Some of the residents of Vara-Ville Village Caravan Park have advertised a garage sale for the coming weekend. Saturday and Sunday 8th and 9th October 2011.

I am sending out free invitations to people to come.  That framed oil painting will be at my garage sale at under $100. and in  NEW condition.

The caravan park is on the Midland Highway at Mooroopna near Shepparton.  It is mostly a private park of permanent residents and when one holds a garage sale many others join if and become a part of it.   It is always around this time of year they hold these garage sales and I too will be bringing over some of my goodies for the sale.  I do not know what the others will be selling, though i am always a buyer as well as a seller.  I will have a near new twin tub washing machine for under $100. as my best big item bargain and loads of art supplies, art, craft supplies, English china and bric-a-brac.

See you there :-)

Our eldest grandson has just turned seventeen. I think next year all our grandchildren will be teenagers, they are either growing so fast we can't keep up with their age...or is it that we are getting older and having seniors moments and just forgetting?  To our memory it seems only a couple of years ago we were focusing on baby shower invitations from invitationbox.com.

Now the grandchildren are young adults. 
With Christmas only three moths away I find I am looking for young adult gifts for them, not children's toys. 

What do you give teenage grandchildren for Christmas?

I know I can always please them by giving them money...sometimes I do.  I far prefer to take the risk of not choosing what they want and selecting a gift.  Sometimes I have given an iTunes card and watch for when they are on special. Often I give a gift card to a book store or computer games shop.  My favorite gift had been a book. With the iBook revolution and my grandchildren moving to iReaders even that has become a redundant gift in my family.

I was delighted when the catch of the day, on line shopping people I bought my iMac computer from had a special on brand name gift boxed gold pens with a recommended retail value of $54.95 for only $12.95 with a limit of 5 per customer.  Now I don't know if a gold pen is going to excite an older grandchild as much as the latest whiz bang computer game or $50. to spend, but I just saved myself $200. which I could sure use right now and it is a practical gift that should be something they might grow to like, if not love.  I know how I love a good brand name, smooth flowing ink pen.

I assume that today's computer generation 'kids,' still use pens. 

Well...do they?

DIY cleaning supplies have been promoted as a way to save money, in a recent Choice magazine article.  My main interest in DIY cleaning products is to keep the small environment of the inside of the caravan as clean air and chemical free as possible.  i am a clean air freak.  I love to have as much flow though air as possible into our van, easy with plenty of windows and two air vents in the ceiling and a ceiling fan.  That was one way I never budget...on getting all those extra options installed into a new caravan, they add to your lifestyle enjoyment...I would prefer to budget in ter ways than to have spared the expense of every possible fresh air source. I love the big opening sky light window directly over the bed. 

When you do have to close a few vents and windows, it is good to know there are few added chemicals in the air. I do not cook inside the van other than by microwave. All our gas cooking is done out of doors. I will not use chemical based cleaners in the caravan...it our bedroom. Who needs the pollution in their bedroom?

There are plenty of areas where you can DIY, but none perhaps as easy as with cleaning supplies. This has an immediate positive effect on your weekly living costs, and more often than not you’ll find homemade cleaners are free from harsh chemicals.
I have illustrated this post with three Australian landscape images of my art work available as postcards, fridge magnets, cards, prints and originals from my Kathy Shell artist, website.