#i’m just hoping we get bread and cheese straws again because i have my favourite cream cheese in the fridge so that’d be my dinner sorted

[fingertipsmp3]

Things I will be answering for on judgement day: I double checked my own TooGoodToGo order went through and I had for sure reserved a bag before I let my friend know our favourite bakery has surprise bags today

[happymakedoyear-blog]

6 months in

So, as with every post, I start with an apology. Sorry. Sorry it’s taken me over 3 months to write another blog post. I have been busy over on Instagram and Facebook but I have been told that people have actually missed my blog posts. This time I’m not promising a particular time frame for posts, aiming for a weekly update, but I promise I will blog again! Thank you for your support and encouragement too.

Wow. It’s 6 months today since we started our #happymakedoyear where we’ve been striving to buy nothing new (except food, underwear, shoes for the kids and essential toiletries…). 6 months?! How has it been? Fun. Challenging. Frustrating. Eye opening. Utterly life changing.

The fun has come from trying new things. I’ve always loved crafty pursuits and doing STUFF but it takes on a whole new meaning when you don’t have new things to help you do those things. Take our vegetable garden for example. Last year, despite having lots of things already, I would have trotted down to the garden centre to buy lots more, to stock up on pots and any other paraphernalia I fancied. In contrast, this year we used what we had. We did make an exception for some seeds that we knew we would otherwise buy and were therefore more economical to buy as seed and grow ourselves. And we also bought some compost, essential for making it all a success. But we made do with existing pots, boxes, bags, tools and everything that filled our garage. Were we successful? Yes! We grew stuff! I managed to grow something. From seed. I can hardly believe it myself. Would it have made any difference had we had prettier pots? Certainly not.

I’ve also loved making gifts for people and experimenting. With two little girls we’ve had an enormous number of birthday parties. Lots of presents have been made: superhero capes; domino games; skirts; cooking sets; hair bands cakes; body scrubs and the list goes on. I must admit that sometimes I have been cursing myself for my decision to stop buying new. It is so easy, and often more welcome, to get something new, that you know a particular child will like. I have been met, on only a few occasions mind you, with a sightly perplexed look from parents over our homemade wrapping and the gift within. But, the utter joy on so many faces when you have thought carefully about their gift and made something that suits them is priceless. And, of course, it was…

However, my favourite gifts have come from my husband for my birthday. The husband who was strong armed into starting this crazy year in the first place and has just gone along with it because he is lovely. Every night for about 3 weeks he disappeared into the garage (sometimes with the girls in tow), sawing, drilling and emerging with paintbrushes to rinse. I was forbidden from entering. What an earth was he making that was taking so long? He’d already made a bookcase, teepee and spice rack out of pallets, what could be next? So, after waiting patiently (!), with great excitement I opened my gifts. Three! He’d managed to give me three ‘not new’ gifts (I’d managed to make him some beard balm - oops): a pair of vintage Levi’s shorts that mad been made into dungarees; my sunglasses had been repaired after being used and abused; and finally, the secret woodworking project, a wooden bath tray to hold a glass of wine, a bottle to refill said glass and a book! Bloody amazing. All finished with 5 layers of varnish. Pretty fantastic. Without doubt, my family’s embracing of this challenge has been the biggest success. I thank them wholeheartedly for it. It has really changed the way we live for the better.

The other enormous benefit has been the effect it has had beyond buying nothing new. To be honest, apart from my love of the middle Lidl aisle (you know where I mean), I always thought that my penchant for anything second hand would make this year palatable. It has. I know where to find things I need if I need them. However, what I’ve found is that this not buying thing is super addictive. We have bought hardly anything second hand, let alone anything new (apart from a new toilet seat and some rat traps…eeeugh). It feels horribly uncomfortable contemplating walking out with something else to fill the house. We think extremely hard about alternatives and ways to avoid doing it. We check the house for something else to use, we ask and borrow, we go without. For me, this really is life changing. We are very lucky to be financially stable and able to buy things that we want, but not always need. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes, getting something you want, not need, is nice. I loved my birthday gifts for example. But I genuinely feel that they felt so amazing to receive because I haven’t bought anything else.

Moreover, what happens when we can’t just buy something because we 'need’ it? What do we do when we can’t afford it? Or it’s not available? We have to borrow it, make it, make do, find an alternative. Then you start thinking, well, even those things that we class as 'essential’ - like food and toiletries - can we make them too? The answer is yes. Vinegar, cleaning products, washing powder and dishwasher tablets, bread, pizza dough, hair conditioner, yoghurt, cream cheese, custard powder, air freshener, deodorant… We’ve made them all, and more, so far this year. They are all as good, if not better, than the products I would buy regularly in the supermarket. So many of you have tried my recipes. If you haven’t, do. With one health warning. This whole 'buying nothing new’ lark is additive though, I warn you.

Then, and this is the big one, there has been the unexpected consequence. The planet issue. On the 31st December, I decided to start this project because I wanted to stop buying things that were cluttering up our house and lives. I did not think about the environmental impact. I wanted to use up what we had but wasn’t concerned about what I was throwing into the bin once things had been finished. Embarrassingly, my focus was on our household and how much tidying I had to do. The real issue is what is cluttering up, and more worryingly, destroying, our world for us, but more importantly, for our kids and future generations. The last six months have opened my eyes to some enormous problems, which I had totally brushed under the carpet. I knew about landfill. I knew about pollution and waste. But I carried on with my own life, recycling, using second hand, making my own food, not realizing that these there was so much more to be done. Six months in, we’re trying to move towards a zero waste home, although it’s a long journey and we are still using up so much packaging from all of the things we had bought pre #happymakedoyear. I have found out about some incredible projects, groups and people, who are doing amazing things to make small differences, in the hope that all of these small differences will make one enormous one. I’ve found out that lots of you are keen to join me. We’re just about to embark on #PlasticFreeJuly, which aims to do what it says, and encourage others to stop some aspect of heir daily lives that encourages the use of plastic. After my repair success during #menditmay, I can’t wait to begin. The biggest challenges? Milk and yoghurts pots, and saying no straws. I’ll keep you updated with our progress.

What you realise very quickly is that 'buying nothing new’ and trying to reduce waste go hand in hand. When the 'Make Do and Mend’ movement emerged during wartime, it was born out of necessity. Not only did families lack things they needed, but also it simply wasn’t available. Now, if we don’t have it, and we have the means, we can get it. Just like that. Even on the internet, things can be delivered to our door the same day. But we have to remember two things. Do we need it? And if we didn’t have the means, could we survive without it? And if we couldn’t, could we teach ourselves to make it, or repair it, ourselves? Of course it is satisfying sometimes to have something new, or to be able to complete a task more easily, but to do that, so much is often sacrificed. In terms of raw materials. In terms of fair labour. In terms of waste. In terms of our own ability to adapt, to learn and to ask for help. The community of people who have become re-engaged and revitalised with this project has been astonishing and it is something that I believe is incredibly valuable, vital in fact.

So, inspired by so many engaging movements and by the hugely positive response to everything we’ve been doing, I want to do something big. So I’ve decided to join the bigger fight. Six months in, we are embarking on an even more exciting project to try and make a difference and I can’t wait to share that with you all very soon. Until then, thanks for reading. I promise it won’t be 3 months until my next post… If you do have withdrawal symptoms, take at look at my facebook and Instagram pages for daily updates!

@annabroster

Things bought 1 toilet seat 3 rat traps 1 pair of used Saltwater sandals for biggest little one - in credible condition! 1 foot pump for a caravan - all will be revealed soon..! light bulbs 1 pair of vintage shorts Lenses for sunglasses Fabric from a secondhand shop for a friend 3 bags of compost Green bean seeds Tomato and strawberry plants Refurbished phone case Tombola tickets for school fundraising School photos