A Homemade Gift

We have had one of the first little girl parties of the year yesterday. And a perfect opportunity to get started on my homemade gifts.

I've been dying to make this brownie jar. It contains all the dry ingredients needed to make a quick mix brownie. The dry ingredients are layered up the jar to create a sand jar effect.

All that needs to be added are eggs and butter. In order from the bottom are flour and baking powder, cocoa, sugar, choc bits and coloured mini marshmallows. So easy and (I think) so cute.

I've added the recipe to the front of the jar and prettied up the top a little with some scrappy bits and pieces.

Yesterday was a bit of a day out for me. I had both my hubby and son home sick so I wasn't about to hang around all day playing nurse maid. I did that on Sunday when it should have been Mother's Day.

I'm loving my stationery at the moment and picked up these bits and pieces. What I'm going to use them for, I have no idea but that's not really the point with pretty stationery is it? For me just looking at them and ohhing and ahhing over them is almost enough.

Hope you are enjoying your week.

10 Uses for White Vinegar

1. Add 275mls to your rinse cycle and it will drastically reduce the lint in your washing.

2. It's great for preserving the colour of swimmers - soak swimmers in a combination of water and a teaspoon of vinegar after swimming in a chlorine pool.

3. Blankets and woollens come out a lot fluffier from the wash if you add 250mls of vinegar to your rinse cycle.

4. It will act as an insect repellant if you add equal parts water and vinegar and wipe over the surface you want to remain insect free.

5. Clean your windows with a solution of white vinegar and warm water in equal parts. Spray on the window and buff with a soft cloth. Will not leave streaks or marks on the glass.

6. Put neat vinegar on a rust stain until it disappears and then rinse the marked item.

7. Keep fresh cut flowers longer by adding 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sugar to the vase.

8. Rinsing your hair in vinegar every so often neutralises the alkali left by shampoos and gives your hair extra shine.

9. Douse the outside perimeter of the sandpit in the backyard to keep cats away.

10. If you have an unpleasant odour in the car such as vomit (hello Rhianna!) then place a bowl of white distilled vinegar of the floor of the car and close it up for the night.

Electricity is Scaring Me.

Bill and I have been really concerned about recent electricity price hikes. One of our last bills was $660 (that's a quarter) an increase of 21% on the same bill last year.

News reports are estimating that we can expect an increase of another 17.2% by July this year and a further 62% by 2013.

Now, if this doesn't scare you, well .....you're either living off the grid or you have more money than sense.

We have tried really hard to rein in our electricity consumption. I run around like a crazy woman turing off lights, appliances and computers, when not in use. We limit our pool pump time and use our gas where we can. And still we end up with a $660 bill!

So with the money from the sale of the camper we intend to install some solar panels on our roof. For around $2000 we can install a panel system that will cut our electricity bill by one third. As we add more panels, of course the electricity bill goes down further. Until we are generating so much energy we can run our home and put electricity back into the grid for credit.

What do you guys think? Are you worried about electricity prices? Are your bills as crazy as mine or do you have ways I don't know about to keep your electricity bill down? I'd love to hear your comments.

Weekend Simple Saver Tips

One of the tips I have found on the site that was easy to do and made good sense was to store my soap differently. By unwrapping the soap and storing it in an open container, the soap hardens and therefore lasts longer in the shower or bath.


We have quite a small house with not much storage space. The space under Rhianna's trundle bed was largely unused unless she had a little friend over. So I bought some storage containers that fitted nicely and now we store her shoes in these under the bed which frees up room in the cupboard for other things. ("Like toys Mum", I hear a little voice say)

Money Lessons 2009 - The Bad

I'd like to talk about 10 of the things I wasted good money on in 2009. There are far more than 10 but these were the first ones that popped into my mind .

Gym Membership

I hate gyms and I always have. They combine three things I hate the most in this life: exercising, air conditioning and large rooms full of women. But in a weak moment I found myself signing up for 12 months. I went for about 4! I'm still paying but I don't go. My membership finishes in March.

Buying Cheap Shoes.

In a store, there does not look to be too much difference between a $36 pair of shoes and a $150 pair of shoes.

But you soon realise the difference when you have to wear them for a couple of hours.

I bought Rhianna's school shoes last year from Payless shoes. They lasted 6 weeks before they fell apart. Bill went and bought her the $110 from Shoes and Sox and they lasted the rest of the year. Lesson learnt.

Breadmaker

I ummed and ahhed all year about purchasing a breadmaker and didn't. My darling husband bought me one in the January sales and it's been going full steam ahead every day since.

The bread is fabulous and fresh, tastes great and has no preseratives. I should have bought this sooner. Oh, and it costs less than a $ a loaf.


Buying clothes from Op Shops

Now, don't get me wrong I love my op shops but I will never again buy clothes from there.

First of all, I never try them on in the shop as I will not try on old clothes until I have washed them (scabies anyone?). So I take them home, wash them, try them on, find they don't fit, are uncomfortable or unflattering and I put them back into my charity bag.

Birthday Presents for kids parties.

I estimate I spent about $500 on buying presents for other people's children last year. Most of it was cheap crap.

I feel bad that because of the number of parties we go to I have to limit how much I spend. Thus the quality suffers. Also I feel bad that I am giving another home on the planet more non-disposable junk to get rid of. Not this year.

Trashy magazines

There was a time whem I cared what the people in these magazines wore, said and did. It was around 1987 and I just got into a habit of buying them each week. Have gone cold turkey since the 1st of January.

Buying new books and DVD's.

If I saw a great book reviewed I had to buy it immediately and read it. This year I intend to order it through the library. And if I saw a movie that touched me I would buy it when it came out on DVD. And on the bookcase it would sit - never to be watched again.



Going blonde.

I used to be the Director of a Pre-school and one of the kids at the Preschool had 2 parents who were hairdressers. They talked me into going blonde. It looked O.K (I never loved it) but the cost to upkeep it was insane. About $150 every 6-8 weeks. Now, I'm back to brunette.

False nails

Coming into Summer last year I decided to treat myself with some new nails. I've had them before and hated them, but I told myself this time I would love them. WRONG!!

They get in the way, get dirty underneath and it costs $35 every 3 weeks to get them "filled". I ripped them off myself in December when I couldn't stand another second of them.

Growing stuff

I want so much to be "green" and a big part of this is growing your own produce. Well I have not had a lot of success so far.

I've tried to grow strawberries, onions, shallots and lettuces. The only thing that did any good were the lettuces.

And the money involved in setting up these projects is not cheap: planters, soil, seeds and fertiliser. Then there is the time and water you need to invest in the nurturing of said plants. I'm over it. I'm just going to buy local as much as I can.

Old Books for New Books

After the declutter, I have many books to get rid of. Some go to the op shop and some that are fairly new or in good conditon I take to my second hand book store for credit.


My favourite store is Jimmy D's book store in Springwood. The lady who owns the shop is Magda and I am never out of there in under an hour as Magda and I love to talk books and of course everything else (like how a roast chicken used to be able to feed a family of 5 with leftovers for sandwiches the next day).

Anyway....... Magda takes my used books and gives me credit to use within the store on other used books. What a fantastic deal for a bookworm like me.





This time I had Rhianna with me so my book selection time was short. I got one book to take away on holidays with me. "Things I would like my Daughter to Know."



No trip to Springwood is complete without a stop at our favourite coffee shop for morning tea.


So all up a very pleasant morning with my girl and only spent $10 on milkshakes and melting moments.

Recycled Crafting

One thing I love to find at Thrift stores (op shops) are old craft books, especially those printed around the 1970's. They are full of easy craft ideas using easily accessed household items.

I love to spend time with Rhianna crafting especially when I know we are helping to reduce our carbon footprint and better still, we have a whole morning of fun without spending a cent.

These are 2 of my recent craft book finds at the local op shop at East Blaxland.

This is one of the first projects we made from the book on the left. Obviously it is an owl but it was made from an old Milo tin from the recycling bin. We already had some felt scraps so we were good to go. We use it as a money tin. Every time we have some spare change we throw it in the owl and then when we have a reasonable amount we might enjoy a treat such as take away Thai which we all LOVE.

Pictured below are 2 little magnetic pockets we made from old jeans. We cut off the pockets and attach magnetic strip to the back of them using fabric glue. We then decorated them using a bit of ribbon and some fabric paint to decorate. Rhianna puts her lunch order money in her name one and her pocket money (obviously) in the other to use when we go to the shops.


A morning's worth of entertainment for nothing and we managed to use up some resources that would have otherwise gone to landfill. So proud!!!!!!!

Saving Money during the School Holidays

The school holidays are always a challenge to keep the children entertained without taking out a second mortgage. Having friends over is great especially when there is craft to be done.

Today Rhianna had Molly (her BFF) over and we did some butterfly craft and all using existing supplies.