No Shopping Challenge Day 4 - Eliminating the noise

We went camping over Christmas. The campsite was deep in a National Park on the South Coast of NSW and it was around an hour (on an extremely uncomfortable dirt road) drive to the nearest town. For the first time in years we had no cell phone coverage at all, no 3G.. nothing. We couldn't even send a text message. It was lovely.

After 7 days in the bush we packed up and drove home and on the way I checked the phone to see if the signal was back. It was. And along with entering a 3G area came 277 emails. Two hundred and seventy seven.

When I got home I went through them and was shocked to find that just four of them were from real people. The other 273 were marketing emails telling me to buy things. And most of them I had signed up for myself not wanting to miss out on a good deal.

Is it any wonder that this generation finds it hard not to buy stuff? Everywhere we go we see advertising. The technology we have allows it to infiltrate our living rooms and our bedrooms, it comes along with us in our handbags and cars.

So my goal through this challenge is to eliminate the marketing noise as much as I can. When I get those advertising emails I'm unsubscribing myself from each one. I never read those emails, ever. From today I'm reclaiming the minute or two a day I spend deleting them all.

Wouldn't it be nice to open your inbox and see only emails from family and friends?

No Shopping Challenge Day 3 - I deserve it

I deserve that. I've had a really crappy week. I didn't get much for my birthday so this is a late birthday present. It's so cheap, it would be silly not to buy it when it's on sale. I'm buying things from markets and op shops so it's not really shopping. These are all organic, fair trade, ethical things that I'm buying so I'm actually helping people by shopping. This is a one of a kind, never going to find it again thing, I can't let it go.

Sound familiar?

Today I'm thinking about changing the definition of 'I deserve it'.

I deserve to be in control of my finances.
I deserve to have a healthy savings account and the peace of mind that comes with that.
I deserve to meet my financial goals.
I deserve to be a strong independent thinker who isn't at the mercy of advertising and mass marketing.

Yes. I deserve that.

No Shopping Challenge - Day 2

So, it's been 24 hours.

Already I've had to remind myself (or J has had to remind me - hmmm) that I can't just go out and buy if I want to. I think it's going to take a while to get my head around this, which is silly and pathetic really considering so many people in the world don't buy anything other than what they need to survive. It goes to show how normal consumerism is for western world folk like us.

Every season we create a Nature Table on the top of an old buffet cabinet that we picked up at an op shop. I like to bring some of the season indoors and it's a great way for the kids to tune into their surroundings because they're always on the hunt for something to bring home and put on display. I was working on our summer one yesterday - placing shells collected from our camping trip onto pieces of leftover blue and sea green tulle. A couple of weeks before I change over the Nature Table I like to think of ways to make it look nice.. things I could make.. things I could do with the kids. I had an artwork in mind for this nature table, and when we were away I took some close up photographs of trees and rocks in the National Park to use on it. So there I was happily getting my supplies together to make this artwork and I suddenly realised that I couldn't go and get the photographs printed. And then I saw that I'd run out of gel medium and I couldn't go and buy that either. It was a bit disappointing. And a good reality check. This is what it's all about - learning how to say no to myself. Not being able to do what I wanted to do will force me to think of another way using what I already have, and if you could see my workroom you'd understand that I have so many supplies down there - I really shouldn't be buying more.

Jemima wanted to watch a movie on the T-box yesterday. It was almost 40 degrees and on a day like that we'd normally watch movies with the house all closed up to keep it cool. I said no and explained why. She asked again this morning. Twice.

This morning I'm going out to do the weekly grocery shop. I have a budget of $175 for the week and not a penny more. I increased our budget by $25 recently because we were doing lots of midweek trips to get little things and it added up to a huge amount at the end of the month. My challenge today will be to only get food and ignore all the other things supermarkets have started selling recently. Have you noticed that a trip to Woolies is starting to look a lot like a trip to Target or Kmart? They're selling slow cookers, televisions, clothing, and a huge range of toys in there now. Just about every week I seem to find myself held captive by a five year old boy in the toy aisle staring at Transformers.

24 hours in - how does it feel? It feels liberating and exciting thinking about the money we'll save. At this stage is also feels a bit uncomfortable. It's nothing I can put my finger on really, just a quiet anxious feeling. I'm used to the freedom of buying what I like (within reason) and this feels a bit strange.

If you're joining me I'd love to hear how you're going!

No Shopping Challenge Day 1 - Cold Turkey

There's a lot to love about shopping in Sydney. Every day, somewhere in this city, there is a sale. Not just a measly 5% off sale. No, I'm talking about an 80% off-holy cow-look at that discount-sale. And then there's the online sales. And eBay. And even op shopping. Don't be in denial like me, telling yourself that op shopping doesn't count.  It does. Just the other day I walked out of a Vinnie's having spent $60 on things I didn't exactly need. Self control when it comes to buying can be hard to come by in this town.

Mr J and I watched a documentary called 'I Am' recently and it got me thinking about shopping. The doco is about a Hollywood movie director who gives up his possessions and travels the world asking religious leaders, academics, poets, and scientists two questions: What is wrong with the world today? What can we do about it? It's an interesting watch.

I try to moderate the way I buy by thinking about where products are made and if they're fair trade or not. But it doesn't always work out that way, and sometimes if I'm honest, I get caught up in the moment just like anyone else.

It's not really shopping that bothers me. It's more the culture of shopping. Shopping as a recreation activity, something to do in the weekends instead of being outdoors or hanging out with the kids at home. I dislike it intensely when the kids list "look at toys" as something they'd like to do as a family activity.


Now I don't want you to go thinking that I'm one of those crazy women with fifteen identical pairs of jeans in the closet all with their labels attached. I'm not a serial shopper at all and I'm by nature very thrifty. But I am sometimes impulsive when I like something and when I look at our bank accounts I can see that there are lots of little purchases eating a large hole in our savings plan.

Which brings me back to the documentary. I had a thought as I was watching it - that I've trained myself to spend. There are always things I think I need and as we get money we go out and spend to tick things off that list. It made me think. Could I go without buying for a month, two months, three? Shamefully, as soon as I had the thought another one popped into my head. The thought was: what about the new BBQ we want to buy? And that sealed the deal. I can't even think about not buying without trying to convince myself I need to shop. Maybe it's a habit, like biting your nails or never shutting the kitchen drawer. Maybe we need to break the shopping habit so that we're no longer on consumer auto pilot.

I mulled the idea over for a few days and decided to look for some blogs written by people doing a similar challenge. I found lots of them, it seems many people are like me - trying to give up the lure of the shops and save some money at the same time. I'd find an interesting looking blog, read the opening post about the challenge, then look for the follow up posts... and find nothing. Out of the ten blogs I looked at, only one had a follow up post, and in it the writer admitted to buying a new purse!

So my pledge to you is that I will follow up. I'll tell you how I'm going, and I'll be honest if I cheat (but I'm not going to cheat). 

The only thing left is setting the parameters for the challenge.

1. No clothes shopping, toy buying, book depository shopping (my weakness), no craft supplies.
2. No thrift shopping, no markets, unless I'm window shopping.
3. Food, petrol, household expenses are allowed.
4. Gift cards are allowed but only up to the limit of the gift.
5. Any birthday presents needed during the challenge will be hand made (it's OK, I can make cool stuff).
6. The challenge starts January 1st and runs until the last day of February - maybe longer!

So my first admission to you is that I've spent the last few days furiously trying to work out how I can get things before the deadline - like if I buy it just before Jan 1st is that allowed? See, I need help.

To make this even more tricksy we're going away for a week in January on holiday. Can I really not shop on holiday? I think I can do it. I'm going to try really hard to do it - because buying stuff isn't what a family holiday should be about anyway. And if I succeed in not buying anything other than the essentials while on holiday, then keeping it up when I'm at home should be easy right?

If you're game how about joining me on a month or two of not spending. Kind of like a post Christmas detox don't you think? Wish me luck, I think I may need it.

Kombucha, Gardening and Santa's Workshop

I've had a busy last few weeks as I'm sure most of you have had. I've had lots of sewing to do for our home made gifts, all of the usual Christmas and end of year stuff for the kids, and on top of that our laptop died suddenly.

This morning I was bottling up last week's kombucha and it prompted me to post a quick update here to tell you how we're getting on with it.  We've been making kombucha since the end of September and since then we've gone from drinking 1L per week to 4L per week.. and we're still running out! The kids absolutely love it, which is a surprising bonus. I've had a play with flavoured teas and we've settled on a favourite - cranberry and pomegranate (1 cranberry and pom tea bag and 1 black tea bag per 1L of water). You can read all about my entry into the world of fermented kombucha tea including my recipe here.

As for the health benefits.. well, we haven't had any 'die off' or negative side effects at all. I do limit the kids to one glass per day but they've been known to sneak more. Jemima in particular is mad for it.  Both kids have been pretty healthy lately but I think the real test will be next winter when the bugs start lurking. One thing I have noted is that both kids have been exposed to a rampant tummy bug repeatedly over the last month through friends and school/preschool and neither of them has caught it.

These bottles will go into the cupboard for a week to further ferment and fizz up a bit and then they'll be ready to drink. I was only leaving them for three or four days but we found that by leaving them longer the kombucha mellowed a bit and the taste was fresher.

As for the taste.. if you're unfamiliar with kombucha you may be wondering what it's like. The bottles above taste like an iced tea mixed with berry, a bit fizzy and really clean and refreshing. It's yum honest!

And the bonus of making lots of bottles of kombucha is that you end up with lots of SCOBY's. When you make a batch a new yeast pancake forms on the top which you can separate when it's big enough and use to make a new batch of tea. Since we're away for Xmas I've put my SCOBY's in a jar covered with kombucha tea, they'll sit dormant in the fridge until I come home.

 So how's the balcony garden doing?

Thai pink egg tomatoes almost ready!

Zucchini and capsicum (looking a bit hot).

Legend tomato - just starting to form fruit.

Two heirloom Diggers tomatoes.

Cucumbers which are growing along the wire nicely. 

And lastly.. Christmas. I had a goal this year of making Christmas as simple, ethical, and home made as possible. Now that my shopping and making is done - how did I do?

My first challenge was to make gift bags rather than buy wrapping paper. I've done pretty well. All but three or four presents from us to the kids and each other are in bags. I ran out of time at the end so we have a present or two for the kids in paper. Next year I'll make a couple more and we should be sorted. Jemima and Ben made their own using stencils and stamps and I sewed them up.

As far as gifts go, most of them were hand made by me. It's a cheap way of doing things but it does take planning and a lot of time. I made Jemima some clothes and a beach bag out of a vintage towel, and I made Ben an explorers satchel and a quilt for his bed. My nephews are all receiving home made presents too. For the bought presents I used the Oxfam shop for one person and I bought lots of books. The kids have one toy each under the tree that isn't particularly eco friendly or educational but it was what they'd asked for.. and it is Christmas after all! So while I wasn't 100% on track with my goal, I was definitely more mindful when buying things and I think it helped to distance myself from the mad consumerism and craziness out there at this time of year.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas season, I hope it's a special time with your family full of fun and good things.

x Becs