Category: Books

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Let Go of Clutter

is the title of one of my library books this week by Harriet Schechter. My house isn’t particularly cluttered – it’s just that I’ve found over the last year that reading a few de-cluttering books every now and then is an essential part of getting on top of my finances. I’ve found that regularly suppressing that impulse of ‘I have to have that’ is an important part of saving money and is a major part of good de-cluttering books. This paragraph may be a bit new age for some of you but I think it’s actually the key to saving money when we are constantly bombarded by advertising telling us we need things. 

Visualize an endless, flowing river. Imagine that it’s composed of information, opportunities, and objects. Picture yourself dipping into this river whenever you choose to, at your own pace, anytime you feel thirsty. You’ll use a teaspoon, a glass or a cup, but not a bucket – after all, you’re not trying to bail it out. That would be impossible. Know that this river will never run dry, so you can relax. You’re not going to miss anything; there will always be more stuff flowing by. ……Let it flow, and let it go. (pg. 155; 2001)

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Christmas Survival

I find around Christmas time that the ‘I want’ feeling becomes even stronger.  At the moment we are trying hard to keep away from shops unless we have a specific purpose for going. I have made a list of possible gift ideas for the various people in our lives with a max price. It has made shopping a lot easier as the rule is no matter what we see we can’t buy it unless it is under the max price we have set. When we go to a shop we go with our list just as we do with grocery shopping so we don’t get tempted. It’s not a perfect system but it is keeping our gift spending down and I’m hoping that it will mean we will get through December without blowing our budget and ruining all our great efforts this year. It is also reducing the shopping stress which is a bonus. I’ve been reading Phil Strong’s “Becoming Money Wise” book this week – his website is Achieve More With Your Income! | Wisemoney Foundation . One of the ideas in it from Jackie Gower I’ve been using the last few months. To keep impulse shopping under check whenever you see something you want don’t buy it – put it on your wish list. Then wait 24 hours and look at the list again. By then sanity will probably have set in and you can cross it off the list without buying it! The things that are still on the list keep them on there until there is a sale. My extra advice is also remember that there will always be another sale after that sale (unless the shop is closing down of course). I’ve been hanging out for a tallboy in our bedroom for the last year. The one I want has come up for sale at least 4 times in that time. Every time I see the sale I am so tempted but I just keep reminding myself of how many hours I would have to work to buy the tallboy and that helps me keep it on my wish list. In the meantime I just dream for free……….

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Book of the Month

My favourite library book this month would have to be Reader’s Digest ‘Extraordinary uses for ordinary things’ (2007). It has 2209 ideas in it – the vinegar section which is presently my favourite section is 26 pages long! We already use white vinegar as our main house cleaner – spray and wipe, window cleaner, floor cleaner, toilet cleaner, bathroom cleaner, dishwasher rinse aid, stains on carpet, oven cleaner, stain remover …….. so I was interested in things that we don’t use it for. These are a couple of my favourites .

  •  Keep frost from forming on your car window when parked outside by spraying the outside of the window with 3 parts white vinegar to 1 part water. One coating should last for a couple of weeks. Won’t be able to test this one for a few months now.
  • Pour 4 tablespoons of white vinegar into your bottle of washing up liquid and shake. Helps with fighting grease so therefore will need less. I tried this today on some incredibly dirty/greasy roasting pans (after having put most of the grease in the rubbish bin as you are meant to) and it was much more effective than just plain washing liquid.
  • Splash white vinegar under your arms and let dry as an antiperspirant. I tried this one today – it worked pretty well. Still in it’s testing stages though!!
  • Add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to cat/dog drinking water – will give your animal a healthier coat and deter fleas. I’m not sure about this one but won’t do them any harm to try?

This is definitely a great book if you are looking for interesting ideas for saving money or reusing things. Well worth a read.

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Weekend trip to the Library

Hubby was looking for some info last weekend so I suggested we pop up to the local library. It’s at least eight years since I have been there – I had to re-enrol it has been so long! I had forgotten what a great place a library can be – you get to browse leisurely through books and magazines and can come away with lots of great books without having to spend any money. Hubby was also happy to hire weekend DVDs from there at $2 each saving us spending money at the local video store. One of the books I’ve been reading over the week is “Winning the Money War” by Lisa Dudson, the book based on the TV show Money Man. It’s a user friendly book and a good place to start if you want to start on the road to becoming financially literate. I enjoyed the book mostly because it reinforced how far hubby and I have come since I started writing this blog. It hasn’t been easy – hubby loves spending money and still finds our budget very hard sometimes, but little by little all the small steps are starting to pay off and we are no longer living from pay check to pay check which in turn spurs us on to save more. One of the money saving tips in the book that we used a lot last week was trading tasks or doing tasks for family. We babysat one evening for family, they fed us dinner before they went out. We did a family member’s gardening tasks, they gave us the $25 they normally give a company to do their gardening. Hubby helped do a building task, we got fed lunch in return. The money we earned went into our holiday savings for a holiday next year. The meals we were fed meant we have more food left in the cupboard/freezer this week and so don’t have to put as much this week on the grocery list. Small things but it truly is the little savings that make the difference over time.