Under Pressure

When I get gifts of cash I try to use it for something that is substantial and an investment in our future frugality.

The 2009 Christmas cash went towards buying our Fowlers Vacola preserving kit.  We love the Fowlers kit.  We've bottled lots of fruit and add to our bottle collection as we find them at op-shops and garage sales. 

At one garage sale (where we bought a second kit and lots of jars) we heard about pressure canning.

The water bath preserving method as used by the Fowlers Vacola kit, is great for things like fruit, but for low acid and protein foods, pressure canning is the way to go. 

So with my last birthday cash, we bought a Presto Pressure Canner via Amazon (for nearly half the price of buying one locally, including postage) and have spent a good deal of January canning soups, curries and casseroles.

With our combined food intolerances, we can shelf store our own dairy free, gluten free meals made from seasonal produce with no additives. It frees up freezer real estate, ensures portion control, and there are no excuses to get a takeaway when fast food is sitting on the shelf.  We see it as a win all round for a fairly small investment.

The canner will take ordinary glass jars with screw top lids.  We can re-use jars from store bought goods, although it is recommended we buy new lids.  We are using a mix of Fowlers jars because we have quite a few and because they make uniform canning and storage easier and larger screw top jars, which are really too big for jam etc.

A Fowlers size 27 bottle contains a smidge more than 3 metric cups of liquid.  This equates to two servings.  So far we've made about 200 servings of soup, curry, casserole and ragu.

Bewdy bottler

1. I am a stockpiler (I do not hoard - there is a difference). If oft-used commodities are going cheap, I stockpile and use. Doesn't matter if it's undies, wool or food - I stockpile and use.

2. I hate waste.

3. Freezer space in the Taph and TOF households is always at a premium (see 1, above, although Mum, TOF and Jnr have almost finished the reduced by 70% lasagne from my bulk buy in November)

4. I like stewed fruit - it is my cereal topping of choice and forms the basis of my favourite dessert Fruit Crumble (flavour depends on fruit to hand)

5. I particularly like stone fruit.

6. I like being self-sufficient.

7. I am concerned about the environmental effects of transporting fruit all over the country to be canned, then transporting it to warehouses, then transporting it to supermarkets.

8. I am more concerned when the fruit comes from overseas to start with.

9. I bought 3 packing cases full of Fowlers' jars for $20 at the tip shop over the Christmas break.

10. I spent our Christmas money on an electric bottling kit (and paid retail!)

11. We spent last weekend bottling the two cases of peaches my SIL got me from Araluen during the week.

I estimate that's about 2 months worth of fruit and we're keen to do more. TOF is already thinking about a fruit chasing holiday for January 2012 (we're booked until then!) taking the bottling equipment and the fruit dehydrators with us.

Anyone have fruit going spare or know of some? Anyone got old Fowlers' jars they'd like to part with?

Seven Things Week 14

I forgot to publish week 14 - oops.  That is a pretty good indication of what it's like at the moment.  The Silly Season with lots of obligations on top of some ridiculous deadlines.

It's more surprising that I managed to clear anything out, really - and that will be the case until at least Christmas.
IN

1	shirt	Buy Nothing Community
1	book	free with ticket purchase
1	bread maker	Buy Nothing Community
1	portable fridge	gifts - Christmas came early
1	portable fridge stand	gifts - Christmas came early
5

OUT

26	Fowlers Jars	bartered	eggs, olives, passata, garlic.
1	Fowlers unit	sold
1	pair tongs	sold
7	sets of metal drawers	Buy Nothing Community
1	thermometer	sold
36

NETT OUT  31

total out since 27 August 2018 = 4262

Seven Things Week 12

Wow!  3 months of being accountable, and there were many more months of decluttering before this.

I really struggled this week.  I'm in pain and I'm tired and the easy stuff has all been done.  In some areas I am now on the second or third pass.

Initially, in every area of the house, there are things it is easy to get rid of. With some areas I would race through the easy stuff then shy from the hard decisions when the easy wins were had.  My heart would cry nooooooooo!  In some cases I ploughed on but it often resulted in a resistance to declutter anything at all, anywhere.  The oppositional child reaction.  So in order to maintain momentum, when I hit a really tough emotional response, I move onto to an area where the emotion isn't as deep.  It is an exercise like any other, as I practice I get stronger and everything gets easier.   The later passes have been much easier.  This works for me, it is certainly not the advice in the decluttering literature.

Also, honouring the impulse to create last weekend, even though the things I sewed were small, helped a lot.  I gathered all of the fabrics of the type needed.  I used the ones that appealed to me the most.  This week, looking at the ones I shied from I figured I'd already made the decision and offered them to friends first and op shopped the rest.  I guess it's Marie Kondo's "spark joy" concept, but I needed to demonstrate it.  Just holding the stuff isn't enough.  My thought process are "Every piece of fabric is useful, right?" and "I can totally make something out of that!" These things are true but when given the opportunity I chose not to use certain fabrics.


IN

2	stencils	Ebay	ordered in a moment of Bullet Journal envy
1	painting	op shop	Forgot to list this from a couple of weeks ago.
1	calendar	Etsy
1	washing basket	The Green Shed	Forgot to list this from a couple of weeks ago.

OUT

27	Fowlers Jars	bartered	honey and veg - great deal
1	t-shirt	op shop	stained and ill-fitting
3	dog harnesses	op shop	none of the neighbours wanted these recent eBay mistakes so off to the op shop.
4	Tupperware cups	op shop	and as I had to take the dog harnesses to the op shop, I decided that everything else could go there as well and I didn’t have to bother listing for Buy Nothing.
2	Tupperware mugs	op shop
4	draw string bags	op shop	Projects bags for knitting that I don’t like or don’t use
6	tops	op shop	I will end up with a capsule wardrobe in the end, I suspect
4	dresses	op shop
8	pieces of fabric	op shop
3	key rings	op shop
13	doilies	op shop
1	pair of pants	op shop
47	dvds	bin	downloaded, dodgy burned discs.  We have been through our DVDs at least twice in the last 2 years and yet I still find more.
1	pair of socks	bin	handknits with an irreparable hole
1	phone charging cable	bin	the cheap ones die so readily
1	quick-unpick	bin	Blunt and had lost the little ball from the end.
2	vintage linen teatowels	gift
36	doilies	gift
5	pieces of fabric	gift
169

NETT OUT  164

total out since 27 August 2018 = 4072

Seven Things Week 10

IN

• 1 high visability vest for TOF $7 Vinnies
• 1 pr swimmers(bnw/ot) $8 Vinnies
• 1 pr shorts for TOF (bnwt) $2.50 Salvos
• 1 pr shoes for TOF
• 1 DVD set.  Season 2 of The Cook and the Chef.  $14.95 at the Post Office.  An impulse buy but nearly as cheap as my late fines on the library copy.
• 1 Frankie magazine 25c Vinnies

OUT

• 1 magazine - RECYCLING at the cricket.
• 1 magazine - GIFT
• 1 Filofax cover - GIFT
• 1 book - GIFT
• 140 balls yarn - DONATIONS/GIFTS to colleague's granddaughter's school's knitting club and fellow knitters
• 1 baking tin - GIFT
• 87 lids for Fowlers' jars.  Note to self - only buy the stainless steel.  The other ones rust in seconds.  - RECYCLING
• 1 pr jeans - OP SHOP

SIAA

• mended 1 pr trakkie daks.  No need to chuck 'em out, just replace the elastic.
• 1 pr socks for me.  Actually needed.

IN     6

OUT 233

NETT OUT 227

SIAA     2

Seven Things Week 11

A definite slow down this week. My pain levels are very high and as Dora has been waking me in the night for comfort (she is not well), sleep has not been great.

So it was easier to deal with bulk stuff from the garage than in the house.  We have a HUGE supply of Fowler's Vacola preserving jars. We don't bottle as much as we used to so don't need the large jars anymore. We offered up our larger jars on a Facebook barter group. The group is largely home growers and makers so we've been swapping our jars for produce.  We have a lot of eggs, now (and into the future). It's been a really positive experience.

I also got into the sewing room this week.  While there is still much to declutter and reorganise, the need to create could not be denied.

IN

3	dog harnesses	Ebay	When preparing to evacuate we realised that we needed harnesses for the dogs in both cars.  These rarely come up second hand and our need is fairly urgent. Unfortunately these are too small, so I will have to find a new home for them soon.
2	dog seatbelt extenders	Ebay
5

OUT

2	blankets	Buy Nothing Community	More souvenir stuff that we get as members of football clubs.  I’ve asked them to not send me the member stuff this year.  It’s better for all of us.
1	decanter	Buy Nothing Community	A hideous wedding present.  A glass and silver plated duck that one of my neighbours loved so much she sent her husband to collect it immediately before anyone else could get it.  Each to her own.
56	cloth unpaper towels	Buy Nothing Community	I made these out of flannelette pjs in the free bins at the Green Shed.  I love them, but have more fabric than I need, so I decided to offer them to the neighbours.  There was much demand.
42	resuable makeup wipes	Buy Nothing Community	Not as popular as the unpaper towels, but I could have given away many more than I had.
1	keyboard	Buy Nothing Community	My work iPad died.  I’d bought a keyboard to make it useable while travelling.  The keyboard still works but is excess to our needs.
3	pairs of trousers	op shop	TOF did the hard thing and gave up some trousers.
10	pairs pantyhose	op shop	I may be a librarian but I am never going to wear sheer beige panythose.  Ever.  These are all new and in packaging.
92	Fowlers Jars	bartered	Bartered for food - mostly eggs.
32	wall hooks	gift	We bought a bulk lot of removable wall hooks to hold up the bunting that was wall decoration for our wedding.
7	saucepans	recycling	Pretty sure these pans came with our touring caravan.  They were in such terrible condition the only use for them was metal recycling
8	pieces of fabric	used up	I made some Christmas presents out of stash
254

NETT OUT  249

total out since 27 August 2018 = 3908

Oops

TOF and I were anticipating a move later in the year.  He had been offered an interstate transfer and for the last little while we'd been looking at the real estate market in Melbourne, discussing where we would like to live and how we would like to live, what was important in a home and what was optional.

Then the last Federal budget hit and although nothing was said, we suspected the move may not happen.  This suspicion proved correct last week.

However, one foggy, freezing Sunday morning a month or so ago we were out door knocking for the Salvation Army Red Shield Appeal.  As we finished our area, a house was being opened for viewing.

A week later.  Oops.

We settle in two weeks and are looking forward to living in the same house for more than a few days at a time for the first time in more than five years.

And so the consolidating, the culling and the packing begins.

I have culled about a third from stash, finding welcoming new homes for all of it.  This is what stash looks like now, in our new garage (we have access to the garage for storage).

We have also moved most of our preserving equipment and stash over.  This is the great wall of Fowlers Jars (added to since this photo was taken).  There will be no further accumulation of jars.  Ever.

 And will we need all those jars?  Spring will tell.  We have a lemon, a lime, several yet to be determined stone fruit trees, an olive, an apple and this sweet espaliered miniature pear.