grocery shopping, cooking, dishes... really unavoidable aspects of being a mother and a wife in my opinion but as of late due to our financial situation, I've had to figure out ways to feed our family of 4 for less. At first I thought, 'How can i skimp on food?? i need to feed my babies!!', feelings of guilt at not being in a more stable financial situation before having children came over me.. for about 5 minutes and then i had to prepare lunch and menu plan for the next fortnight and take the kids shopping.
I ALWAYS plan a menu, at least for the week though i prefer a 'big' fortnightly shop rather than several quick trips to the shops. I am blessed (yes, blessed) with a tiny kitchen with little storage. I don't have a massive pantry, i basically store all my cooking needs in one tiny cupboard and I like it that way. I'm never tempted to 'stock up' on things i 'might' need one day. I buy it, i use it. what is the big deal about all of this?? well before i burst with pride (yes, pride) i have managed to feed my family of 4 for a whole fortnight for... *drum roll* $132! that's basically 3 meals a day, snacks and this fortnight i needed NAPPIES and TOILET PAPER! this includes all groceries, meats, chicken, fruit & vegetables.
Menu planning for me starts with 'shopping my pantry' or cupboard & fridge in my case. And for such a tiny space i actually had a lot to work with. Its all pretty basic stuff but its amazing the meals you can come up with using different combinations of ingredients.
Coming up with meal ideas & recipes has been made much easier with Google. i basically google a bunch of ingredients I think go together and slap on the word recipe on the end and i come up with an endless list of yummy recipes.
On the menu this fortnight is:
Crumbed & pan fried chicken with roast vegetables
Beef Stir fry
Peanut Chicken Curry
Beef Risotto
Cajun Beef Chili
Macaroni & Cheese
Potato & Carrot Soup
five spice chicken & broccoli stir fry
Corned beef & Thai vegetables
BBQ Lamb with onion rings & asparagus salad
No food goes to waste in this house, leftovers are always eaten. for breakfast we bake our own bread & have scrambled eggs, we have some sausages from last fortnight & we have a gigantic box of cereal to go through. For snacks, we bake cookies or we have cheese & fresh fruit.
and yes i can cook all this for 2 weeks for $132 and i bought NAPPIES & TOILET PAPER in BULK! I just cant get over it..
talking with other mothers who shop & cook for their families, we've admitted to spending $100+ on groceries and not really feeling like you're buying much. Mind you, meal planning for me takes time, looking for recipes & looking at the specials at all the many different supermarkets, but its something Ive come to enjoy & take pride in. If i were to take away the nappies & toilet paper which we don't buy every fortnight i would have spent... $111! wow. yay me!
learning to live with less, i feel, has been such a blessing for my family. We've come to develop a real appreciation for the little things. We've come to see how truly lucky & blessed we are. We've come to take care of and appreciate the possessions we have, we've come to appreciate each other. We cant afford to take the kids to the movies or to any fancy restaurants or out to too many places but home is where we have the most fun anyways. Baking bread & cookies a few ties a week has become a little tradition me and the children enjoy. its a chance to get messy, to talk & to listen. ahhh OK well off i go to bake some bread & get lunch started.
Enjoy Sundays, that's what they're there for.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Happy Birthday to me!
so my 24th birthday was yesterday and i always find myself reflecting on life and where I'm at in life on my birthday. I don't know many other 24 year olds out there married with 2 kids but that's where I'm at and i love it. I'm very much a results based person, so when i look at what i have 'achieved' thus far i would quietly like to say I'm proud of myself.
I will have to say I focus a lot more on home & family. I've always been a family type of person, but after being away from my husband and my home for 5 weeks (i was overseas with my parents visiting family, had a wedding to attend, etc.) I came back with a much more defined focus on what I want for my family & my home.
I may have mentioned in a previous post that my house isn't the prettiest house on the block, it may actually be in the bottom 3 on the street in my opinion. So I've directed a lot of my attention & energy into making it a home i love. We don't plan on moving any time soon, this location is just too convenient for my husbands uni and the children's preschool & soon to be primary school, so i thought it makes sense to turn this house into a home that we all love to be in.
I also have to admit that the only income we are receiving as of now is social security which is enough to pay bills, rent, buy food, pay for preschool & petrol for the car and not much else. This isn't me complaining, I'm just stating facts.
So the challenge is to create a 'home' for basically nothing, and i know I'm not the only out there attempting this, and i know many people have achieved this. Two major things, which basically cost nothing to do but in my opinion is a great place to start 'creating a home' are DE CLUTTER and DEEP CLEAN.
i thought i could do the two simultaneously but it got too complicated so i thought it would make sense to de-clutter first and get rid of crap you don't need or like so there are less things to deal with when deep cleaning. I was so surprised at how much crap i was surrounded by and getting rid of it all was such a relief and made me fall in love with things that i had forgotten i had.
I went through me & my husbands wardrobes and got rid of a lot of clothes we didn't need or wear anymore, most went to the salvation army, some went to eBay. I went through my shoe collection and donated a few pairs to SA. We had some sub-woofers sitting in our room which my husband always wanted to keep but we sold those on eBay so easily & got quite a bit for them. We had such OUT DATED electronics such as computers and gaming systems which we donated to a computer recycling company & the gaming system, we could trade in for cash. we even had an old VCR sitting around which didn't even work! We got rid of our hideous and humongous (i know its not a word...) computer table which i have had since high school. I found heaters and fans that didn't even work anymore just sitting around. All i can say is we had a lot of crap lying around and it feels good to have it gone.
De-cluttering never ends in my opinion. Its a constant battle with keeping junk out and re-evaluating what you have and comparing that to what you need.
onto DEEP CLEANING. I would have to say deep cleaning is tiring and kinda gross but the feeling of knowing your space is truly clean is worth the time and elbow grease. My house has a lot of trouble spots when it comes to cleaning. After living in this house for just over a year, my kitchen hasnt been deep cleaned EVER i think. I spent a good day really cleaning it, getting rid of all that built up grease, all those crumbs & spilt 100s & 1000s everywhere, going through the cupboards and getting rid of anything that i didnt use or was broken, going up into the corners to get rid of all the spider webs, going ontop of the cupboards & almost vomiting at the build up of dirt & grease. To think at how dirty my kitchen was and to think that this is where i cook the food to feed my family, i feel much better knowing how clean my kitchen is now.
Another trouble spot is the bathroom. Theres not much ventilation in there so im having issues with mould and the flooring happens to be that weird outdoor carpet type material... yes i know, WHAT?!? carpet in a bathroom doesnt make any sense to me but we've learnt to deal with it. Vacuuming in the bathroom doesnt feel as bad as it use to.
ok so PHEW... i think this post needs to come to a rest and i will continue on with my mission of 'home creation' in my next post.
I will have to say I focus a lot more on home & family. I've always been a family type of person, but after being away from my husband and my home for 5 weeks (i was overseas with my parents visiting family, had a wedding to attend, etc.) I came back with a much more defined focus on what I want for my family & my home.
I may have mentioned in a previous post that my house isn't the prettiest house on the block, it may actually be in the bottom 3 on the street in my opinion. So I've directed a lot of my attention & energy into making it a home i love. We don't plan on moving any time soon, this location is just too convenient for my husbands uni and the children's preschool & soon to be primary school, so i thought it makes sense to turn this house into a home that we all love to be in.
I also have to admit that the only income we are receiving as of now is social security which is enough to pay bills, rent, buy food, pay for preschool & petrol for the car and not much else. This isn't me complaining, I'm just stating facts.
So the challenge is to create a 'home' for basically nothing, and i know I'm not the only out there attempting this, and i know many people have achieved this. Two major things, which basically cost nothing to do but in my opinion is a great place to start 'creating a home' are DE CLUTTER and DEEP CLEAN.
i thought i could do the two simultaneously but it got too complicated so i thought it would make sense to de-clutter first and get rid of crap you don't need or like so there are less things to deal with when deep cleaning. I was so surprised at how much crap i was surrounded by and getting rid of it all was such a relief and made me fall in love with things that i had forgotten i had.
I went through me & my husbands wardrobes and got rid of a lot of clothes we didn't need or wear anymore, most went to the salvation army, some went to eBay. I went through my shoe collection and donated a few pairs to SA. We had some sub-woofers sitting in our room which my husband always wanted to keep but we sold those on eBay so easily & got quite a bit for them. We had such OUT DATED electronics such as computers and gaming systems which we donated to a computer recycling company & the gaming system, we could trade in for cash. we even had an old VCR sitting around which didn't even work! We got rid of our hideous and humongous (i know its not a word...) computer table which i have had since high school. I found heaters and fans that didn't even work anymore just sitting around. All i can say is we had a lot of crap lying around and it feels good to have it gone.
De-cluttering never ends in my opinion. Its a constant battle with keeping junk out and re-evaluating what you have and comparing that to what you need.
onto DEEP CLEANING. I would have to say deep cleaning is tiring and kinda gross but the feeling of knowing your space is truly clean is worth the time and elbow grease. My house has a lot of trouble spots when it comes to cleaning. After living in this house for just over a year, my kitchen hasnt been deep cleaned EVER i think. I spent a good day really cleaning it, getting rid of all that built up grease, all those crumbs & spilt 100s & 1000s everywhere, going through the cupboards and getting rid of anything that i didnt use or was broken, going up into the corners to get rid of all the spider webs, going ontop of the cupboards & almost vomiting at the build up of dirt & grease. To think at how dirty my kitchen was and to think that this is where i cook the food to feed my family, i feel much better knowing how clean my kitchen is now.
Another trouble spot is the bathroom. Theres not much ventilation in there so im having issues with mould and the flooring happens to be that weird outdoor carpet type material... yes i know, WHAT?!? carpet in a bathroom doesnt make any sense to me but we've learnt to deal with it. Vacuuming in the bathroom doesnt feel as bad as it use to.
ok so PHEW... i think this post needs to come to a rest and i will continue on with my mission of 'home creation' in my next post.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
My Space
no I'm not talking about "myspace" im talking about my space as in my home/house. We're renting a cheap house in the western suburbs of Sydney and i'll admit we have the UGLIEST house on the street. its probably the oldest & the least renovated/maintained. The paint is peeling on the outside & my front door/entrance isnt a pretty sight. on the inside, the carpet is completley dated. Its in good condition but way old. The vinyl in the dining room & kitchen is ugly & patchy. The walls in the kitchen & dining room are a weird, imitation... I DONT KNOW! i really dont know what it is on the walls so i'll just move on. Its a small 2 bedroom house and id probably like the house a bit more if i didnt have weird carpet in the bathroom & a really dated pokey kitchen.
i LOVE low coffee tables covered in coffee table books. i LOVE collections of vases. i LOVE plush comfy chairs & sofas. i LOVE black photo frames
i LOVE tall, massive bookcases that are FULL but dont look too cluttered or too organised. i love coffee tables that are nice and close to the sofa so you can put your feet up, even though thats so un-ladylike.
ok so im having terrible green eye syndrome. A friend of mine who lives down the road and is renting too recently got her place freshened up. My husbands friend bought his own place and has been slowly fixing it up. I'd love th fix my house up but the word of the day is RENTING. So i cant punch holes in the wall, i cant tear things up, basically I cant make any crazy changes. So i've been focusing on doing what i can with what i have to make my house the best it can be.
So far I've just started de-cluttering. i think thats the easiest way to love your space is to only have things in it that you love/use/require. I've been getting rid of decent things on ebay that deserve a loving home. Ive been throwing out/recycling as much jucnk as i can. I'm going overseas soon to visit family, so im trying to get as much done as i can. I dont think I'll be making huge changes until i come back but until then ive been browsing the net trying to find inspiration and figure out the stlye in which I want to decorate. Being a mother and wife, i like my house to be inviting & warm, yet i like the look of a clean & simple decor. Having young kids throws in a whole other element. im so confused! I will say this, the things i do LOVE about my house is the HUGE window in my living room & the high ceilings & the fact that i have so many empty walls to work my magic on.
I love the minimalistic style of this room, but i think it could be lighter & the bookcase filled with more items.
i LOVE low coffee tables covered in coffee table books. i LOVE collections of vases. i LOVE plush comfy chairs & sofas. i LOVE black photo framesi LOVE tall, massive bookcases that are FULL but dont look too cluttered or too organised. i love coffee tables that are nice and close to the sofa so you can put your feet up, even though thats so un-ladylike.
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