household Archives

getting the washing dry without a dryer

You know you’ve reached adulthood when your first thought on a sunny day is “I’ll get the washing dry today.” Sunny days however, have been few and far between over the last few months and washing has been an all week chore, when it is normally a two day chore. The humidity doesn’t help. Even [...]

tip tuesday – conversions

The best website that I have ever come across for converting weights, measurements, volumes, time zones and all sorts of other conversions is Online Conversions. There is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t refer to this website, it is permanent link on my browser toolbar. My favourite section is weight to volume [...]

planning for emergencies

source When writing for this blog, it helps me to do a little editorial planning ahead of time and way back in November I had planned this week to write about emergencies. You see, despite having lived in QLD for over four years and despite having been evacuated because of bush fires down south, we [...]

how am i supposed to live without you? emotional attachment to clutter

We’ve been slowly going through the process of decluttering: emptying drawers, clearing out cupboards, rationalising, donating and downsizing our possessions. But there are things I never considered clutter until the little fella started standing and pulling everything onto the floor. Specifically books, CDs and DVDs. As I’m putting my CDs back on the shelf for [...]

pest control and the cycle of life – to kill or not to kill?

You may or may not be horrified by this confession, but we share our home with a variety of bugs and other critters. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say we live in complete harmony with these fellow residents, for the most part ants marching across the living room floor are ignored and [...]

the last of the bottle

I was making Asian-style sticky drumsticks the other day (recipe to come), and I found myself with only the dregs of kekap manis. To get every last drop out of the bottle, I did my usual trick of watering down the kekap manis with soy sauce. This got me thinking about my obsession habit of [...]

one woman’s obsession with lists

I am the first to admit that I’m a little bit obsessive with writing lists. But I didn’t realise the extend of my obsession until I started writing out a list of lists (is that taking things too far?) Apart from the satisfaction of crossing a task off madly when it’s been completed (I find [...]

when DIY equals ‘dial in your expert’

Ok, so the heading is a little clumsy. Anyway, in the last post, I shared a video about the benefits and personal satisfaction that come from making and doing things yourself. I’m all for making things ourselves and living with less dependence on others to meet everyone one of our needs. On the other hand [...]

moving house on a budget

Moving house. Described as one of the top five most stressful things in life. If money is the number one cause of marital arguments, then the cost of moving can be a nightmare. DIY moving saves a packet. It’s more work, but quite doable. I’ve moved house 7 times in the last 12 years.  I’ve [...]

10 skills for a frugal life

Adopting a frugal life, becoming more independent and relying less on others to provide for you every need results in an industrious life and the need to develop a broad skill set.