Angel wings and Angels generally...

Last week I had a very interesting week.

I had found the news of the world very hard to cope with. Not just last week but for several months. It was really bothering me and the plight of Christians world wide just seemed to be dismal.
I read one of my favourite bloggers, who is always bright and cheerful, was feeling terribly worried too at events she was witnessing in the United States. Sweet Melanie is always uplifting and this blog post I knew exactly how she was feeling or so I felt... Sweet Melanie.

Inspired by her I decided to make Angel Wings. Thanks Melanie! Suitable for anytime these are just lovely at Christmas as well.
I am using some on my tree and some as gifts. I am including my favourite angel verse

 "do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for some have entertained angels unawares"

 I love this verse as it shows angels can appear amongst us. My next favourite verse on angels is when Peter was in prison asleep and the angel woke him up... and led him to freedom.

In my family several of us (not me) have seen angels. Mum, Nan L and Chloe have and each has a story too long to tell here just now. And someone who influenced me when I was young had an experience... when she was a child she fell from a cliff on one of Adelaide's southern beaches. She was doomed. As she fell she felt hands "catch" her and when she landed at the bottom of this 8 meter cliff she was not hurt. Everyone was amazed. But she knew she had been caught and no person caught her. So gave her life to God then and credited her angel. And she did it in a serious way she became a Nun. So I have had four people in my life see or experience angels. (that I know of).

Well, the news and how Melanie was feeling were how I was feeling.
Then I went into the city and went to the book store I have been going to since I was a little girl. It is run by the Sisters of Saint Paul. Every time I go I am sure the same Sister is there.
As I started to browse a lady came in and she was talking to the Sister and obviously they knew each other. So I was browsing and this is a small shop so I tried to stay out of the way as I could tell they were talking and it was important and the lady started to cry. What followed will affect me for the rest of my life. In short the lady has family in Iraq and they are under threat of being executed for being Christians. They had been paying to stay in their house but had run out of money. The lady had come in for prayer. She put her head in the hands of this Sister and she was praying for her. I cannot remember the words but it was the most beautiful prayer and I was standing there helplessly and was overcome. I thought I was going to start sobbing. The ladies fear and grief were palpable. The Sister's love and calm ways were incredible and as she prayed tears were rolling done my face and I was praying too. I witnessed something that was a privilege and then later I talked to this Sister for sometime. Really I cannot adequately describe it. Each time I have talked about it I have had to stop as I start crying. I came home and started to tell my husband and had to tell him in instalments. Everyday I have thought of this family. I know I was meant to witness this. It changed how I feel about the current news and events... I walked out of that shop different to how I walked in.

Something that got me was how the Sister treated the persecution and murder of Christians as everyday event. Because they are. Her attitude was this is what we all face. This is what happens. This has been what has happened since Jesus was born. It is nothing new.

So between all these things I made angel wings as Melanie did. They were fun to do and are a reminder to me of something beautiful. The next day I made angel wings most of the day. And prayed.

I simply drew a wing shape onto scrap cardboard and then flipped the shape so I had a pair of wings. One one side I covered the cardboard with sheet music. The other side I used white crepe paper streams and one row at a time I drew a line of craft glue and then pressed my crepe paper along the line and squished the paper together to form a ruffle. I have done this before along the bottom of cards and to make ruffle cards as I just love ruffles...

Normally I would just buy a roll of crepe paper and cut it into 3 cm strips but they had no white in paper and they did in streamers.

This is really easy to do after you have practised it on a scrap you will find you get on fine if you have enough glue for the paper to slide and work quite quickly before the glue dries at all. Do your row and then make your next line of glue so that this new row will overlap the last. It is messy. It pretty much wrecks your nails. I just accept this with glue projects!

At the top I secured with glue a loop to use as a hanger and covered this with the top layer of ruffles...

When I got to the row where the wings meet together I threaded the paper through a little buckle and glued that as a highlight. You could add a button or other sparkly feature if you wanted. At the end I trimmed around the edges as some of my ruffles were all over the place, I just trimmed and it revealed the wing shape nicely.

You could buy ruffle fabric and cover your wings with this. Online there are stores that just sell ruffled materials!

I made a few sizes. Some to fit in an envelope and use as a card by just writing on the back. I thought with those I will add glitter to the envelope.

All week I thought on what had happened and on Angels.

"The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them" and
"For he will command his Angels concerning you and guard you in all your ways"

I have come to think that reminders of Angels are a good thing. And there were plenty of Angels involved in Christmas so this is going to be a strong theme for me this year, even more than usual.

I want things of beauty to look at and things that remind me to think beautiful thoughts. Angel wings are going to a few people I think might like them or need them somehow jus now.

Have a wonderful week!

Feather your Nest Friday 31 October 2014.

Each day I am writing in my journal the things that have been wonderful blessings in my day and the things I achieved towards feathering our nest. This is in part so I don't get to Friday and think "what have I been doing all week?"

The ordinary things we do day to day can be enough. We may do nothing extra aside of keep everyone fed and alive! Just this can be a full time task. And there are times nothing extra is possible. You know, we need to count all this as important work. Keeping things running, food on the table, linen and clothes washed, children happy, pets fed, lunches packed... whatever it is in your house this is all important stuff. And there are times especially with small children or sickness in the house just managing the basics is a huge achievement. We need to count it all. It all matters and it is all worthwhile.

The stage of life you are in is something to accept. When there is a new born baby a feather your nest achievement might be managing to clean or cook a simple meal. One thing I have learned is accept the stage you are in. It is fleeting. Enjoy and relish it. There will be time later for other things when there is no time now...

When you do anything to strengthen, nurture, nourish or encourage your family you are building up your home. After all there is no point having a beautiful well kept home if the family living in it don't feel loved and secure.

Some extra things I achieved this week to feather the nest were:

From re arranging some potted plants I ended up with an empty wide and low bowl type planter. And a shady spot with a space. So I thought violets in this bowl would work well. I looked at violets in the nursery which were $14 per pot. mmm I decided to dig up some with roots from my existing violet patch and plant them around the bowl. In the first days they drooped but I kept watering and now they are looking perky... they will soon enough fill the bowl and look lovely.

I washed a very large floor rug for Lucy. I spread it over the outdoor setting, sprayed it with Miracle Cleaner and hosed it down. I rubbed a few spots that needed it. When it drip dried enough we turned it over (I needed help with that) and did the other side. On the second day it was dry and looked like new. I don't know what rug cleaning would cost but I imagine this saved quite a bit of money and it's like a brand new rug. The Miracle Cleaner recipe is here.... Miracle Cleaner.

I vaxed the carpets. We have three rooms of carpet. I used miracle cleaner in my vax (it is a vac that has a wet and dry function) and miracle cleaner on stains and spots. (please note my vax is old, it won't void a warrantee or anything like that due to using a cleaner of my own choice) It came up so well and smells so fresh. A flyer in the mail said carpet cleaning on special was $129 for three rooms so that is what I will say I saved.

At the supermarket they had a trolley full of bagged up fruit and vegies at $3 a bag. Each bag had I would say about 5 kilos of produce. It all needed to be sold asap. It was all very good. I chose two bags. I ended up with about a kilo of apples, six bananas, a large red, a yellow and two green capsicums, two bunches of asparagus and whole lot more. Lucy came over and saw my mountain as I was unpacking and washing it. I gave her some of everything. Then I picked her a bunch of oregano, a bunch of parsley and a little bag of coriander. She was very happy! I have so many things I can make with all of this. It might be funny but I count any money I saved their households as something too.

Another thing I did... I almost never wear earrings but I have some gorgeous ones. I got them out and gave them a clean and wore some. And to make them noticeable I wore my hair in a half up style. This had the effect of I got out my pretty hair clips and cleaned them. So for a week I feel like I had a new hairstyle and new jewellery and the change is lovely. And I got comments. All for free. Years ago a jewellery told me to mix half glass/window cleaner with half dishwashing detergent and use a soft toothbrush to gently clean my rings. This is good for most jewellery not for pearls though. It makes things look like they have been to the jeweller for a professional clean. Clean thoroughly with this and then rinse. Work away from the sink in a bowl of water and a jar of this... I have a major fear of jewellery going down the sink. But this works miracles and things look new!

Here is a picture of part of my lounge with freshly washed covers. Wrestling the covers back on was better than a gym session!

I got an idea. Googling will get you more pictures on this but I took one to demonstrate. My daughter took me out to lunch. We shared a "tasting plate" desert. I keep seeing and hearing this "tasting plate" concept. So out comes a little selection of things looking gorgeous. Each one is quite tiny. My brain went !!! this idea of a multitude of things on a lovely plate or platter could be used to present a whole variety of left overs, things we need to use up etc that on their own do not make a meal. But all together as a "tasting plate" they look fabulous. And everyone can choose the bits they like. Bliss. It works equally well with sweet or savoury meals. So tasting plates here I come!

Yesterday I used some left over roast lamb and my capsicums and tomatoes from my bargain vegies and made pizzas. I made them for dinner, my husbands work lunch today and one for the weekend. They were really good. I also used up some soft cheese I had frozen.

Last week I discovered a lovely blog with the best name! It's called "If you do stuff, stuff gets done" by a lovely lady called Rhonda. Here is a link.... If you do stuff, stuff gets done. In true form Rhonda works hard, saves money and builds her home!

What did you do this week to build up your home? I will leave you with Rhonda's words... "if you do stuff, stuff gets done" I am going to remember this forever!
Like Flylady says housework done imperfectly still blesses your family. A lot of things are the same. We may not attempt crafts, cooking, cleaning and all kinds of things feeling our efforts might not be perfect or good enough. But they are, that is how we learn! This opens the door to trying new things and you never know how this might help your family or yourself! Often a small change can produce big results! This has been a year of many changes for me. Actually in my diary I am listing all the changes I made this year, the new things I learned and did for the first time ever. It is a long list. It is probably why I saved a lot of money this year in different ways. Some things I had in my mind as "too hard" turned out to be easy!

What did you do to build up your home this week? I hope it was a wonderful week. It is the last day of October. I hope to finish some things today and I will feel October was a very productive month. I love that feeling! Thank you for joining me in Feather your Nest Fridays!

Have a lovely weekend. The roses are out in my garden now, I am loving them!

Easy. Cheap. Amazing wreaths.

I always look in home wares shops and florists for inspiration and see amazing things at not so amazing prices! At the end of last year I saw table centre arrangements for Christmas and wreaths that were almost $300 each. I even took photos to remind me as they were lovely but...

I also noted the wreath I loved most was the exact size of a hoola hoop. On study I think it was a hoola hoop as the base. Interesting! Anything to do with floristry is expensive. I have been to Adelaide's florist suppliers and even there it is still expensive so a hoola hoop from a cheap shop is much cheaper than a wreath base. The arrangements were made of what you would say were fake pine branches the same is on a Christmas tree. Another idea is a pool noodle as a base if it can be joined into a circle.

In January I saw in Woolworth's a Christmas tree marked down to $3.75 because the box was broken. I grabbed it. And it has been waiting until now to become something!

Usually I see hoola hoops in cheap stores and just when I want a couple I could not find one. However I know they were about $5 before. I saw Andy had garden irrigation plastic pipe which is about the same thickness and he made some into circles for me as a substitute. He said they would have worked out under one dollar each so even better.

He also helped me cut up the Christmas tree with snippers. So what I ended up with was a pile like this and two hoops...

Two large wreaths used up my whole Christmas tree so I am watching out... last year I saw several Christmas trees in boxes on the side of the road. I figured people had bought a flash new tree and were getting rid of the old one. If I find one of these I will do the table centre pieces I am talking about.

Using florists tape I simply strapped pine branches around my "hoola hoops" in an overlapping fashion. The florist tape is green so isn't noticeable. Then I fluffed up the branches to look good. Each one I bent a little so it sat around the circle nicely.

The first wreath is for Mum and Dad. They have deer on their property so I did a deer theme. They also have a huge handmade front door and this will look amazing on it. If Mum is reading my blog she will see it!

The deer was from the supermarket and the ribbon and the tinsel was from Spotlight. All up this wreath cost under $20 still. 

Now for mine which worked out much less as I already had the birds and the next.... 

I nested my nest in and settled my birdie in with her eggs...

She reminds me of myself as she looks very happy with her glittery nest :)

I loosely wound tinsel and ribbon around the wreaths and finished off with bows and long tails that will sway in the breeze as these will both be outside and the breeze will give some movement. The covering the hoops with the pine was the biggest job, that took a little while. The decoration took minutes.

My base was black. If I was going to sell these I think I would spray paint the base green or cover it first in florist tape so it is entirely green then add my pine. Also a purchased hoola hoop would likely be pink or bright and need painting green or covering or these colours would show through.

But I have ended up with two huge wreaths for under $40 when the one I am copying would be over $500 for two! Which seems ridiculous but thats true.

You could do any theme your heart desires if you collect or find something you like. A little group of glittery pinecones would work too from our free things from nature ideas. 

I really enjoyed making these.

This afternoon I have to go into the city. I will be keeping my eyes out for more ideas I might be able to copy. It is amazing how cheaply things can be made. 

Have a wonderful day and enjoy this last week of October. Here it has rained and is really cool which is nice for the garden.

Now to watch out for a discarded Christmas tree for table decorations OR swags for the mantle piece! 

xxx

                                                                    

Feather your Nest Friday No. 2.

Thank you to everyone who shared their savings and ways they built up their homes last week. Kaye used Rain Checks to save at her supermarket. This made me think of the fact that until a couple of years ago I had heard of rain checks and yet didn't know exactly what they were or how they worked. But since learning they have been a great saver for us! How many times has there been a great special that is sold out or you get the last one or two when you could really do with more? This is where rain checks help us out.
Just incase anyone is in the same position (and this is in Australia as I am not sure about overseas) my simple understanding is that if there is a great price on something and you would like more than is on the shelf or they have sold out mostly you can go to the service counter and ask for a rain check. Now and then a product will have a note on it saying "no rain checks" but I don't find this very often. The person at the service counter will give you a ticket and record what it is you are wanting. Then when your item appears back in stock on the shelves you simply take it as usual to the check out and produce your rain check ticket and you will get it at that special price still. (even though the special has passed).

This stops you missing out on amazing prices! I love this. What a help. It can help you stock up on something you would really like a few of or something your family use heaps of! 

So that is how rain checks work as far as I have experienced. Thanks Kaye!

Some of the ways I feathered the nest this week include...

We had a meal from left overs from the freezer (mostly) last night. I had two cheeses, tomato paste, salami, sun dried tomatoes, pineapple and left over turkish bread... so it became pizzas (sort of!) and enough for lunches the next day also. Very yummy and a heap of containers with a little bit in them are now used up. I pack my husbands work lunch in the evening and I love having something different to send him.

Earlier in the week it was hot. Apparently no one buys flowers on hot days so roses were reduced by half TWICE and I got two bunches of roses for $3. I don't usually buy flowers but this was too good to be true. I enjoyed them so much! 

And today I have hung them to dry. By drying them now before they start to fall apart they will dry beautifully. I can keep enjoying them or use them on parcels. Dried pink roses on top of a pink parcel with soft ribbon.. imagine! And this is how they look in my kitchen for weeks now.

I washed my couch and cushion covers. My couch is about 40 years old! My parents bought it then it became mine. When Andy and I first went out we sat on this couch!  I had covers made for it years ago that I love. It is a big job. But I wonder what it would cost to get them dry cleaned? I wouldn't consider it. I soak and wash and it took 4 loads today and two tomorrow I think. I haven't used a dry cleaner in about 6 years. Then I took in a dress. It cost me more to get it dry cleaned than it cost me to buy the dress. I haven't ever gone back! There is a way to clean most things. I added eucalyptus oil to the wash to make the lounge covers smell fresh. The sun will do the rest. 

I had a geranium out the front break apart. Wind I think. So I divided it and replanted and now have three. I did the same with a huge indoor plant now it is four plants.

Also I had a couple of days of no spend and just catch up on jobs that need doing at home. Cleaned, tidied, organised and at the end of those days I just loved how the house was looking and how I was feeling. Things smelling fresh, folding linen that smells of sunshine... lovely.

Some of our lovely things that we have have enjoyed but have cost nothing are:

In the evenings we have a sit outside. Every night this little bird comes and hangs around with us. He knows I will feed him and if I don't he just stands there staring at me. He is not frightened. Twice when we have been inside watching tv he has walked inside! We have french doors open when the weather is nice and have had to tell him to go back outside. And he does he just turns around and hops back down the step. 

The birds in our garden are so lovely. They have such personalities! Any crumbs on the cutting board go outside. It is all a free form of kindness and delight.

Our neighbours fence is covered in climbing roses, a whole wall of hundreds of them...

This just shows a section... the whole street just now is glorious, almost everyone has roses. 

They are maybe the best part of this time of year!


I have some things to do today and I will feel very happy with my week! I managed another major Christmas present this week. Very happy with that.

How did you get ahead this week and what did you do to feather your nest? I always say it is amazing how things add up. A bit each week towards Christmas or something added to your pantry for emergencies... whatever it is sooner or later you will be amazed how it all added up to an achievement.

Have a lovely weekend as we head into the last week of October! xxx

Exquisite sugared flowers.

My last post was about the decorations I made from pinecones and gum nuts which were all things I found and collected for free. They turned into really pretty decorations. And a huge saving, I don't need to buy decorations for my parcels or my home.

Today I am following on with another collect for free craft. At the moment I have pansies, violas and roses in my garden. It is a beautiful time of year.
About two years ago I found two large urns on the side of the road! I couldn't even lift them but someone helped me... and now they are filled with pansies and violas...

To me they look so cheerful.

In March for Chloe's Birthday I covered a cake with sugared pink roses. It was so pretty and so easy. She loved it. I posted about it in March but here is a quick reminder...

Sugared flowers are so easy and quick yet look spectacular. And they last. They look lovely over a cake, cup cakes, nestled amongst a desert platter or even as a table centre piece. 

All you need (if you are going to use them on food) are non poisonous flowers, like roses, pansies, violas or flowers from herbs. You can easily check if a certain flower is safe or not online. If in doubt don't place it on food and maybe use as decoration somehow instead. 

Pick your flowers when they are in good condition and gently wash them. In a deep dish mix up a couple of egg whites until the mix is well mixed. Gently immerse your flower into the egg white mix and rotate to get a coverage of egg white. You want it to go into every nook and cranny. A cotton bud or small paint brush will help. Then lift up your flower and let it drip a bit so it is coated evenly and thinly with egg white.

Next lay your still wet flower on a bed of caster sugar. A large dish covered in a layer of sugar is great. Then sprinkle more sugar over your flower and rotate so that all sides are covered and even inside the flower is covered as well as possible. Shake gently if it seems too clumpy. 

This is very forgiving. It all looks wonderful when it dries, you don't need to be too fussy.
When you are happy you simply let them dry.

Gently rotate thicker flowers so they dry on all sides and if they loose shape you can carefully "arrange" them as they are pliable when still moist. When they are dry they are hard and more brittle.
They keep for days! So you can do this the day before you want them and they will look lovely on what you are decorating and hold up well.

For the price of two egg whites and about a cup of castor sugar I ended up with a tray of sugared flowers. Here they are still damp and drying and still look lovely.

As they dry they get sparklier and sparklier! 

In the end they look as if you bought them from a cake decorating shop and so pretty.

As I did this I kept thinking of uses for them. Over a cake for a gift, on coconut ice to give away, topping for cup cakes for a birthday or baby shower... ooh just so nice! Imagine red rose on a chocolate cake... Yellow roses on an orange cake...

And so exquisite, so easy and practically free if you have flowers in your garden or access to flowers.

Beautiful, beautiful things to not have to be expensive! These look heavenly.

You could cheat too. Chloe's cake, I confess, was a purchased sponge. It was so inexpensive and I whipped cream to fill it and used jam I had made in summer. The entire thing cost about $5. 

When you have fresh flowers they look beautiful on a cake just as they are but sugaring buys you some time and additional sparkle.

I hope making or decorating your own cake is a major saving sometime soon. And when needing a gift what is better than making someone a cake? Really it is a gorgeous and thoughtful gift and can be made for a few dollars. For added effect pop it on a pretty plate or cake stand and it will be spectacular!

We are having a very warm week. I am watering and gardening in the evenings which is very nice.

I have managed to finish another Christmas present and get quite a lot done. I will keep my savings and  things I've done to make things nicer for "Feather your Nest Friday". Thank you to everyone who joined in with that.

And thank you everyone who added ideas of small gifts to post that standard postage will cover. Between us all I now have a fantastic list of things that can be posted with only the cost of the card. This is a big help to many as postage is a big expense. I am amazed at the ideas we can come up with when we put our heads together! xxx

Christmas decorations you can gather (for free)

Last time I went to the farm I mentioned I gathered pinecones and gum nuts with the plan of using them in Christmas decorations. (I also gathered some deer antlers but I will do something with them later.)

There are all kinds of things that are just beautiful that we can collect to use instead of buying bows and trims, baubles and sprays. Many of these are really expensive.

Actually, if you go to a newsagents and buy wrapping paper, gift bags, decorative elements, gift boxes, you could spend a fortune and still have no gifts to give! I'm going to cover most of these in coming posts as they can all be made really beautifully and really inexpensively.

Many natural elements look lovely in their natural state. ie gum nuts on brown paper with string looks really earthy and good.

But I am a glitter kind of girl there's no denying...

I used spray paint which was $3 a can in my local cheap shop. I bought one silver and one gold. This will do some baskets that need a spray for my gift baskets and a few other things. I always have glitter so I didn't need to buy that.

The colour schemes are endless. I can imagine doing pink and pink glitter! You could do silver and blue or red and gold, deep green, white on white...

I simply gave my collection a light spray and sprinkled glitter onto the still wet paint. You could dip them into glue then glitter, or use spray glue and then glitter. There are no rules. I just played and had fun. By working over a tray you can save glitter and re use it as lots escapes...

I used these gum nuts and pinecones as this is what I had. See what you have in your area that you might be able to collect and all year round keep your eyes out for things that you could use. Dried leaves, shells, antlers, feathers, interesting seed pods...

I have a giant basket of these now. My plan is to use them as decor at Christmas piled on cake stands, in the fireplace and on parcels. Also I think I will make a wreath and a hanging garland. Doing this I have lots of possibilities. But just piled into a sparkly container that would make a table centre piece. Or one each on a side plate around the table to hold the serviette in place... or along a mantlepiece. So many pretty possibilities!

I have gone ahead and wrapped a couple of presents I had ready to demonstrate how they look on parcels. I bought some beautiful wrapping paper for 50c a big roll in the January sales. Now adding these...

They sparkle so much! 

I can't wait to keep wrapping! Glittering parcels under the tree!

Apart from saving so much money getting things started now helps get you in the frame of mind for Christmas. After all this glittering and parcel wrapping I was feeling pretty enthusiastic!

Thank you for the lovely letters about my e book. If it saves one person a lot of money this Christmas then I am happy!

Have a wonderful week.xxx

Feather your Nest Friday!

I am so excited for our first Feather your Nest Friday after our "practice run" last week!

All week as I have gone along I have thought of things to write down that have made a difference in my home and saved us money. I have to say it served as an extra motivation too. I spent a lot of time in the garden this week and the flowers are beautiful! This is a lovely time of year. (Spring here) ANy time spent in the garden is good for me. Out in the sunshine amongst flowers is very uplifting and gardening is great exercise! Then I sleep well. Seeing things grow and flower is almost the same effect as the happiness of pets, both of these seem to make us happy.

These are my "Feather my Nest" tasks this week that saved us money and built up our home...

I removed a dying tree from a half wine barrel and turned this into another of my stacked pot planters. It is huge! It has 5 tiers and I planted them all. Some of the herbs I bought were out for $1 a pot. Between the wine barrel and the stack on top it makes a huge area for plants. If it is as successful as my herb stack (see last weeks post) then it will produce so much. Also it is near the back door so I will water it with left over household water. Tonight I watered it with water I drained from the pasta and run off from the hot tap in the kitchen.

I made Christmas decorations from free materials I collected. I will post pictures of them over the weekend. Here is a glimpse...

I also made heat packs. I used a dressing gown that doesn't fit as the material was so gorgeous and so soft. I cut it up to make quite a few. In stores these are between $20 and $30 and so far I've seen them in AWFUL material, not nice. To make they are costing about $3 each. These I filled with pearl barley. Wheat or rice work too. Warmed up they are so nice. Online you can find printable safety instructions to go with them for people who are unfamiliar. I couldn't live without mine they are so soothing to a headache. I guess I made half a dozen a year saving $100 or so. Lucy was wanting a new one and I took it to her, it felt so soft and nice and she was very happy!

I have been collecting jars as our apricot tree is covered in apricots... just little now but they grow quickly. When they are ready I made jam, stewed fruit, pies and we eat them fresh too of course. It is a busy week or two. This is how they are now, just babies but there are hundreds!

I rang our power company and asked for a discount and they gave me a further 5% off for the next two years. While I was at it I increased our gas discount.

Also made two meals that went into the freezer for emergencies.

I have a ring needing repairs. I asked in the city at a jeweller how much it would be and they quoted me  $325. I said I would think about it. This week I rang the original jeweller who is interstate. They will do it for $45! Of course I have had to post it by registered post and pay for the return but still it is a huge saving! I was thrilled with this one as I haven't been able to wear this ring that Andy gave me.

Things I do all the time like... trim my hair, have a conditioning pack and re do my colour (I never go to a hair dresser saving over $1000 a year given I have colour etc) and paint my nails, toe nails etc.

Use water from the bath on the front garden and water from the laundry on the back garden. in the kitchen I keep a jug on the counter. When I am waiting for hot water to run I fill that jug instead of water going down the drain. This waters my pot plants and something in the garden everyday.

Make my own presents. Anyone can do this even if you are not crafty! You just need a plan. See my ebook, it has an extensive plan to identify what you could be making and what your family and friends will LOVE.

Always cook a little extra and pack my husbands work lunch and drinks the night before. He never needs to buy food or drinks in a work day. Plus this is healthier and he loves it.

Always travel with food and a thermo of coffee!

Shop at the times my supermarket marks down meat and bakery items. To find this out I just asked the staff. They were so helpful. In my case 2 pm was one of the good times so that is when I shop. I never pay full price, meat is about half price and bakery is way less... ie turkish bread was 50c for four instead of over $4.

Combine my errands to save petrol. If you plan you can save a lot of petrol and also stop running around like a headless chicken. Planning makes you see "ohh I will be going there... on the way I could do this and this" and cleverly combine things. Big time saver!

Make my cards and gift tags.

For all of us there are probably a list of things we always do and have been doing a long time that we don't even think about or consider great savings but they are! They still may be ideas others don't know about. And some things, like me doing my own hair, I probably underestimate how much it saves me as I get a shock when I here what others have been charged for a cut or colour and blow dry. Sometimes we are talking about almost $200 for an appointment!

But it all adds up, none the less, to help our households, reduce pressure and increase security. There are so many things we can do ourselves. When stuck I go to You Tube to see if there is a "How to" on anything I am needing help with. It is amazing!

How did you go this week? Please know your work counts. It adds up to create a safe, happy, loving home for your family. This all does not happen by accident! It is your hard work. Don't let anyone tell you that you are not contributing financially if you are working at home! It is invaluable and will affect future generations as well as the health and happiness of your family now. What could be bigger than that?

Have a lovely weekend.xxx