I must apologise for my lack of blog posts. While we are renovating it has just been all consuming. The mess, the dust, and the cooking outdoors! Well, we are getting there! Doing it ourselves means we can do this (and only just) otherwise it just wouldn't be happening.
I can't wait to put up photos of the end result!
This leads me to last night we watched the state budget details come out. It was really terrible. I felt quite sick. So many bills going up for the people while the government do things like spring $8 million for a new office for a new guy (the office is already there this is to upgrade it) and they said oh this is just a little bit, a drop on the ocean and makes no difference. Well, it makes a lot of difference to ordinary people. I just know so many people who have no heating etc as they cannot afford it. I felt really upset!
So how do we not throw our hands in the air? How do we not get discouraged? How do we find hundreds of dollars when things are already accounted for? This is what so many people are wondering today.
At the same time I am in the hardware shop buying items I need to re plaster the wall where we removed cupboards from. The guy tells me, no, I cannot re plaster this myself (I went armed with photos) and it is a professionals job. I reached a stale mate with this guy. So I said to him if I don't do this then it simply won't be done. Still he said I couldn't do it. I literally had to wait until he turned his back, get what I needed and bolt towards the cash register!
I guess I should go back with photos when I have finished?
There certainly are times when DIY is not a good idea. Brain surgery for one. But with online instructions and You Tube tutorials so many things are made really easy and there are massive savings.
In a tight budget so many basic skills come in wonderfully handy. From knowing how to hem a pair of jeans to knowing how to turn leftover vegies into a good soup. Knowing how to make muffins or scones as they can be sweet or savoury and extend anything! All our kitchen skills, budgeting and planning skills, shopping for bargains, making our own gifts, growing some herbs and vegies, making preserves, using what we have to the maximum advantage.... they all stretch our budget hugely.
Now I'm looking at what new skills can I learn that would help us? One is as I have some lovely crochet cotton I am learning a new stitch that looks like bobbles and is suitable for swiffer mops, dish cloths and general cleaning cloths. It is so pretty! You can then throw them in the wash and continually use them to wipe things down and even clean your floors. Except they are so gorgeous, very vintage homemaker. I think they will make lovely gifts and be beautiful to use as well. So I have some sweet gifts planned from those.
I am also just making up an all purpose cleaner from a recipe I got from Simple Savings. I am trying an adaptation of it using lavender oil. The idea is your home ends up smelling beautiful as well as being sparkly clean. Once I have tested it I will share this with you as it is a huge money saver and also you don't need air freshener or scented candles as your home smells beautiful. Little projects like this cheer me up on these kind of days!
It is cold and wet but we are making progress and I hope next week things will start to return to normal!
Have a wonderful weekend! I am so looking forward to being able to make soups and stews again in my beautiful new oven and have countertops to work on!
xxx
Annabel, it is wonderful to read how resourceful you are. I am sure it encourages everyone reading along here so much in learning how to manage through the tough times ahead. I was just reading one of Laine's letters about being faithful in little. She had experienced some really tough living conditions as a younger woman and it helped her deal with escalating costs of living she was experiencing when writing that particular letter. She had cut down considerably to the point of having a very small fridge and bathing in small amounts of water. Her resourcefulness and gratefulness was (and still is) very inspiring to me. You too inspire me with your resourcefulness and willingness to find solutions and be grateful for those solutions. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThanks Kaye. We all need to be more resourceful and Im nutting out ways to be! I agree about Laine. She taught me a lot in this. It does me good if I read some of her letters everyday or something of substance that is inspiring and gives new ideas. Everyone needs friendship and encouragement I think. Its probably another older woman/younger woman thing too as I have had good older ladies teach me so much. Harder times sure make us think and appreciate our blessings. xxx
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