our year of less progress

Our year of less challenge has forced us to carefully consider purchases as we enter the new school year.  Will starts high school this year, meaning he needed a set of totally new school uniforms.  I have been carefully sourcing these second hand, though there are a couple of things to date I have been unable to find in his size.  The school belt ($20) and dress grey shorts ($40) are items I'm still looking for second hand.  Specific emblemed socks I will buy new.  At $8.50 a pair, they had better be good quality.    

 We are lucky to have nature literally at our back door.  

A new year of less

Last year we undertook a year of less project as a family.  Whilst we were quietly working things out and learning heaps along the way, I didn't share it as much as I intended here as it all felt kinda messy.  Finances were so tight at times which was incredibly stressful.  But throughout the year we adapted to a totally new-to-us way of living.  It requires more patience, it's messier and certainly slower.  The flip side is that we have grown in creativity and resilience tenfold.  The deep appreciation we now experience for small progress has added a greater sense of value to our lives.

I really wanted to buy baby a lovely vintage-looking teddy, then Will and I remembered he had this teddy in perfect condition which he never built an attachment too.  Will decided he was happy to pass it on so we washed her up, I pulled out a 50c op-shopped cardigan I had tucked away and sewed a little bow for her head out of scrap fabric.  Now she is all ready to be loved!  

Small, green habits that add up

I have been reading a bit about climate change anxiety recently and with it's with good reason people feel anxious about our environment.  When we look at the state of our world and the rate of which we are trashing it, it can feel like we are watching a train wreck in motion, powerless to do anything about it.

Our new compost heap!  

Is it valuable?

I have been reading a bit lately about the push to be successful and about the art of the hustle.   It seems there so many people feeling the pressure to capitalize on every element of their lives, even their hobbies.  That if we are good at something we should promote it and work out a way to value add to it and build it up.

Grant is the king of the pancake making here.  A title I'm happy for him to have if it means brekky in bed.  Ha! (photo credit to Will.)

I'd be lying if said I didn't at times feel the pressure too.  I think many of us do. 

weekend reads

I thought this year I would use Friday to both highlight blogs, books, articles or links I have enjoyed this week which I have been doing, but also as a time to reflect and share some of our challenge year of  'Our Families Year of Less So We Can Experience More' on a week to week basis.  As a kind of accountability/reflective post.

Bedtime rituals.  A snuggly blanket, a good book, favorite 'Bunn-Rabbit' and a cup of milk.  

camping

It appears Grant is taking our frugal year challenge very seriously.  He found an old cattle trough on the farm he has dragged to the back of the caravan and is converting it to a bath/shower trough.  I'm yet to be convinced it is a particularly good idea but perhaps after it has had a good long scrub I will see his plan a little clearer....

Going for an early morning walk with Aggie and Ronnie.

School, childrens anxiety and ideas to ponder

Hello there, shall we sit and have a cuppa?

Arrived

*Thanks for following along as I share our families journey to off grid living and farm life here.  We are waiting satellite internet to be connected to the farm next week, so I may be slow in replying to comments and emails until then as it relies on my getting to town.  But I will endeavour to reply the best I can when I do get internet service.  I appreciate and read everything that is written in this little corner of mine and I thank you for taking the time to visit and reach out.  xx

The river we have legal access too.  Its shallow at the moment as its been dry, but apparently it makes a great swimming hole.

Well we are here, though perhaps a little worse for wear!

What an epic trip.

Weekend Reads

Well, things are beginning to come together ready for our move to NSW.  Grant has had two interviews this week and has been offered a full-time trucking job, he will find out about the other on Monday.  At the very least he has a good job ready to go as soon as we do our final move next week, for which we are very grateful.

 I can't quite believe that in less then a week we will be loading up the essentials, our three kids, three dogs, two cats and Squirtle the turtle into the old land cruiser with a cattle trailer hitched to the back and moving 1700km's away.

It's going to be utter madness, I'm quite sure.  But then again what isn't a little odd, left of centre and crazy when it comes to this motley crew of mine?  But I do love them so.  Adventures eh? 

There were three in the bed and the little one said.....I'm not sure where Grant is intending on sleeping when he gets home from NSW.  Bahahaha!

Forest Man (YouTube)
The power of one person to make an impact.  Small tasks carried out over a period of a lifetime can add up to phenomenal changes.  This is an inspiring story, which really needs a Go Fund Me page as I'm sure people all around the world would love to contribute to such a wonderful cause.

Meet the Frugalwoods
I borrowed this book a while ago on Libby, and it finally came in this week.  It was a really interesting read about how a young couple have managed to essentially retire in their early 30's, move to the woods and raise their young family.  It's a book which combines humour, great storytelling and practical, motivating information.

Craft Is Not Trivial
I loved this article on the importance of craft and what it brings us.

Words By Ange
A new friend of mine is a writer who is in the process of working on her first books.  She has been blogging for a little while but after a great convo one arvo she is re-jigging her blog this year.  I look forward to following along!

The dirt on composting toilets
Oh yeah, because my life is that glamorous! (YouTube)

May you have a wonderful weekend!
Much love,
Emma
xx

Being a homemaker in the modern world

Recently I have had a lot of people ask me if I am going back to work now that Henry is about to enter full-time school.  It has been suggested to me by numerous people that "you will probably really enjoy going back to work".  I began to think it was something that I *should* be doing.

And Grant and I discussed it.  At length.  Very seriously.  

I even printed off the forms to renew my nurses' registration and filled them out.  I chased up certificates I lost in the flood that displaced us 8 years ago to put in my resume. 

But for whatever reason, I couldn't quite bring myself to send them in.  Even though I told people I would be returning to nursing, I procrastinated endlessly.

It turns out my heart just wasn't in it.

A bowl of local, freshly picked veggies.  Look at that colour!

Budget challanges.

According to the recent news, South Australia has a new claim to fame…..We have just received a 20% rise in our electricity prices, which has given us the title of having the most expensive electricity prices IN THE WORLD.  On top of that we can also claim the prize of the lowest wages in Australia AND the highest levels of unemployment in Australia at 6.9%......Let the reality of that sink in for a minute……

OUCH….

Our government has worked hard to push green energy, which in it’s self is certainly a wonderful thing to aim for, if done well.  But the reality is they have done it badly which has left the poor, the elderly and the vulnerable high and dry.  We live in an area where is a large proportion of people on modest incomes.  As a result we see many people being forced to do without heating and cooling, often putting their health at risk as they simply cannot afford the exorbitant power prices.  Solar power is wonderful, but it is often out of the price range for the people who need it most.  Not to mention ,completly unattainable for those who are renting and relying on their landlords to maintain the property. 

We cannot justify the cost of solar on our little old cottage, as we do not plan on being here in 5 or so years’ time.  Which is roughly the time it would take for the solar to pay for itself.  So, what does that mean when the home budget is about to cop a big hit?

It means sitting down, and crunching the numbers to work out where we can save to prepare for the price rise. 

Gym membership? Gone. (hmmphhh, I may have made golden syrup dumplings to comfort myself….Ha!)

Mobile phones? We have gone into Telstra and re-jigged out plans.  We ended up getting more credit and more data for $30 less/month.  I also got a free 6-month trial of apple music, which took the sting out of losing the gym membership.  Win, win!  It pays to keep an eye on phone plans.  (We need Telstra for the rural coverage, and we have always found them very good.)

Other Bills? Check with your provider, we usually keep pretty on top of these as a part of running our business, but it’s worth keeping an eye out on who is offering the best value for money. 

Entertainment?  Well, we have been pretty good at frugal entertainment.  Our monthly camping trips help create a regular special time as a family, bushwalks, the beach, gardening, board games, play dates with friends, maximising the use of our zoo passes which were gifted to us at Christmas.  We do not need to GO somewhere to have a great time as a family, as much as we are told otherwise by commercial media.   

A local hidden gem..."The Rocks". 

Aggie is built for this kind of exploring, she is such a strong, energetic, sturdy little dog!

Food?  As a family of 5, it is not hard to drop $60+ on a meal out.  So, bringing drink bottles, and simple snacks helps immensely.  Even bringing a pack of rice biscuits can hold off the “I’m starving’s” until we get home.  We have embraced hot chips as an occasional treat for a lunch out as $10 can feed us all, and it means we support a small, local family business – Bonus!  Looking for specials on meat is a great saver, chicken marylands all the way!  They are so cheap, and have heaps of meat on them.  They must be an unfashionable cut at the moment or something, which is fine by me.  Making broth from bones, as a base for soups.  Embracing more simple “rustic” meals helps too.  (goodbye fancy cheese, I’ll miss you!) Certain roasts are cheap to buy/kg, and are my kind of cooking.  Whack everything in a couple of big pans and forget about for a couple of hours.  Make a gravy from the juices and serve. Good, easy and cheap!  Being aware of seasonal veggies and growing our own herbs to flavour meals helps bring flavour to meals and save money.  A lot of these things we do anyway, but usually there is always room for improvement.  Baking snacks, rather then buying pre-prepared goods is another.  There are lots of blogs that share great frugal recipes so I won’t go into it, but you get my drift.

Home made chicken soup, made with bone broth and simple veggies.  Costs next to nothing for dinner for 5, and enough left for the boys and I for lunch the next day. 

Cleaning?  Commercial cleaning products are expensive.  Bi-carb, vinegar, and eucalyptus oil do a lot of the work around here, and the bonus us they are both cheap and natural.  I keep a couple of commercial products on hand for the particularly tough times like a bought of gastro.         

Anyway, here are a few of the things that have been in our radar over the last couple of weeks as we juggle our budget.  There are always more, and I’m happy to write about something more specifically if there is interest.

Much love,
Emma
xx