Down to Earth

by Rhonda Hetzel

  Finish with K 8 rows, cast off and weave ends in

  You’ll need to find some way of fixing the scarf on the neck. I chose two press studs that are hidden under some crocheted flowers. I set the press-studs at an angle to allow the scarf to fit in around the neck but open up a little towards the shoulders.

  Creating your own gifts

  A lovely ongoing project is the creation of gifts for friends and family. If you do this throughout the year, you won’t be rushed or pressured to spend a lot of money at Christmas or when birthdays come around. One of the best things about crafty gifts is that they’re usually small, so they’re the ideal project to take with you when you have to go out and wait somewhere – like on the train, at school sports or at the doctor’s office.

  Most people love to receive handmade aprons, shopping bags, scarves (like the Ascot scarf), fabric handbags, embroidered cloths or tea cosies. You could make up a lovely gift by putting together some handmade dishcloths or a loofah with some soaps, or a basket of homemade cleaning products. Homemade food is also always appreciated. You could make a good sourdough loaf and include the sourdough starter in a preserving jar for the recipient to use in their own breadmaking. Another popular food idea is to make up a small selection of your homemade preserves. A little tray or box of jams, relish, pickled onions, preserved lemons, lemon butter or pasta sauce would make a unique gift. If you prefer to give drinks you could make some lemon cordial and ginger beer, or a few small jars of homemade tea leaves such as dried rosella, chamomile, peppermint or lemon balm.

  You can also make charming cards at home. One year I made cards that had a little square of knitting that I had knitted with toothpicks. I rolled up the end of the wool into a tiny ball and left the toothpicks in, like miniature knitting needles. People always love receiving something original that you’ve spent time on, and taking time with the presentation of a gift will make it even more beautiful and special.

  Tasks such as mending, sewing, knitting, preserving, cooking from scratch and simple cleaning may have seemed irrelevant to you in the past, but now might make good sense. All these skills are a perfect match for modern life; most of them will save you money and all of them will support an eco-friendly lifestyle. Using the skills I grew up with helps me run my modern, thrifty home efficiently. I know how to make do and mend; if I need to, I can make half a kilo of minced steak feed ten people and I can turn an old wool jumper into a pair of baby pants. Hanno can fix a washing machine, lawn mower and many of the other appliances we use. Developing and relearning these homemaking, gardening, cooking and home maintenance skills allows us to remain productive as we grow older.

  And you can do it too. You can learn how to make pasta sauce instead of buying it in a jar, and you can make your own pasta – you don’t need a pasta machine. There are many delicious summer drinks to make instead of relying on a bottle of fizzy soft drink. Homemade bread, cakes, biscuits, yoghurt, custard and ice-cream are all more nutritious and delicious than their store-bought cousins, and if you can teach yourself how to make sauces, jams, relish, gravy and dressings, not only will you be better off financially, but you’ll also be eating far fewer preservatives, flavour enhancers and colourings. Soap and laundry powder made with your own hands is better on your skin than anything you can buy. You will be wearing unique clothing if you learn dressmaking, crocheting and knitting. If you mend, re-use, produce and maintain, you’ll reduce your contributions to your local landfill dump. You’ll make great steps towards sustainability and self-reliance if you stop buying disposables and learn how to make replacements for those frequently bought items like dishcloths, napkins, paper towels, tampons and nappies. Learning how to grow some of your own food and how to preserve and store that food will develop your resilience during hard times or emergencies.

  All these skills are a perfect match for modern life; most of them will save you money and all of them will support an eco-friendly lifestyle.

  These are easy skills to learn. And learning these things and doing them daily, or as often as you can, has the potential to change you in wonderful and significant ways: it will help make you capable, productive and independent. Regaining independence is not difficult. It is there for the taking but it is not purchased, or available to the faint-hearted. Be bold, step up and take back what is yours. You’ll be better for it, and self-confidence and autonomy will be your fine reward.

  I used to be one of those people who looked down on housework as something to be avoided at best, and demeaning at worst. You could work all day doing what needs to be done in your home, or you could work to a schedule and have your chores organised according to the days of the week, but even if you stuck rigidly to your schedule, you’d still have to do it all again tomorrow or next week. Because housework never ends.

  I used to struggle with this. When I first starting living simply, this was the one thing that didn’t just fall into place for me. I didn’t have a problem with most of the chores themselves, but I had real trouble coming to terms with the endless nature of it. I wanted to get joy from the simple things that made up my day, but how could I want to do any chore, and get joy from it, when it would never end? No matter how well I did what I had to do, there would always be more housework to do tomorrow – and some chores, like washing the dishes, would have to be repeated a few times every day. I knew I had to find a different way to look at my chores.

  One of the things that impressed me about my husband early in our relationship was his attitude of, ‘It has to be done, so I’ll just do it.’ So I started with that, and I just did what had to be done. I made sure I sprinkled all the things I enjoyed – like cooking, gardening and mending – throughout the week so every day there were chores I liked doing. I did the same with things I didn’t like so much – such as cleaning toilets, ironing and vacuuming. That worked! But no matter how many times I packed the dishwasher or cleaned the shower, or how well I did it, it still had to be done the next day or the next week.

  Then it hit me like a tonne of bricks. If housework never ends, then I should get rid of that feeling that if I clean the fridge out or mop the floor, then it’s done. Over with. Finished. Completed. If housework never ends, then I never have to finish it. Eureka!

  When I stopped thinking, ‘I’ll work through my chores and get everything finished but then everything will get messed up again so I’ll have to start over,’ and replaced it with, ‘I’ll do the ironing, mopping, bed-making, washing up and baking today and I’ll do the mopping, sewing and baking tomorrow,’ it made a real difference. Instead of a new start and finish each day, it was a continuous stream that I could break away from whenever I needed to. I continued mixing chores I liked with those I didn’t like so much, and that worked well for me. I also changed things to better suit the way I liked to work. I prefer sweeping to vacuuming, so now I vacuum once a week and sweep the rest of the time, and this still keeps the floors clean. I stopped using the dishwasher and started washing up by hand, and found I liked it. I stopped ironing everything we wore and now just iron our going-out clothes and the tablecloths and pillowcases that I like ironed. I stopped washing everything that had been used once and now only wash what is dirty or smelly – this has helped reduce my washing to two loads a week. All these things have made a big difference to the amount of housework I do and it’s also cut back on our power and water usage – a big plus.

  If you’re not royalty, very ill or impaired, or incredibly wealthy, and you want to live in a clean home, then housework is a part of your life. If it’s inevitable, you should try to make the most of it. You might end up liking it. Rethink how you work. Just because you’ve always done something one way, it doesn’t mean it has to be like that forever. If you can modify something to better suit how you work, do it. Include the family in the housework. Teaching children how to look after themselves from a young age is a gift, not a burden. Expect your partner to help; work as a team and then relax together.

  Housework never ends, so d
on’t try to finish it.

  Streamline your tasks and don’t aim for perfection. Take breaks. Do everything you do well, understand the reason for the work and look for the pleasure in it. Be proud of what you achieve every day because you are providing a good home for your loved ones, you are making the most of the resources you have and looking after what you own. Stop thinking that you’ll never get through it all. Housework never ends, so don’t try to finish it. Just do as much as you can do or feel like doing today, and continue with it tomorrow.

  Time and inclination

  I know, having had years of experience dealing with readers on my blog, that there will be a wide range of people reading this book. You might be older and moving towards retirement, middle-aged with teenagers at home, single or married, have children or pets; you might want to dive into self-sufficiency or just dip your toe into simple-living waters. You may be a student, just married, a stay-at-home mum with ten children, a twenty-year-old eager to learn how to live simply or a thirty-something who is looking for a meaningful life change. No matter what your age or situation, I encourage you to decide for yourself what level of housework you’re comfortable with.

  Hanno and I are retired and spend a lot of time at home. Housework and home main tenance are a welcomed part of our lives and a natural part of our days. We have the time and the inclination to keep on top of our work and we are happy to do it. If you’re working, ill or have a lot of children or other commitments, you may have neither the time nor the inclination to do anything but basic and necessary cleaning. That is fine.

  Think about what you’re capable of, work out a cleaning schedule that will work for you, then live happily with that decision. Do not feel guilt about not doing everything that is suggested in this chapter – this is a guide for a wide range of readers. Some will want complete guides and routines, others will be interested in the process but not feel compelled to do it all, and some will be happy to do the basics. Whatever you decide to do, that is your decision.

  The mother of reinvention

  In former times, homemakers took pride in presenting their homes as warm and nurturing places in which they carried out their tasks, cooked, baked, and offered hospitality to visitors. But traditions, short cuts, family recipes, household journals and thoughts about organisation and routines have not been passed down from those times. There was a break in that tradition because, since about the 1970s, the popular view of housework has been that you either do it as fast as you can, or ignore it until something becomes unavoidable.

  When I came to live this gentler life, I discovered that doing the work needed in my home slowed me down and made me think about my daily activities in a different way. Instead of getting through the housework as fast as I could, I slowed myself to do each job well. I realised I liked doing a lot of my daily tasks when they were carried out in a mindful manner. The slowness allowed me to think about the work as I was doing it, about how that task connected to the others that followed. It showed me that all the work connected and helped make our home the place in which I wanted to live.

  That change showed me that being at home had the potential to nourish my soul. It would be a significant and valuable gift if I could make my home a place of comfort for everyone who lived there, and for those who visited, rather than a chaotic jumble of disconnected and generally unfinished chores that didn’t encourage anyone to relax and enjoy being there. It was not easy – in fact, there is more work to be done when you live this way – but each new day brought challenges and joys and, by taking one small step at a time, I got to where I am now. The journey is never over. Simple living is not a destination or a reward that you move towards; the journey itself is the prize.

  CRAFTS ARE A PART OF YOUR HOUSEWORK

  Sewing, knitting, crochet, potting, organising family memories in the form of scrapbooking and photo albums, home brewing, wine making, wood, metal and leather work aren’t separate activities you should feel guilty about taking the time to do. They are part of the mosaic of housework that makes simple life holistic and sustaining. If craftspeople live with you, you’ll have a far more productive home than if they don’t. Be thankful for those skills, build on them and teach others what you know.

  We all know it makes good sense to keep a clean house, to raise children to wash their hands before they eat and clean their teeth before bed and, in general, to maintain good levels of hygiene in the home. But you can be too clean.

  Since television advertising started telling us about the benefits of ‘whiter than white’ and how to rid our homes of germs, we’ve been brainwashed into believing that every germ is harmful and must be killed and if we don’t do that, we’re not good house keepers. That’s hogwash. There are many medical studies around now showing us that exposing children to pets and normal household dirt is good for them. It builds up the immune system and allows the body to naturally develop antibodies that fight the harmful germs. When I was growing up, and even when my boys were young in the 1980s, it was common for children to play outside. Out there, among the dirt, bugs and grass, not only were they having fun swinging on ropes, riding bikes and whispering secrets, but they were also building bone strength, muscle tissue, good lungs and healthy immune systems. Nowadays children tend to play inside on computers and PlayStations, and inside is becoming increasingly clean. We have gone from the common family home with a dirt floor in the 1800s to stainless steel and a war against germs.

  Take the pressure off yourself to kill germs; your aim should be to have a clean home, not a sterile one.

  We are surrounded by millions of bacteria and viruses but only a small number actually cause us any harm; the rest we live with and have evolved with, and being exposed to them has probably helped build tolerance. When we do our daily chores, it is neither possible nor healthy to kill every germ. I’m not advocating that we leave our sinks dirty and not sweep the floor. Of course we continue to do those things. We also need to wipe handles, cupboard doors, remote controls, light switches and so on, but we shouldn’t be using antibacterial wipes. Take the pressure off yourself to kill germs; your aim should be to have a clean home, not a sterile one. Soap and water, vinegar or bicarb will do the trick. Using bleach, peroxide or disinfectant every day is overkill.

  Disposing of disposables

  Disposable products have become so entrenched in the way we live our lives that we see them as normal. I looked up the meaning of the word ‘dispose’: cast aside, discard, fling, throw out, throw away, toss out. The trouble with the disposables we buy is that when we cast them aside or throw them away, most of the time they sit in a landfill rubbish dump somewhere, taking years to decompose. In the case of disposable nappies, it is believed they will take about 200 years to decompose. (Of course, no one really knows how long it will take, as disposable nappies have only been around for fifty years or so. Maybe they don’t decompose at all; maybe a future earth will be full of slowly rotting, ever-present, dirty nappies.)

  Landfill is not the only problem worsened by disposables. Products like tissues, paper towels and plates, toilet paper and napkins tend to decompose fairly rapidly, if they aren’t coated with plastic, but valuable forests are cut down to create them, and their manufacture and transportation creates unnecessary carbon emissions. Marine life is killed by eating and being tangled in plastic ropes, bags and sheets.

  So we try to do without disposable products as much as possible. We take drinks with us when we go out so we don’t have to buy plastic bottles of drink or tea in a polystyrene cup. We’ve given up buying disposable dishcloths as we have our wonderful hand-knitted ones. Our grandchildren have cotton prefolds, wraps and fitted nappies. Their beautiful bottoms will, hopefully, not see the inside of a disposable nappy.

  I’ve given up plastic shopping bags and have my own shopping totes, including little net bags that I’ve made for small items. We’ve given up paper towels, instead using old terry cloths and newspaper, and I always try to buy products with the least amount o
f packaging. A few years ago we replaced paper napkins with simply sewn squares of cotton. I have about a dozen, and we throw them in the washing machine when they’re dirty and fold them straight from the line. They’re not ironed.

  I think you increase your potential for success if you have all these things ready to be used. Don’t expect to make up rags when you spill something; you’ll just go back to the paper towels. These activities make a powerful statement – for the environment, for your purse and for the life you intend to live.

  Knitted dishcloths

  My cotton knitted dishcloths last for years, and withstand a rigorous cleaning routine and frequent washing. Every day or two, depending on how dirty they are, I replace my dirty dishcloths with fresh ones. I put my dirty tea towels in the wash and get fresh ones from the drawer at the same time. In between times, I thoroughly rinse the cloth, wring it out and hang it over the tap or sink to dry. Few bacteria can survive dry conditions; they need moisture to propagate and thrive. Hang your dirty dishcloths and cleaning rags over the side of the laundry basket so if they’re wet they can dry out rather than sitting wet in the pile of dirty laundry waiting to be washed.

  Cleaning with rags

  My definition of a rag is a piece of fabric that has been recycled to be used for cleaning or other household duties. I use rags for all my general house cleaning – moist for wiping up spills and dry for polishing.

  Cleaning with rags is the ultimate in fabric recycling. I only recycle 100 per cent cotton or linen fabric, because it’s so soft and absorbent, and the older it gets the better it is. Polyester fabric and poly/cotton blends won’t wipe spills as well, and will never get to that soft fluffy stage that cotton and linen reach after many washes.