beckoning

Monday, July 16, 2012

Down Sizing While Upgrading

The story of my life the last 6 months... down sizing and upgrading. How do you do both effectively? Move into a camper and you will find out really, really fast!!!  Living in a camper means little extra room. So little that storage space is a prized commodity. Amazingly enough I have not used up all my spare space yet! Anyways, when we were cleaning out our storage unit and getting ready for our big move to our home with a hitch, we got rid of a lot of stuff. Two trunk fulls and a truck load of stuff. Let's just say the local thrift store doesn't have to worry about going out of business just yet.

 A sure fire way to reduce clutter and extra stuff in your home is to pack everything up and go live with a family member for a few months to a year. When you need to unpack all the stuff you had, you realize how much stuff you have that you don't need or haven't used in about a decade. (Ok, maybe not a decade, I'm only married 6 years.) Along with all the down sizing and removal of stuff, I got rid of almost all my elctrical appliances. I did keep the juicer and the toaster oven.....and the waffle iron. But I need new stuff to replace the old stuff. In comes the upgrade!
 
Say Hello to Culinare Rocket Chef 7 in 1!
This little thing works! And you can find it rather affordable on ebay. Mine just so happened to be from a friend who never used it and didn't want it to collect dust anymore. Can you say one mans junk is another mans treasure?!?! This little thing comes with a grater, plunger, large slicer, thin slicer, mixer, beater and chopper and of course a lid. The best part? It all fits inside the mixing bowel for easy storage. I put this thing to the real test last night. We made mocha smoothies. A very, very special treat in our house.

In went the ice, what better way to test this product?
I started off with chopping up a little bit of ice to see if it was worth opening the smoothie packet. Surprisingly it did rather well. Not as fast as an electric chopper, but in less than five minutes it was all finished. I could have spent a little more time chopping up the ice as there were a couple large pieces, but over all it was great and worked well.

The finished product, with one large piece of ice.
I have used this item on simpler things, like soft veggies, but the ice was the kicker. If it could chop the ice then it was worthy of its praise. I would like to encourage you to go through your cupboards and closets and look at the stuff you have. If you haven't touched an item in a year or two then consider passing it on. Think about items you can use whether you have power or not. One thing I know for sure is my family won't starve if we lose power for an extended period of time. We have multiple hand crank items and lots of cast iron dishes. Let me tell you, dinner over the fire is the best tasting!

This blog is linked to:
Homestead Barn Hop 70
Homesteader Blog Carnival 16

3 comments:

  1. Just happened upon your blog. Looks like you live in a camper (?) and are rookie homesteaders. We're looking to do the same thing. Just purchased a large camper and are looking for property to eventually build a house on. I've been downsizing for the past few months, purging and pitching all our "extras" and non-necessities.

    I love your post on community. We have some good friends that we're looking to move towards, but struggle with exactly where God is leading us. We have 4 kiddos under 6, homeschool, homestead and love Jesus. I'll be sure to visit again! :)
    www.we4bates.blogspot.com

    Blessings!
    Kelli (Florida)

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  2. One other thing..how do you manage laundry? Do you do it at your parents' or is it a "plunge and scrub" then hang out to dry type thing? :)

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    1. Wow Kelli, glad to hear from ya! Yes we are living in a camper. We are waiting to buy land with my parents and then we will build our house while still living on the camper. 4 little ones in a camper could be busy/packed! My biggest advice is dont be afraid to modify the camper to your needs. When I took out the booth and replaced it with our table we gained valuable floor space. We are new to the homesteading thing. But willing to learn and loving it. I do our laundry at my parents as I am there about 4 times a week. My parents house is also our little homestead site for the time being (so glad my parents are in this with us!)However, we are looking into purchasing a Wonder Washer and a mini spin dryer. At which point we will do laundry each night and eliminate the busy washing day at my parents!Glad you stopped by and hope to hear from ya again, will check your blog once I can find a better internet signal (got fried by lightning, ugh!)

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