At Vinnies Dickson dropping off a bag of ‘stuff’ I dropped some things off at Vinnies Dickson today – another 11 items out of my home! I’ve had a bunch of stuff collecting for months. The delay has been that I wanted to wait to blog about it rather than just give things away. Also, the slow giving on my local Buy Nothing group has been, well, rather slow. Slow giving Sometimes, giving takes time. Yep, in our incredibly affluent society where many people have affluenza (i.e. more than we need), sometimes it’s damn hard to give stuff away. Much of yesterday was spent chasing several people on ..read more

It’s now approaching the silly season when even I find myself caught up in spending. Yep, I spent up big on the Black Friday sales. To be honest, we had planned to and there were specific things we were after. Maybe one or two extra things found their way into my shopping cart. But actually, I was pretty self-controlled. At least, that’s what I tell my self. I’m mentioning this because in a way, while trying to give away things I still find there are things I need and want. I still have an addiction to ‘stuff’. Opping Not quite as self controlled with op shopping, but still not too bad. On ..read more

Today is Black Friday. Say what? Unless you have been living under a rock, or don’t have Facebook (and to be honest, I know people who would identify as being in both camps, you may have noticed that there are a lot of sales around. So, what’s happening. Black Friday – and Cyber Monday – were originally a US thing designed to coincide with Thanksgiving. In the US, many families put the Christmas tree up and really get into the Christmas mood after Thanksgiving. Eventually retailers decided to get into this act and make it a big shopping thing as well. But it’s really come into its own with ..read more

A bag of items that I donated to my local Vinnies I like to support my local op shops, but they are often my Joyful Giving place of last resort. I’ve had a few conversations recently about op shopping, so I thought I would wade into this. I love op-shopping. I love the thrill of finding a good bargain, I love supporting sustainable fashion and I love the diversity and quirkiness of what’s on offer. I regularly give to op shops, but you might wonder why I don’t give more. There are several reasons, but a key one is that most op shops are struggling to keep up with the demand of their donation ..read more

qrf Ah, the weekends. You would think they are a time of infinite fun – and I do have fun on weekends – but as a mum it’s often the time when I do the most housework and cleaning. Have you noticed my Household Hacks page? It’s filled with many tried and tested ways to clean and organise your house on a budget – and sustainably. Before going out and spending a fortune at the supermarket on harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment and for your kids (or animals), check out the handy hints there. Which brings me to ski pants. The ultimate shower screen cleaner I’m short at 149cm, which mea ..read more

One fluffy red cushion It’s getting warmer now, and I’m finding people are interested in making more kombucha. SCOBY I had a journalist and a photographer over at my place on Friday. As you do. We got to chatting. “What is that funny stuff you are growing there,” asked the journalist. “Ah, that’s my SCOBY,” I said. “It’s quite a bit mother and has lots of children.” “I’ve always wanted to make kombucha,” she replied. “Well, would you like some?” I offered. So of course I sent her home with a jar filled with SCOBY. The photographer was hinting that he wanted some as well, so I ticked off two ..read more

Prawn and tofu stir-fry Usually, I write about meals that are $5 or under on Fridays. This meal is over. But it’s a great way to streeetttchh out prawns, add more protein and nutrition and create a kid-friendly meal for less. Ever since I first visited China in 1995, I’ve developed a love of tofu. In Taiwan, where I’ve lived twice, they eat a lot of tofu – mainly pressed with spices and called dou gan (豆干）. Many Taiwanese are vegetarian or eat vegetarian meals on the first and the fifteenth of the lunar month. But even those who are not vegetarian regularly eat tofu along with meat for the fla ..read more

qrf Sometimes you give and give – and suddenly you receive. Buy Nothing It’s funny sometimes how the warmer weather – plus the fact that Canberra (thankfully) has no cases of community transmission of COVID. Simply put: many people now feel safe to get out and about. I’ve been listing more things on my local Buy Nothing group, and many of them have been snapped up quickly. Today, the Japanese lady who picked up some items yesterday came back. She collected some Doreamon and Disney stickers Doreamon stickers My kids used to love Doreamon cartoons when the were little. My eldest son, Austin, spo ..read more

Sometimes you might think, “I doubt anyone will want that!” But unless you ask, you never know. A few years ago, I went to an event run by Natassa Janssens at Women with Cents. It was a great event. And I came away with a swag of items, including a cute promotional red ruby money box by Westpac. Being into savings in a big way, I already had several money boxes so I didn’t need another. I held onto this one for ages, thinking that “maybe, one day I would use it”. But then while searching for the keys to my ebike (sadly, still missing), I came across this money box and decided “money box, it ..read more

A pile of children’s clothes that my kids had grown out of. Kids grow out of clothes quickly.  It might not seem quick at the time, but one day you wake up and realise that your cute little kids are now tall and almost teenagers.  If you are a parent, a grandparent or even a devoted aunt or uncle, you know what I’m talking about. A dilemma is what to do with my kids clothes as they grow out of them? A few weeks ago my friend Melissa came over to drop off several bags of clothing for the Zonta Preloved Fashion Sale.  And as I often do when guests are over, I went through my box ..read more