It’s the end of round three of Don’s cancer treatment away from home. We are back in Alice and very glad to not be in a hotel for a while. Nice as it is, it is not home and lacks some of the ammenities…like a bed that our backs like.

After a day and a half of grocery shopping, unpacking, making healthy food, washing and ironing (yes I still iron), vacuuming up gecko crap from the corners and mopping the dust from the floors I had a small burst of energy. That is what sleeping well in your own bed can do for a person. I began to execute stage two of our declutter/downsize operation. It was only small, but it’s like that two legged dog I have mentioned before…the activity wasn’t great, but that it was done at all is the thing. I’m not a minimalist, nor do I want to be but the benefits of getting belongings to a more minimal level and living more simply is proving to me very worthwhile.

One of the many things I’ve learned, without realising it is, I became a ‘prepper’. Not the kind anticipating the end of civilisation, but the kind who is ready for a small famine or the roads to wash out or a pandemic, or the train deliveries to not be unloaded  and sent to Darwin and back…were not fit for consumption…(it happened). I have been consciously trying to NOT buy food items ‘just in case’. Even though when we walked into the grocery last month the fruit and vegetable shelves were empty. Currently the oat milk I use is not available but this has happened five or six times over the last 18 months, so I do keep a stock in my cupboard of that one item and occasionally when things I use all the time, like toilet paper or laundry detergent are on special I buy an extra one to save money. The restraint I refer to are the items I used to buy multiple of, but were not necessities—spices, snacks, pasta, items I might want to use in the near future for baking…which I almost never do now that we have a lovely bakery in Alice.

Today I combined the contents of a food storage drawer with two other storage places that I had already cleared of out of date food items or no longer things we consume. It has been my downfall for years, brought on by living in a place for 40 years where many ingredients would come and go and just when I would have a bit of time to bake or cook something new, the ingredients would not be available. And by the time I had the ingredients again the inspiration had passed.

I am a recovering purchasing agent for imagined potential. 

While in Adelaide the last couple of visits I practiced my new skills of purchase resistance and non-panic buying. I actually relished walking through stores not wanting to buy anything except the items I needed. They were few. On two occasions I walked away from items I wasn’t sure I needed (would run out of before my next visit) only to return later and make the purchase, but only that well considered purchase, nothing spontaneous. I’m so used to that not working due to items running out where we live that the urge to buy while I can has shaped my thought processes, not always in a helpful way. Once a makeup item I used was out of stock and it took three attempts for me to try buying it locally. I finally gave up and we went to Adelaide where I bought it months later. Not everything can be ordered online successfully either, and freight adds to the cost.

In the last couple of years I’ve developed a few strategies, particularly with regard to purchasing food items. When the main grocery doesn’t have what they usually have and I need it I go to IGA. We are seldom disappointed. They are now owned by an Indigenous group and mostly operated by Indians who do an excellent job. Another thing I do is always have an alternative menu, or one that is flexible. We have the luxury of doing that, not everyone does. Also I include a lot of pulses in our diet. Chickpeas, beans and lentils are inexpensive and I have several delicious recipes that don’t require exotic ingredients. Also I soak the dried versions of all of these and cook them myself, bagging in freezer bags so they are ready to use on short notice. Today I am having chickpeas with marinated goat cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, celery and fresh herbs for lunch. But sometimes I make soups or curry.

Shopping at the Adelaide Markets is always a joy. The variety and freshness of items we seldom see is a good reminder of the options in life. Having no way to cook most of the vegetables while we are staying in a hotel helps me look (maybe drool a little) but not purchase. But I can, and do, eat fruit. This trip I was very specifically looking for figs. It was the beginning of fig season so there weren’t many but a favourite fruiterer had LOCAL ORGANIC FIGS. They did not disappoint. Even then I curbed my enthusiasm by purchasing only two at a time. At just over $4 each I didn’t want to waste a single bite. And I didn’t. The purveyor recognised me when I would walk up and request, ‘two ripe figs’ please. I would only order what I could eat for the next 24 hours. Our time needed to be spent working around Don’s treatments which sometimes would vary, one day by several hours when a machine broke down. Also we wanted to see friends on the days between his treatments and those usually revolved around meals.

Coming home again and walking into a house that was tidy, if dusty, and corners scattered with gecko poo, I also quickly realised the benefits of having less. In 24 hours the washing was caught up, the dusting and Gekko poo vacuumed and mopped and I was sitting down to write this piece. The advantages of having less are already making an impact. 

It’s good to be in our own home again…but those figs…