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