When Recycling Develops into an Obsession!
Good evening readers and followers of all things frugal. As you will know, my obsession with challenge setting has continued to flourish over the years, each Hogmanay (31st December) bringing a whole list of new challenges to be faced during the following year. 2013 will be no different, except that we launched the Frugaleur (frugal entrepreneur) Challenge in late November, in order to allow ourselves adequate preparation time without being hampered (pardon the pun) by the annual festive celebrations. 2013 is going to be my biggest push towards zero waste, combining it with my eco-arts project to recycle as much as possible into something worthy of developing into a micro-business. I'm not looking to stock superstores, I'm just looking to make the most of whatever I can in the hope of earning a few pennies extra towards the upkeep of Frugaldom.
Clan McGonk went 'live' at the weekend, which is when I made my first ever sample of the furry little critturs available to view online. I like to refer to these as my frugal pets and I'm sure you can see why it is so easy to become attached to them. But they have many secrets to divulge over the coming year. They have places to go, people to see and the whole wide world is their playpark, assuming anyone wants to get involved. Feel free to browse the Frugaldom Store at http://frugaldom.ebid.net and I will happily sell you a McGonk that's been handmade here in Thrift Cottage, Frugaldom. For those of you who prefer to make your own, I'll put together a simple to follow 'how to' post very soon.
This evening, I found myself forced to play my next hand early, after someone mentioned keychain McGonks. So that is what you are looking at in the top photograph... but I call them micro-McGonks. This one has a keyring attached, so he can always be seen hanging around the place, looking cute and looking towsled. These are much smaller than the McGonks, as you can see by the first photo and, once again, I used shredded paper as stuffing, a button for a nose, scrap of fabric for his hat and then added the luxury of wobbly eyes and a tiny pompom. So there you have it - Frugaldom is not only the home to Clan McGonk, we have also developed our very own micro-Mcgonk. As many of you know, microholding is one of the other things that we are attempting here - everything 'smallholding' but on a much tinier scale.
Once again, I would like to thanks all of those friends and associates who are kind enough to donate me their offcuts. I do have to make one not so frugal admission, though. I invested another £6.44 into my 2013 Frugaleur Challenge after I spotted some fabulous off cuts of furry fabric listed on eBid. I guess I should really give you a run down of how my participation in the Frugaleur Challenge is going, so here it is, as briefly as possible.
2013 Frugaleur Challenge - to set up a frugal enterprise that will help pay some bills or, at worst, convert a home-based hobby into a self-funding passtime (so it doesn't drain any of your much-needed financial resources).
Starting 'investment' limit = £50 maximum
Spends to date = £30.22 including .com and .co.uk domain names
Sales to date = £21.77 after deduction of PayPal fees
The above means that of my original £50, I currently have a balance of £41.55 and I am hoping to be able to recoup the full £50 before the 1st January. At that point, the hobby of recycling one thing into another will need to sustain itself. Fortunately, the act of writing the little stories for the series doesn't cost anything more than my time and the brain-ache of trying to keep everything interesting and entertaining while thinking 'recycling'!
Hoping a few of you will join me for the McGonk-making workshop soon and I'll look forward to sharing my frugal fun.
Frugaldom
PS: Don't forget you can join us in the Frugaldom forums at http://frugaldom.myfreeforum.org or on the McGonk Facebook page www.facebook.com/ClanMcGonk and also on Twitter, where you can follow @Frugaldom
well done you are ahead of the "game."
ReplyDeleteGill
Watch this space, as they say. :)
ReplyDeleteI love the little grey one, he looks a bit of a grump, but gorgeous with it!!
ReplyDeleteSue xx
OMG! First I find this blog, then your amazing McGonks! I want one.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Egyptian countryside (honestly its not like you are seeing on the news at the moment) and I would just love to adopt one of your McGonks and show him the world! I could take him on a Nile Cruise, The pyramids...but do you think he could cope with the heat?
http://orangesbythenile.blogspot.com
Ruby Tuesday, I would LOVE to make a McGonk and send it out to you! Email me directly via the details on the contact page and we'll organise something. McGonks don't mind the heat in the least! If you look at their Facebook page www.facebook.com/ClanMcGonk then you'll see a McGonk lapping up the sunshine in sunny Cyprus earlier this year. :)
ReplyDeleteI am so up for your challenge - what a great start to the New Year it would be
ReplyDeleteElaine, you are more than welcome to join us in any of our challenges. Most of them are run via the forum at http://frugaldom.myfreeform.org where we update on any progress made (or not, as the case may be). :)
ReplyDelete