Like the weekend before it last weekend moved at what I've come to consider a domestic pace: Bursts of activity punctuated by rest, waiting for bread to rise or laundry to finish. I baked gluten-free bread, made soap, picked blackberries for wine making, finished a pair of socks and Mr CB made butter. On Sunday night as I cleaned down the kitchen I thought what a tiny, hard working space it is. With a meagre floor space of about 1 x 3 meters it's the room we cook, brew, bake and clean in, experiment with things like making yoghurt and cheese, felting, dying and soap making. That got me thinking of our home overall. It costs around £600 to keep it running every month including rent and all bills. For that much money it's worth seeing it as a resource, something that should support how me and Mr CB choose to live as much as possible.
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| Home made butter by Mr Crafty Blueberry |
Often homes are just places where we keep our things, eat, sleep and obsess over keeping them in a state of perfection. What a waste! Whether rented or owned I think we need to see our homes as real, practical spaces that are there to support how we live, not merely to bolster the image we want to convey to the world. Home is where we can both enjoy the now and explore new possibilities. Home can be a place for study, play, socialising, cooking nourishing food, taking care of ourselves, resting and much more all at the same time. Home is where quality of life begins.
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| My first batch of soap |
When you begin exercising regularly you appreciate what your body is capable of and it becomes easier to shift your focus from what it can't do to what it can do. When you spend time working in your home and using it in a way that supports you you focus more on what it can do for you. Maybe it's small or run down, maybe it's far from what you want (I'm yearning for a house with a proper garden) or in an area you don't want to live in, but you always have the option to make the most of it and explore how you can make the best use of what you have. It doesn't have to look or be perfect, it doesn't have to be pristine and ready for a visit from the Queen or your mother in law. A home is most people's biggest monthly expense so we should make sure it's earning it's keep!
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| Rounding of the weekend with a crumble. Rock and roll! |
