Declutter November mini-challenge – your greenhouse, garden or shed

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 1 November 2011 in decluttering | 1 comment

Here’s the first mini-challenge of the Decluttering in November challenge: in addition to your usual one thing every day, find five things to get rid of from your greenhouse, garden or shed.

I was going to leave this one until later in the month but, if last year is anything to go by, our worlds might be under a blanket of white by then so I’ll decided it would be better to declutter while the sun shines :)

So anyway, for this one, you need to get rid of five things from whatever garden/growing space you have.

This is going to be easier for some people than others. If you’ve only got a few houseplants or herbs on the kitchen window sill, you might struggle but do you have any unwanted old plastic plant pots lying around? decorative planters/pots or even vases you no longer use? multiple half bottles of BabyBio that could be condensed into one? Or even the plants themselves – anything you don’t want any more? People often give large plants away on our local Freecycle/Freegle group.

For grow-your-own people with more space: it’s the pretty much end of the growing year so think about what you’ve not used in the last 12 months – any pots, container or tools you could get rid of? Anything broken beyond repair? Because we growers love to reuse things, many of our gardens/allotments resemble junk heaps of possibilities: I’m not advocating getting rid of those planks that might become raised beds next year or the barrel than might become a waterbutt but to look at everything again: be realistic and honest with yourself, and think if someone else might get better use out of it than you. This sort of thing isn’t going to sell at charity shops but, again, all this sort of thing regularly turns up on our Freecycle/Freegle list and there are an increasing number of gardening community groups that might be grateful for resources.

On a smaller scale, what about your seed stash – anything you’re not going to grow again that could be passed on? Half bottles of feeds/fertilisers that are taking up shelf space? And what about spare/old growing books?

Have a look around and see what can go :)

Declutter November is under way!

Posted by louisa on Tuesday 1 November 2011 in decluttering | 10 comments

I mentioned last week that I’m going to set myself a decluttering “challenge” for November – get rid of one thing every day.

I’m also going to set some weekly themed mini-challenges to get rid another five things each week, so by the end of the month, 50 things should be gone from the house.

It’s a bit of a two-fold plan: 1) get rid of some unwanted junk and 2) by doing it daily for a sustained period to make me more conscious of the stuff around me and look at things in a new “do we need or even want this?” light.

I asked if anyone else fancied a clearout too and a good few people jumped on board:

• Gemma
• John, my partner in crime – we’ll be getting rid of 50 things each!
• Lynsey aka Swirlyarts
• Louba
• Jules
• Linda
• Gigibird
• Sam
• sara
• Courtney
• Rachel
• Ellen Perrin
• @Eco_Chicken
• UPDATED TO ADD: SMSDesignJewel
• Debbie
• katherine
• Susan
• Martina
• bookstorebabe
• greenandtidy
• Su

Collectively, we’re going to get rid of a lot of junk!

I’ll announce the first mini-challenge this afternoon but until then crew (and anyone else who wants to join in!), let’s take off our clutter blinkers and get going! :)

Anyone else up for it? If so, leave a comment below and I’ll add you to the list

UPDATED TO ADD: I’ve add the new sign-ups to the list – 21 22 of us at this count. That’s means over a thousand things are going to leave our collective houses – yay!

October 2011 – end of month review

Posted by louisa on Monday 31 October 2011 in chickens, less than 12 clothes challenge, meta | 0 comments

Carla-cat enjoying a spot of autumn sun – the woodstore is perfectly place for sunbathing felines: in the sun until nearly 2pm but also within a short stroll of their food dishes. Purrfecto!

Goals in 2011 progress

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moving swiftly on!

October mini-goals

I achieved more of these than my main goals – the accounts are finished (just waiting for John’s business accounts now then new mortgage a go go!), we finally finished the bathroom and we both batch cooked for the freezer – “ready meals” of pasta sauce, keema curry, enchiladas and spicy beef casserole (with corn bread) now await us! I also got some fabric for the cushion in the porch and found somewhere for the foam – just hesitating now about whether a soft cushion is right for there, or whether a can-put-your-foot-up-on-it wipeclean option would be better.

I think I would have achieved more on these & on my main goals if I hadn’t been distracted by other fun pursuits – crocheting and writing (the latter planning for my NaNoWriMo attempt, which starts tomorrow!).

Buy less than 12 items of clothing in 2011

Bloomin’ heck, I’m getting close! I’ve been on the look out for a nicer-than-my-scruffy-hoodies jacket all year and spotted a lovely M&S brown cord jacket in fab condition in a charity shop for £5.99 so bought it even though it’s close to being too cold to wear it. I’ve worn it loads over the last few weeks. I also bought yet another pair of jeans off eBay. They take me up to eleven things so far in 2011, eep, close!

By hand or by power: how do you cut your firewood?

Posted by louisa on Friday 28 October 2011 in frugal, wood stuff | 2 comments

I’ve just taking advantage of another lovely autumn morning to cut some more wood for use over winter.

I was enjoying the sweet victory of finishing another log when I accidentally grazed the blade of the saw against my finger. It’s nothing – the hint of a graze, it drew red but not drops of blood – but it did make me grateful for the eleventeenth time that we use handsaws to slice the logs into stove size pieces.

John’s dad bought us a circular saw as a present last year – I believe it was ex-display or similar, so too good to be missed in his eyes – but we’ve not used it. John’s dad uses it when he’s working here (to save bringing his own) and I think John himself has used it once — but after his own handsaw/cut-hand incident a few weeks ago, I suspect he’s unlikely to use it again.

We’re … not the most graceful people. It’s not that we’re inattentive, we’re just clumsy. Sure, it takes longer but it’s not too hard work with a decent coarse-wood saw – we like the exercise that handsawing gives us desk-dwellers and that the wood gets to warm us more than once. We also like our fingers – it’s how we make our money, tip-tap-typing away at our desks – and dislike risking them unnecessarily.

But rejecting the metal menace sometimes feels like a bit of a Luddite manoeuvre. It also feels hypocritical: for example, we’re happy for John’s dad to use his big petrol chainsaw to cut a big tree into splittable logs (the splitting is done by hand) rather than us going at it for half an hour with a two handed saw.

If you use wood as fuel, do you cut it by hand or do you use power tools?

On the hook – draught excluder & cowl/tank top

Posted by louisa on Wednesday 26 October 2011 in crochet & knitting | 3 comments

Inspired by Steel Kitten‘s “What’s in the knitting bag?” post, I thought I’d talk about what’s on my crochet hook. (I’m supposed to be having a week away from the computer this week doing crafty things — I’ve not been very successful at the “being away from a computer” thing so at least I should write about my crafty pursuits, right? ;) )

As I mentioned on here and Twitter last week, I’ve not been hooking for ages but now I’ve started again, I’m in it with a passion. Last week I started a made-up-as-I-go snake draught excluder – the tail on my first version was too short but made a natty hat for cheeky Lily-dog —

— so I frogged that and started again but naughty, naughty, I got distracted by wanting personal insulation instead.

A trip to the yarn shop later (Texere Yarns in Bradford), I’m now working on a version of the Ginny Cowl (Ravelry pattern link). I love the shape of the finished top and the pattern is deliciously simple – but I’ve had to change things a bit because I don’t know whether it was my too-round-headed hook’s fault, the fluffy yarn’s fault or my too-tight tension’s fault but doing the slip stitches in back loops was arrrrrggghh! Hate. I’m not 100% convinced my version will look as good as the proper Ginny Cowl and I wish I could have stuck with the original pattern, but my version stands a lot more chance of actually being completed (since it’s fun not frustrating to make) rather than thrown on the ground in a huff. Details to follow if it does work!

Are you crocheting/knitting anything at the moment?