On Friday I took Izz to see Hairy McLary & Friends at QPAC as part of her Christmas present.
We caught the train to South Brisbane.
There was plenty of time for lunch before the show.
This is what we have come to see.
A great show, and finally , an ice-block before the trip home.
I then brought Izz home with me and she had a sleepover and lots of fun before being picked up on Saturday afternoon.
Everywhere I have turned in the past week there seem to be messages about simplifying your life. Some of it has been on other blogs as well as robust discussions both online and in real life. I am not sure whether it is the start of the new year, the planets aligning or just coincidence.
As part of the process of acknowledging that simplicity is at least part of my core values I have changed the byline of this blog to “A simple, sustainable life”.
This post from Sho-Me Simplicity is well worth reading. It is quite long but take your time and try to really understand the points she makes. It is not just possessions that clutter our lives. It can be too many commitments as discussed here at Living Simplyfree or people whose very presence drains your energy and vitality.
Perhaps the final word should come from my mother, who would say “stop the world, I want to get off” when everything got too much. I do not know the origin of this comment but I think it sums up how many people are feeling at the moment.
We have been given a large number of titles for our Kindles so on the weekend I decided to check if some were double-ups of hard copies that we already owned. Sure enough, there were over 80 books that we already had on our bookshelves.
Here are some of the books which we will be letting go. It will mean less to store, dust etc. We will even have some empty shelf space.
I have listed some of the books to give away on a couple of sites including Freecycle but have not had any luck.
If any of my Australian readers have suggestions as to where I can give them away where they will be appreciated that would be great. In fact, if you are interested in any and live in south-east Queensland or are prepared to pay postage please let me know and I can send you a list of the available titles.
I have started introducing my granddaughters to gifts of experiences rather than more and more stuff.
I bought tickets to shows for them both for Christmas and today was Miss O’s turn. We went to Sydney for the day to see the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
First, there was a plane to catch.
We also managed a ferry ride on the harbour.
All that sightseeing works up an appetite.
Finally, it was time for the show.
It was a big day!!
A unique and unforgettable experience. Apart from the actual show we really enjoyed the quality one-on-one time.
Experience gifts can be as simple or extravagant as you choose.
I don’t often do book reviews nor do I recommend buying things but I wanted to share this book with you.
‘The Minimalist Woman’s Guide to Having It All’ is a relatively small and easy to read ebook that I found for 99c at Amazon. Do not let the title which seems like an oxymoron put you off. What Meg Wolfe has to say is straightforward and makes so much sense to me. It is a timely reminder to remember who we are and why we are here.
I subsequently also found her blog which is well worth checking out, too.
Until tomorrow. xxx
Do you remember the excitement of getting a new dress for Christmas or your birthday? It was really exciting because it was a rare occurrence. Now it is relatively cheap and easy to buy a new outfit whenever you please and I feel that this detracts from the excitement. Is it the fact that we are trying to recreate that excitement that sends people back to the shops to buy more and more clothes and shoes?
Actually, I did not get a new dress for Christmas, in fact I did not receive any gifts of clothing nor did I buy any clothes during the Christmas season. This is the only dress I currently own. It is about 3 years old and I wear it at least once a week for about 8 months of the year.
I did not feel any need to rush out and buy something new for a special occasion. I have enough clothes at the moment to cover my needs which are the same as they were a few months ago. I did make this skirt before Christmas and wore it to a Christmas lunch with my work colleagues as well as on Christmas Day with my family.
One of my sewing projects is to make a new lining for a skirt so that I can wear the skirt to a wedding in March. The wedding is in Canberra so it could be quite cool so I want to make a jacket, probably black velvet and my sister has offered to lend me her black pashmina as well.
Although I am not strictly participating in Project 333 at the moment, I am constantly reviewing the clothes I own and deciding what may be the next thing to go and whether or not it needs to be replaced. Even though we still have the hottest part of the summer ahead of us, I am already considering what I will need for winter. I have lost weight in the last 6 months and I am managing to continue to wear most of my existing clothes but one of the first casualties was the one pair of grey trousers which I wore to work. I had been wearing them for several seasons and they were looking a little past their prime. I sent them to the op shop when I discovered that I could pull them down over my hips without undoing the fly. I must admit that they were always a little on the large side.
Shopping is definitely not a pastime for me but I will have to make a concerted effort to find some nice fitting trousers. I would like 2 pairs, perhaps a charcoal grey and a lighter grey.
I like good quality clothes that are a flattering cut and colour for me but I do not feel the need to have a bulging wardrobe. I am getting closer to my goal of only having items that I wear regularly and being able to mix and match most, if not all of the pieces.
If you haven’t heard of Project 333 then here might be the place to start. You can also check out some of my earlier posts on the subject by typing 333 into the search function on the right-hand side of the page.
Do you have any hints or suggestions for minimising the contents of your wardrobe?
Well, Christmas is over for another year and I hope it was a good one for you and your families.
One of my goals was to reduce our overall environmental impact from the festivities so it is probably time to review what I did and whether it made a difference.
Cards – I only sent 11 Christmas cards by post this year. This is a significant reduction over the years. There was a time when I posted between 50 and 60 cards each year. I sent ecards and emails with our family newsletter. These are generally well-received, save time and money for me, reduce clutter for the recipient. I will continue to do this.
Gift-wrapping – this year I made fabric gift bags to use which seems to have been successful in making a significant reduction in the amount of wrapping paper which ended up in the recycling bin. There was still some from gifts we received but that may change in time, who knows? Perhaps I will make some for Belle to use next year as well.
Gifts – I made a few hand-made gifts and also a couple of experience gifts and some Oxfam Unwrapped gifts which seemed to please the recipients. I need to plan my handmade items a bit further in advance next year. I received a couple of practical and requested gifts so I was very happy. A bathmat, colander, air mattress, gluten-free sauce and dressing and a Kathmandu voucher as well as a promise of dinner when we are next in Melbourne. We do not want to be overwhelmed by ‘stuff’ and my family understand that. Yay!!
Food – we made a conscious effort not to over-cater and were mostly successful. I have fruit cake leftover as well as a little smoked salmon and some cold, grilled chicken. All of this will be stored appropriately and used to avoid any waste. We had a special meal with close family but did not over-indulge. Next year I would like to try to be more organised with my garden and be able to use more home-grown produce.
I am pretty happy with our achievements and will continue to work on improving each year.
I would love to hear about your celebrations – what worked and what didn’t?
We celebrate Christmas and exchange gifts while still trying to remain true to a reasonably simple, low-consumption lifestyle. It can be be so easy to get swept up in the hype.
This year I am doing my bit for the environment by shunning the wrapping paper and choosing to make reuseable cloth bags from Christmas fabric which I bought in the sales last year.
Here are a couple of gifts already packaged.
I have made a range of sizes in a few different fabrics.
It will be good not to be collecting up armfuls of ripped wrapping paper to go in the recycle bin on Christmas morning.
“Cherishing what you have, not want, is the key to contentment” So runs the headline to an article on page 4 of today’s Courier Mail, Brisbane’s daily newspaper. What a revelation!!
So the mainstream media are beginning to pick up on what many of us already know, you cannot buy happiness.
Will we begin to see people trying to outdo each other in the simplicity stakes – sort of a reverse ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ or will they really understand that simplicity takes a range of guises and it is definitely not a competition?
Is voluntary simplicity the realm of those who can afford to make the choice?
Let me know what you think of this article.
I would also like to say a huge welcome to those of you who have visited today because of the link Rhonda posted at Down to Earth. I hope you will find something here that is of interest and that you consider coming back and perhaps joining as a follower.
Have a great weekend, whatever you are doing.
Yesterday we hosted a Christmas gathering for our neighbours. We live in a semi-rural area and often the annual Christmas function is the only opportunity we have to get together.
We were mostly on the verandah, however, I had cleaned and set up the living area in case of inclement weather. Although it is still November I did want to have a simple, Christmas-themed decoration.
I put this centrepiece together using a crystal salad bowl and some silver balls which are normally used on the Christmas tree. It looked really pretty and effective.
Here you can get a good view of one the tablecloths that I have converted from a rectangle to an oval to suit the table. You can read more about the project here and here.
