Organising this Mama

The biggest part of organising us is to organise this Mama herself. And I know it sounds a little un-politically-correct and perhaps even arrogant, but in this family at least its the Mama who holds everything together most of the time. Its Mama who organises and prepares and thinks ahead for the family as a whole (as well as most of the parts). And that's how it should be.
And so I've made myself a Home Management Journal (the capital letters make it sound very official and important don't you think?) to help get my thoughts and planning out of my head and into some sort of consistent approach.
I've borrowed this idea from Down to Earth (the book and the blog), which I wrote about here, and sewed the folder cover a while ago to take on our trip to Tasmania at Easter time (you may have seen Rosie with it in some of the photos). Its now nicely repurposed to hold my planning sheets, lists of jobs, garden notes, budget etc...


Watch out world....this Mama is organised...

 

Family shopping day

Its been a month since we shopped for food in any sort of earnest. We've up the odd bag of fruit, some milk and I've brought bread home from the bakery after my shifts, but no serious purchases whatsoever. And now its the lovely month of August and its time for our next monthly shop.
My inspiration this month (since last month's budget posts) is Rhonda Hetzel's Down to Earth book which I excitedly received in the mail this week. I already wrote about her blog here, and so far I'm liking her book even more (there's something lovely and tangible about a real book don't you think?).
I'm proud to say that we spent so much less on food in the last month - $400 compared to an average of $1200 a month last year.
So, armed with our shopping list, some inspiration and a sense of accomplishment, we marched with our next $400 into this month's shopping.

My new favourite book

The shopping list - borrowed with thanks from simplemom.net

The well-stocked pantry

Blog review: Little Eco Footprints

I have discovered a delightful little blog called Little Eco Footprints. I love that its Australian, that its written by a Mama of two girls and most of all that this family is working towards a sustainable life full of learning and growing together.

After a read of several posts I've picked one that hits the spot for me at the moment - Learning to be a slow spender. As I've written in several posts recently (Little Treasures, Our $21 Challenge, part 1 and part 2), we are on a mission to reduce our spending and really bring more awareness to what we do with our money and what we bring into our home. Tricia writes in this post about the 'old-fashioned' concepts of saving for things first (rather than spending on credit), using lay-by to save up for purchases (rather than buying it now, probably on credit) and resisting the urge to buy what you see and to wait for something cheaper or free to turn up that will do the same job. Really its about patience and trust.

Now this Mama hasn't been known for her patience in the past (although in my defence I have improved a lot) and trust is something that I'm learning to focus on more and more. But despite this I like the ideas in Tricia's post and feel like its adding another piece to our budget puzzle.

Little treasures

Its the little things in life that make all the difference to the big things I think. This Mama often looks to the big and bold when things become a challenge and seeks to fix or change or throw something out and then 'it will all be better'. But time and again this proves me wrong and I see that its the little treasures, the small efforts, that make the difference. All that is required is a little shift in perspective and suddenly is seen afresh by this tired Mama's eyes.
This is how it has been for our home these holidays. Our $21 challenge finished up a couple of weeks ago and finally, finally, dear readers, I finished going through all our expenses for the past financial year.
And my what a shock! I knew that my penchant for books probably meant that I spent too much there. And I knew deep down that the delightful Sassy Road in Mount Beauty probably received too much of our loving cash (but oh my the clothes are amazing). But $1000 on books? No! $1700 at Sassy Road? Wow.
And that doesn't include the money I spent on my daily visits to our little supermarket or the coffees and 'cinos and treats...
*ahem*
All these little treasures certainly added up to a big overspend last year.
So the talk around our home lately has been about shifting our perspectives just a bit more. A bit more of a focus on relationships with people rather than things. A bit more love. A bit more homemade and upcycled. A bit more mindfulness and a bit more organisation. And all these little bits...well they might just shift the budget back in the black too. Its baby steps for us again - just like Bethany.
Further to this week's budget blasting are the challenges we help our own little treasures through on a daily basis. Like our overspending on expenses, Rosie often overspends her energies and is overwhelmed by emotions and how things feel on her skin. Her path through life is often complicated by her sensitivity - sometimes a blessing and sometimes a challenge - very much like this Mama herself. And sometimes we look (again) to big and bold changes and things to 'fix' Rosie so that she may feel calm and confident. AND again these are surprisingly dead ends that lead nowhere. For its little treasures that make this difference - a smile here, a cuddle there, reading a chapter of a book together, a hot drink or some fresh popcorn. These little things can break a stalemate and release the pent up emotional friction so that she may breathe freely again, even if only for a moment. Its these little treasures that this Mama works on each day.
And in her own way, Bethany struggled to breathe last week. As a virus took hold she was a miserable little one who needed lots of cuddles, help sleeping and multiple trips to our wonderful local doctors. And as we made our way through this illness together, it was the little treasures and attentions that brought us closer together and slowly brought her back to health.
Wishing you days full of little treasures with your little ones...

Our little treasures creating art together

Our budget spreadsheet - very exact and organised, but its what this Mama needs to take control of her spending!

 

Our $21 Challenge - part 2

We're part-way through the $21 challenge week and so far I've spent the $21 on ham, cheese, icing sugar, apples and mince. It didn't go far but our pantry is mostly full so we should be okay. Job done right? I came in (technically) at $21.09 and thought that I was close enough. But then we 'needed' more stuff for home.

Like some coffee beans (we couldn't go without those could we?).

And I'd promised a friend we could meet for coffee in town (I couldn't pull out of that could I?).

And so the lines around what is acceptably 'feeding the family' and what is a special treat for us are quite blurry it appears. And I suspect this is part of the clarity I'm seeking to improve upon in this budgeting quest.

Despite going over our $21 (and there are 3 days to go in our challenge still) I did plan our dinners for the week and am on track with those. We had creamy chicken pasta for the past two nights and tonight I'm making chicken soup from the stock I made with the leftover bones. Tomorrow is lasagne with the mince, but I need to make my own pasta sheets, something I've never done before, because our budget didn't stretch to that and I thought it could be fun (will let you know about that!). Friday night we're going to a friend's house for dinner so its covered already and Saturday will be lasagne again (a second batch). I've also left my cash at home so I'm not tempted to return to the supermarket or fruit shop.

And I've been thinking more about why this is important to me, this $21 challenge.

Reason number one is to help me be more organised and in control, both of my spending and what comes into our house.
Reason number two is the chance to save some money and get ahead a little financially
Reason number three is to give me more time, for me and for my family and community.
Number four is the impetus to cook more things from scratch. I'm pretty good at this, but want to be better. I want to make my own pasta, butter, bread, cheese and other staples.
And the final reason is the chance to declutter our pantry and fridge and the way I cook meals.

So far I'm learning more about all of these this week....

Our $21 Challenge - part 1

I've switched perspective recently. I stopped thinking about teaching and academic work and started to think of home as my workplace. I wrote a post about coming home to work last month and my journey has continued happily along this path since then.

Whenever I'm feeling on edge, up in the air or unanchored, I think about my home as my work, as my temple and as the place I give and receive love, and I'm immediately more grounded, more down-to-earth. And I can breathe a sigh of relief again (I do so like that feeling). Then I have more to give to our gorgeous girls, and that makes me a happy Mama too.

So this path has taken me to look at budgeting - something I've not ever been good at or really been interested in before. I haven't really liked to think about money or earning or anything like that too much. But lately I've been wondering if there's another way. If we can declutter our money and live more slowly by spending more slowly.

Then I read some posts about budgeting on Slow your Home and that got me thinking about it more. Then I talked to Mum and Dad. And then I did some more thinking. And then I started doing stuff like looking at our last 12 months worth of bills and credit card statements and actually working out what we spent on stuff (a bit scary to begin with). I took my cards out of my purse and started leaving them at home. And then Mum sent me a copy of The $21 Challenge by Fiona Lippey and Jackie Gowerand this week we are spending only $21 on food for the family and using what we already have in the fridge, pantry and garden for the rest.

Will let you all know how we go by the end of the week....