If you like clog dancing or buck dancing, you'll love this. It all seems so familiar to me but I guess it's a look back in time for many of you.  Bluegrass music and clog dancing.

Are you living true to your environmental values, or trying to, and renting accommodation? Look at this great website: Green Renters Lots of tips and encouragement here.

A knitted Waldorf-style doll.

The five regrets of dying. I've linked to this before but I think it's a good article to refer back to occasionally. It certainly refocuses me.

After reading Lusi's comment on yesterday's post about this post, I re-read it and decided to add it here. Thanks Lusi, happy Easter to you and your family. xx

Blogs found via my comments during the week

Melissa - Melissa has a beautiful garden and blog. Do yourself a favour and check it out, it's more than gardening.

Africanaussie has been transplanted from the heat in Africa to the heat in tropical Queensland, Australia. There is so much to read here - permaculture, food production and crazy tropical plants.

If you celebrate the religious holidays, I wish you a happy Easter or Passover. Whatever you do over the coming days, I hope you're with people you love and you enjoy yourself. Thanks for your visits during the week, I look forward to seeing you again on Monday.

I love my family. We aren't perfect but we support each other, we show affection and love and there is a warm and comfortable thread that ties us to each other. We celebrated Jamie's first birthday last weekend and of course, there was a get-together of family and friends to mark this wonderful occasion.

(Sorry for the poor quality of the photos today. I just cleaned the lens. ahem. :- O)

Jamie with two of his cousins. They came over from Korea for a holiday and to be here for Jamie's big day.
Sunny and Jamie above. Below Sunny, her sister, Sarndra and Alexander watch while Jamie is dressed in his traditional Korean first birthday costume.

Jamie wasn't quite sure of the decorations and costumes and he often had a puzzled look on his face but there were also lots of smiles and the chance to spend time with his cousins, surrounded by balloons and birthday cake and lollies. He is such a happy boy. I'm not sure how many birthdays I'll be around for. I hope to see him turn 21 and even 30, but if I don't, he can look back, maybe to this blog, and see how much he was loved by all of us and how his family came together to celebrate his first birthday. 

Yesterday I wrote about making camembert cheese in the home kitchen. We got to the point where the milk had turned from liquid to curds and whey.

Cutting the curds:

Your cheese mix still needs to be at 32C/89.6F. If the temperature has dropped, turn the stove on again for about a minute.

Putting the curds into the moulds

Turning the moulds:

1. When the moulds have drained for an hour, you need to turn them over to make sure they drain evenly. Making sure you have very clean hands, gently slide the curds from the mould onto your hand. It should slide out easily. Then turn the curd over and slide it back into the mould.
2. Now you'll have the curds in the mould again but what was the top is not on the bottom.
3. Do this every hour for the rest of the day, or about 5 or 6 times.
4. Allow the moulds to sit on the rack and drain overnight. I put mine in the microwave and closed the door.

Load the moulds to the top and let them drain into a bowl. Save the whey.

I took the cheese out of the moulds too soon. Let them stay in the moulds overnight and remove them in the morning.

Salting the cheese:

1. The next morning you can remove the cheese from the moulds and salt it.
2. Use good salt - kosher or pure sea salt - sprinkle it all over the cheese and rub it in slightly.

Maturing the cheese:

1. Place the cheese on a rack in a sterile box that will fit in your fridge or cheese cave. You need a humid coolish environment for the moulds to develop. The cheese needs air for the bacteria and moulds to develop - so don't keep the lid on the container.
2. Set the temperature at between 8 - 10C and place an open container of water in the fridge to increase humidity. If you think the humidity level isn't high enough, place moist cheesecloth or cotton cloth in the fridge. You could also use a spray bottle of boiled water that has cooled down and spray the inside of the fridge.
3. It will take about 14 days for the cheese to be fully covered with white mould but you'll probably notice it growing at the end of the first week.
4. When you see the first signs of white mould, turn the cheese over.
5. When the white mould is completely covering the cheese, wrap them in cheese wrap and continue to mature the cheese at 8 - 10C for another 3 - 4 weeks.

It's best to start your cheesemaking in the morning. It will take all day to make camembert but most of that time is waiting for the next step; the actual hands-on work takes about an hour.

The amount of milk I used will give you about 1½ litres/quarts of whey. Don't throw it out, it's a valuable food full of beneficial bacteria. Store your whey in a preserving/canning jar. It will keep well in the fridge for at least three months. I'm going to make ricotta with this whey and it will sit happily in the fridge until I have time to do it.

I hope I've encouraged you towards cheesemaking. If you have the right equipment and cultures and a supply of good milk, you can make some very good cheese. It's not too difficult and although some of the processes can be time consuming, most of that time is waiting for the whey to drain or for the curds to set. It's another great skill that will add to the delicious and simple foods you can place on the table for your family and friends.

ADDITIONAL READING
This is my favourite cheese site - Fankhauser's Cheese Page

The last time I made camembert cheese was on 19 May 2007. This is what I said after doing it:

The entire process took all day and half way through it I realised that cheese making is not "my thing". I'm too impatient for it. But I persevered and produced a decent enough Camembert. I've told everyone who would listen to me that I won't make cheese again but I doubt that's true. I just have to put space between myself and the event and just like childbirth, I'll be back for seconds.

And true to my word, I came back for seconds, albeit five years later - that must have been the space I was talking about. :- ) It seems I have changed a bit over those years because this time I was much more organised and calm and mixing up a batch of raw milk cheese didn't seem like such a palaver this time. In fact, I enjoyed it although it wasn't without its dramas.

I bought a Mad Millie camembert kit from the local stockist at Maroochydore. The kit contained two hoops to help form the cheeses as well as the cultures and rennet needed to make it, or so I thought. I made the first batch up on Friday, I came to the second addition of culture and it looked like I had two cultures the same. I rang the shop. I was assured it was right, she remembered me, and encouraged me to add both cultures. The cheese didn't set. I sat down to read a cheese troubleshooting page on the web. There I read the cheese would not set because the bacterial count was too high - adding that second batch of the same culture ruined the cheese. I rang back and told her, she said the rep was there and he'd bring the right culture over to me. I appreciate that he did that, but that doesn't excuse her bad advice, the fact that she didn't apologise and that I had to throw out four litres/quarts of fresh milk. The high bacterial count made it unfit for the chooks. I won't be using Mad Millie or that stockist again - for cheese or brewing supplies. 

I'm going to try Australian Home Cheese Making for my next batch of cultures. They run courses so I'm guessing they know their cheese. It looks to be the most reasonably priced Flora Danica at $17.50, enough for 250 litres/quarts of milk. These cultures are stored in the freezer so it's fine to buy a larger amount. If you're interested in cheese making, stay tuned because I'll continue to try different suppliers and let you know which ones offer the best service and value for money.

I had four litres of milk left so early Saturday morning I started up again. Four litres will make up two fairly large camemberts. To make camembert you will need:

To make the cheese:

1. Put the milk in the pot on the stove and bring the milk to 32C/89.6F
2. Stir in the starter bacteria Flora Danica according to the instructions on the pack. Don't stir too vigorously, this bacteria doesn't like too much air.
3. Turn off the heat.
4. Let the milk sit for 90 minutes with the lid on the saucepan.
5. After 90 minutes stir in the mould spores - Penicillium Camemberti
6. Add the diluted rennet. I used 0.5ml vegetarian rennet and diluted it in 2ml water.
7. Stir for a minute using the slotted spoon.
8. Cover again and let sit for 60 minutes. Check that the temperature is still at 32C/86.9F. If it's gone down a little, turn on the stove for about 45 seconds to bring it back up to the correct temperature.

There is no doubt that living as we do and trying to stay on budget presents us with many decisions. Do we buy organic? Do we buy local? Do we grow our own? What are the pros and cons of those options? One thing is for sure, if you want to stay healthy while saving money, there will probably not be one single answer to this. Prices and circumstances will keep changing and we have to be flexible enough to change what we do.

Many of you know what we do here. We try to grow as much as we can right here in our backyard. We keep chickens - we have 12 rare breed chooks at the moment and we keep them for eggs, not meat. But what do we do for the rest of our food? How do we continue to buy healthy food while staying within our budget?

Aldi is our main grocery shop, the things we can't buy at Aldi we usually buy at IGA at Maleny. We have an Aldi shop just five minutes away from our home. If you've never shopped at Aldi and you have one close buy, I encourage you to try them out. You'll save about 30% on what you'd spend at Woolworths or Coles. If you're spending $100 a week at the supermarket on groceries every week and you change to Aldi, that's a saving of $30 a week or $1560 a year. Just say you spend that $560 on items you can't get at Aldi, you're still way ahead. It would be wonderful to be able to pay off an extra $1000 off your mortgage each year just by changing where you shop.

There is a bit of a learning period when you first shop at Aldi, it's not set out like your average supermarket but it only takes one or two visits to get the general idea. Also, they have specials that run for a week or so, then you won't see them again in the shop for another year. It's a German-owned company selling 97% Australian fruit and vegetables, 94% Australian dairy and 100% Australian meat; the rest of the groceries, like other supermarkets, come from all over the world - often from Germany. They won best supermarket in Australia last year and that was voted for on customer satisfaction.

Aldi have a range of organic goods and we buy them but here is where the dilemma presents itself. Their tomato paste is organic but made in Italy. Do we go for an organic product we can afford or an Australia product that is not organic? I hope you check where all your food comes from and if you do, you'll see that a lot of the tomato products being sold in Australia now are either from Italy or China. When I find Australian tomatoes or tomato paste in cans I buy it, if not, I buy Aldi's Italian organic range. I think we should all support our local famers and industries. If you're in the US, Canada, UK, France, Holland or Sweden - you should buy the products grown and packaged in your own country. We have no right to complain that our jobs are being sent overseas if we don't buy goods from our own countries. Check the country of origin and help your own country keep its jobs by buying locally produced goods. It may cost a little more but we have to get used to the idea that not all food is cheap and buying local is a wise investment.

We're fortunate in having a local butcher that we trust. We buy our meat in bulk from him so we get good meat at a good price. Most of his meat is killed and processed locally, by him and his sons. The rest of it  - the lamb and pork, is brought in from farmers he trusts. That's fine by me. If I didn't have such a butcher, if I was buying supermarket meat, if my butcher wouldn't tell me where the meat was coming from, I'd start looking for a reliable source of good meat and chicken. If I couldn't find a reliable source, I'd buy very little meat and move more towards a vegetarian diet with additions of sustainable fish. If I had a large backyard, I would also consider keeping chickens for meat and eggs. This is what I mean by flexibility and changing what you do as times and circumstances change.

When we're not growing our own vegetables and we buy from the farmers market or Aldi, we buy organic if we can afford it but for me, fresh food grown close to where we live always beats organic. If I have a choice, I prefer fresh vegetables over older organic vegetables. You will have to think about this and decide for yourself what your preference is.

We buy bread flour in bulk bags of 12.5kg/30lbs from a shop that also sells loose dried fruit, nuts, spices, tea, coffee, pasta, rice and grains. They're Simply Good in Morayfield and Alderley. If you make bread at home it is worthwhile looking for one of these shops. They generally have a very good range and are cheaper than the supermarkets. There are plenty of online shops we can buy organic dried foods from but generally we support our local co-op in Maleny. They have a good range of organic foods of every description and the profits go back into the town.

We all support, or choose not to support, with the dollars we spend every week on food and groceries. This is long-term spending. If you can save money here, they will be continued savings that will add up over time. You'll go through stages too. You start off as a single, often turn into a couple, add children, then have ravenous teenagers, and go back to a single or a couple somewhere along the way. All these stages require different shopping strategies and hopefully the way you shop through every stage will result in savings in your pocket every week. With careful and thoughtful shopping and putting in an extra effort at home, it is possible to save in every stage. You have control over this. It is worth some thought.

What is your shopping strategy at the moment and how has it changed over time?

Country of origin labelling in Australia
How are Australian spending their money?

Every week from now on I'm including links to two regular commenters on my blog in my weekend read post. It helps spread the love around and is a little thank you from me for taking the time to contribute on a regular basis.  This week they are:

Jamie's NGO Farm - a family working towards living off the land

When you visit here, read A Hairy Concern, it contains some wisdom from The Accidental Housewife that I wish I'd written: I will teach them to be wise, so that they can choose their own path. 

Great recipes at the Smitten Kitchen

Just in time for our winter, another great knitting site This was linked to at the forum by Nannyrai during the week and too good not to pass on.

A Farm for the Future - you tube

Charity shops are thriving.

Orang-utans are dying.

And bees are getting lost.

Another week has gone by and we move closer to cooler temperatures down here. And that means it's Spring time for the majority of the world's population. I hope you're all enjoying the change of seasons.  Thank you for visiting this week, enjoy what you do this weekend and be kind to yourself.

Just a short post today because I'm a bit busy, but I do have a few things to update you on. 

Most readers would know that Sharon was very sick last year and a couple of times we thought we might lose her. It was really frightening but thankfully she survived after a long stay in hospital. She's been back helping me behind the scenes here, especially with the apron swap, and on the forum, but she's still sick and may have to go back to hospital. She's also supporting another member of her family in their illness. I would like everyone to give Sharon a cyber hug and let her know how much we appreciate her and her work here. I can honestly tell you that she gives me a lot of support behind the scenes and she really does help keep this place going. Thanks Sharon. I send love and hugs to you and your mob over there! Get well soon.

Okay, now I'll surprise you all by telling you that Jamie will be one year old on Saturday. How fast has that time gone! Sunny's mum, Sunja Cho, is here with Sunny's sister and nephews at the moment, so we'll be having a party on the weekend to celebrate Jamie's first year - it will be our family as well as Sunny and Kerry's friends. We'll catch up with Shane, Sarndra and Alexander too. We're all looking forward to it. 

Our New Hampshire chickens are laying now and giving us an egg a day each.  Chooks are such a joy to watch and when they give you delicious fresh eggs every day, they also play a valued part in the backyard food production.

My column in the Women's Weekly doesn't appear this month. When full page ads come in late, a single page column is taken out to accommodate it. This month is was my turn. I'll be back next month. Make sure you give WW some feedback on their site or on Facebook. Just like all of us publishing on a regular basis, we like to know if what we're producing is worthwhile and helpful.

You all know my Friday post is all links - some to interesting reading somewhere in the web, some to other blogs. I try to send you off to blogs that I find interesting and are well presented, to do otherwise would be misleading. Often when I read blogs I am disappointed they receive so few readers. Both Hanno and I read the comments every day and he often follows the links back to your blogs and tells me when he finds something of interest. I've decided that in addition to the links I already give you, I'm going to check out a lot more of the people who comment here regularly. So from now on, I'll link to a couple of blogs who have commented here during the week. I hope to spread the love around and find some interesting people and ideas in the process.

If you have an Australian Blogger blog and have been struggling to find your editing tools (the little screwdriver and pencil) since they added the "au" to your blog address, there is a solution. Just open your blog, go to the address bar and delete the ".au/". Then type in its place "/ncr". That stand for no country redirect, it will keep your blog just as a ". com" blog and your editing tools will return. But you will have to do it everyday. I haven't worked out yet how to make it permanent.

After sorting through all the comments, and because some swappers did not communicate with their partners or decided not to participate after all, I have had to update the apron swap list as follows. If you do not find your name on this list, it is because I have had to re-pair several swappers (and in the process remove those that did not communicate). Here's the list:

PS. Melissa in Costa Rica, please leave your email in the comments after this post as soon as possible for a possible swap partner.

I guess that most people reading here every day would be working people - either out in the wide world earning money and/or at home running the household in ways to save it. I am proudly working class; work is part of my core, it's something I expect to do most days, but most of the work I do nowadays is not for money, it's to maintain the way I love to live. It may sound strange to some but I think that working for what you need and want makes you treasure it more, it has meaning because you know the hours of toil that went into it. And yet it seems to me that we have gone off the rails a bit with work. Many of us will work until we drop because we have too much debt to retire earlier. 

I believe that most of us work to get together our life's assets and to buy a house to live in, or to rent one. We might also buy a car. Once we have our assets, we work steadily to pay off the debt we acquired to buy it all. We hope to stay employed, we cut back and save what we can and if we're lucky, the mortgage is paid off earlier than planned and a few years later the credit card and car are all squared away. This kind of debt management is entirely possible, Hanno and I paid off our 20 year mortgage in eight years and have lived debt-free for many years.

But somewhere along the way, a whole generation fell for the idea that buying everything you want on a credit card is normal; encouraged in that by banks looking for higher profits and advertising promising happiness in a pair of shoes, a flash car, diamond earrings, or a jet ski, etc etc etc. It saddens me that many of these good honest people realise too late that they're in over their heads and they'll be working far into the future to pay for today's must-haves. Long after the bling has lost its shine, it is still being paid for.

There is a better way, although it requires sacrifice and hard work. It requires that we cut back on our desires, stop listening to best friends and focus on slowing down and living well rather than expecting to have it all, and then working to pay for it.

There is only one sure way to financial security. Spend less than you earn. One of the things that can delay paying off debt is paying more for the things you use a lot of, or for convenience foods. And by convenience I mean washed salads, processed food, pre-cooked frozen meals, tinned soups, as well as takeaway and fast food, and a whole array of foods that seemed to be a good idea at the time because they cut down on preparation and cooking time but they cost more and therefore add to the cost of living. When you're paying off debt, you want to reduce your cost of living, not raise it. Get back to basics and buy unprocessed foods, cook from scratch and reap the benefits - both in your health and in the money saved.

There is a decision to be made here. Do you work less so you have the time to do some things yourself or do you work more so you have the money to pay for everything you want? Your answer to that question will depend on whether you want to work your whole life so you can buy every thing you want and need, or whether you see value is cutting back on your wants so you have more time to enjoy life. 

You will never see an advertisement suggesting caution and prudence. On the contrary, they encourage excess and acquisition at any price. So I am going to encourage you to look beyond today, think about all those months you'll be handing over money to pay for what you buy today. Try to cut the cost of living and pay your debts off as fast as you can. Don't be conned into buying too much, expect to work hard for what you have, expect to do your fair share and think about saving rather than spending - not just this week or next, but far into the future too. Because if you can get off the debt roller coaster, if you stop spending just because you can, if you knuckle down and get serious about debt reduction, you will be able to retire sooner rather than later and just live. It may be with less "stuff" but it will be on your own terms and you'll own your life. I hope you find a plan of attack, encouragement and support in my group of budgeting posts here.

It all starts with a commitment to your own future, a clear vision about how you'll reduce debt and then the determination to get back on track and out of the clutches of the bank. I wish you the best and I'd be interested in hearing your story.

Kristen has done a review of my book and is generously giving away a copy of my book to Australians only. You can find her blog here for the details. The giveaway finishes next Monday. 

According to the Wikipedia, value adding refers to "extra" feature(s) of an item of interest (product, service, person etc.) that go beyond the standard expectations and provide something "more" while adding little or nothing to its cost.

I like to think that Hanno and I have added value to our lives simply by the way we live.

I often think back to a young woman who attended one of my workshops at the neighbourhood centre. She listened intently to everything said, then right at the end, she said: "You mean to tell me we don't have to live like this?" "No," I said, "you can live however you see fit." She was astounded. She'd never considered the possibility that life may be lived beyond the consumerist model. There is a choice to be made here. You either go with the flow, do what is expected of you, don't make waves and be the mirror image of all the people your age, or you can step outside that mainstream bubble, make your own decisions, envision the life you want, then work to make it happen.

You can add value to your life and make it better.  Much better.

You will make choices every day you're alive. Will I get up at 7am or 8? Eat breakfast or have a cup of tea?  Get married, or remain single. Spend or save? Live according to your values or go along with everyone else? I have never been a follower, and regardless of the consequences, I've always gone for the interesting option rather than the safe one. I have lived a most remarkable life and I think one of the main reasons for that is that I don't take the easy option and often the paths I walk along are not main roads, they're back streets. I am convinced that those back streets and all I experienced along them, added value to my life.

There are certain questions you can ask yourself and  what you do as a consequence of your answer may help change your life and might also add value to it. 

Simplifying your life isn't just about the practical things you do every day - although that is a big part of it - it's also about creating a better life for yourself, discovering your own level of "enough" and being prepared to step outside your comfort zone and reconnect with real life again.

One thing is for sure, if you do change how you live, those life changes have the potential to make you content and satisfied. I well remember when I first started working in my home, making soap, cooking from scratch, baking fresh bread every day, it made me feel so alive! Simple things like cleaning the floors and rearranging furniture and appliances to better suit how I worked, made me feel that what I was doing really mattered and that I had regained control of my life. Decluttering opened up my life to let new possibilities in. In the space of one week I went from avoiding housework and thinking it was below me, to being challenged by it, and wanting to make my home a haven for me and my family. Doing what I had believed to be menial work was the making of me. I felt that if I could get my house in order, get back to healthier living, become more self-reliant, and strategise how to shop in a more mindful way, we would all be better for it. I regained the desire to care for my family and we all reconnected and became stronger because of it. That same desire slowed me down enough to let the stress melt away. Here in my home, I learnt how to live well, without many of the modern conveniences that prop us up and that we pay for with our lives.

I am not going to tell you that this is easy, because it's not. It can be time consuming and, at times, difficult. But you know what? It makes you happy, it helps you believe in your own abilities again, it makes you believe you can do almost anything; and maybe you can. I remember when frozen peas first came on the market, and when TV started, those two things went on to convince us all that we would save a lot of time buying convenience foods. Then we all got credit cards and started a whole new form of problematic behaviour. At the time we were told that all these new things would make our lives better. What we weren't told was that we'd have to work more to pay for things to be done for us, work more to pay for clothes and jumpers because we were too busy working to make them ourselves. Now, on top of those things we work to buy, we work more to pay for people to wash our lettuce leaves and cook or partially cook our food, to fabricate and package cleaning rags that we use instead of cutting up our own, we work more to buy chemical cleaners and laundry products that probably add 20 or 30 dollars to the grocery bill when we could use vinegar, bicarb, soap, borax and washing soda that cost a fraction of that.


And the good part is that you don't have to dive into this full-time like I did. If you're younger and don't have the time I have, you can do it your way. Just fit a few of these things into your life around what you're already doing. Do what you have the time to do. Making bar soap will take about 30 minutes to make enough soap for a family of four for about three months. It will take about 15 minutes to make enough laundry liquid to do that same family for 80 machine washes. Cook from scratch on the weekends. Start packing school and work lunches and drinks. Do the small things first and see how it makes you feel and how much you save.

Stepping back from convenience, being content with less and learning a few old skills has the potential to change your life. I know that to be true because that is what happened to me and it added value to my life. I hope you decide to dip your toe in these simple living waters and realise you can add value to yours too.

When we returned from the book tour, I received emails from two readers eager to know what I bought while I was away. I thought it was quite odd to assume I'd bought anything seeing as I write about moving away from a consumerist mindset. And mindset really is the key word here - you need to have thought about your spending and materialism and have turned your back on it for this kind of life to be your new "normal". That is not saying that I will never buy anything frivolous again, it's saying instead that I only buy necessities and what will give me pleasure, and therefore enhance my life.

So, where did we shop while we were away for those two weeks? Well, we went to book shops, naturally, to sign books. While I was in two of those book shops I bought a packet of stationery in one and two cards in another. They were for thank you notes to send to people who had gone out of their way to help us during the trip.  We also bought Hanno a new pair of shoes when the ones he brought with him cracked along the sole. We bought food and drinks to sustain us - these were generally bought at small supermarkets and market stalls along the way.

I know what you're thinking - surely she bought more than that! Well, yes, I did, and I'm still not sure what category I'd place these purchases - necessities or pleasure; I think they're both. I need a pair of new slippers for winter. I wanted to buy real Ugg slippers and had already priced them on the Sunshine Coast. Too expensive. I wanted quality but I knew I could get quality at a better price so I was prepared to wait. When we moved here I bought a pair of real Uggs. They lasted me for eight years. Then I bought cheap slippers, and each time I did, they lasted about two years. I wanted to get back to the Uggs - to buy the best quality I could afford - but I wanted the price to be right. I found them at Blue Mountains Uggs at Faulconbridge. We bought a pair of Ugg scuffs for Hanno and a pair of short ankle Uggs for me - I like my slippers to cuddle my feet. Both are real sheepskin and wool. Both pairs together cost the same price I was quoted for one pair here. Well worth the wait.

The other thing I bought was a vintage potato masher. The one I had been using had a very long handle on it, much longer than any person would need. It is uncomfortable to use and doesn't do a great job. I wanted one like my mother used, although I didn't know that until I saw it sitting inside a beautiful vintage glass mixing bowl/jug. It cost $8 and has remnants of the old green paint on the wooden handle. This was made in the days before plastic. When I picked it up I felt like I'd picked it up a hundred times before. I bought it. When we came home, I soaked it in vinegar water for an hour, gave it a good scrubbing with hot water and soap, and added it to my kitchen utensils. It makes the best mash. 

I found this masher treasure in a place called Frou Frou in Springwood. My nephew Danny told me about this shop, I tried to get there last time I was in Springwood at Easter, but they were moving then and the shop was closed during my visit. If you're in the Blue Mountains and like vintage clothes and bits and pieces, it's well worth a visit. Just looking at the stock brought back a few memories for me and made me smile.

And that's it, folks. No big shopping spree, no souvenirs, just cards and a stationery set, shoes for Hanno to wear on the trip, Uggs and a potato masher. All necessities that will bring pleasure too; I reckon that's good shopping. We didn't need anything else and we certainly didn't go walking through shops looking for "stuff" to buy.

Are you having trouble stopping shopping? What are your downfalls? What are you doing to get back to frugality? Maybe you've found not shopping much easier than you imagined it to be. If so, tell me your story.