Fun in the sun!

Ebony must have developed a touch of the cooking bug as she wanted to make her own sandwiches yesterday! She made herself a nutella sandwich - which is really good as for the last 18 months, about the only thing she would eat on sandwiches was vegemite! 

After she made her sandwich, she announced that she wanted to have a picnic in the backyard,so we took a blanket outside and ate our lunch in the garden.

Even the Milo the cat got in on the picnic! 

It was quite a nice day yesterday (although a little chilly) so we stayed outside to play for the rest of the day. Ebony and Jack played on the swingset... 

and Milo the cat... well, he played on the trampoline!

We had a great time playing in the sun!

"Pizza, pizza, I love to eat the pizza"

Last night, as I began organising dinner, Ebony announced that she wanted to help me. As this was the first time she had ever asked to help with cooking , I took full advantage of the moment! I decided to make pizza as it would be something simple which she could help lots with.


I had a child sized apron and chefs hat in the kitchen drawer which she asked to put on. She looked so cute!


The first pizza we made was one with bacon, mushrooms, tomato and cheese. She had lots of fun sprinkling the toppings on, although she tended to just sprinkle them in one area so I had to help her to spread them out a bit.

The second pizza we made was a dessert pizza. We smothered this pizza with lots of nutella and then covered it with chocolate chips! Ebony had a great time making this pizza... especially when it came to licking the spatula clean that was covered in nutella! And I'm sure there were quite a few chocolate chips that never made it onto the pizza!

Once we had finished making the pizzas, she set the dinner table ready for everyone to sit down and eat the pizzas she had helped to make! She was so pleased with herself! 


I really enjoyed spending this time with her. It turned what would normally be a rather uninteresting job for me into a fun experience which I could share with my little girl.

Rainy Day Fun

Whilst sitting at the dining table this morning with my husband Tim, enjoying a lovely cup of tea, we started discussing how families these days do not seem to really spend quality time together anymore. 

Gone are the days when families used to sit around together doing simple things like playing board games and doing puzzles, and enjoying bike rides and picnics in the park. These days, children are more preoccupied with the modern technologies of computer games and DVD's, and the sad thing is, that as parents we allow this to happen.

I, myself, am definately guilty of this. It is too easy to turn the TV on to ABC Kids and allow my 2 year old, Ebony, to soak up the day watching Playschool and The Wiggles. As for my son Jack... if he gets onto his Nintendo DS or the Wii, it is a nightmare trying to talk to him or get him to do anything as he gets complete tunnel vision. The same happens when the TV is on.

Since Melody was born, Ebony has become a little more demanding. She constantly begs for my attention, which is understandable.

After our discussion, we both agreed that we would like to spend more quality time with the children, doing family things, rather than leaving them to their own devices all the time.

 

We spent the morning by switching of the TV, leaving the computer turned off and simply playing Playdoh with Ebony. At first, Tim said "I don't play with Playdoh" but he soon changed his mind and was having just as much fun as Ebony was!

Tim and I then did some cooking together in the kitchen (something which NEVER happens!). We made doughnuts and in the spirit of Anzac Day, some Anzac biscuits. We were both surprised by how simple and easy it is to make doughnuts. We made about 16 of them and it took very little time or effort!

After lunch, we played 'Hide and Seek' with Ebony, and sat down and did some puzzles with her. You could see that she was really enjoying spending this quality time with us, and we enjoyed it too!

Speaking of which, I am now about to turn my computer off, and join her at the dining table and do some colouring in!

Challenge - Finding money

I came across this challenge and thought it sounded really interesting, and extremely simple to do!

1 Million Dollar Challenge: Finding money

The basic premise is that you check around for spare change which has been dropped in shopping centres, car parks, in gutters, left behind at vending machines etc, and instead of ignoring it (as most people seem to do), actually collect it - regardless of how small.

I'd be interested to see how much 'free' money could be gained if all this loose change was saved up over the course of a year.

After all, it may only be 5c or 10c at a time, but it all adds up! Just think, if you found just one 5c coin lying around every day for a year, thats $18.25 you've just gained.

Looks like I might be fighting the kids to claim those odd coins that I spot on the ground from now on! LOL

Sorting Out Those Washing Day Blues...

To save time and energy when hanging out the washing, I have come up with the following system which I find works really well:

I hang each persons washing on a separate section of the hills hoist. For example, all my son's washing goes on one side, my daughters on another etc. The same with towels and sheets
When it comes time to bring the washing in, I fold the washing from one section of the hills hoist at a time, and place them into separate baskets (ie use one basket for my son, one for my daughter, one for my husband and I, one for towels etc)
Once the washing is folded and in separate baskets, it is easier to put away as each basket goes to the appropriate room which saves having to sort everything out again once the washing makes it inside.

I no longer dread washing day as I find this method has halved the amount of time I spend doing the washing as I am no longer double handling everything. 

It has made life so much simpler and leaves me with more time to do the things I would much rather be doing... like spending quality time with my family!

What Simple Savings has done for us

I became a member of Simple Savings almost 2 years ago after a friend recommended joining the site. 


I had already been receiving the free emails for a few months but was sceptical about taking the plunge and paying $47 for the membership. However, my friend assured me that it would be money well spent - plus there was the assurance that if I didn't find it helpful, there is a no questions asked money back guarantee.


I decided to bite the bullet and become a member, and boy, am I glad I did! My membership has been paid for more than 100 times over with all the money we have been able to save.

We have been able to buy a new car without going through finance (approx $13K), get married (approx $14K) pay off my husbands debts (he was on a Part 9 Debt Agreement through Fox Symes), and I have paid off and cancelled my credit card!


We have also been able to save a significant amount towards a house deposit and look forward to the day that we can buy our first home.


Life is certainly a lot more comfortable these days... and I have Simple Savings to thank for that!

The perils of going on the computer when you have insomnia

How productive can I be on just 1 and 1/2 hours sleep? Well today I will find out!


After suffering from a bout of insomnia last night, I made the mistake of getting out of bed and going to the computer to work on my new blog layout.... 6 HOURS LATER, at 4.30am... I finally decided I should get to bed as I would have to get up at 6am!


Needless to say, it is now almost 8am and I'm feeling it!!!


Note to self: Next time you have trouble sleeping, DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TURN THE COMPUTER ON!!

Stocktaking your medicine cupboard could save more than just your health!

Last night, I could feel the inklings of a headache coming on, so I decided to reach for the Panadol before it took hold. When I pulled down the medicine box out of the cupboard, I decided I should check out the expiry date of the things in there and declutter all the old unused items whilst I was at it.

To my horror, there were medicines in there which had expired as far back as 2007! There were unfinished prescription medicines that had been there for so long I didn't even know what they had been taken for in the first place. There were even quite a few medications which I had duplicates of, and they were all past their expiry date. 

As I started tossing these medicines into the bin, I thought about how much money had been wasted, buying unnecessary medicines, some of which had cost over $40! There was literally hundreds of dollars worth of now useless medicines clogging up my cupboard.

I decided to write up a list of all the medications which we were left with and their expiry dates. I wrote this list into the notebook which I carry around with me in the nappy bag. This way, whenever we go to the doctors and are told to buy 'such and such', I can check the list before I head to the chemist and hand over my cash, and see whether we already have that medication at home.

This list will also ensure that I can keep track of which staple medications (such as Nurofen, Panadol, Infant Panadol etc) are about to go out of date and need to be replaced. There is nothing worse than having a sick child in need of Panadol at 10pm on a Sunday night when there is no chemist open!

So as you can see, taking 10 minutes to check the medicine cupboard at home will not only benefit your health, but also your bank balance!

Time for a fresh start...

Well, I am embarrassed to say that my last attempt at blogging was... well.. pathetic to say the least so I have vowed to start afresh and begin again.

Since I last blogged back in March last year, we have been blessed with a new baby girl whom we named Melody.

Since Melody's arrival almost 3 months ago, life has taken a bit of getting used to and adjusting to try and maintain a happy household with 3 young children. The biggest challenge I have found has been trying to stay organised... which seems to be the key to making sure the day runs smoothly.

I generally get up at 6am and try and get as much done as I can in the morning whilst the 2 youngest are still sleeping. My son usually gets up at about 6.30am and luckily pretty much gets himself organised ready for school.

Things I try to have done by 8am (the time we leave to take him to school) is:

• Make all the beds (although Jack now makes his own)
• Unpack the dishwasher/put away dry dishes
• Feed all the animals
• Get meat out ready for dinner
• Wipe down the bathroom, and swish and swipe the toilet
• Put on a load of washing if necessary (which is pretty much a daily thing these days!)
• Get the 2 youngest girls up and dressed, and fed
• Check what bills need to be paid and pay them

I find that if I can get the majority of these things done first thing in the morning, I don't feel so bad if I have a rough day with Melody and nothing much else gets done!

Other things I do throughout the day to try and help out with the evening mad-rush is:

• Make Tim and Jack's lunches for the next day at the same time that I am making my own and Ebony's lunch for that day
• Try and organise dinner (ie prepare veggies, put on slow cooker etc) so that cooking dinner in the evening is much quicker and simpler
• Load the dishwasher as things get dirty, or if I'm doing baking etc, wash them by hand as I go.

I've also found that leaving the house 10 minutes earlier than I used to is the best way to ensure I get to places on time - since it now takes a lot longer to get all the kids in and out of the car everytime we go out!

This is very much a work in progress!