The shock of going back to work after my summer holiday this year has been rather dramatic. I’m not sure why but the last few weeks I have been absolutely exhausted by the time I get home from work. When I am not at 100% hubby reduces his efforts too so it is double trouble around our house. After starting to have fantasies about buying my lunch because I was too tired in the morning to organise my lunch I realized I needed a wakeup call. Assssssss (my female cat has just walked across the keyboard and this is her contribution to my writing!). So I am getting back on track – finances have been balanced this morning, we are on target for another month with surplus although a little less than I would like. I visited the library last night to get a few inspirational books to help me get back in to things. A whole month’s recycling has been organized this morning. Washing is out. Meringues are baking in the oven. Shopping list is being organized …… one step at a time, I’ll get back to where I was last year.
It isn’t just a simple dollar
One of my library books this week is ‘Coach yourself to Wealth’ by Martin Hawes and Joan Baker. Often from a whole book you may only find one idea that really strikes a chord with you but that one idea can often be a real light bulb moment. Although I have been working hard to get our finances into a surplus situation each month I still have been seeing each dollar as simply a dollar. Hawes and Barker promote the idea of thinking of the cost of an item not just in dollars today but as dollars in the future. Working out what a dollar spent could ‘earn’ you instead in terms of investing it or paying off your mortgage can help you work out the ‘real’ cost of your spending. Every dollar you don’t spend can be put to work for you 24 hours a day every day while items you buy are depreciating rapidly. This way every time you decide not to spend you can see it almost as a mini pay increase which makes it a positive action than you want to carry out. Working out what an item can cost me over a 20 yr period would seem to be another good strategy to help slow down impulse buying.
Growing Money
I think one of the best savings the last few months has been growing our own lettuces. We don’t have a garden at the moment as it is still basically a building site so everything has been grown in containers. It would of course be much cheaper growing straight into soil – maybe next summer. I have found you can pretty much grow lettuces in anything – two of my happiest lettuces the last few weeks were grown together in a 2 litre icecream container! Growing them in pots such as icecream containers or small pots has been quite nice as you can grab a container and bring it in for meal time to pick your lettuce leaves. You can also sit down somewhere comfortable with the pot on your knee when it comes to pest control day and pick off all your insects by hand. You can also move an infested pot away from other lettuces while you try to get the pest numbers down. There’s a good article here on various types of lettuces that this grower is trialling in their garden if you don’t know much about different varieties http://www.garden-nz.co.nz/grow-your-own/grow-your-own/lettuce-be-friends.html
Meringue Heaven
As part of my holiday library reading one of my books has been the River Cottage Family Cook Book – we love the river cottage programme in our household. When reading recipe books at the moment I am mostly looking for recipes that are relatively cheap to make and don’t take too much fiddling around. First on my cooking list for 2010 I chose meringues. Growing up my mum would always bake meringues and pavlova but I have always been a buy it girl. I realised last week though as I bit into my first made by me meringue that supermarket meringues have absolutely nothing on homemade meringues. Homemade meringues just melt in your mouth and are seriously addictive . They use very few ingredients and are definitely worth learning to make.
Meringues
2 large eggs, 100g caster sugar
Separate the eggs – place the whites in a clean bowl. Eggs should be at room temperature. Using an electric beater beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add half the sugar and continue to beat until you could turn the bowl upside down and nothing would fall out. The mixture should be shiny at this stage. Add the remainder of the sugar, gently folding with a metal spoon. Place teaspoons of mixture onto a tray with baking paper. Place in an oven preheated to 100oC for 1.5 – 2 hours. Remove from oven and allow meringues to cool completely.
Source: River Cottage Family Cookbook, Fearnley-Whittingstall & Carr, 2005.
Retail Therapy
According to the retail figures December shoppers went for feel-good spending with growth in the sectors of cafes/restaurants, jewellery and hairdressing/beauty (Dominion Post – 7/01/2010). I have to say I wasn’t responsible for any of this particular increase in spending! It’s strange reading each month’s analysis of consumer spending with analysts eagerly waiting for that growth in spending that will indicate we are returning to ‘better times’. In contrast my own monthly analysis of our household spending is driven the other way, it is a good month when we spend less than we earn and spend less than the month before. December was our household’s lowest spending month in the last six months – this is the first time in years that come January I’m not afraid of my December credit card bill. I’m not sure that I want to help the economy recover short term by returning to my old over consumption habits. Long term I feel I can do more for our economy by reducing my personal debt while also planning for my retirement.
January gardening diary
I think the lack of sunshine this summer must be taking its toll on my plants with the maturity dates totally way off. The lettuces that I grew from seeds should almost be full grown by now, instead they are still little seedlings while my beans are a few weeks off as well. My baby bush dwarf beans are absolutely gorgeous though – at the moment they have these very cute 2 cm long bean pods. I can’t wait to pop them into stir fries in a week or two. Insect wise some of my plants have thrived, others have to be watched daily for dreaded invaders. I lost my chives last week after months of being perfectly healthy and gave up on one of my tomato plants as well. Overall though my first year of herb and vegetable gardening has gone relatively well and through sharing my seeds, seedlings and plants two other households have also benefited from my growing experiments. I have learnt that I wouldn’t be without fresh herbs in the kitchen now and hope to expand a little further on my inside herb growing range this year.
The No Gift Wrapping Update
Well the december gift wrapping challenge of buying no wrapping paper went well. We now have made a new tradition for Xmas presents with our in-laws and their children with our santa sack. It was just as much fun for them to pull their presents out of the santa sack as it was to unwrap presents. The sack came home with us and is now in the cupboard ready for next year. It went so well I am thinking of making a sack for every family member for next year.
New Year resolutions
As we all head into a new year of promise I thought it was an appropriate time to revisit the Non-Consumption Train list again. In our household we don’t always live by the list but it is becoming more and more part of our lives.
- Is this purchase something I need?
- Do I already own something that will serve the same purpose?
- Can I borrow one instead of buying new?
- Can I make something that will serve the same purpose?
- Can I buy a used one?
- Would someone be willing to split the cost and share this with me?
- Can I buy or commission one made locally?
- Can I buy one that was made with environmentally responsible materials?
- Can I buy one that serves more than one purpose?
- Can I get something human powered instead of gas or electric?
- Can I compost or recycle it when I’m done with it?
- What is the impact on the environment of the full life cycle of it?
- Does the manufacture or disposal of it damage the environment?
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/get-on-board-the-non-consumption-train.html
My favourite question at the moment is “Do I already own something that will serve the same purpose?” It is amazing how asking that one question can significantly reduce the need to shop.
Holiday Cooking
My mum just rang me to get a pikelet recipe. I tried this slightly different recipe one evening last week when hubby got cravings – worth adding it to the recipe file. I remember when growing up we used to have this rule in my household that on your pikelets you could have butter and jam or jam and cream but you couldn’t have butter, jam and cream. I think it was my mum’s way of making sure our pikelets were vaguely healthy! One of my favourite ways of having pikelets is re frying them up later in a bit of butter – they go sort of crunchy and golden.
Golden Syrup Pikelets
1 rounded Tbsp golden Syrup, 25g butter, 1 Tbsp sugar, ½ C milk, 1 large egg, 1C self-raising flour. Pour syrup in a bowl with the butter. Warm to soften both, mix in sugar, milk and egg. Sprinkle flour over top, then mix in with a whisk.
(Source unknown)
Tips from 2009
As the year comes to an end it is a good time to reflect on some of the things I’ve learnt this year. Here are just a few……..
• Cats want to be the centre of attention and take great pleasure in sitting on the keyboard whenever you sit down to write (but they are so adorable that they get away with it)
• Men don’t make changes in their life easily (or quietly).
• Vinegar and Baking Soda are wonder products.
• Always shop with a list (even for non-grocery shopping).
• Don’t go shopping as a form of entertainment – impulse shopping can be fatal to your financial goals.
• Second hand products help your pocket and the earth.
• Planning meals is a great way to reduce wastage and prevents takeaway splurges.
• Anyone can grow herbs near a window.
• Know exactly what your money is being spent on each month.
• Educate yourself.