Make Do and DIY

Recently we've had three brilliant make-dos.

The first is darning my socks that had a hole in them.  You can hardly find the place I did the darning. And I just saved a very nice pair of wool socks for a lot more use.

Okay, maybe not brilliant.  But it did save the cost of a new pair of socks.  But the next one saved the cost of a new wallet.  David has been complaining ever since he got his new fancy leather wallet that every time he opens it all his cards slip out.  So rather than going out and finding a new wallet, I sewed on a couple of velcro strips to keep the slots closed.  Ta-da!

The third thing we did, and this was David's idea, was to make a dog gate for the front door.  When we had the retractable screen door out, we were always afraid that Bailey would hit the door, it would open, and he would escape.  So we constructed a gate using the old compost sifter.  It works beautifully, is easy to put up as well as step over, and we saved the cost of a fancy new dog gate.

A Pledge to Buy Nothing We Don't Need - Month One

On June 21 we decided to try going a month without buying anything.  We did pretty well.  The only things we bought were items which we felt would in the end contribute to a better way of doing things.  We bought a silicone mat for use on the grill, which helps cleanup and eliminates using oil.  We also bought a silicone basting brush, maybe not a necessity but still useful.  I also bought three Silpat mats, two for baking and one for roasting, thus eliminating the need for single use parchment paper and aluminum foil.

The other thing we bought, used from Craigslist, was grooming clippers for Bailey.  We did have to buy a different blade and some clipper oil for it.  All together we spent about $100, which will just cover two professional grooming sessions.

So all things considered, the month went pretty well.  So well, in fact, that we've decided to try for another month.

A New Way of Living

I've been working toward this idea for years, but I decided it would be fun to document our efforts.

We're practicing a combination of minimalism, anti-consumerism, zero waste, plastic free and make do. I guess you could call it living thoughtfully, trying to have as little impact as possible.

We've drastically uncluttered our home, but there are lots of other things we're doing.  I've nearly eliminated food packaging by making a lot of things from scratch.  I now bake our artisan bread, and am about to experiment with making a rye loaf.

I make David's English muffins (for 8 cents each).

I make our thin buns (for 5 cents each), plus the black bean burgers to go on them.

And I bake our pita pockets (5 cents each).

I'm now cooking and freezing all our beans.

I'm working on crackers, but I still have a way to go on that one.