New home...

This blog has now moved to:

http://compactuk.blogspot.com/

House Move and Challenge on Hold

As you may have gathered from my previous post, I am moving house! Dave and I are moving in together, into a small two bed house, as we thought it would be a good way to downsize from living in two two-bedroom house/flat.

In the midst of all the chaos that is caused by moving house, we decided to put on hold of starting The Compact until we are settled and back into the swings of living. I am also away from home for a month. We decided 1st September is a good time to start, as this will be two weeks after I finish my wardrobe challenge, giving me time to stock up on some things that I have identified as needing new blood!

I am still continuing with the Wardrobe Challenge, and No Online Shopping Challenge in the mean time.

OK, I confess...

I shopped online the other day...

Let me explain. Well, there is no excuse for breaking the no online shopping rule, but I will try to dig myself into a deeper hole anyway. I am moving house. WE are moving house, to a small two bed house, with both of our stuff. The house is fine for one person, but not two! So I am having to get rid of a lot of stuff (as my poor friends will be able to tell you from their houses filled with stuff I dumped on the pretence that they will like them).

So it makes perfect sense to go and buy new lights from Laura Ashley just because they were on 25% off sale. OK, so I had drooled over those lights for years. Going to the store to order them wasn't really an option, as the one in our town is situated too far from the any of the car parks for me to walk from. Still, it's a FAIL!

I have attempted to online shop for other things too "for the new house", but I have managed to not click the "go to checkout" button so far. I really really must get a grip on this online shopping ban though.

Brilliant website for recycling

I have found a brilliant website for anyone interested in recycling in the UK. It's called RecycleNow and it's brilliant for two reasons.

1) You can enter your postcode and search for what recycling is available in your area. This is shown in a map, which is really handy, but on top of that, you can narrow down categories of what you want to recycle to find your nearest centre. I had almost given up on being able to recycle plastic food trays and yoghurt pots, but now I have found out that Cumbria is hot on plastic recycling. Now, when I go to the lakes for a day out, I can take my plastic with me!

2) In the composting page, at the bottom of the page, you can enter your post code to see if your council will subsidise composting equipments, but get this, you can then order it straight on the website, no fussing about going to find where you can redeem the subsistence. Yes, I am on an online purchase ban, but I did order a compost bin from them, as it was totally free, I figured it's not actually online shopping!

Have a look at the website if you are at the end of your tethers about things you can't recycle in your area.

The Effects of Illness

I have been unwell for several months, although I tried to cover it up and continued to do my regular teaching hours and submit three papers this year. However, in the last two months my health deteriorated so much that I couldn't hide it any longer. I currently get to go out of the house once a week for a short trip (to the doctors mainly).

I finally went to the doctors and I am slowly getting treatments for my ills, so hopefully, I will sooner rather than later be healthier again.

I'm not writing about my health for sympathy. I wanted to write about how being ill has made me take the leap to committing to have a simpler life.

One of my illness means that, working full time is probably not a good idea, ever. I always dreamed of being a high flying career girl, but my health is now far more important to me than things. Over the last 8 months of my wardrobe challenge I have learnt that I no longer needed to value my life by the things I own. This new freedom has now allowed me to be comfortable with the idea of working only part-time, doing the things I really enjoy doing. I don't need to choose a full-time job that I hate because I needed the money to pay for things to make me look better.

This has really pushes my desire for a simpler life from a day dream to something I am going to actively plan towards.

The Two Year Plan

We have a plan to move to a small house in the countryside in two years time to start our simpler living. However, there are a lot of things we need to still change before we can get to that stage! Here are some of the things we want to/are trying to work on.

One car - We both have a car each, and at the moment, it's difficult to get rid of them. Dave works away a lot, and he definitely needs his car for work. I only drive my car when he is not around as walking is difficult for me. We have discussed this issue before and we think it will become easier to realise when he settles down for a local job.

Moving house - We keep all large cardboard boxes that come into the house so that by the time we move, we won't need to by any boxes just for the purpose of moving our stuff. I am also steadily reducing my stuff so that there are less things to move.

Finance - of course this is the big one. To live a simpler life, you need to spend less (so that you can spent less time earning the money). I have become better at not spending, but I have a loooooong way to go. I am hoping that my Compact Challenge will really help me to let go of the need to buy stuff.

Skills - To live simply, you must learn to be as self sufficient as possible. I can always learning new crafting skills, while Dave is busy learning how to grow food on the balcony. I have also bullied suggested that he should follow what he really enjoys and sign himself up on a woodworking course.

Less dependent on products - I have moved away from Bold-loving, Bounty-wiping, Fairy-washing, Head-and-Shoulders-bubbling, Nivea-slapping ways in the last 8 months. Out of cleaning and beauty needs, I am now only dependent on shops for soap (still too scared to handle caustic soda), razors, eyeliner and washing up liquid.

Stocking Up - Cutting Down Further

I am still having a stare-out competition with my stocking up list for the year. I am glad that I decided to leave it at least a week before I start the stock up, as it has given me time to cool down and really think about what I need to buy. Each day, I am able to strike things off the list.

Cotton pads - do I really use that much cotton pads? I used to use a lot of them when I was manicure-pedicure crazy, but those days were long gone since I went chemical free (there is no way that smell is remotely natural!) I now only use it to remove eye make up on the rare days I ware make up. So I think I will be OK with the two full packs that I already have. The 1 pack of cotton pads have now been struck off the list.

Set of knitting needles - with so many people starting and then giving up the intricate art of handling two needles and a thread with only two hands (or am I the only one that couldn't get my head around this as a child?), I am bound to come across some knitting needles in a charity shop, or be given them from someone that has long given up knitting. So I am going to leave this to chance, and not buy any brand new.

Bag of stuffing - I felt the need to replace my bag of stuffing that I lent to my friend, just in case I need it in the next year. Then I realised that I have NEVER used any of the stuffing (that's why it's at my friend's). I can't even remember what I bought it for and I haven't missed the bag during it's holiday away from home. So I am taking this one off the list - I'm sure I can ask for whatever is left back if I really need some stuffing.

2x henna dye from Lush - I used henna hair dye now instead of the chemical dyes as a) they have lots of chemicals in and b) the last time I used such dye, I felt very queasy and ill. I started thinking whether I really needed 2 of those huge bars? First of all, I don't need to dye my hair at the moment because they are about 5mm long. I am planning to keep them this short until my bald patches (due to my thyroids dying) decide to grow back again, which is possibly up to 3 months. Once I start growing my hair, it will take at least another 2 or 3 months before I feel the need to dye my hair, which leaves us with 7 months. Secondly, I would only be bothered to dye my hair every 3 months as henna dye IS a lot more effort, so for the remaining 7 months, I will probably dye my hair 3 times at the most. Those bars come with 6 squares marked on them, and I only use 2 squares, so henna hair dye is down from 2 bars to 1.

Then I thought of some things which I did not add to the "allowed to buy brand new" list, panicked about it, and then realised I didn't really NEED them:

Basic things to make lace with - Ever since my friend at boarding school pulled out a beautifully intricate lace she was making, I always fantasised about making lace myself. The detailing of simple knots making patterns tickles my autistic-math-head-wanna-be side of me. So I thought, as a new skill, I would like to learn how to make my very own lace and added a lace making set as a treat. Then I realised I already have knitting as a skill to learn this year and I felt that I couldn't master two skills in one year. Still wanting to make something delicate and beautiful, I changed the lace making kit to lace threads thinking I will be able to crochet with my lace crochet hook that is still in its own packaging. Wait... If I haven't used this lace hook in the two years I have been crocheting, surely, there is no rush? So I am leaving this one to chance as well, and wait till I see some in a charity shop.

Calendars - I didn't think of this until I was reading a thrifty article about buying your calender at half price in January (which I have never had the patience - My OCD makes me have the new calenders read and up before 31st December, or the new year was doomed). I thought "oh no, what about my lovely calenders?" I buy minimum of 4 calenders each year, a large one and a tiny desk one, each for my home office and office at work. Now, we are talking about the office at work that I hardly ever used, particularly this year since I have been ill. I don't need calenders for a desk that I hardly ever used, but what about my I-have-everything-I-need home office? Surely I NEED to know what day it is, and what day a random day in June is? Actually, I do all my scheduling in my diary that I make each year (it's a the-time-between-Christmas-and-New-Year ritual of mine for many years) and I am surgically attached to the said diary. Then I remembered that I only ever turn over my desk calender when it's embarrassing to leave it on the previous month (around the third week of the new month), and my large calender is still stuck on February! Yeah OK, I don't need a calender.


The stocking up list is steadly shrinking, only a bit more to go:

• Wool
• Fabric
• 4m of wadding
• Sewing threads
• Elastic cords
• bias tape maker
• chalk
• 4 bars of soap
• 6 months supply of Sanitary items
• henna dye * 1 from lush
• 3 packs of A4 paper
• 1 set of Printer ink
• 1 box of cotton ear buds
• Re-usable oven sheet
• Percolator
• 3 boxes of Tissue
• 4 rolls Bin bags
• 1 roll of Aluminium foil
• Network cable (to network the fax machine to reduce print outs)
• very small tupperwares for freezing (so not to use cling film and ziplock)