Spent A Little Credit

Remember when I took FREE books to the 2nd hand bookshop for shop credit? Well I went in and spent $20 of my credit. That leaves me a huge $40 still available to spend.

I'm building up my bookshelf with resources for simple living, frugal living and eco living. In the process, I'm removing books that I know I wont read again or are too frivolous to have access to space. In their place I am placing cooking, gardening, crafting, DIY, self sufficiency and other must have books that will cover my new obsession and lifestyle choice.

So what did I buy? Two new books on food preparation. The 1st is an easy to read book on preserving foods "A Year In a Bottle". The other is "Slow Cooker" both by Sally Wise. Both excellent resources to make use of my garden produce and teach me new skills in using my slow cooker to it's full potential.

A Year in a Bottle - Sally Wise

Slow Cooker - Sally Wise

Those living in Darwin and wanting to know where the bookshop is located; the book shop is in the Darwin City Mall (next to the Red Cross Op Shop). There is another 2nd hand bookshop in Nightcliff Shopping Centre called Gordon's Book Exchange - I've heard he also gives good book credit.

All these small steps to improve my life and make in more wholesome is making me very happy. I've also been decluttering and taking 1 bag to the op shop most days. Now if only I could stick to one kind of sleep pattern and be less chaotic...

What about you, any eco-frugal wins lately? Sleep pattern all over the place? Chaotic?

Bartering in the UK

John Durrant founder of UK based Bartering site Favabank commented on my Bartering Post. Since I have a high number of UK based readers I thought I should share his website with you. I'm all in favour of promoting sites I think are good for people.

Currently it's in testing phase however it will be launched soon. So become a member, give it a run/test and when it launches start bartering for Fava points that you can spend on services and goods you need/want.

http://www.favabank.co.uk

I love the cashless economy where money stays in the small persons pocket and not lining the big corporations coffers. It helps with family budgets and getting over some of the struggles of unemployment many have been facing.

Thank you for the bartering comments on my last post. They were interesting and made me think of a few other ways I can barter with friends, family and strangers too. Keep on bartering and let me know your successes and fails too as we can all learn from each other.

Bartering Domestic Help.

Hello Hard Workers,

Every once in a while we take in Helpx travellers to give us a hand in exchange for a place to sleep and a evening meal. We don't do it all the time only when we are in the mood or someone is in desperate need as our flat is cramped.

We live in a small touristy city. The gateway to Asia, so there is a lot of coming and going. A dorm bed in a noisy backpackers is $26.50 a night which is very pricey for people trying to travel on a super tight budget. Knowing this we joined Helpx and have travellers of all ages stay with us for 3 to 7 days. They don't have to fork out $$$ for their accommodation and we don't have to fork out $$$ for domestic help - plus we get to meet some extremely interesting people!

However we are also careful; we check references, we never leave anyone in our home when we go out, we don't give out keys, we don't have valuables and our daughter always sleeps in our room (her bed is next to ours), so she is NEVER EVER alone with strangers. Our profile also states clearly what we want and don't want.

In the past 2 years we have had about 100 Helpx and Couchsurfers stay with us. We have barely had problems. A few broken dishes and a couple of sponging slackers but they are in the 3% minority. We have the luxury to pick and choose our guest/helper carefully as we receive numerous requests each week.

We try to never exploit people,we ask for a maximum of 3 hours help in the late afternoon and they have the day free to visit our city. We try to make their stay as comfortable as possible. We see it as an exchange and aim the exchange to be equal benefit to both us and the guest.

Earlier this week we had lovely young man from Hong Kong. A uni graduate who has spent 6 months in Melbourne working and is now ready to do some tourism before heading home again to his family, girlfriend and his chosen career path.

Our "guest" on the fold out couch/bed.

We loved having this particular Helpx. He was calm, respectful and a great helper! He watered the garden, helped with dinner preparation and played with Dolly. And while I went to bed unusually super early with Dolly, he washed the dishes, cleaned the kitchen floor and hang out the laundry without being asked. In the morning I woke up to everything looking sparkly clean and it was a great start to another crazy hectic day.

The Rambling Expat and I both work full time and Dolly is super energetic, so this gives us time to give our daughter quality attention after busy work days.

Would you take in a travelling helper too?

Stephanie @ Frugal Down Under.