domestic occupations
Laughed out loud when I read the Queen of Decluttering, Marie Kondo, has relaxed her standards after the arrival of her third child. She now believes clutter is part of family life. Changing your approach to all sorts of things is part of the human condition! I think the amount of clutter you can comfortably live with is a very personal thing. Almost every decluttering article I’ve ever read has shared three or four or more really useful techniques for tidying up and instigating more effective ways of organising your home. Most are now part of our everyday routines.
Our house is comfortable, easy to clean, fairly easy to locate paperwork kept for future reference and reflects our passions and interest. There are a few cupboards best never opened by the unprepared, but we’re comfortable with that and may sort them one day. Besides, I used to wonder if Marie Kondo’s garlic press, tissue boxes and laundry pegs ‘ sparked joy?’ Her mantra was ‘only have things that spark joy.’ Nevertheless, it is important to surround yourself with things that make you comfortable.
I do have a few habits to make everything easier; I like a calm, functional, comfortable home. I try to avoid waste. A tidy, productive garden with some plants grown from shared plants is satisfying, too. I believe in maintaining, repairing if necessary and enjoying our house and its contents.
So a few things I’ve done recently in line with my philosophy.
I wandered into a home decoration shop recently, looking for sheets for my son. It was one of those shops filled with beautiful china, bed linen, gifts and some furniture. Didn’t find the sheets he wanted, but I did find other things! Initially, I picked up some William Morris print serviettes/napkins (so pretty) then a big butter dish which would hold the 500gm blocks of butter we buy. It has rounded corners and sits nicely next to our retro looking toaster.
Then I spotted a box of four blue and white patterned mugs with fine, thin rims, which I prefer to chunky rims so I added them to the pile. Two new mugs were actually on my shopping list, anyway, so now we have four new ones.
The dilemma was evident when I got to the checkout. I’d parked some distance away, two of these purchases were in big boxes and I didn’t have a shopping bag! The lovely assistant offered me a faux oilskin bag for $1.00. It is very pretty and will be added to my collection of shopping bags. Like all these cheap bags, the side seams are not well finished and often start unraveling and separating from the top edge after being used a few times.
The side binding is not finished well and will come apart easily. I could have overlocked the end of the seams but the fabric is not very sturdy and I wondered if the needle holes made stitching them would actually weaken it. I didn’t want the bag tearing. So I glued the end of each seam and when I tested the next morning each corner was strong and firm. This bag should last a long time.
While we were in Kalgoorlie I needed masses of chopped herbs for a sandwich spread I was making. I’m a big fan of chopping herbs with scissors as all the flavour becomes part of the recipe and not a green stain on the chopping board. I used herb cutting scissors, with multiple blades in this case, but usually I just use kitchen scissors. No green stain on your chopping board and all the goodness goes into the food.
Always trying to increase the variety of fruit and vegetables we eat, so I make several different salads regularly. One of my favourites has tomatoes, celery, potato and half a red onion in it. Red onion tastes very good but has a particularly strong aroma. So when I store it in the fridge I seal it in a wide mouthed recycled jar. If the scent lingers on the lid after it’s been washed I put it out in the sun and all the smell is gone in no time.
I usually avoid round storage containers as they waste space whereas rectangular and square containers can be placed with no wasted space.The round, wide mouthed jar works well for a round onion!
My very old, tired sourdough starter. A bit sad!
We were away for ten days and in that time my sourdough mother/starter ran out of enthusiasm. It smelt strongly of yeast but didn’t react when I fed it. So I had to dispose of it after more than four years. I am on day six of growing a new one, using only flour and cooled boiled water. It is very hot during the day in Perth at the moment so the new starter is doing well. Looking forward to fresh rye sourdough!
The other thing I’ve been doing is saving all the vegetable off cuts in the freezer and adding new bits each day until I have a bag full. Then I boil them up and let them simmer on low heat for about twenty minutes. Next I strain the liquid into a jar and freeze it. Beautiful vegetable stock! Leftover bits go to the worms.
I have lots of plans for using the stock and I’m sure I’ll share them with you! Do you make stock?
Your comments about Marie Kondo made me laugh too, I remember reading her book years ago and thinking before I knew it that I bet she doesn’t have children and if she does she would realise how unrealistic so much of what she writes is. She did however have some great ideas which I still use to this day.
Did you know that you can put your sourdough starter in the fridge, it goes dormant and you need to get it out and let it warm up before you can use it again, but it works when you go away for a bit and are not able to feed it for a few days.
Hello!
I neglected my starter for too long and sadly, it was exhausted. I now have made a new one and will make my first loaf using it tomorrow. I didn’t realise the number of things I could make from the discard! We have enjoyed pancakes and scones and I’ll try tortillas tonight. They all taste so good and no waste!
Deborah