Unbought Delicacies: Frugal Friday

Friday 4 November 2011

Frugal Friday - 4th November

One of the most useful tools in my kitchen is my rubber spatula. I've had it a long, long time, it must be 18 years old now, bought in Marks & Spencer in Bournemouth - Bean was in a pushchair then! lol Why do I love it? It gets every last piece of whatever out of the jar/bowl whatever, so is a great tool for true frugality in the waste not want not mode of living. Mine is rubber with a metal handle; I'd like wood, but I suspect it wouldn't have lasted these 18 years if it were, with the constant washing up. I also ahve one of the very tiny ones - great for jam jars and the like.

4 comments:

mrsnesbitt said...: Oh yes - last time I saw mine it was being used to scrape ice off a windscreen!!!; 4 November 2011 at 13:48
mrsnesbitt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4 November 2011 at 13:48
pancake said...: My dog swallowed the rubber end off of one of those a few months ago, it has never reappeared!; 4 November 2011 at 15:11
MrsL said...: Not quite the responses I expected, but made me laugh out loud. Just goes to show the versatility of rubber spatulas I suppose................ lol; 4 November 2011 at 19:43

I have found such joy

I have found such joy in simple things;
A plain, clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread,
A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings,
The shelter of a roof above my head,
And in a leaf-laced square along the floor,
Where yellow sunlight glimmers through the door.
I have found such joy in things that fill
My quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace,
A potted plant upon my window sill,
A rose, fresh-cut and placed within a vase;
A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair,
And books I long have loved beside me there.
Oh, I have found such joys I wish I might
Tell every woman who goes seeking far
For some elusive, feverish delight,
That very close to home the great joys are:
The elemental things- old as the race,
Yet never, through the ages, commonplace.

~ Grace Noll Crowell

Ideas for handmade gifts

Small knitteds - gloves, scarves, hot water bottle covers, hats, tea cosies, phone covers, little toys,,cushion covers, bags. Some of these can be felted/fulled for extra interest.
Edibles - chutneys and jams, pickles, nice teas in a vintage/retro tin, sweeties, toffees, mustard, home made wine and liqueurs, home dried fruits, ketchups.
For the home - trimmed tea towels, handknitted dishcloths, quilted wallhangings, small samplers, restored picture frames, pot pourri, lavender bags, covered coathangers, little scented bags for hanging on handles, framed photos of family,etc you've taken yourself, pincushion,needle book, scissor keeper, book of promises (eg babysitting, 1 hour's housework, the ironing, etc)
Bathtime - homemade soap, bath oils, bath salts, knitted washcloths, herbal bags for the bath, hand sewn toilet bags, trimmed hand towels, homemade lotions and potions packed in pretty jars and bottles.
For the garden - home saved seed in handmade decorated packets; homemade handcream, exfoliating soap, wheat bag for those digger's aches and pains!

Handmade books, personalised printed notepaper and envelopes.
Hamper of bits and bobs from the above lists, packed in a pretty lined basket.

I'll add some more as and when I think of them; These can be used all year round and easily tailored to the recipient - everyone loves a homemade gift. :)

Inspiring thoughts.............

I saw a man, an old Cilician, who occupied an acre or two of land that no one wanted.
A patch not worth the ploughing, unrewarding for flocks, unfit for vineyards;
he, however, by planting here and there among the scrub cabbages or white lilies and verbena and flimsy poppies, fancied himself a king in wealth, and coming home late in the evening, loaded his board with unbought delicacies.
Virgil

I had no theories to prove. I merely wanted to try living by my own hands, independently as far as possible from a system of division of labour in which the participant loses most of the pleasure of making and growing things for himself. I wanted to bring in my own fuel and smell its sweet smell as it burned in the hearth I had made. I wanted to grow my own food, or forage after it. In short I wanted to do as much as I could for myself, because I had already realised from partial experience the inexpressible joy of doing so.

Harlan Hubbard, Shantyboat: A River Way of Life

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Friday 4 November 2011

Frugal Friday - 4th November

4 comments: