The Fourth R - ReWear

We recycle, we renew, we re-use, it's now time to re-wear ( outer clothes, I mean!!!)

Re-wearing cuts down on washing and helps make your clothes last longer.

Strategies for introducing re-wearing into your household.

1. Have 'town clothes' and 'house clothes'. You get dressed in your house clothes, do your jobs and then put your tidy clothes on to go to town, meet friends for coffee, have an appointment etc. When you return home, hang your 'town clothes' up, after all you have only worn them for an hour or so and continue working in your 'house clothes'. This will help your 'good clothes' last longer as they are no being worn as much.

2. Wear an apron when you are cooking and cleaning to protect your clothes.

3. Your children can have a set of 'after school clothes' that could last quite a few days. They can change out of their uniforms and be in their play clothes for those few hours between school and bath time. They can then fold those clothes up before bedtime and get another afternoon out of them.

Some days these strategies are completely impractical! Especially when after school activities include digging in the garden and playing in the mud.

I am certainly not advocating that we get around the place looking and smelling like an old tramp, but in a world where we wear things for one hour and then advertisers tell us that they must be washed with expensive brand named powder, with an added 'brightener' to the wash, followed by a fabric softener and ironed whilst being sprayed with a fresh smelling ironing aide, there are lots of opportunities to re-wear some outer clothing. It's great for the environment, it saved us money and most of all cuts down the amount of washing.

It's worth thinking about.

Practice Gratitude.....

Gratitude: A sense or feeling of thankfulness.

I have been thinking of things to put on my gratitude list so I can remind myself every day how truly wonderful my life is. (especially when I think it is not!)

What are you thankful for ?

 I love this photo I took. Isn't nature just a miracle in itself ?

7 Deadly Sins That Kill A Simple Life

1. Failing to Plan Ahead. - always running around doing things at the last minute, creating stress that could have been avoided.


2. Overscheduling. too many commitments, too many appointments and engagements. Not enough time to relax and enjoy yourself and spend some quality time with your family.


3. Impulse Buying With A credit Card The 'buzz' of something new soon wears off. By the time the credit card bill comes in you may regret the purchase but have to pay for it with interest!

4. Staying on the Debt Treadmill The longer you stay in debt, the more time you have to work to pay back the debt plus the interest. If you didn't have any debt, would you have a different job, work less, pursue your dreams? How would you live differently if you could step off the treadmill ?


5. Putting Wants ahead of Needs Look in your cupboards/garage/storage shed. There lies all the 'stuff' you have spent your hard earned money on. If you could add it all up what would the total be ? What about all the 'stuff' you have already thrown out, donated, or given away ? What are your true needs versus your wants ?


6. Exposing Yourself to too much advertising Would you read a book called " 101 ways to make yourself feel totally inadequate" ? Advertising is designed to firstly to point out how poor/ugly/fat/undesirable/unintelligent you are and then show you how you can fix it by buying a product. If you don't want to be convinced how inadequate you are, limit your diet and advertising, get in touch with your 'joy factor' and live a fabulous life!


7. Competing with the Jones'. Continually comparing yourself to others is a downwards spiral! The Jones' may have a fabulous house but I am guessing there is also a fabulous mortgage. What you see on the outside is very rarely the real deal. Make a commitment to yourself and your family to build a life of integrity from the inside, as opposed to a life showing things off externally. Build strong marriages, strong family bonds and genuine happiness.

Chicken Whatever.... a simple recipe

'Chicken Whatever' is a family favourite. Simply slice up some chicken breast and marinate it in 'whatever'. My 'whatever' usually consists of a combination of things off this list:

Hoisin sauce

soy sauce

Worcestershire sauce

garlic cloves

honey

sesame seeds

I throw the 'sauce' into a container and cut up the chicken and plonk it in and give it a shake. I say 'marinate' because I usually leave it while I go and do some other jobs. If I am really organised I do it earlier in the day and pop it into the fridge. It is so lovely to know at 11am what you are having for dinner that night, it brings PEACE.

If I want a little extra sauce I add a chicken stock cube mixed in a cup of water. I then add in anything I have on hand -might be carrots, celery, peas, shallots, onion, capsicum.

Serve on a bed of rice and ...... da...da...... A VERY simple, satisfying meal. I just have to come up with a more exciting name for the dish.

Birthday Presents

This is a photo of the birthday presents I received this year.

My birthday was quite a few weeks ago now, but I have been recently looking at the photos.

I bought the shoes with some money that my in-laws gave me.

I love these shoes because they are Tsonga brand.

They are hand made in South Africa by zulu women who have an organisation called Thread of Hope.

There are 160 women employed by the company and they pay above minimum wages.

They have started a creche and they also grow fruit and vegetables to contribute significantly to their area.
It makes a nice change from the label that I usually see on everything I pick up.

I'm Taking My Sanity Out To A Movie

After reading one of Anita Bell’s personal finance book I introduced the idea of sanity money to the household. This is an amount of money that is allocated to you personally that you are allowed to do anything you like with. When you first start budgeting and you find it quite restrictive, you may allocate yourself an amount of sanity money that, whilst being restrictive, you can actually live with.

Over the years, my sanity money has dropped down to $10 per week. It seems I have weaned myself off buying things to make myself feel better or feel less deprived. I often don’t spend all of my sanity money and have some ‘carry over’ amounts which build up. Other weeks I blow it all on my addiction, - my signature vanilla latte on skim. The more I space these coffees, however, the more divine they are to sit and sip.

It’s important that you have sanity money, for without it you go mad! You start buying things willy nilly because you are not allowed to. When you are given an amount to simply blow on magazines, lottery tickets, coffee, wine or cigarettes you find you are a little more careful with it.

I keep mine in this ridiculously small old style purse. It reminds me of one my Nanna F had, before the days when you have to carry around 125 different plastic cards. The purse is so tiny I can’t even fit a credit card in it ( he he he I am outwitting myself! ) But it’s MINE! All MINE!!!! ( I say as I rub my hands together evilly) My other ‘sensible’ mother type purse has all the cards, library cards and all the household money for when I am shopping, putting fuel in the car etc.

So tonight I’m taking out my ridiculously small purse and I’m blowin the lot! ( she says now, but will probably be rather conservative when it comes to the crunch) I’m taking my sanity out to a movie with a girlfriend and will probably then paint the town red ( meaning will most likely have a hot chocolate after the movie) so…. Look out…… I’m gonna kick up my heels!

You are Already Happy !

Advertisers would like us to believe that happiness is 'out there' somewhere and that if you buy products, happiness will come with them.

Sure, there is a certain degree of happiness when you buy something new. As you know, I have a stationery obsession, so nothing excites me more than a new notepad with matching pen! The sad thing, however, is that like any drug, the happiness wears off and needs to be topped up by another purchase. I call this 'synthetic happiness'.

I call true happiness JOY. I often say I find joy, I chase joy. It is a difficult concept to define. It is a little buzz that I get. Joy is in the weirdest places. Sometimes I feel it when I cup a little tomato growing on a bush. Sometimes I feel it when my corn seeds poke their heads up out of the dirt. Other times I feel it when I watch my sons play outside. Sometimes I feel it when I produce a hand crocheted dishcloth that is, let's say, a little wonky!

This sort of happiness comes from inside. It is far richer and far deeper than synthetic happiness.

The trick to finding this sort of joy is firstly to go looking for it. Ponder the question - what gives me joy ? It could be something so trivial, it doesn't matter. When you find something, take note of the little buzz feeling that happens when you experience that joy. Now seek out other things that bring you joy. I call this chasing my joy. Once you know the buzz feeling you will chase more and more of it.

Before you know it, you will be finding joy in the most unusual places! You will soon learn that synthetic joy just won't cut it anymore!

You will find that this kind of happiness is inside you. It has always been there. It is just that we pile so many 'things' on top of it that we can't hear it's little buzz. We pile on television blaring in the background, kids fighting, deadlines to meet, eating on the run, bills to pay, places to be,blood pressure problems, running here, running there, running late!

As we simplify our lives we peel off all those things that are piling up on us. We plan our meals to bring peace to meal times, we plan ahead so we don't race around and run late, we turn the TV off and talk to each other. We budget well to take the financial pressure off. We take the time out to walk with our partner for our health and the health of our relationship.

Little by little we peel off the layers, and there, underneath in a very quiet voice is JOY - buzzing away.

What brings you joy ? Please do share !

PS - the photo above is number one son laying in the grass in Bathurst NSW - now that brings me joy !