10 Days Off - Day 7 Thursday 28/4

The Rambling Expat had his Quality Day with Dolly. He spent the morning at her school and the afternoon at home doing arts and crafts leaving me free to do laundry, reading blogs and pottering about until mid afternoon. At which time we headed to her dance/singing class as we never get to see it now that it's during our work hours.

After watching her in dance/singing class and making sure she wants to keep at it, we went out to purchase her new dance uniform. The uniform has been a new compulsory addition this year - so there were not outgrown ones to purchase from older dance students. I hate buying new - it's not green or frugal enough for me. I had her in black leggings and a purple singlet for her first 3 weeks in the bigger girls class and now it was time to bite the bullet as she showed no signs of quitting, even though she was saddened by the girls whispering how small she is (she's the youngest in the class).

The uniform (top, leggings and headband) cost us a whopping $78.60. We hope it will fit her for the next 2 years as it's for 4 to 6 years old. I aim to care for the garments gently and not let her play in it at the playground. If I can keep it well looked after I might be able to sell it on, to recoup some of the money.

Dance Uniform.

Dolly's dance/singing classes cost $85 a term (that's $340 a year). She loves the classes so it's well spent money. However I'm looking into weekend group music classes for her too and that's another $108.90 a term (435.60 a year). Both classes combined is $775.60 per year. Ouch!

The 3 of us went out for Pizza for dinner. It was time we shouted ourselves something nice especially since we were having our mini holiday at home and not in Bali as originally wanted.

Are You or your children enrolled in extra activities? How do you manage the costs of classes and uniforms?

10 Days Off - Day 6 Wednesday 27/4

Today was an expensive day!!! I took Dolly for her 1st eye test which was FREE however I was face to face with a pair of glasses that I LOVED and been staring at through the window for the last 6 months. Today was the day that I purchased them. They were not a need as I already have 1 pair of glasses. But I really WANTED them. They are eccentric and fun and make me feel ALIVE.

Dame Edna-ish

After the eye test I spent the morning at Dolly's school helping out, as being a full time worker I never get a chance to hang out in her class with her. It was very interesting to see how she interacts with teachers and children. I found that she was strong and not an insecure outsider as she was a childcare in 2010. Her confidence has blossomed and this makes me worry less. She has a bossy streak, but I'm a bossy mum and it's probably rubbed off on her.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon at home doing a few quick chores and lots of cutting and pasting at our new workstation. One of her favourite activities. We had planned a quality day together, doing whatever she wanted and this was her choice. Fun and frugal (after such a splurge in the morning). I was happy, she was happy... as we cut up scrap pieces of paper and other bits and bobs sourced from waste materials, birthday gifts and Boss Lady.

Simple Crafts.

Do you fall prey to Wants versus Needs?

10 Days Off - Day 5 Tuesday 26/4

We recently hosted two Couchsurfers who have made a move to live in Australia. They stayed with us for about a week earlier this month in exchange for some home help. I loved having them as they are ecological minded and have a great work ethic when helping out.

I was able to take a step back, be cooked for, have dishes washed, bathroom cleaned and laundry hang on the line. All the tasks that eat up my precious minutes after work and drain me of energy.

One of the tasks I asked for was a new headband made from some old clothes as the ones I have are all getting a bit shabby for work and I don't want to spend 5$ to 10$ for a headband from a commercial fashion store. I pulled out my trusty sewing machine and some old clothes destined for crafts and rags.

Shabby, Stained, Stretched Clothes.

Lovely Merle...

Merle.

...was able to make me a headband out of my old trousers. And as a bonus 2 gorgeous owls. 1 for Dolly out of two of her old outgrown dresses and scrap felt. And 1 for me out of my old trousers and scrap felt.

Headband and Owls.

This is Steven. He is a lover of all things "Plants". I was able to find a op shop book on my bookshelf to give that he was keen to read on Edible Australian Wild Plants. He has imparted a lot of knowledge to me in his short time with us and spent a few hours with me at the plot clearing it to make room for new plants and seeds.

Steven.

They've moved on from our home but they are living in our city for a few months so today we visited them in their uncluttered simple home making me nostalgic for our previous life devoid of clutter.

Merle being the creative being she is rustled up a quick crafty activity without fuss to do with Dolly while we visited and they made this...

Little Monster.

It was nearly a spend free day but we were hot and wanted sugary drinks - so bought some soft drink.

Any special strangers come into your life lately?

10 Days Off - Day 4 Monday 25/4

Another day of holiday. My list of things to do is long and I can't seem to get them done as I procrastinate and dream and do everything else that is not on the list.

Today I went to Boss Lady's Office for an hour or so, for one last clean up ready for her bond collection. A bit of wall scrubbing, a bit of eucalyptus oil to take off any stickiness from tape and a vacuum. The place was looking sparkling in no time.

My basic cleaning tools. The vacuum cleaner was Freebie from a bin.

Then Dolly and I picked up her best friend "R" for 2 hours play at a local playground. Kids nowadays seem to miss out on just having simple imaginative and active fun at the playground. So many of us fear them on their own and we are so caught up in the business of our lives that the playground seems to be the last thing on the To Do list. I try really hard to make sure that Dolly has playground time every week. Plus it's FREE, how good is that!

Dolly's friend "R" has a frugalistic classy mum, who prepared a lovely picnic for the girls to take: Cheese, bread, olives, cherry tomatoes and salami. I had a big bunch of green grapes to add to the picnic.

I forgot my camera at home so no pics. I also forgot my wallet at home - so the day was spend free.

10 Days Off - Day 3 Sunday 24/4

Sunday morning was a Easter Egg hunt for Dolly. There wasn't too much as I knew she would get a more from various places and quite frankly I think that the whole chocolate overload at Easter is extreme nowadays. Even thought we do not follow any religion the Easter Bunny, Bilby (Australian) and Bells (French) came and hid mini eggs, 1 medium egg and 1 large egg.

Eggs in Sunshine.

Dolly was inside when she heard the bells clanking and she screeched in excitement and pushed past me to get to her goodies while looking up at the sky to search for the bells. I encouraged her to be quick as the sun is not forgiving here in the tropics.

On the radio I heard a health organisation discouraging people from purchasing more then 2 eggs per child and said people could buy cheap toys instead. I cringed at the thought. More cheap toys that break within minutes and clutter the home. I think we are all about consumerism in festive times and wouldn't it be great if we trained ourselves to stop listening to the blah blah blah and just spend quality time with each other instead. After the chocolate mutiny I headed to Boss Lady's office with my mums 4 Wheel Drive to take another load of goodies home which included:

• 2 beautiful shiny black and chrome stools (my mum took them for her new counter),
• 2 office chairs (much needed - Yay!),
• Clothing and shoes for my market stall,
• And more useful Bits and Bobs.

I then headed to the airport to join Boss Lady who was catching a flight. I was ahead of time so stopped for a 5 minutes on the side of the road with engine off, music on and aircond on! Yes 5 minutes latter the battery was flat! By then I was pushed for time. So what to do that is Frugal and Fast when I have no wheels??? I locked up the car and hitched hiked to the airport which was only a 5 minute drive but a 20 minute walk in the sizzling heat.

At the airport I chatted to lovely Boss Lady and enjoyed a Free Lunch and Drink with her at the Qantas Club. I had tomato juice and then a tonic water and ate a ham sandwich, salad and 2 small pieces of cake. I also rang The Rambling Expat and Dolly to come and pick me up and charge up the battery with our new, second hand car.

Once Boss Lady flew off into the sunset, The Rambling Expat and Dolly arrived, a quick charge and my mum's car worked fine. Then home to unload my goodies, then mum's to return her car, then watered my plot at the Botanical Gardens and once Dolly was fed and in bed, I set up our "new" craft/sewing/homework area. Click Here: To see what it used to look like. Such happiness for a nice new workstation.

New draws, desk and office chairs.

It was nearly another spend free day except that I purchased a new card reader for my Blog Posts at $17.

How did you go?

10 Days Off - Day 2 Saturday 23/4

On Saturday there was a FREE Easter Event for kids at the Waterfront! I thought we would not be able to make it as I had prior commitments. However those commitments became flexible and The Rambling Expat and I could take Dolly down for the fabulous Free Fun!

Dolly went on the jumping castle, water slide, slide castle and joined in arts & crafts activities which were run by Corrugated Iron and Life Be In It. She met the Easter Bunny, received a mini chocolate egg and 2 balloons.

On our way home getting into our New Car.

In the afternoon I went off to help my online job Boss Lady pack up the office as it's moving it elsewhere. Due to helping her, she gave me some great stuff.

• A Ikea desk she no longer needs, 
• a set of desk draws, 
• a small bookshelf, 
• 4 packets of A4 paper, 
• an old MAC computer, 
• Display acrylics (perfect for my market stall) 
• and other bits and bobs.

Then Boss Lady took me out to a Buffet Dinner where I ate prawns, oysters, mussels, Barramundi fish, salad, vegetables, fired rice and plenty more. Lucky me as she paid the bill.

The day was nearly a Spend Free Day - except I caved and bought McDonald's at lunch - and boy did I feel sick afterwards. I had a chicken burger and something must have been off as my belly churned, I ran to the loo and felt very shaky and nauseous. That will teach me for buying expensive rubbish food! Luckily it only lasted 30 minutes.

Have you been having spend free days or do you waste money on junk food like I do?
I get so mad at myself for falling prey to junk food! It's expensive, full of toxic additions and doesn't taste that great. Why Why Why do I want the rubbish????

10 Days Off - Day 1 Friday 22/4

Hello, I've been silent as my Gadget Geek - Card Reader stopped working and I can't bear my blog posts when they don't have images. I went out and purchased a similar product and now I'm back tracking the last few days.

Here in Australia we had public holidays for Easter Friday 22/4 and Easter Monday 25/4. Plus a public holiday on Tuesday 26/4 for ANZAC Day. I took 3 days Recreational Leave; Wednesday 26/4, Thursday 27/4 and Friday 28/4 followed by my days off Saturday, Sunday and the May Day public holiday on Monday 2/5. Thus my 3 days Recreational Leave in between the public holidays is giving me 10 continuous days off work!

On Friday 22/4 I spent 3 hours in the Botanical Gardens Plot. I planted some rocket, chives and spring onion seeds, a cucumber plant, a piece of purple leafed spinach root (don't know it's real name yet). I also hosed 3 plots and spent a lot of time looking at other gardeners plots with admiration. I have a few plants to pull out that you see in the front, but still have a fragile and infected leg so taking it very easy.

Our Plot a Work in Progress - Slowly Planting and Learning.

I met a couple of the gardeners also working their plots. And was able to gather some of their knowledge on what grows well when. One of the gardeners was going to clean up the communal garden this weekend so I jumped at the chance to grab a few greens before they were pruned back. This included pumpkin vine tips & flowers and Sri Lankan Spinach.

Picking Pumpkin Vine Tips and Flowers.

I cut lemon grass from my own plot as my family is loving cold lemon grass tea.

Cutting a few Lemon Grass Clumps for Refreshing Tea and Cooking.

I noticed the chili bushes were full of bright red chilies for my cooking. However I would like to make Chili Cordial. If anyone has ever made any I would love to hear your recipe and experience making and drinking it. We purchase it sometimes but it's a luxury item that we could maybe make ourselves.

Red Hot Chillies.

I'm really enjoying the gardens and that tourists and locals walk through. I can also answer a few questions with my limited knowledge. A grey nomad couple were making their lunch and I was able to give them a couple of Basil and Coriander leaves to give their sandwiches a bit more Pizazz.

After 3 hot sweaty hours I went home with this lovely stash.

Beautiful Natural Colours.

The spinach vines in the back left corner I now know as Sri Lankan Spinach after reading tropical gardening books. I really enjoy this spinach and would like to grow some on my plot.

The purple leaf spinach I enjoy in stir fry. It's not from my plot but it's going wild on a plot nearby and is about to be pruned back so I took advantage of taking some before it's gone.

The lemon grass is beautiful as a hot or cold drink and cooked in stir fry.

The Thai Coriander was growing on the footpaths. I dug a couple out to try and plant at home and on my plot. The Basil in the communal garden needs pruning back so I helped myself. It's one of my favourite herbs in so many dishes.

The green paw paw was on the ground knocked down my the jostling bats, I grabbed it for cooking or salads. I also took a piece of ginger that was on the ground maybe from a human pulling it out but not taking it home.

I also cut a couple of Rosella Flowers for their seeds and hope to try and grow a few on my plot.

Also as you can see in the picture I have the pumpkin vine tips and flowers. A couple of eggplants from my plot and chili leaves as I have recently learnt that the Filipino's, Korean and Japanese eat them similar to spinach.

Here is a quick dinner dish I made. I only remembered to take a photo halfway through eating hence the bowl looking a bit empty. It's Rice Noodles with Green Paw paw, Sri Lankan Spinach, Purple Leaf Spinach, Ginger, Chili and a Peanut Sauce Dressing.

Bon Appetite

Have you been playing in your garden too?

Have you Heard of Freeganism?

I am fascinated by the Freegan movement and wish that I had the courage to dumpster dive.

The waste that is around us makes me feel very angry. While some people around the world starve and maybe others (us or our neighbours) go without big shops throw food out in tons each day around the globe.

So while it's unethical on a human scale it's also highly unethical on a environmental level.

I've put some You Tube clips that you may find interesting too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agMfO7OhCjg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mHsIYadcMU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mL-0Hy2s4s&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSMBVdPMK5I

I'm very interested in what you think... This includes all you quiet lurkers...

Did you know about Freegans?

Do you dumpster dive? Or would you dare to?

What do you think of the waste around the developed world?

Gardening and Cooking

I'm always so busy with my active 4 year old, but I was able to get some minimal gardening and cooking done today. I say minimal because one of my stitches is infected, red and sore - so I didn't want to put extra strain on it by moving and stretching too much.

There was a meeting and Working Bee at the Botanical Gardens Permaculture Garden Plots. It was great, I learnt a whole lot from the Botanical Garden staff and the other "plotters" on what I can grow and what is eatable in the garden.

The "plotters" are a varied bunch of people. And varied means that everyone has different techniques and styles and best of all grow different things. I love it so much. I'm really enjoying this new project in my life. It makes me feels very happy indeed to grow some of my own food! Here is a pic my stash that I was gifted or that I harvested to cook up this week.

• Lemon grass.
• Basil.
• Thai Coriander.
• Brazilian Spinach
• The green - purple leaf (a type of spinach).
• The lush green vine and leaves (another type of spinach).
• Ginger root.
• Turmeric root.
• The 1 vine with a few green leaves Chinese Allspice.
• Pumpkin vine tips.
• Sweet potato vine tips.
• 1 Chili.

You can click on the image to see it bigger. I will eventually learn all the correct names for the vegetables and herbs and let you know the correct names as I progress.

Lovely Lush Garden Stash.

I also made and cooked 2 kilos of potato and pumpkin gnocchi. Tossed it with butter, olive oil, rock salt, garlic and Garden Basil. I'm slow at everything so this took me HOURS to make.

Cooking from Scratch

My partner the Rambling Expat was also frugal active today, he went fishing and was stalked: Read about it HERE.

What frugal activities have you been up to? Did you get stalked too?

A Medical Day.

Yesterday I took Dolly to her 4 year old MMR injections at a local Government Clinic. My brave Dolly did not drop a tear but insisted on watching the needle go in one arm and then the other. After which she was assessed with her Development for over an hour.

Tape has shifted, cotton ball lost - but Dolly wants to keep the tape "Bandage".

Latter at home I opened the fridge door to find our very large and heavy glass salad bowl and Pyrex bowls crash down from their spot on top of the fridge. As I bent down to pick up glass I realised there was a lot of blood pooling on the floor. It hit me that it was me bleeding; I yelled at The Rambling Expat to grab some of Dolly's old clean nappies while I held my hands over my leg to keep pressure. I wasn't sure how bad it was so told him to fetch the neighbour, keep Dolly away and call my mum to pick her up.

I asked my neighbour to drive me the 2 minute drive to the doctors as I was unable to walk in my state. I was perspiring heavily and shaking. At the doctors the receptionist did not look at my leg and had no idea it bleeding and had soaked through my trousers and 2 towels. She said that the doctor would see me between 2 patients. However patients were called and I wasn't seen to. She took me to a back room 15 minutes latter to get my leg alleviated when she saw all the blood and made sure I knew the fee for stitches was roughly 350$. I didn't care about money at this stage as I was worried about what was under the towels. I waited some more. By which time Dolly had been picked up by my mum and The Rambling Expat arrived. When he saw I had not been seen to and I was feeling light headed and frustrated he said we should go to the hospital.

Dried blood on the return home.

At the hospital I was given a quick check over by the Triage nurse. By this stage the bleeding had stopped and I started to relax. Latter on I was looked at by a nurse who cleaned it and I was relived it wasn't too bad. I went in for Xrays to check for glass and was Xrayed to by a wonderful friend of ours, which was a happy bonus. Then I went back to to the waiting room for a few hours until called by the doctors. I was stitched up by a young enthusiastic student doctor from Canada. I felt I was going to faint at one stage so had to lie down while he finished his stitching. I was checked over by the regular doctor and given leave to go.

Not so bad.

Outside on my way to the car (barefooted, tired and bloody) the student doctor came running to say they had forgotten to give me a Tetanus shot, so I went back in and was injected by a nurse. I also asked for a couple of needles to take home as I could feel a small shard of glass in my toe.

We are so lucky! I spent 8 hours in medical facilities yesterday and paid 0$. And no bill will come.

• 2 injections and a Development Assessment for Dolly. Bonus: nurse gave Dolly hugs, kisses and small gifts (stickers, rainbow pencil, growth chart) as rewards.
• I got 1 Xray, 7 stitches and 1 injection. Plus lots of kindness.

Would medical procedures like this cost you something in your country?
I'd be interested to know - don't forget to tell us what country you are from or live in.

Money Coach

Four and a half years ago we had nothing but a great social life and casual unstable jobs. We made changes by eliminating the expensive fun and all the small purchases we made because "we deserved them". We got ourselves an apprenticeship and a scholarship where we were paid a small but liveable wage to learn and skill up. During this year of learning we lived in a super cheap derelict unit (that we painted and cleaned) for 2 months, housesat for 5 months and lived in my mums 1 bedroom unit for about 6 months where we just paid her rates, bills and fees.

In that year we managed to save our tiny combined wages into a home deposit. We searched for a home for 3 months looking for a suitable unit under $220,000 which was hard in our small but expensive city. After 36 properties we found our unit and bargained down the price by $5,000 just because my books taught me to always try.

Within the next 2 years we gained stable permanent employment and paid weekly extra's into our home loan due to reading an inspiring book Your Mortgage And How To Pay It Off in 5 Years. We've been unit owners for 3.5 years. Last week I asked the bank how we were with our loan. I blushed with happiness when told we were paid up until July 2031!!!! We are 20 years ahead! However we also owe the Govt 26% of our unit which they own :-(

In the past 3 years I learnt about simple living and frugality. I stopped buying a new "treat" magazines every week (minimum 362$ per year) and as I became more eco conscience decided to stop purchasing new items as best as I could. Then I discovered Blogs! They taught me many tricks of the trade, kept me on track, challenged me further and I now love being a frugalistic woman. Allowing us to save and place money in nice safe, savings accounts.

Left Over Notes From Our Recent Trip - 6 Countries!

In todays free Money Coaching session I spilled my money woes, aspirations and future dreams. Tony drew pictures, explained concepts and gave me some tips on what I need to do pronto to save and protect some of our hard earned money. He also told me I need to get our money working for us and not sitting lazily in low interest savings accounts. This I knew but the unknown is so scary as we saved hard our small but growing pile of cash.

Here are some of the items he told me I should action now:

• Put the Govt owned portion of our home into our home loan. (property inflation is more costly then the interest)
• Get our will written. (Our will kit has been sitting in the cupboard unopened for 3 yrs)
• Put our savings finances together the Rambling Expat and I. (So that it has more strength)

The Financial Coaching services are EXPENSIVE for a miser like me and very daunting. But we've read countless books and still fear the Big Bad financial world. We will think carefully during the next couple of weeks and see if it's something we want to pay for, to help us along in making informed choices, financial freedom, passive incomes and early retirement.

Meanwhile I will keep to being frugalistic happy and use up all or most of the food I have in my home before buying more food this week. Tonight I made pasta sauce with 3 soft tomatoes, a few wilting basil leaves, a little rock salt and black pepper, a generous spoon of garlic and a dash or water. Placed on 3 types of pasta shapes with a sprinkling of grated cheese.

Home Made Tasty Pasta Sauce

For lunch I ate 2 avocados I had sitting on my desk from last week. Today was a no spend day and as a bonus I sold a book on Fishpond bringing in 13.88$ for our Borneo trip, after postage, book cost and selling fees.

As the coach said; I need to have every 1$ working for me. Well I'm earning and saving those dollars right now to get them working for me real soon.

Please do comment. Your thoughts, feedback and hello's make me very happy indeed. And to all my followers Thank You. You push me to keep writing and analysing my life. It's a good thing.

Use it Up and Save Cents for the Future.

I feel I lost substantial control over my money, spendings and savings this year.

• I lost track of my budget plan and not written a new one for 2011... yet.
• Due to a lack of clear outline, I've spent without sticking to a budget.
• Bills and food prices have increased leaving me feeling even more disorganised.
• I have lost track of what I do have in my various savings accounts.
• And I have wasted food.

I booked myself a Free session with a Money Coach to see if money coaching is something I would want to invest in. I would like to see if I can gain better knowledge in how to manage my hard earned and hard saved money. I'm thinking of the near future and the far future and it's time I take serious action.

The dollars and the cents all count to my and my family's future wellbeing and the future fast approaching. This morning I started small by looking in the fridge. Taking stock of what I have, trying to use it all up in the aim to start afresh by the end of the week, with a new budget and some clear set goals small and big.

I purged food items that were over it's usefulness, goodness or date. The Rambling Expat cleaned the fruit and vegetable compartments and I looked at each fruit and vegetable item. Some was destined for the compost bin, some was good and some was salvageable, but too soft to enjoy on its own.

Strongly determined to start on my new highly motivated money savings mission, I washed chopped, blended and made a drink that started my day Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

Chopping.

I used up:

• 1 soft bruised peach.
• 1 soft kiwi fruit.
• 1 sad looking lemon with browning skin.
• 1 wilted iceberg lettuce leaf.
• A small piece of wrinkly ginger.
• 1 bruised soft pear with ugly skin which I removed.
• 1 small browning apple that Dolly had started eating but not completed.
• A handful of grapes that were in perfect condition.
• I also added 1 cup of cold water.

Blending

I ended up with 2 tall glasses of delicious green juice.

Drinking Witches Brew

We also found old fishing bait in the freezer so Dolly went fishing with The Rambling Expat for 2 hours. While they fished, I attacked a load of laundry and cooked a healthy lunch of stir fry vegetables and rice, to use up the sad vegetables. But I also added egg plant, ginger, brazilian spinach and lemon grass from my garden plot.

My proud Dolly returned with a small fish she caught, which I quickly shallow fried with rock salt and added to her lunch.

The Hunter

Lunch - Photo Taken by Dolly.

It was a happy, frugal day as I also squeezed in an hours gardening alone and took Dolly and her best friend for outdoor play at a lovely big playground for 2 hours. Lots of frugal entertainment and simple living practices were actioned today. I feel better now and will now tackle my budget.

How was your weekend? Frugal or Expensive?
Do you have a budget plan written up?

Happy Happy Happy at the Happy Yess

I had such fun at the Happy Yess Market. I loved the market venue and people!!! It was full of like-minded people who enjoy preloved stuff, worry about the environment and look different then a Target catalogue shoot.

I came home with 144$ after the 10$ fee. I had spent 145$ on preloved goodies. So I'm 1 buckaroo short. However I still have lots of lovely stock (for Ebay, Fishpond and Yess) so those sales will become my gravy money which I can place into my different projects and savings.

My Stall - sales were already made.

Now that I have seen and experienced the venue, I have ideas to make my stall look prettier next time as it looks poorly and sad-ish. I also want to prevent people having to bend down to look at my goodies. But it's all a learning curve and a work in progress, so stay tuned.

New ideas on how to spice it up.

What did we spend on, at the market? We bought a cup cake $4 and non-rum-ball .50 cents (Yum!!) and Dolly did a card making activity $1. Plus she did some free Hoola Hooping and ran around driving everyone crazy with her VERY LOUD shrieking happy voice.

Dolly and the Hoola Hoop Lesson.

In the background behind Dolly is I Love Lamp's stall with lots of lovely vintage gear, knick-knacs and jewels. A stall with a huge amount of style.

Wonderful Re-purposed trash.

My stall neighbour had the most gorgeous stuff made from trash. Bracelets made from bike tubes, gift bags made from newspapers, bowls made from old records. Click on image above to enlarge and see her talent. Very inspiring stuff.

New Happening Place for those sick of the usual.

Darwin doesn't have a preloved and local crafts treasure market. So I think this will work as people are sick of the usual unfair-trade stuff that fills the other markets.

And what a venue!!! Lots of grass to lie around in and enjoy each other company.

Are you a fan of markets??? Do you ever have a stall or boot sale?

I Spent Big For my Market Stall

I did a last Op-shop hunting for my market stall. I gave myself a budget of $20. But spent a whopping $62.50!!!

However in my finds I picked up, 17 Manga Comic Books for $2 each (they retail at $27 each).

Japanese Manga

And a soft toy for Dolly's little market stall at .50 cents and wrapped around its neck was this gorgeous tiny Wedgewood pendent (worth about $30 if sold on Ebay.) But could also be stashed in my gift box.

Wedgwood Pendent.

And this gorgeous book which was given as a Birthday gift to a lucky recipient in 1937!!! Picked up for $1 it was published in 1934. This edition usually sells for about $25 (maybe more with the dust jacket).

Published in 1934! Finding stuff like this in the tropics is rare indeed!

So I had a lucky day with amazing finds.

My shelf on the 1st photo, has some of my op-shop treasures and other lovely items from past years. A blue Moroccan glass I bought for 99 cents. My lovely white vase that I LOVE so much, purchased for only $2. The Rambling Expats beautiful Gothic Portraiture photography on the walls. My beautiful red vase I received from work colleagues filled with lush green leaves from the working bee at Dolly's preschool and my gardens. A glass coffee jar gifted from a work colleague. I am filling the jar with marbles I also found at the op-shop... when Mr T my neighbour returns them to me. He's having nostalgic moments with them, reminiscing about boyhood.

Found anything great lately on your thrifty secondhand hunts?