My best tips for saving money

I wanted to share some of my best tips for saving money with you all.
I seemed to live simply before I even realised that, that is what I was doing. It somehow just happened as I have never had a very high paying job and either has my hubby. We seemed to just cut costs when we had to and learnt tricks along the way.

Grocery Shopping / menu planning
The first part of living simply and the main thing that we cut back on was grocery shopping.
We menu plan EVERY fortnight [and when we don't, we spend more money that is necessary].
We sit down every monday together and look at what we have in the cupboard and the fridge and freezer and we plan meals around what is left. Then we write down any ingredients needed for those meals and that is what we buy.

We stay away from school snacks / packets and bake from scratch, we pop our own popcorn, we buy fruit and veg in small amounts more frequently to avoid throwing out anything that has gone rotten.

We freeze our bread and bread rolls and defrost when needed rather than letting a loaf go bad.
I also freeze the baking I do, muffins, slices, cakes etc in portion sizes so they are ready for the lunch box and we do this also for my cats chicken wings and kangaroo mince etc, all frozen in portion sizes and then defrosted.

We don't buy resealable bags instead use containers, we wash dishcloths and don't buy disposable ones, we make our own laundry powder that lasts about 3 months and costs about $7. I use vinegar to mop my floors and in a spray bottle with water to wipe my benches and that is it. I also use it in my bathroom so I avoid spending money on household cleaners too.

We shop at Aldi as it's so much cheaper and only buy odd items at Coles if needed.

We go to Woolies during the week and grab the marked down meat and freeze it straight away.

We always eat the leftovers.

We freeze portion sizes [for example we know if we use 500 g mince for spagetti bolognaise it's too much when added with pasta so we freeze in 250 g lots and get double whilst still cooking enough for us to enjoy a meal and possibly leftovers the next night. If we cook a slowcooker meal instead of having the exact same thing for left overs we make a pie with puff pastry and pour the leftovers in and top with more pastry and add some veges and it feels like a totally different meal.

We don't buy cordials, juices, fizzy drinks and only drink water only with the odd smoothie made or a coffee or tea for us adults.

Budgeting
Now our combined income is low. Like I mean the four of us live on approx 40k a year. We have a mortgage and a car loan,car registration,  insurances[car, house and health], rates, internet and phone bills, electricity , and probaly more I can't think of and we never miss a payment.
How I do it is.....
I add up what each payment is fortnightly and total it... When I get paid that full amount goes into a bills account and all of those bills are direct debited. There is always enough to cover it all so I never have to worry about owing money to anyone.Whatever money is left is then spending money [which includes my car petrol, school things that pop up etc].
If anything extra pops up then I will pay and go without anything I want in order to make sure I am paid up in full.

Electricity
We save money on power by turning all lights off at night when a room isn't in use. We charge our mobile phones in the car where possible. We use hot water bottles for warmth and occasioally use our gas heater.
We turn every powerpoint off when we aren't using the appliance [except the fridge].
We don't have a dishwasher so we hand wash.
We rarely use the clothes dryer unless it's raining for days and even then we hang the clothes over a clothes horse to dry as much as we can then put in the dryer for less time than what would have been required originally.

Everyday living
I often buy free books on amazon for my kindle rather than paying for books.
We op shop for clothes / books and homewares [basically all of my clothes are opshopped] and we also buy cheap specials from chain stores [e.g I just brought my nephew $1 long sleeve shirts from K Mart and my daughter $3 ones when on special].
I Layby big items if needed and pay off bit by bit.
I do surveys on Valued Opinions and often get sent $20 vouchers from coles or bunnings etc and put them away for christmas time when money is always tight.
I shop around, online, instore etc and search for the best bargain before I purchase any item.
We don't buy newspapers but make the most of the free local one and online news. We stopped buying magazines.
We accept hand me downs. Most of our furniture comes from our parents when they have finished. We rarely buy anything new.
We are happy not having the biggest tv, an ipad, ipod, etc and live without.

Beauty Products
I use coconut oil for hair treatments and moisturising.
I use bicarb and water as a hair wash and facial scrub.
Honey as a face mask.

Any my best tip of all?
Don't buy unnecessary stuff that you don't really need.
I like to live by the quote

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.

William Morris

I hope this helps you with some ideas. There are probably 100 more ideas that I have forgotten but these are our main tips that we ude all the time :) Money is way harder to earn then spend, so I spend it wisely ....

Much love...
Kristy

The annual tradition of hibernating

Once again I'm hibernating. It seems to be becoming a winter tradition for me now. But these 3 months hibernating feel good. They feel needed.They are refreshing and calm and simple.

So what have we been up to?
April was a Busy month. My younger brother got married and it was the most amazing wedding and such a special day.
We  then took a trip out west for 4 days to visit my Nan. I hadn't seen her in 5 years and it was so nice to spend time with her and for my daughters to spend time with her. I also enjoyed 2 weeks off work which was much needed and much appreciated. Whilst visiting we stopped off a the observatory and the girls love it up there. A lot of the trees were growing back after horrible bush fires.

                             

This winter we had our first ever frost. We live in such a warm coastal climate a frost is rare yet we have managed about 3 so far. Crunchy ice on the ground is not something we are used to and luckily we don't get it often. One particular morning as I rushed off to work I took a quick photo as proof as I couldn't believe my eyes.

I June I  broke my left big toe by a broken cupboard door dropping onto it. It was extremely painful and only now starting to feel better yet still achy at times. You can see the left toe is so swollen :(

We've also had big decisions to make for our little family. Decisions I'm still not settled with. Decisions that have made me, as a Mum unsettled and unsure and stepping out of my comfort zone.
Decisions about my oldest daughters schooling. All I can do now is hope we chose the right decision. Hope that she will be happy and that everything works out.

And to finish this little post is a pic of my little man Jovi. He's growing up so fast but luckily is still very snuggly.

Until next time :)

 

2014

It's been a while since I've been on here. Winter 2013 came and went and my hibernation continued. I had to take a step back, I did this on all social media type sites. I watched from afar on facebook, pinterest, you tube, and blog posts.

I turned into myself and focused on getting through each and every day as best and as slowly as I could, savouring each moment.

I think sometimes I get so overwhelmed by everything. I read other peoples posts on facebook, others blog posts and watch you tube clips and Pinterest pins and I start comparing. I start to feel that maybe I could be better, could do better, could have more and I forget where I am and what I have achieved.

This blog felt like it was pointless at times because I was living so slowly and our daily rhythms so mundane that no one would want to read what I was writing. So I stopped.

Once I realised this happening I decided to step back. I decided to stop comparing, stop wishing and wondering and just start living in the moment. And to do this I had to take a break.

A constant inspiration though was only selectively reading a few blogs that are very likeminded to me to keep up my motivation and keep focused on my own goals.

For now though, I do have plans for this blog for this year. I don't know how often I will post and I'm not going to make a new years resolution like past years as I feel there is too much expectation. But what I will do is take each day as it comes and post when I have the time, energy and personal inspiration to do so.

I hope you hang around.

I'll leave this with a few pictures of the past few months :)

My little Australian Mist Jovi is growing up....

                                                               Our vege garden

                                                      Delicious home grown strawberries

                                                         My first attempt of a home hair cut.

Thanks for visiting :)

Hibernating

I'm still around however I am making the most of winter by hibernating. I've had a big pulling to just hiding out, being less social and just savouring the short, cool days.
I am not depressed or anxious just chilling out at home and listening to my body.
My days consist of basically waking, going to work, coming home, showering by 6pm, dinner, tv and bed. There's not much else happening but it's what I need.
Living in our climate with so many warm months and 6 months of daylight saving gets exhausting. Listening to my body and spirit now, tells me to pull in. To be home with my family, to walk in my garden and stare at the blue sky with rolling clouds. To read, to meditate and to cook and I have been majorly decluttering which I am really enjoying :)

 [Here I am embracing my much hated curly hair]


It's funny as just this weekend I brought the book 'The way of the Happy Woman' by Sara Avant Stover. I read the beginning and then skipped to the season of winter and she descibes how I've been living. AMAZING!!! I haven't read the entire book but I do recommed it :)
So for now, my posts will remain sporadic whilst I keep in hibernation mode until my soul tells me otherwise :)

And here is the handsome Jovi :)

 

 

Until next time........................

Catching up and our new arrival.

Once again I have been slow with posting. I enjoyed 10 days off work in the last week of the school holidays. It went by so quickly but it was bliss being able to stay up late, sleep in and not pack school lunches :) I even had time to learn how to knit. Sadly though I haven't found a lot of time to knit since going back to work.
Here's a sneak peak. It's not perfect and it's nothing inparticular, just me practicing.

I also celebrated my 32nd Birthday by taking my girls to Putt Putt Golf, buying a kindle paperwhite with birthday money and a delicious baked dinner at my parents place.

 

The following weekend we had my inlaws over for a delicious lunch that my hubby cooked. He is pretty good in the kitchen. We set the table and my daughter brought me yellow gerbera's from the markets.

 

 

 

And yesterday, Mothers Day, we picked up our new arrival. We've been waiting for him to be ready for us since march when we decided we would like another cat in our family. This time hubby picked the breed. He is an Australian Mist. If you aren't familiar with this breed of cat please do some research if you love cats. They are an amazing breed.

Introducing our new little boy Jovi.

 

He is isolated in our room at the moment until he is comfortable and confident in his new home. Then we will introduce him to our other cat Faith who is a British Blue. I am praying they get along.

Last night Jovi cried a little from 2am onwards so we didn't get a lot of sleep but he eventually nestled down in bed with him and fell asleep. It was his first night away from his Mum and siblings so very understandable. But he has eaten and had a drink, used his litter and purring VERY loudly so I think he'll settle pretty quickly.

 

How was everyone's Mothers Day? I hope you all enjoyed your day .......

 

The Gift of an Ordinary Day

Things have been quiet around here. I really haven't blogged much because our days have been ordinary. Nothing exciting happening, just the usual work, school, homework, washing, housework etc etc etc But I'm not complaining for these 'Ordinary Days' are a gift that we all should appreciate.

So with that, I'll leave you a short you tube clip to watch called 'The Gift of an Ordinary day'. If you can spare 7 minutes I promise it's worth watching. But be warned.... You may need a box of tissues.

Let me know what you think :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0

ASD - A difficult post to write...............................

This post is difficult for me to write. I've contemplated whether or not to write it or not. Whether or not to share this raw side of our life. But after much contemplation I decided to share this. To put it out there for one reason -  to bring awareness to more people in society about autism.

One of my daughters has Aspergers Syndrome. Date of 'official' diagnosis was the 1st June 2012.  I remember it as if it were yesterday.
As my husband and I walked out of the psychologists office after the 'official' diagnosis in the cold dark of night [it was after 6pm] we hugged. Finally someone confirmed our suspicions and finally we could work on helping our daughter with her daily struggles.

We knew, long before then that she had Aspergers. I, an Early Childhood Educator, since 1998, knew the signs from when she was 18 months old. I was always able to deal with the behaviour up until school age. 0-5 year age was my speciality and I seemed to manage well with her. 
During her school years her behaviour got worse.We knew we needed expert help. So we didn't get a diagnosis until she was almost 10 years old.
To this day, I regret not going down the diagnosis path sooner but I can't change what is, or has been.
I'm not mentioning my daughters name but will refer to her as She or her. I hope that doesn't sound bad :(


So what is Aspergers Syndrome?

 

Aspergers Syndrome  is a neurological condition. The pathways between the front and middle lobes of the brain are muddled up and don’t work properly. It is on the autism spectrum.

Some of the signs we noticed with our daughter were : 

She has always been advanced and smart for her age. She is above average in class and her teachers all say she gets on well with her peers. However we know she struggles and struggles a LOT . She just appears to be on a totally different wave length to her friends and can't quite 'fit in'.She has always been like this, it’s like she is so much older than her peers and just can’t relate to them.  It has always been that way however the older she gets it has been becoming more obvious.

 She can't maintain friendships at all. Every single day of school she complains of having no friends and she has never had a ‘close friend’ that she can connect with. In a group situation when she is trying to ‘fit in’ it’s very much “her  way or the highway”. She constantly wants to organise them, their play and only wants them to play her way.

She doesn’t have any current ‘trends’ like most children her age do. Occasionally she will say she likes ‘Bratz’ etc but really shows no interest and seems to just pretend she is interested to fit in with her peers. She will often just line them all up and not know how to socially interact with them.

She has never been very touchy feely, cuddly even towards us almost to the point that she is rigid when she hugs and it's like she hugs because she has too, it's like it's just not natural for her and she does it because others do. When she does it’s very half hearted and not a normal hug.

She is very intense and will just talk and talk to strangers to the point they don't even know what she is going on about and she doesn't let them speak, she just keeps going. She doesn't seem to pick up when others may have had enough. She talks at them rather than in a conversation with them. She relates well to adults but not so much children her own age. She can be quite blunt and even insulting and blurt things out and not really care or look concerned if it upsets anyone.

She has never engaged in make believe play. She lines all her beanie kids up, or gomu rubbers or mighty beans etc and organises them but doesn’t actually play with them. If her and her sister are playing ‘shops’ or something like that that involves make believe play she will have to organise it and tell her sister how to play. If her sister doesn’t play her way she gets angry and upset. She does not like playdough, clay, goop, finger painting etc and never has. She has very poor handwriting [Which has only just begun to improve after lots of practice from us at home ] and hates gross motor activities and still refuses and can't ride a bike. She wasn’t able to jump from the ground up with both feet until almost 3.5 years of age. She has an obsession with animals and has a way with them, she has to watch every animal show she knows will be on tv. She is apparently really well behaved at school and eager to please but at home her temper is wild, she is very short tempered and just explodes over the most simple things.     She has no self care or personal pride. She only showers because we make her, she doesn’t care if her hair is not done and is messy, refuses to wash it for days and days etc.   She has no idea how to behave in public. She will have a melt down and not care if it’s in the middle of the supermarket. She seems to be in a bubble and just not notice or care that people are looking at her, it’s like she is in her own little world. She can also be very full on with people [at appointments etc where she is very familiar] interrupting adults to voice her opinion on a topic and just keep going on and on not recognising they are losing interest.   She constantly says “No one understands her” No one likes her etc.   She takes jokes and sayings literally all the time. She only copes with routine, if something changes it will almost always end up in a melt down. She has to write lists and routines down in order so she is comfortable with what is going to happen. She is very much a perfectionist. If anyone [like me] for example , makes a mistake when writing a note, shopping list etc She will pick out the error even down to the very finest details.   She loves repetition so she will copy novels straight from the book, will get her maths book and just copy page after page after page.   So where does this leave us????????????? It leaves us with a pretty stressed household almost 90 % of the time. It leaves us with numerous visits to a clinical psychologist for both her and us. It leaves us judged by many members of society who see her as badly behaved when she is having a sensory overwhelm meltdown. It leaves me wondering how on earth some days I manage to make it to work on time after meltdowns all morning. It leaves me mentally drained and exhausted at least 98% of the time. It leaves me feeling guilty I have to work 36 hours a week out of the home and bring my work stresses home and create an even more stressful home. It leaves me wondering how to help her cope and how she will function as an adult. It leaves me feeling guilty that my other daughter is often left out as this behaviour attracts so much attention. It also leaves me feeling like the proudest mum in the world. For while this is all stressful on me, it is on her too. And at the end of the day I wouldn't change her quirkiness for the world. I love her more than life itself and always will.   Autism makes our life difficult at times but being on this journey has also enriched our lives in so many ways too.........................................   Many Blessings.