My Machine Gun Preacher Meeting

Yesterday I had the most thought provoking Sunday.

 I am not a regualr churchgoer although I am definitely a Christian, but a serious of events happened to both The Foxx and I over the last couple of weeks which have been mind altering.

The Foxx was given a USB stick from a work mate with a couple of movies on it one of them was a film we both wanted to see and the other was Machine Gun Preacher a movie starring Gerard Butler I happen to think this Scots actor is a hunk so we decided to sit down and watch this one first. The first 15 mins were all blood, gore, drugs and swearing and by that time I had all but given up watching. But I am glad I stuck it out, please have a look at some film reviews if you want to find out more about this extraordinary man.

  

Sam Childers

This is the real Sam childers who, builds Orphanages in Sudan and rescues children from Joseph Kony, you may remember that the Utube video made about this man ( Kony ) went viral just last month. When The Foxx returned the USB stick to his workmate he wanted to know what we thought of the movie, I wanted to know which came first the movie or the video, also had the Preacher really been a killer and drug dealer. 

If you enjoyed the Movie and want to know more about the man why not come and meet him on Sunday he is preaching at our church, he said, you could have knocked me down with a feather, He is American we are in Australia all of the comoponents were falling right into place before my very eyes. was this some kind of message. ? The Foxx and I could hardly wait for Sunday and somewhere in the middle of the service I felt changed I felt protected and I felt loved.

When I read back this post I am convinced that it seems silly to have written it. Nothing financial here, nothing anyone else can expect to understand, but down in my core I feel changed

Still Squeezing The Budget

   

 My Lemonade Scones

I am still trying to squeeze as much as I can out of my pantry and freezer to get me through until next grocery shop which is not until Friday.

So today I tried something which I have never made sucessfully before. Scones !!! so basic that those of you who can do this with your eyes shut, must be laughing at me. But honestly I am tickled pink at my homemade scones.

I used the easiest recipe I could find

3 cups Self Raising flour

1 cup cream

1 cup lemonade

Stir until just combined put on a surface with flour, and the rest is history Oh nearly forgot 15/20 mins at 190c, we ate these with cream and a lovely raspberry and coconut jam. I got 15 scones out of these ingredients.. (One of the hazards of renting a home pink worktops yukkkk)

I am going to have to find the time today to sit down and finish the book I have borrowed from the Library, it is due back and I am only 2/3 of the way through it, so with Winter just round the corner and the rain pouring down, I think today will be all about hot scones a good book and plenty of rest and relaxation.

Have an awesome weekend xxx

Post Fasting Update

My Budget Squeezed To Death

My weekly shopping day is a Friday, and I thought that as I had bought no Groceries last week my bill would have been totally out of control, but this morning I only spent $70.00 in Aldi and that included a stack of chocolate on sale from Easter, so I am hoping with a little jiggling and menu planning that I may not have to spend too much more this week.

I also needed to put petrol in my car, but I did'nt  fill up as petrol prices are ridiculous just now, so I am hoping to see some change by Sunday so I can fill up for a couple of weeks. I am quite fortunate that my small car is easy on gas, and I don't drive far on a weekly basis.

After our Fiscal Fast week Sharon asked me how much I thought I had saved myself, actually I think by the end of the week all I  had saved was around $100 most of that would have been food money. I am allocating myself very little to spend until the end of May by which time all of my small debts left from The Restaurant will be cleared plus my police fine ( naughty girl ) However all of my large debts are still there and I will post about them later.

So after squeezing the life out of my budget and making everyone I live with miserable all I saved was $100, but I still consider it worth it, and will be happy to participate in another challenge any day soon...... 

Fiscal Fast Finale

Fiscal Fast Finale

I love these kinds of challenges, although I do find them somewhat challenging !!!!

It is hard to tell MIL we are going to be having a week without any treats in it whatsoever, when a trip down to the local shopping centre is about all she ever does in a week.
It's hard to say to The Foxx that our once weekly trip out to find some we time has been cancelled, but having said that I still went ahead and did this challenge and I am proud to say that the only monies spent this week were on my DIL's baby shower, I would have found that one impossible to change or cancel and I had a great day out with a fabulous supporting group of women.

Spend for The Week

• Thursday     $00.00
• Friday          $00.00
• Saturday      $00.00
• Sunday        $35.00 ( Petrol and Lunch money )
• Monday       $00.00
• Tuesday       $00.00
• Wednesday  $00.00

I am actually having another no spend day today as I usually Grocery shop on a Friday, and as we have enough food in the house to do us I will stay home today, we could probably do with some more chocolate biscuits, but we will make do with some muffins which I will bake later.

Petrol is a horrendous $1.59 a litre today so I am waiting until tomorrow before I fill up my car in the hope that it may come down a bit by then.

Congrats to all who have finished this fast, especially you Sharon for facilitating once again, can't wait until the next one....

Anzac Day in Australia

The ANZAC spirit

The legend of ANZAC was born on 25 April 1915, and was reaffirmed in eight months’ fighting on Gallipoli. Although there was no military victory, the Australians displayed great courage, endurance, initiative, discipline, and mateship. Such qualities came to be seen as the ANZAC spirit.
Many saw the ANZAC spirit as having been born of egalitarianism and mutual support. According to the stereotype, the ANZAC rejected unnecessary restrictions, possessed a sardonic sense of humour, was contemptuous of danger, and proved himself the equal of anyone on the battlefield.
Australians still invoke the ANZAC spirit in times of conflict, danger and hardship.

The meaning of ANZAC

During the war the legend of ANZAC became the proud possession of all in the AIF and most Australians. Since then, the anniversary of 25 April 1915 has been commemorated each year as ANZAC Day.
The first ANZAC Day was conducted in 1916. The troops observed it in various ways, and in London large crowds watched 2,000 Australians and New Zealanders march to Westminster Abbey. In Australia there was strong support for the day, with between 60,000 and 100,000 people packing the Domain in Sydney for a service.
By 1925 huge ANZAC Day marches were being conducted in all the main cities. Smaller places had their own observances. Most states marked the day with a public holiday, and within two years they all did. Second World War ex-servicemen, and later others, accepted ANZAC Day as theirs too. In immediate post-war years they swelled the numbers of veterans marching.
In 1990 a few ageing Gallipoli veterans, accompanied by the Prime Minister, went back to Turkey for the 75th anniversary of the landing. Australians watched emotionally as a handful of representatives of a near vanished army received their salute.
Ninety years on, there are no longer any living survivors of the campaign, but the parades, services and rituals of ANZAC Day have survived, and some have expanded. Large crowds now go to Gallipoli each year. The legend of ANZAC remains relevant to many Australians.

A public holiday for us today and a chance to reflect as one of my close friends husbands died yesterday of a massive heart attack, RIP John xxx

My Fiscal Fast Fifth Day

Fiscal Fast Fifth Day.

Day 5 has just ended and I am hooting along only tomorrow to go and as Wedesday is a public holiday I think I can declare this a huge success.

There is still enough food in the fridge freezer and pantry to get me through until after this challenge is over.

I am not sure if I mentioned it in an earlier post but I have sent off the form which hopefully will give me a part British aged pension, the Pension age for females in the UK has been 60 for a large number of years, but it is slowly rising and by 2020 it will be 65, so it has only been this last couple of months since I turned 61 that I became eligible. It will be based on the number of years I worked while living there, I started working when I was 15 and left Scotland when I was 35, but I will not be eligible for the whole 20 years as I took some time off to have my children.

So it may only be a token amount, but as I am too young to claim an Australian pension until I turn 65, every little coming into this house is going to help.

I have been warned that this could take some time to process, so fingers crossed.

Today my Telstra account came in, nothing unusual in this it comes in every month. Only every month it is wrong. This account includes our landline our internet and our pay TV and comes to a hefty $250 a month or around that figure. Way back in December I missed a payment as I was in control of that bill and I just did not have the money. Then in January I left for a couple of months, The Foxx did his best single handed to cope with the debt I left him. But like me he fell behind, then Telstra changed it's bill format and the b****y account got harder to read. In our last three accounts we can find no sign of payments made and our bill just keeps getting higher and higher. We have been frantically trying to get this sorted out but we get put through to call centres where the staff just don't have a clue what we are talking about.

Since I returned home we have been paying Telstra back $200 a fortnight and according to our calculations we have caught up with the arrears, but according to our last account which arrived this morning, we are now around $1,000 in arrears.

Well The Foxx went into battle and although it took him through 10 different departments and well over an hour on the phone he eventually got it sorted out and our $1,000 bill went down to this months payment of $250.00, at last we are back in charge and although we have no idea where it went wrong Telstra have agreed to look into it to make sure it does'nt happen again.

Heading down to the bank tomorrow to take another $100 out of my snowflake jars and deposit it into my savings account, 4 months and only $200 still it's better than nothing.

While I am on the subject of money, my superannuation payment has not hit my bank yet, so that may require another hour long phonecall.....

  

Baby Shower Over

Just got back from the baby shower about  an hour ago so this is going to be short post.

We had a great day, as well as a present for the baby we were all asked to bring a blessing gift for the Mum to be to help her know she is being supported during her labour, so we set up a little blessing altar as she is having a water birth in this room. These ideas are all pretty foreign to me as I had a sterile hospital birth twice, but my DIL is a very spiritual girl who will take delight in knowing she has a team of supporting women with her during her birth.

Sorry about the photo I took it on my phone and the quality could be better.

Spends for today were petrol money to my Daughter $10.00  Lunch out $25.00 did they have to pick the dearest place on the Sunshine Coast. Still this was expense I know was coming up, and I had a lovely day....

Have I Cheated ????

Day 3 Of My Fiscal Fast

Another no spend day for me today, it's really easy to not spend anything when you stay home. However having said that my Mother-in-Law  did spend and because she lives here she brought into the house a crusty loaf ( a want not a need ) a kilo of white filleted fish ( I had already organised dinner ) a bottle of red wine ( a present for The Foxx just because ) there is no earthly way I can prevent this from happening. She had had a day out with her Daughter and they ended up in the supermarket, so did we eat the fish YES did we have a glass of wine with it YES was it nice served with crusty bread YES do I feel as if I have cheated YES even although I spent nothing.

So am I being silly by not being grateful, please give me your opinion because I feel I have failed in my Fiscal Fast through no fault of my own.

Tomorrow I am going to have to spend some money, as the baby shower is being held at a coffee house, near where my Son lives. My Daughter will be driving us there and so my hand will be going into my purse to contribute towards the petrol and whatever I eat for lunch, but I will be cutting back whereever I can.

My little garden is really giving me a lot of pleasure just now, and as we approach winter it is going to be time to plant Pumpkin and Potatoes. The herbs are doing great and we have now planted Bok Choy and Brussel Sprouts. So after this week it will be back to the Garden Centre..

Sorting through some photos

 My Oldest Granddaughter  9                                        My Daughter-in-Law                              

                                                        My Grandson 6 and My youngest Grandaughter 3

                                                               My Daughter The Bride

                                                                The Foxx and I

Just thought I would spend some time today and post photos of a few of the special people in my life.

My oldest Grandadughter is a beautiful serious child who is destined to break a few hearts when she is older, she is tall slim with the longest pair of legs, she gets her good genes from her Dad.

This photo of my Daughter-in-Law was taken last weekend she is 7 and a half months pregnant now and it is her baby shower I am going to on Sunday. I am nearly finished my knitting.

My 6 year old Grandson was all dressed up as he was his Dad's best man when he and my Daughter married 18 months ago, unlike his Sister this is a mischevious little boy with large blue eyes.

My Son's little girl is 3 now and is a little imp, so chatty and cute. That was her first ice cream cone, and did she ever make a mess. She is a blonde brown eyed beauty, who can't wait to meet her new baby brother.

The Lady in red is my only Daughter, she broke all the rules and was married in this very untraditional gown. that is my Sister fitting her into it.

And last but by no means least The Foxx and I hiding our charms from the world.


I was sorting my photos into albums today and thought I would share a few with you, I could not find a decent photo of my Son, but hopefully when the baby comes I will get more photos of him. Strangely enough both of my Granddaughter's have brown eyes, so we are hoping to even the numbers with blue eyed boys when this latest one is born.

As you can see from my DIL's photo the weather here is still beautiful, Spring and Autumn are typically our best months and taking advantage of that I have planted some more seedlings, I get so excited when their little heads start to poke, maybe I will take some photos of them shortly.

The start of my no spend week has been a big success, money spent..... nothing!!!!

Homemade Washing Powder Trial Results

The Skinny On My Homemade Washing Powder

Well the jury is in and the results are amazing, if I had known years ago how easy and cheap this was going to be I would have started long ago. Ever since I went on my journey to become more frugal, I have looked into making my own soap powder, but something always stopped me from giving it a go. I am not sure why maybe a combination of things, will it work, will it be any cheaper, is this taking saving a few Dollars to extremes ???

Yes to all of the above, it works, it is cheaper and to some it is extreme. Hopefully this will also be better for the planet and me as I have a very mild form of Ecxema, and so I am hoping this will stop any further inflammation, but the jury is still out on that one.

My Recipe

4 cups of grated soap ( finely grated )

2 cups of Washing Soda

1 cup of Borax

I put all of these ingredients into a large jar gave it a good shake and was ready to go. I have been adding 2 tbsp to a load but after checking this amount on the web it seems to be anywhere between 3 tsps and 2 tbsp. Has anyone got any thoughts on this.

I have tried this now on a hot wash a cold wash and on whites and coloureds and I have been very pleased with all my results.I don't own a clothesdryer and so everything comes back in off of my washing line smelling clean and fresh. Another benefit it only costs around 13.5 cents per load.

These are all the pro's the cons are I took the skin off of my knuckle grating the soap, so from now on that might have to be The Foxx's job.

My thanks to Jane at http://lifebeginsatretirement.blogspot.com.au/ she has awarded me The Sunshing Award and I am pleased and thrilled to accept it. It comes with a few obligations and as soon as I can I will post these. Thanks again Jane you know I am with you every day just lurking in the background.

A Homemade Present

I'll Be Wearing More Than a Smile Now :)

It is now only 5 days until the baby shower and thanks to Martha who suggested my making something homemade for a present I am now more than  half way through knitting a gorgeous little outfit. I actually am a really good knitter but I have not lifted a pair of needles in so long that I don't ever consider it when gift hunting.

I am knitting a pale blue and white striped jumper, matching hat and the cutest little matching Teddy. I am really enjoying the experience but due to a timescale I am having to make myself sit down and just knit. So my housework and blogging are suffering a bit.

Is anyone waiting with baited breath on my weekly weigh-in's ?? Because I really blew my diet over the Easter break and instead of taking wieght off I actually put it on. I have a load of workout equipment which I was given for nothing years ago, so yesterday The Foxx and I went down to the Garage and set up a circuit with our equipment, some hand weights a workout mat and of course some exercise music. So today in between knitting, housework, dying my hair, seeing to MIL and not to forget shopping I am going to workout. We had a large whiteboard at the back of the Garage so it has been pulled out cleaned up and The Foxx put the name of our gym on it so we are now called Maureen's Curves, all are welcome to come and workout free of course. OK OK I know I kinda stole the Gym's name, but I won't tell them if you don't.

Our gym consists of a cross trainer, a step master, a thigh master and a bike. I will use each machine for 5 minutes and in between come onto the mat for some hand weights, star jumps and jogging on the spot. That should take around 40 minutes by which time I may need an Ambulance LOL

I bought myself a fancy Polar heart rate monitor watch, many years ago so it will let me know if I am reaching my cardio goals and calories burnt. wish me luck...

I have still got to make that post about my debts and other financial matters and I promise you it is coming...

Show Me The Money

Today It's All About money

It seems to me that all I have talked about lately is the weather, growing fruit and veg, my Grandchildren and plans for Easter. Am I avoiding the subject of money, probably !!!!

Part of the reason for this is because now that I am no longer working, I have none. We, as in The Foxx and I, do have income, but because he does'nt get any overtime, and is unable to work 2 jobs what comes into our home on a fortnightly basis never changes.

So every couple of weeks we write down our priority payments, our debts ( most of these relate to The Restaurant ) and of course there is the CC, by the time we have made these payments there is literally nothing left.

So at the moment I am finding subjects to keep my blog interesting and progressive really hard to find, because things are going along on a pretty even keel, so I am financially bored. This is actually where I have always wanted to be, but I imagined myself with a wage being able to contribute more to our finances. You know the old saying " Be careful what you wish for "

Now that I have got that off of my chest, I am going to look into ways of making a little money on the side, I have a few things to put onto Ebay. I am thinking of becoming a Secret Shopper. I am currently doing online surveys again. At the moment my Snowflakes are all change I have taken from my purse and Hubby's pockets, but if I earn any extra it will be Snowflaked and will go towards debt.

Tomorrow I will try and lump our debts together and give myself a number, this is actually going to be a very scary move for me as I am responsible for most of them, fortunately I have the backing of The foxx. Maybe after he see's how much it actually is he will feel less likely to embrace it.

You may have noticed I have changed the look of my blog, this is not a Religious statement, just me trying to bring a little Zen into my life.

An Award for Little Old Me

 

I am Super Stoked

Many many thanks to Martha at http://thepathtofrugality.blogspot.com.au/  for nominating me for this award, I am delighted.

The Leibster award is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers who have a story to tell or some advice to give.

There are a few things I now have to do and that is nominate and link 5 more bloggers who I think are worthy of this award and also write down 5 random things you may or may not know about me. So here goes.

• I write my blog in Australia but I am actually Scottish
• I am not really a natural blonde LOL
• I have met The Beatles
• I have an obsessive compulsion about my eating space, no crumbs.
• I only ever wear white underwear ( is that too much information ) ??

Finding  blogs which I follow and love is not  hard but cutting it down to 5 definitely will be .

1. I love Jane's blog and if you are new to it you are going to love her adventure as she works her way towards retirement and her dream of living on PEI in Canada http://lifebeginsatretirement.blogspot.com.au/
2. I have been following Sharon's blog almost since day 1 this gorgeous Woman blogs about  how much Murphy impacts on her life, which is something I am sure we can all relate to http://midlifemommusings.blogspot.com.au/
3. Like myself Lisa is a proud Granny who spends lots of quality time with her Grandchildren, she is also doing really well with her finances and her blog deserves a read. http://www.centstosave.com/
4. I have so enjoyed following the trials and tribulations of this young blogger, who armed with student debt is determined to push through and get her finances under control. She is also just about to embark on a whole new life http://girlmakescents.blogspot.com.au/
5. And last but by no means lease, I love following Sam as she handles life as a single parent. you will also love her photos and commonsense outlook on life. http://anostrichnamedsam.blogspot.com.au/

There are so many of my blogging friends I would have loved to have given this award to, so if I missed you out please know that I also think you are deserving...

I Am Jealous Of Coupon Users

I Could Become an Extreme Couponer

At least I am sure I would be if Australia had food coupons. I am so caught up in the extreme couponing show that I watch each and every episode at least twice. I am only tormenting myself as there is nothing here to compare, so I will never be able to safe the money I see these couponers save.

Both The Foxx and I use Scoopon and other similiar sites to save money on Holiday accomodation, Restaurants and games of golf. But the only savings I have found on food is a $1 coupon for organic chicken breasts which were so expensive they are out of my league anyway.

So I will continue to watch Extreme couponing on TV and dream.

Easter is over now and the Foxx has taken himself off to bed to get in a good night's sleep ready to start back work tomorrow. His wages go into the bank tomorrow and we have not had a chance to sit down this weekend and work out our plan of attack for this fortnight. There will be the usual list of suspects, rent, cc, food, petrol and bills. But I am hoping for savings as well, so fingers crossed.

In 2 weeks time my Daughter-in-Law will be holding her baby shower, so that is going to be my next  expense, trying to find a suitable gift which will also fit in with my more frugal ways. I find buying presents the hardest thing to cut back my spending on, I just love to give and give big.

Although having The Foxx onboard makes it harder for me to spend up as he has always looked down on my gift giving amounts, I always called him Scroodge. So lets find what Mrs. Frugal and Scroodge can find for a baby shower gift LOL

I will be Grocery shopping tomorrow and menu planning so a big day for me. Oh I nearly forgot to mention that at last I made my washing powder and I can't wait to try it out. More about this in another post.

Happy Happy Easter

  

A Very Happy Easter

How is your Easter break going so far ???
I am having a family orientated time kicking off yesterday with celebrating my Daughter's Birthday. Everyone came round to mine and as the weather was heavenly we spent all day outside, my Grandchildren love out huge yard, as we have a rope swing hanging from one of our larger trees. So the noise of their laughter could be heard for hours.
I really really tried to keep the cost of out food down while trying to put together a nice meal, here is a rundown of what we ate..

Starters

Bruschetta topped with Fetta

Haloumi Skewers in an oil, lemon and Oregano basting sauce

Mains

Fetta & Spinach Pie

Lasagna

Garden Salad

Desserts

Pavlova

Hot X Buns

Everyone was stuffed after as there was loads to eat. I managed to keep the costs down as most of the dishes contained no meat, the cheeses were already in the fridge, the salad veg came from my own garden and I kept the amount of meat in the Lasagna to around the kilo mark with leftover Lasagna going into the freezer today for another meal. My Daughter-in-Law made the Fetta and Spinach Pie and my Son-in-Law provided the pavlova for his Wife's Birthday cake.
Everyone provided there own drinks and as I was given a bottle of Champagne for my Easter and The Foxx was given a bottle of red, we paid nothing for our booze.

Sticking to my plan of not spending over $50 on Birthday presents I managed to find a gorgeous steel grey jumper for my Daughter, then I teamed it up with a great scarf in a peach colour and with card and gift paper it all came to $41 great bargains and great looking presents she was delighted....

I made up Easter baskets for my Grandchildren very inexpensive and not too high on the sugar scale, so their parents were happy.

Hoping you all have a wonderful Easter and that the real spirit of it all is not forgotten....

Needs Versus Wants With a Happy Ending

  

My Internal Dialogue

The converstaion went something like this " I am now working hard at growing my own Fruit and Veg organically so I really need a brand spanking new watering can, as my seedlings are too little for a high pressured hose. " But do I really? Have I checked to find my old watering can. ? Can I turn down the pressure on my hose ?  Would I rather have another no spend day or a watering can ?

This conversation went on long enough for me to drive home without buying one and you guessed it as soon as I drove into my Garage I spied my old green plastic watering can with the leaky spout, this was definitely a want against need dilemma and my frugal self won this round.

I have been making the most of my local library lately,  and using the knowledge I get from the gardening and cooking vegetarian books to plan my garden, I have dug over and fertilised an area for my herb bed and an area for growing vegetables .

I already grow Bananas, Apple Guava and Paw Paw trees and have bought dwarf citrus trees which I can grow in pots, I have the tops off of 2 Pineapples rooting just now and as soon as they have a good root system going I will put them in my garden.

Can't wait to cultivate and eat my crops.

Apple Guava

Banana Plant

Paw Paw

Paid off some bills today and put some money into savings, I really don't have very much cash left to save with, but I need to feel as if I have more control than I really have over my debts and savings. It is going to take me until the end of April to get to the point of being able to start saving in earnest, can't wait...

Out With The Trusty Calculator Again

A Calculating Kind Of Week

What a massive week for me this week ! I have decided that it's not enough that I count every penny I bank, owe, save but now I am adding a new suspect and it's calories.... YES now it's out there I weigh 196 lbs I have just managed to scrape in under the 200 mark.

I am ashamed of myself but having said that I have watched clothes get tighter and the scales going up for months now and I have done nothing about it and I have no clue why.

So today is day one I am going to incorporate some light exercise into my day and try to eat around the 1200/1400 calorie mark.

What I am not going to do is turn my blog into a weightloss forum, but as I intend to weigh-in every Monday morning I will post my losses, fingers crossed there are some.

OK back to finances, I am still getting it wrong, because today I got a non payment of toll fine in the mail I misjudged my payment day and so insted of paying around $4 for the toll I am having to pay $140 for the fine the paperwork etc, etc. etc. Sucks ehhh ?? I was going to pay it this Thursday but the Government beat me to it. So looks like some of my Superannuation I am still waiting to receive will help towards this.

Now that I am trying to lead a healthier more active lifestyle I am being faced with a whole new eating plan and the concern for me is that this might lead to higher Grocery  bills. So I am frantically googling healthy inexpensive recipes which will also suit the needs of The Foxx and The MIL. Wish me luck with this one...

I have to admit that my slackening off from blogging was a result of some lousy feedback regarding my lack of any real financial knowledge. I thought mine was a harmless personal journey which I shared with my tight circle of   blogging mates. But someone expected more from me and berated me for my trivial meaningless waste of  The Internet.

So I pulled back gave up blogging and gave up commenting and stuck my head in the sand for a while.

BUT I am back and annoyed at myself for letting this hater put me off of doing something I get a lot of pleasure from. So if you are reading this and you know who you are, GO AWAY and leave my blog to be enjoyed by me and mine.......