The little birds...

If you watch little birds you will see they are busy and happy! Using whatever they can find they create the most gorgeous little nest.
I would be the little bird with some glittery thread in her nest!
We can be like this. Happily working away with the things that are available to us to create a beautiful and happy home.
All the while with a little song in our heart.

Banner by Free Pretty Things for You.

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Feathering your nest.

I follow several blogs that do me good. They are blogs that lift me up, encourage me, motivate me and that I think of during the day as I go about things. This helps me too, to think on lovely things.

Of these several have something in common. Even though you would think it might be boring or tedious they have a segment where they list the little things they did during the week that helped them save money and get their work done.  Well, I love it! And others do too as I see others join in at the end in comments and list their own efforts.


One is The Prudent Homemaker.The Prudent Homemaker. She has a section called "Last weeks frugal accomplishments". 


Another is My Abundant Life. My Abundant Life. Wendy has a section called "This week's frugal tasks".


In a forum I participate in a friend has a thread that follows the seasons. This one is called "91 Blossoms for October" The idea is each blossom is a task that needs doing and everyday through spring to accomplish one "blossom". During winter we had Snowflakes! While one Blossom per day doesn't sound like much if they are all usually put off tasks over the season getting ninety one done and dusted is pretty wonderful!


Laine does one weird thing per day as I'll let her explain...



2~ I love to do one “weird” thing a day. This is something that I have noticed that needs to be done, like cleaning a lamp shade or wiping down a wall. Something like that. It usually only takes me a very short time, but it keeps up the housekeeping in a pleasant sort of way.

I love all of these!  They agree with me. They motivate me. They mean even little things COUNT. Little things add up to big things! Even the most daunting jobs are soon done and dusted when we do a little each day or as often as possible!

In my journal and in my mind I have been doing this for the whole year. As I consider the day I think of all of the things I achieved as far as the house and budget go. Then I feel happy and satisfied with the day. In my journal I list the things I achieved at the end of the week and the aims for the next week. Lists really work for me. I get so much more done with lists!

So it might work for you to consider all the little jobs as important. They are significant. They achieve all kinds of things. In an older post I talked about building up your home. 
"The wise woman builds her Home" This doesn't mean you have to start construction work!
It means we build up our home in all kinds of ways. We can build up our homes with love, cleanliness, organisation, decoration, gardening, home cooking, giving it atmosphere, making it safe, making it a place of learning... sooo many ways! All these things "build up" your home. Making your budget work, building up your pantry, your emergency fund, having a nest egg... these all build up your home too. Every thing you do towards these ends is building up your home.

When the girls were little I was so encouraged by Laine's Letters. I treated my job (as Mother and Homemaker) as the most important job in the world and God was my boss. This was the best thing I ever did. Those were wonderful days and produced good fruit!

So I am sharing it here, realising if it works so well for me that it might help others. I think of each thing I do to build up my home as feathering my nest. 

Last week these are some of the things I did to Feather My Nest....

I gathered fresh herbs from the farm and picked bunches of native flowers (see the last blog post)

I made a bouquet of roses from our garden to give away.



I collected natural materials to use in my Christmas decorations that were all free.

From my garden I picked mint to use in a raita to go with my curry. It is beautiful. Just lots of mint blended through thick creamy yoghurt with a sprinkle of cumin. That's it!





Also used plenty of parsley from the garden. Fresh herbs add flavour, look lovely and are full of goodness. I grow lots and it is such a good thing. I keep these right at the back door.




We watered our garden with recycled water from the house. (bath and washing machine)

I made Miracle Cleaner. I learned this recipe from Simple Savings and Cheapskates, both savings clubs in Australia. It is wonderful. Your whole home smells clean and fresh naturally as well after cleaning with this. I posted the recipe previously here... Miracle Cleaner.Miracle Cleaner I save bottles for this.





I finished and wrapped two birthday presents that I made myself. And I worked on more Christmas presents. I am making all my presents and am so happy how it's going! I can't imagine what it saves.




I did some research for my Dad for which I was paid.


It is so helpful to acknowledge the things we do that are contributing to our homes and finances. My friend Mimi does this by considering the dollar worth of things she does and imagining what you would have to spend to buy these things. So making a lunch for family and friends instead of going out, making a birthday cake instead of buying one and so on. The savings in one day are more that either of us could earn outside the home! When you consider your worth that way it is amazing what the savings are. Our work is so important! When I hear someone say they don't feel they are contributing financially by their work at home I just want to cry! It is a huge contribution and worth a fortune!

I am going to post weekly how I feathered my nest. Maybe "Feather My Nest Fridays" or something like that.

How did you Feather your Nest this last week and how did you save? 

Now we just had a holiday Monday so the week is a short one. I have a long list of goals and had better get moving! But if I achieve my list I will have done a lot  and have lots of frugal accomplishments.

Today is so sunny and beautiful so I will try and soak up some sun as well. Have a wonderful day. xxx




21 comments:

  1. I did my weird thing today. I wiped down the door frames while cleaning my van. Often if you just have a damp cloth in your hand and have just done a clean sort of job you can just add on a grimy one and wipe down something else before tossing the cloth into the laundry.

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    1. Good idea Lana, my Mum taught me that, to always keep wiping stuff as you head towards the washing machine! And also to pick up and carry as you head in any direction so that you are using your trip to put things away. It all adds up! Thanks for commenting! xx

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  2. Annabel, that weekly post sounds like a good idea. The Prudent Homemaker is a great website for learning how to live frugally. We have had to live that way (although not quite to that extent) most of our married life so it is second nature and I love seeing young people learning how to do the same thing these days. Have a relaxing weekend.

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  3. What a great post.....since 3 month I´m not working anymore and I didn´t feel good about myself making no income.Your post is a wonderful uplift,it makes me look at myself from a different angle.Thank you so much.I think a list will work good for me too.Have a wonderful weekend

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    1. Thank you Caroline. Your work at home is so valuable and there are so many ways to save and make things lovely when you have the time at home. The friend I mentioned, she makes a batch of cupcakes and knows that they are $4 each in a store so she will go ok I just saved $48! and so on.. its true when we make instead of buy we are saving so much! I am so glad if I can encourage you even a little bit. Thank you so much for your comment.xx

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  4. I love the idea of " Feathering your Nest Friday". This week, I did one shelf of my pantry out. I found things that I didn't know and finished up about 6 things. I also started sorting out my Christmas ornaments. A job much overdue. Each morning I think about using the day to " build my home" . It's a wonderful concept and gives huge value to what we do. Love Helen

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    1. Helen I am on to my pantry too since reading Wendy's post about hers and getitng ready for Christmas. That encouraged me so much. I have some metallic silver spray paint and things in colours I dont love I am spraying including pinecones. It is only $3 paint from a cheap shop but it is so metallic silver I love it! Every thing we do counts, I love this too.xxx

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  5. "Feathering your Nest Friday" is a great name and a great idea Annabel. I post my frugal efforts on Wendy's blog, but I will join in with you too :)

    A lot of frugal things I do are second nature and I have started to take note of what I actually do. Every time I do something that saves money and time I jot it down, it helps to keep me looking for new ideas.

    I find that I barely go to the shops anymore, I only went once last week for some fresh veggies. I keep a well stocked pantry and only buy when on special or running low. We call ourselves the home brand family, if it's home brand and I like it, it's mine! Mind you when I go to the supermarket now I just grab what I need and don't venture down every aisle, saves heaps of money especially if I meal plan.

    Your roses are gorgeous!

    xx

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    1. Dear Tania, I think when we are busy and also have projects we are working on, the shops lose all their lustre! I too go off on missions to get this or that but it is not entertainment or "sport" anymore where I confess it was a bit years ago. If I need "retail therapy" I go op shopping. In the same way as you there are things Ive done for ages and they are big savers... we should count them too for sure. Goodness knows what they save especially week after week! You have just actually given me two ideas for posts! I am looking forward to Feathering Your Nest Fridays and planning away! Thanks Tania. Love Annabel.xxx

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    2. We are a home brand family too.

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    3. Us too... there are many things with such great home brand alternatives. I found in a few cases the packaging was the only difference. And yes sometimes it is ugly and if I care I have tricks to deal with that. I have also heard people say their family wouldnt like home brand this or that. I say dont tell them or do tell them and explain about budgeting as they have to learn themselves as well. Because the girls both worked in the cosmetic industry I learned many very expensive brands have the same things in another less expensive brand with cheaper packaging. The cosmetics are the same, only the packaging is cheaper. I learned my lesson from this!

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  6. I love this post Annabel. It will be great to see "Feathering your nest Fridays" become a regular feature here!

    I'm like Tania and others in that it is second nature these days. This week I was able to buy 12 x 300ml of Bulla cooking cream for $3 total at NQR. A lot have gone into the freezer and you can also pour it over desserts I just found on their website. I have frozen super cheap cream specials from NQR before. You have to buy mega amounts to get the super bargain usually. We also buy packs from a fruit and veg shop here on their clearance trolley for 99c. Some of the packs are wonderful value. I often get a red and green capsicum in a pack and several tomatoes grouped in another pack. They have had around 1kg of apples in their packs too - sometimes blemished or slight bruises. I save heaps on getting these on a regular basis and base my meal plan around them a lot. Other buys this week were sets of bangles reduced from $19 and $15 at Big W for only $3 a set (christmas gifts for my 15yo) she loves bangles especially chunky ones. I also bought $70 of groceries at Coles (specials) and received a $10 voucher to spend in the store. I used a $15 voucher at Woolworths to buy $15.09 of free groceries (I paid 10c)
    I gathered some gumnuts that had dropped into our yard to use for that lovely gift wrapping craft you spoke of Annabel. Silver bells coming up!! lol
    I'm sure there are other things. I will have to make a point of jotting them down.
    Love Kaye xoxoxo

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    1. Dear Kaye, Thank you. I am writing things down and it is motivating to consider the value of things. The cream prices are crazy! How good to have... I am thinking also of quiche, bread and butter pudding, with Christmas pudding and all kinds of things it will be good for. That is the best price I ever heard. We dont have NQR but we have Rite Price which I think is similar. They have all kinds of produce including meat and cheese, fresh and canned etc. I have to wrap a couple of presents so I can post how they look with the gum nuts from the farm.Mums are bell shaped too, really lovely! Your bangles were a wonderful buy as well towards presents. I would say you had a week of excellent savings! Now for the new week, I am excited about seeing what we can achieve! Thank you for your great post Kaye, Love Annabel.xxx

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  7. Laine lives 30 minutes from me and goes to my brother-in-laws church. I sure would LOVE to meet her someday!

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    1. That is amazing Lori! Here I am in SOUTH AUSTRALIA on the other side of the world about as far away as I could be! I would love to meet her so much as well. Maybe one day as you never know!
      Thank you Lori your words and teaching are great study for me.xxx

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  8. I found this post by visiting the Frugal Friday Link Up Party. I love all the creative and frugal things you completed this week. Very inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thank you Janell! Welcome and Im glad you found me. I love the Link up Party I have found some great blogs that way.

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    2. What's the Fugal Friday Link Up Party ? Am I missing something ? I'm still new to blogging and are always lookng for like minded people.

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    3. http://www.sarahtitus.com/2014/10/03/frugal-friday-link-up-party-8/
      Wendy this is the address for the Frugal Friday link up Party. After a few months blogging I learned that joining in link parties you get a lot of new visitors to your blog as people see you on the blog you are participating with. And you meet a lot of lovely bloggers. Do you want to grow your blog in Australia or is anywhere ok? I join a lot of US ladies as I find so many who I have so much in common with. Another I do most weeks is Katherines Corner, lots of crafts and cooking etc ideas. A blog I think you would love is blissfulanddomestic.com she is so frugal and lovely! I think if you visit Sarah Titus blog you will see what the link party looks like and what is involved and its easy to follow. You get lots of visitors and new followers this way. If you would like I can send you a link to any I am participating in and then you will build up a little list. Let me know... I hope this helps. If you need any help also let me know.

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    4. Hi Annabel, could you please send a link of the ones you think are suitable. Do you have my email address ?

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