Our first weekend in OUR home!

It is official. I have signed my life away and now own my very own home. How exciting! It is something I have wanted for as long as I can remember. And the house and land is in such a rough state, so it will be a great project for OH and myself. Enough chatting, time for photos!

Settlement occurred on Friday, so we didn't get to the house until Friday night. It was pretty clean which was a great help. On Saturday we had my parents and OHs parents and their partners. All 8 of us made short work of cleaning! We got a lot of painting done too, much more than I had anticipated. I have mentioned in previous posts that we had already painted the kitchen and main bedroom, but they will still need some touch ups. These photos are the bulk of what we did.

This is the hallway before and after:

The green made it a bit dark

Much better and brighter. This will be antique white. Bye bye blind.

This is the 2nd bedroom before and after:

Brown trim.............

Looks so much lighter with some white skirting

Third bedroom ceiling before and after:

Mmmm....mould!

Now it is brighter and smells a lot more fresh. We are missing some cornice!

And the lounge room before and after:

Dark green on the back wall made the loungeroom a bit dull

Much better

Love the big windows! Cleaning them made a big difference.

The trim will be painted white to brighten up the room. The colour on the far right is the one we are thinking for the walls!

This weekend will be spent...painting! We will be focusing on the trim so we can start putting some colour up soon. I would really like to get the main bedroom and kitchen complete so we can at least live there. The goal is saturday night!

More updates next week! Have a good one!

My Simple Life - So Far...Pt 2

Here I am again, looking back at my simple life so far. It has been a wonderful experience over the last year and I am interested to see where it will take me. Great places I am sure!

I have also...

6. Learnt how to CLEAN GREEN

After making my own laundry liquid and deodorant, now I want to make everything! I have harnessed the power of vinegar and I need nothing else. I am currently sourcing recipes to make green cleaners for when we move into our new home. Goodbye chemicals!

7. Learnt how to THRIFT

I have come to highly appreciate the values and opportunity of Second Hand. Some of my great finds in the last year include my Grandmas mix master, a bread maker from gumtree and a juicer from an op shop. It is cheaper and better for the environment to buy second hand (and probably better quality).

My Grandma's old reliable mixmaster

8. Learnt to love CHORES

I never used to like vacuuming (usually along the lines of..."why is it me always doing this??") but now I appreciate the routine and the result. I also was the same with washing the dishes. But in a fast paced world, it is refreshing to slow down and do manual tasks.

9. Learnt to become a CONSCIOUS CONSUMER

I am a lot more conscious as to where my dollars go these days. I haven't bought produce from overseas for a long time. Our local farmers markets really help with this. I try to buy items that will last forever. I just bought a fridge that was more expensive, but super energy efficient. We are also looking at buying a pure organic wool mattress, which is fully biodegradable. What a concept!

10. Learnt to love MY HOME

Part of the reason I am so excited to finally move into my own home is that it will be MY HOME. Not a rental, not one I am sharing with my parents, but mine. I am excited to start stockpiling, making soaps and delicious meals, start a proper vegie garden, work on saving electricity, and have some down time in front of the (yet to be installed) fireplace and knit and read to my hearts content. Living a proper simple life :)

That is really only the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure there are many other things that I just do naturally that are simple living. All I know is that I am heading the right direction, all thanks to the wonderful ladies at the forum. 

My Simple Life - So Far...Pt 1

Since the forum is closing down, I thought I would have a look back on all I have achieved since I joined just over a year ago. What a journey it has been. And it is just beginning.

1. Learnt how to KNIT

I already knew how to do basic knitting, but nothing more serious than a scarf. I started with some discloths, then beanies, then a blanket, then A VEST, and now I am knitting all sorts of odds and ends for the house. The blanket and vest are still a WIP. The blanket is made out of squares and will probably be one for the couch. I have 4 more squares to go. The vest was a Christmas present for my Grandma (oops) and I promised I would get it done before the cold weather hits. Not long to go now!

Here are my first dishcloths!

2. Learnt how to use DISHCLOTHS

What a revelation dishcloths are. So pretty, so easy and so useful. Now I don't have to buy cloths from the shop to then just throw them away. They are great for cleaning too. I don't know how anyone lives without them!

My wonderful gift of dishcloths from a forum swap :) (they are OH's favourite)

3. Learnt how to make SIMPLE MEALS

I used to cook everything from recipes. Nowadays I am experimenting a bit more. By simple meals I mean recipes that I have most of the ingredients already. It's nice to only have to buy a couple things for a meal. It saves a lot of money, is easy to cook and tastes great.

Fresh tomato sauce with homemade pasta and bread - yum

4. Learnt how to make jam and PRESERVE

These are the best skills I think I have learnt. It is very rewarding gifting my families favourite jams to them, or for them to find a new favourite. My Grandma loves my Guava Jelly! It is also a great way of preserving excess produce. Next goal - to grow/buy cheaply enough tomatoes to make passata or sauces for the year.

My Guava Jelly

5. Learnt how to GARDEN (better)

I was already gardening before I got into simple living, but now it makes me love it more. I think differently about what I grow. One of the great things I learnt is that you can replace silverbeet in recipes with beetroot tops. That is a great example of having multiple purposes for everything!

My little vege patch at my parents, I hasn't really looked any better than this :(

There are still more things I have learnt...stay tuned for some more.

First Day of Autumn = New Budget and New Plans

I am counting the first day of Autumn as my first day of the year. Well, sort of - the first day of my budget year. Because of our rather extravagant holiday that covered half of January/February, I am starting again!

This year will also be a big year budget-wise. With the inclusion of a mortgage on a house that needs major love, the bank will be stretched a bit. Being frugal for the past year or so has really prepared me for the saving of money that is to come.

We have some big plans for the house this year. Here are the goals I hope to achieve:

• Install a fireplace before winter
• Install ceiling fans in the bedrooms before next summer
• Paint the house inside and out
• Fix the pool area so it is compliant, and
• Get an electrical safety switch installed.

Amongst all this is the clearing of the yard, which is a big job! I will check back in at the end of the year to see if we have finished those things, and if we managed to squeeze in anything else!

I also want to try and save up for a Permaculture Design Course at the end of the year. I have wanted to do it for a couple years now and I think this year is the year. The timing is perfect because now we have our own property to experiment with and develop. A whole acre! It doesn't seem like a lot on paper but when I walk around I feel a bit overwhelmed, but also excited. The PDC will help me see what is possible on the property and how to get there. However, this is at the end of the year and there is a lot of work to do between now and then.

This weekend we are heading to my Dad's farm before Settlement Day next Friday. Then the fun starts! Watch this space!

A Great Start to 2017

Wow...what a year.

It started with a quiet new years spent with OH and his brother.

Then it went WILD!

The owner decided to come back...and to sell up early. Thanks to some help from my excellent parents, we were able to BUY THE HOUSE! (and for a great price!)

WOO!

This was the intention all along, but it was pushed forward a bit (around 6 months...). Then we went to Canada...for a whole month. Luckily the timing worked out well and we were able to pack up our belongings and leave them in the house before we left.

The trip was really great. Lots of snowboarding, beer and laughs with friends. Here are some snaps:

While we were away, OH also proposed! It was totally unexpected but still totally lovely. Buying a house AND getting married in one year??? Could it get any better???

Anyway, we are extremely excited to get back to the house and get to work. The big day is March the 10th. The countdown begins!

Stay tuned for more updates!

An Invigorating Simple Living Weekend

Last weekend was one of those rare ones: a weekend where we had no obligations and we could do what we wished. Of course we did what we do best; work and play together.

We did a few odd jobs around the house that had been bugging me, like sweeping and mopping the floors and cleaning the bathroom. Those tasks may be thought of as unpleasant but are very rewarding when they are finally complete.  Of course there was many swims in the pool in between tasks!

On Saturday morning we did our normal grocery shopping and visit to the markets. We got a bit distracted and bought some ingredients for beer making, and also some tools from the Yandina markets. I got a machete which was great after a bit of sharpening. It is a very useful tool for when we need to start to clear our place. OH got a old fashioned 'dutch hoe' for weeding. It is very hard to explain but they are great tools. They have two cutting edges so you push and pull it just under the soil to cut the weeds off at the roots.

We also got to make some damn delicious food. We had a go at making some fresh pasta for the first time. There is a pasta maker at the house so we borrowed it. What a revelation those things are! Previously the one time we did it by hand we ended up with the thickest pasta you have ever eaten. It was difficult to fit in your mouth. Of course we made way too much so we have some in the freezer for the next little while.

Our awesome pasta

I made some of Rhonda's basic muffins with mashed banana added in. They are ok, but I think they need a little vanilla extract to give them the right flavour.

Basic Banana Muffins

OH also picked a HEAP of basil from his work. So as we were running out of pesto we made another 6 jars, which should last us at least 6 months. I love using pesto on pizza, and of course on homemade pasta with heaps of parmesan :)

The recipe I used is:

Chop two handfuls of walnuts in the food processor. Then fill the processor loosely with basil leaves, two garlic cloves and add salt and pepper (I added four "circles" of salt, which is me grinding it in a circle at a constant sort of speed). Then process. While processing, dribble in the oil for about 30 seconds or until you get the consistency you want. Then place in a clean jar. We keep ours in the freezer, because we have a very large one and saves us on gas to heat up the water bath canner.

Here they are, chilling out with the bread

OH also made a spelt loaf by hand, which was great. We had that for dinner on Sunday night with our fresh pasta, with a sauce of fresh tomatos from OHs work, basil and parmesan. How delicious. I think the most satisfying food is some that you have made yourself from scratch. Or even better, grown from scratch.

Yum yum!

We also repotted three of our citrus trees. Some of them were starting to look a bit tired so it was time for a bit of love. Last time we put mostly garden soil instead of citrus soil so we'll see if they perk up a bit better.

What a satisfying and productive weekend. Bring on two long weekends in a row!

Vege Patch Update

Due to how busy we have been on weekends (and the fact that I am only at my parents half of the week) my vege patch is looking pretty sad. The tomatoes are going great and the celery is shooting up just fine, but the rest of the garden is struggling a bit. My little lettuce seedlings that have popped up from the compost are growing pretty slowly. I think I might do a pH test next week and see if it is off.

My zukes have pretty much had it, I don't think they get enough air flow in the bed so they are really suffering from mouldy leaves. So I probably won't try to grow them again. Here are some photos:

These are some of my tomatoes


This is the celery patch


This is the other end of the bed where I left the rocket. The tomatoes are good here but nothing else.


Next step is to finally grow some seedlings and start filling the gaps! I wish our seed raising bed was back in action, maybe that's something we can do this weekend.