When we moved house I though that I would have a lot more time to homestead and blog. That show how long it is since I last moved house and how bad my memory is! A friend introduced me to Instagram a few years ago and I have an account that I share pictures with friends and family and it dawned on me Why don't I start up a Practical Frogg one so I can keep sharing but on the run rather than big sit down posts? And so I did. I have got into the habit of sharing on Instagram instead of here of late so if you're so inclined - have a look at my Instagram feed and see if it suits you. If not, the same friend also hooked the account up to facebook and it automatically posts there as well if facebook is more your thing!   Part of my 2019 goals is to get back into posting on this platform as I do enjoy it and things are settling down a bit as the big jobs get done (Install water tanks, make gardens, insulate rooves, cut down massive trees that will fall on the house ...

Having recently moved from sunny, subtropical Brisbane to our wee home in the Hinterland behind the Gold Coast we have found the drop in temperature to be "quite noticeable" :0 Not only is it already dropping below 10 degrees at night but apparently its only going to get colder as Winter progresses. The obvious thing to do is turn on the heater since our new place doesn't have a wood fire, but this seems a bit pointless if we don't figure out a way to keep all that expensive heat inside the house. We have put on extra jumpers, pulled out the winter sox and bought proper PJ's (that you couldn't wear in Brisbane) and even put an electric blanket on the bed in our journey to get and stay warm. We want to heat the air in the rooms at some point and looking at the windows we knew that that all the lovely hot air would just rush straight out the windows via the glass and while the house is slightly insulated, the glass is the biggest weak point and needed to b...

Recently we made a move from suburbia Brisbane to a smaller house an hour an a half away in the Gold Coast Hinterland. Its absolutely stunning up here and we love it. Its been well worth the hard work of moving. I hadn't shifted for well over a decade, and not for nearly 27 years in the case of my husband and so it was quite a feat to downsize, declutter and work out what we were really going to need and what we thought we might need when we had such a large collection of "stuff". Now I've done it, I would do the next move a bit differently... but like a mother who has just given birth, Im not so keen to do it again in the foreseeable future! Here's what I did (and what I'd do next time)... As soon as you know you are going to move, try to plan how you think you are going to live. A bit more detail at this stage would have influenced some of the decisions we made about what to pack and take and what not too. Ask your self / spouse/ family questi...

Its the beginning of the year and I'm trying to have a sort out of things, clean and to organise the house - why I choose summer to this is due only to New Years coinciding with summer holidays and the time to do it. I'm sure sorting out the house is better done in Winter - but I digress! I have an upright drawer freezer which I love much more than my wee chest freezer (that sadly went to the great icebox in the sky a year or so ago) but I have a small issue with it - I spend a lot of time looking for things, opening and closing drawers and cursing the people who put the ice cream away in a different drawer each time they get it out! In a fit of organising last week - I decided to label the drawers and solve a few dilemmas at once! Here's what I did... I went to the freezer and did an inventory of what I store in my freezer - then used a computer to print labels out on a sheet of A4. I made doubles of things like bread and meat (and misc!) I made two columns on th...

In our house there are a couple of favoured charging points for phones - one inside and one outside on the patio where we spend a lot of time! Occasionally some one will pinch a cord to download onto their computer or because they don't know what happened to their cord and its quicker to "borrow" one than to look for their own. It drives me insane not to be able to charge my phone because I cant find the cord and so last week I decided that enough was enough and I was going to put an end to the cable "borrowing" for once and for all! Here's what I did... All I did was cut a piece of purple ribbon and tape it to the end of the charging cable where is goes into the charger. And another around the end that goes into the phone...    And since I was on a roll I popped some ribbon around a bread tag and attached it to the cord. (This is also great for plug boards where you aren't sure what's attached to what cord )     ...

I don't mind grocery shopping - when its on my terms and my time. I'm not so keen to go shopping with the husband as he is a great consumer and loves to spot all these fabulous bargains (fabulous according to the supermarket, not usually to me) and fills up the trolley... usually with things I wasn't intending to get and then it all has to go back on the shelves! We all know the pitfalls of shopping with children, when we are under pressure, when we don't know what's for dinner, when we are hungry, tired or just not in the mood. I have been menu planning for a while and find its a great way to take the daily dinner stress away. I have been doing a fortnightly plan for a while and it works well for us. I'm a bit of a fan of the Cheapskates and Simple Savings sites and recently decided to go for a month menu plan as they both recommend it. It took a little more time to do than a two week plan but the savings in time and money have been quite substantial. Th...

We have a couple of gas bottles that we use for hot water (ah - the bliss of the endless shower!) and for cooking. Back in the olden days, we had four and we used to turn one off and use the other three. When they ran out, we turned off the three used ones, turned on the full one and called the gas company for a refill. Then the Gas company decided that they knew our gas usage better then we did and came when ever they liked. After running out of gas a number of times (despite phone calls to let them know that we were running low and got the response that we wouldn't run out for another two months - and ran out the next week) we changed gas companies after 20+ years. Customer service wasn't a priority obviously! The new company has a two bottle policy - making it so much easier. One on and one off. My problem is that when the first bottle empties while I'm in the shower and I have to switch the new one on dressed in my towel dripping all over the place, Which one is on an...

We host international students and have ended up with an array of bikes stored in our garage. Its a great way for the students to get around for free, as well as being quiet, healthy and environmentally great! The problem was the pile of bikes that was continually in the way. Or the pile you made over in the corner that was moved to get at the bike on the bottom and is back in the way again... :/ We looked at buying bike racks but weren't too keen on the price and then while scratching our heads in the garage last weekend, we had one of those serendipitous moments. We put milk crates and bricks together and... Voila! One free sturdy bike rack! Here's what I did...   Take your milk crates and fill them full of bricks - like so...   Do this in the place you want the bike rack as they get too heavy to move otherwise!     You need one more milk crate than you have bikes. ie three bikes needs four milk crates to hold them up, ...