She has made lots of friends already and has 3 playdates lined up already. She catches the school bus and the bus ride is only about 10 mins.

D is loving his new work. He rides his bike to and from work and so is getting lots of exercise. Work is a 20-25min ride away, with bike lanes. So we are glad that we can remain a 1 car family.

I’ve met some of our neighbours and some parents from the school.

I have enjoyed setting up home here, and having space for how we want to live. Such as a reading nook to enjoy my books, and outdoor space which is covered, so even if it is raining we can be outside, a place to sew, meditate and do yoga. And a large family area to just be together.

I am looking forward to getting back to my simple living ways and connecting with my local community.