Simplifying Life - Mark II

Winchelsea

GreyQueen - thanks for the tip about the acrylic. I've always avoided it like the plague as thought it better to use natural fibres (though I did read again the other day that manmade fibres are actually less harmful to the environment than wool or cotton - I sort of knew this but think I have been in denial......was more concerned that acrylic is a product of the oil industry.)

So, if I find the energy I'll give it a try. It will certainly be cheaper than posh yarns.

Am struggling to finish knitting socks for DS for his birthday at the moment. Keep getting sidetracked by all the other OS things I like to do though, including going to my knitting group, where we're knitting bunting from plastic bags (very colourful). Son's birthday was in September, so you can see how bad it is!

Penelope_Penguin

Here's the link for sourdough bread

Winchelsea

Thanks Penelope for the sourdough link. I tried to send the message below (or one very similar) last night, but the forum link wasn't working for some reason and I lost what I'd typed. Anyway, here I go again!

In fact I've been making sourdough for a few weeks now, and love it as much as you do. I found directions for making the sourdough loaf in a breadmaker somewhere on MSE - not sure where now, but I tried it successfully before my machine played up!

Ah, now I've found it! - I think it was post no 16 on this thread, but I didn't make a note of that:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/93802

The loaf I was making when the machine packed up did come out edible, just not as good as usual though. My son had some, and his comment was that it was nice but not up to my usual standard. I don't need to make any for a few days, but when I do I'll make it in the usual way by hand. May or may not end up getting another breadmaker - don't really want to spend money on more consumer goods. (There's always Freegle of course.)

Now back to today - I went to Quaker meeting this morning, and a young woman stood up and spoke about her aim to live a simple life, and she's looking at giving up her job which at present does give her a lot of material advantages, plus status etc. I was one of the many that spoke to her afterwards - in my case to say how much I was impressed with what she'd said and that I was already on that road to simplicity. (Are more and more people looking at life in 'our' way now?)

Lavandula

I am very lucky at the moment that I have a job (scientific writer) where I work at home 3 days a week, and 2 days in the office. This has made a big difference to my life and my aim to simplify it. I also means I get to spend much more time with my son.

I hate all the office politics and gossip/moaning, instead I can sit in my garden and work..:D. I can do gardening in my lunch hour instead of sitting in the canteen listening to work stuff:T

Lavandula

One of the things I also try and do is to be more in tune with the seasons. I try to do something to mark the spring and autumn equinox and the summer and winter solstice (I am not a pagan by the way!)...for example in the autumn I encourage my son to colllect leaves, nuts etc for a small display in the house...last autumn we decorated a window with colourful autumn leaves.

I will make a small 'Easter' tree in spring, paint eggs, etc...many of these activities are free and very rewarding, and are part of leading a more simple life.

shellysue

I agree, I think you appreciate the seasons more when you look for the nice things that go with them, I do something similar with pine cone collecting for autumn through winter, daffodils and primroses in spring, plus quilts that match the season, an autumn leaf one, a penguin one and a bright star quilt with christmas colours.

Lavandula

Got letter from EDF today to say energy prices are going up:mad:, also petrol prices are likely to increase further due to the unrest in the Middle East...

However I'm going to pick up a load of seed trays this afternoon from a Freecycle ad ....:) All I need is for someone to make an offer on my house and I can move to somewhere with a much bigger garden...

shellysue

my fixed rate comes to end with edf in march and I am not sure what to do with a replacement, I tried the price comparison and will go with that, still edf but another option.
Petrol prices will keep increasing and living as we do in a rural area with little in the way of buses - and fares will rise due to fuel increases.
I have been looking again at solar panels anything to help cut the cost in the future.
There is only so much I can grow and a limit to how much I can tighten my belt.

Winchelsea

A follow-up to my post the other day about whether to replace my broken breadmaker. I decided in the end it wouldn't be very green, or living the simple life, to just go out and buy one, so I put a "WANTED" on Freegle. This morning a nice woman brought me one round - didn't even have to collect it myself, as she was passing the end of my road.

My 'dead' one is a Morphy Richards, and the one I've been given is by Mellerware (never heard of them before). The odd thing is that the two machines are IDENTICAL apart from the control buttons which are different colours! So I shouldn't have too many problems getting used to it.

Just frustrated now that I have enough hand-made bread to last a few days, so can't give it a try yet! (Have played with it enough to know it does work.)

Winchelsea

Just found this - a trailer to a new film (no date yet for UK) - thought OSers might find it interesting.