The last two weeks has been a mix of success and fails!
Last weekend we headed up to Nelson, to the annual Rainbow snow fields snow gear market to collect the things we need for a fun winter in the snow. At the market they sell off old hire stock, as well as allowing others to sell their gear. We also went to R and R sport. Here is how is went:
Button's ski's: 2nd hand
Button's ski boots: 2nd hand
Button's helmet; Old display stock on sale
Button's snow goggles; new from r and r
Taboggan: new from r and r (on sale), I was hoping to get a 2nd hand one of these but they didnt have any at the market, and we know that button will have a lot of fun on this, and we will be able to use it on Deniston(a mountain near by) once the snow arrives.
My snow Jacket; new from r and r, but on half price sale. there wasn't something in my size at the market, and having a warm, water proof jacket is pretty essential!!
We also already had a jacket fr button, pants and gloves for me. And a friend gave us a hand me down pair of snow pants for Button.
I made two face wind breaks out of some soft microfleece i bought from the local fabric shop, in the shops they sell for $30 or more, this cost me $15 for both and i used some of the fabric to line my beanie, and still have some left over if i need it for anything else.
I also bought some waterproof fabric to make little over mittens to go over button's gloves.
So all we have left to get is a pair of pants and jacket for Hubby. Which he could possible hire, but i have also been looking out for them on trade me.
Other current missions;
Telephone: for now our phone seems to have fixed itself. but i did go on a hunt, unfortunately all i could find was a couple of rather expensive ones at the trade store, that also has 2nd hand things.
Large casserole dish: have had a look at the nd hand stores here but haven't found anything. I am thinking of writing a list of wanted items to put up on the local shop's notice board.
Food;
Button and i have been having a great time in the kitchen cooking and baking, I have been making lots of new dishes for dinner that i haven't tried before, and we have made muffins, large pretzels, home made dips, etc.
I failed once and bought a sweet cake from the shop, was having a bad day and needed a pick me up!
I haven't been having any soft drink at all. Button and I have one glass of cordial each on Friday family movie night.
In Nelson we ordered Japanese, i got the spicy beef and this was a fairly healthy option, when we home though we ordered Chinese food because i was too tired to cook...and i ate the sweet and sour pork, that was a bit of a fail, but there is not much healthy options at our Chinese take away.
Other buys:
We bought some lego for Button, to be used as rewards for toilet training. This is a bit of a fail on the no buy rule. I am sure with patience that eventually he would go(wee's are fine, but we have a bit of an issue with poo's), but hubby and i agree'd we needed to try something that would really encourage him to WANT to go. Without too much pressure we would really like him to toilet trained before we start heading to the snow.
Personal thoughts:
Although i had a couple of fails the last two weeks, i still feel like i am doing ok. Its definitely making me think about a lot things, about things we use and do unnecessarily. I am reminding myself to resist buying sweet treats, and random things we don't need. Its made me a bit more creative in the kitchen, and button and have been enjoying spending time together making things. Also we have been eating healthier snacks. Lots of veggie sticks!
Not buying the new released Muppets movie was hard, we rented it out from the video shop for Friday night movies though. In terms of movies, it is certainly more value for money to purchase these days, when the cost of renting it only three times would equal the same as the purchase price, I think this is probably why we started buying so many dvd's. I think after the six months, we will still buy the dvd's of movies we know we watch multiple times, but reconsider buying as many as we do.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
A weekend away!
I know we only just got back from Australia, but we both REALLY wanted to get up to Karamea to see the Oparara Arches and caves before the weather got too cold. Being Mothers Day on the Sunday I thought it would be a great way to 'celebrate' by not buying into all the mum needs this and mum needs that rubbish....and go with my non-buying goals with a weekend road trip!
And it was great! I found and pre-booked a little farm stay place, that prides itself on high percentage of self sustainability. Not a big farm, just a few veggies, and fruit trees, chickens, ducks and sheep. Button's highlight i think as always was the chickens, and throwing them scraps from our packed lunch i had made early that morning before we left!
The drive upto the paths to Oparara Arches was pretty hairy, and i am sure glad i wasn't driver, driving rough unsurfaced winding and steep ONE LANE roads having to have full trust that a vehicle coming the other way would be driving as carefully as us and we would both have enough warning to stop and move carefully to the side...and hopefully somewhere there was a side to move to!!! Once there the area and walk was just lovely! Not to long or hard work, half an hour or so on a nice clear dirt and rock path to follow, with a few steeper inclines and declines on makshift? stairs leading us through dense rainforest, waterfalls, listening to the wonderful sounds of nature.
The Oparara Arch is spectacular! i don't think i have seen anything like it! A massive archway overhead and long open cave with the river running through. We walked back a short way before stopping for some afternoon tea, organic banana chips bought at the farm stay's little shop.
A short drive further along and a very short walk to the caves, which were rather cool, but for button and i little too freaky. we had to use torches to see, and tested the darkness by turning them off.....OOooooo! "going on a bear hunt....." Luckily no bears in New Zealand.....we couldn't even find any Wetta's(a strange NZ bug) or cave spiders!
For dinner that night we dinned at Riverstone restaurant! Superb! Beautifully cooked and presented meals, lovely service and peaceful surroundings. Technically you could say that I broke my rule of 'no sweets, unless made with love by me and Button', by ordering the most delicious desert of berries with yoghurt and cream, but in my defence it was for a Mothers Day treat, and in place of the boys purchasing a gift for me! A sweet, delicious gift of love is much better, and much better enjoyed.
As we ate our desert we sang very quietly a happy birthday to CJ, and blew him kisses. It was hard not being with him for his birthday, I don't think a moment went by without him being in my thoughts.
***************************
So i am on my first mission!!! Our home phone seems to be broken, so I need to track down a second hand one. Hopefully tomorrow i will get a chance to pop into the 2nd hand stores here. Otherwise i have been told there is a 2nd hand/for sale facebook page for our area, so i will post there and see what might become available. I have to say though if one doesn't turn up quickly we may have to go with buying something...as i think needing to call my family to have contact with CJ and vice-versa is pretty damned important!! But I promise to do my best this week to track something down, i like the idea of recycling an old phone that is working but someone one got rid of to upgrade.
Button and I did our grocery shop today, we have lots of fun recipes to cook this week for Jamie Oliver's 'Ministry of food' recipe book we borrowed from the library.
Already we have made use of left overs we may have usually thrown out after them sitting unused in the fridge.....one lot of banana piklets yesterday after we arrived back from the weekend away, and today some cheesy vegetable muffins(with pumpkin and green-beans), both very yummy!
And despite my FAVOURITE sweet bakery treat 'lemon and passion fruit curd friands' tbeing on sale as this weeks shop special I resisted!
I know we only just got back from Australia, but we both REALLY wanted to get up to Karamea to see the Oparara Arches and caves before the weather got too cold. Being Mothers Day on the Sunday I thought it would be a great way to 'celebrate' by not buying into all the mum needs this and mum needs that rubbish....and go with my non-buying goals with a weekend road trip!
And it was great! I found and pre-booked a little farm stay place, that prides itself on high percentage of self sustainability. Not a big farm, just a few veggies, and fruit trees, chickens, ducks and sheep. Button's highlight i think as always was the chickens, and throwing them scraps from our packed lunch i had made early that morning before we left!
The drive upto the paths to Oparara Arches was pretty hairy, and i am sure glad i wasn't driver, driving rough unsurfaced winding and steep ONE LANE roads having to have full trust that a vehicle coming the other way would be driving as carefully as us and we would both have enough warning to stop and move carefully to the side...and hopefully somewhere there was a side to move to!!! Once there the area and walk was just lovely! Not to long or hard work, half an hour or so on a nice clear dirt and rock path to follow, with a few steeper inclines and declines on makshift? stairs leading us through dense rainforest, waterfalls, listening to the wonderful sounds of nature.
The Oparara Arch is spectacular! i don't think i have seen anything like it! A massive archway overhead and long open cave with the river running through. We walked back a short way before stopping for some afternoon tea, organic banana chips bought at the farm stay's little shop.
A short drive further along and a very short walk to the caves, which were rather cool, but for button and i little too freaky. we had to use torches to see, and tested the darkness by turning them off.....OOooooo! "going on a bear hunt....." Luckily no bears in New Zealand.....we couldn't even find any Wetta's(a strange NZ bug) or cave spiders!
For dinner that night we dinned at Riverstone restaurant! Superb! Beautifully cooked and presented meals, lovely service and peaceful surroundings. Technically you could say that I broke my rule of 'no sweets, unless made with love by me and Button', by ordering the most delicious desert of berries with yoghurt and cream, but in my defence it was for a Mothers Day treat, and in place of the boys purchasing a gift for me! A sweet, delicious gift of love is much better, and much better enjoyed.
As we ate our desert we sang very quietly a happy birthday to CJ, and blew him kisses. It was hard not being with him for his birthday, I don't think a moment went by without him being in my thoughts.
***************************
So i am on my first mission!!! Our home phone seems to be broken, so I need to track down a second hand one. Hopefully tomorrow i will get a chance to pop into the 2nd hand stores here. Otherwise i have been told there is a 2nd hand/for sale facebook page for our area, so i will post there and see what might become available. I have to say though if one doesn't turn up quickly we may have to go with buying something...as i think needing to call my family to have contact with CJ and vice-versa is pretty damned important!! But I promise to do my best this week to track something down, i like the idea of recycling an old phone that is working but someone one got rid of to upgrade.
Button and I did our grocery shop today, we have lots of fun recipes to cook this week for Jamie Oliver's 'Ministry of food' recipe book we borrowed from the library.
Already we have made use of left overs we may have usually thrown out after them sitting unused in the fridge.....one lot of banana piklets yesterday after we arrived back from the weekend away, and today some cheesy vegetable muffins(with pumpkin and green-beans), both very yummy!
And despite my FAVOURITE sweet bakery treat 'lemon and passion fruit curd friands' tbeing on sale as this weeks shop special I resisted!
Thursday, May 10, 2012
I have decided to embark on a six month serious crack down on my spending, health and general life.
Five years ago tomorrow my emotional parental journey became the hard road, and was incredibly challenging in a way most parents don't experience and would not wish for, so when it came to the physical everyday regular stuff I had to take the easy road to be able to make it through. But to me this has led me to a way of living I am not overly happy with, don't get me wrong, i am in a great place in my life now, I am peace with how our life ended up, but when it comes to our consumerism and general day to day tasks i know that we can do better.
And what better chance to make this happen, to get the ball rolling, than while Cj is safe and happy with my mum and I have time to refocus and get back into good habits again.
SOooo my goal is that in doing this hardcore for six months I will learn a better way to live. And at the end of it all I will continue to make better choices, healthier choices for my family and I. And when I have Cameron(and hopefully eventually another baby) I will in general be back in-control of those choices.
The rules
Spendings:
NO BUYING NEW THINGS. this includes things like: clothes, dvd's, itunes songs/apps etc(unless free), toys, and books(which i can buy 2nd hand, borrow from the library etc).
With the following exceptions - food. consumables eg. Loo paper, essential bathroom products(moisturiser, soap).
Anything that to buy 2nd hand or borrow would be a health risk.
Charitable items, items for sale to support charities, this can include a limited amount of spending on charitable auctions, where the item is a gift for another or an essential item.
Craft shop, I am allowing myself to purchase from the local craft/fabric shop in order to buy materials for making items that maybe gifts or essential items for us(and a girls gotta have some fun, and this is my number one hobby!).
Items that related to health and safety needs can be bought new where other options are not available.
I decided that I also need rules for 2nd hand items too. As i do believe it could still be easy to purchase things that way, that are not necessary, seen as you can buy just about anything on ebay/trademe.com these days!!.
The following things are NOT a good reason to buy something:
"Limited addition"
"Last one"
"Its cute/funky cool/nice/beautiful!"
"it will look good......."
ALL items purchased 2nd hand must have a good reason, allowable items include; essential clothing, kitchen utensils and other household needs, and books.
Food and Eating:
NO MORE JUNKFOOD!
Friday night fish and chips is the 1st exception, and only from our local shop which uses free range products and deep fries in healthy oils. The second exception is on our upcoming NZ holiday in situations where other options might not be available...however in this situation, i must still choose the healthiest option on the menu.
Buy local products as preference, and make more things from scratch, reduce the amount of pre-made and packaged items.
Eat breakfast.
Eat healthy snacks. A list of which I have made up and stuck to the fridge.
Sweets can be consumed when it has been made with love :) by myself and Button. Or offered when visiting others.
Shop and buy food wisely and less wastefully. I already do this to some extent but i often end up with a pantry full of things i never use, so now i am basing my meal planning first on things we already have in the pantry. Also making more effort to use things i buy in a week eg. if i need celery in one dish, then use the rest of the celery in another dish, or chopped up in sticks for snacks.
Daily routine and health:
Follow new routine as on fridge! :)
This includes early to rise, to see Scott off to work with a healthy packed lunch.
Time management of housework, time with button, time with friends and leisure, and computer time.
Computer time, is to be limited to when Button is asleep, and occasionally as needed during his afternoon quite and tv time.
Don't take the easy way! Stop using the dryer all the time. walk. ride my bike(this could be an issue with all this dang rain, but we will do our best. take the stairs, not the lift(not that this is an issue in Westport) etc.
I would like to note a few other things:
This is not about relying on others for things, although some borrowing from friends may be involved. I still need to be self reliant, and find ways to get around not having something we need. or getting it by other means than it being new, 2nd hand, garage sales etc.
This is about me learning to have self control over my spending and needs, re-learning about what is wasteful unnecessary consumerism, and what is essential, and making it habit to think about those choices.
Its about being the person whom i always thought i would be, trying harder to be that person. Being more concious of my choices.
I know that things went very much down hill when CJ was born and(with reason) I became too busy with a new life of disabilities that i let all my other goals go to the wayside. I became consumer driven because it was easier, i stopped looking after myself because my son became of greater need of me and my time. With my depression i dropped the ball on being aware how my choices affect my health and my family and the greater world around me.
But now its time to make a change!
Five years ago tomorrow my emotional parental journey became the hard road, and was incredibly challenging in a way most parents don't experience and would not wish for, so when it came to the physical everyday regular stuff I had to take the easy road to be able to make it through. But to me this has led me to a way of living I am not overly happy with, don't get me wrong, i am in a great place in my life now, I am peace with how our life ended up, but when it comes to our consumerism and general day to day tasks i know that we can do better.
And what better chance to make this happen, to get the ball rolling, than while Cj is safe and happy with my mum and I have time to refocus and get back into good habits again.
SOooo my goal is that in doing this hardcore for six months I will learn a better way to live. And at the end of it all I will continue to make better choices, healthier choices for my family and I. And when I have Cameron(and hopefully eventually another baby) I will in general be back in-control of those choices.
The rules
Spendings:
NO BUYING NEW THINGS. this includes things like: clothes, dvd's, itunes songs/apps etc(unless free), toys, and books(which i can buy 2nd hand, borrow from the library etc).
With the following exceptions - food. consumables eg. Loo paper, essential bathroom products(moisturiser, soap).
Anything that to buy 2nd hand or borrow would be a health risk.
Charitable items, items for sale to support charities, this can include a limited amount of spending on charitable auctions, where the item is a gift for another or an essential item.
Craft shop, I am allowing myself to purchase from the local craft/fabric shop in order to buy materials for making items that maybe gifts or essential items for us(and a girls gotta have some fun, and this is my number one hobby!).
Items that related to health and safety needs can be bought new where other options are not available.
I decided that I also need rules for 2nd hand items too. As i do believe it could still be easy to purchase things that way, that are not necessary, seen as you can buy just about anything on ebay/trademe.com these days!!.
The following things are NOT a good reason to buy something:
"Limited addition"
"Last one"
"Its cute/funky cool/nice/beautiful!"
"it will look good......."
ALL items purchased 2nd hand must have a good reason, allowable items include; essential clothing, kitchen utensils and other household needs, and books.
Food and Eating:
NO MORE JUNKFOOD!
Friday night fish and chips is the 1st exception, and only from our local shop which uses free range products and deep fries in healthy oils. The second exception is on our upcoming NZ holiday in situations where other options might not be available...however in this situation, i must still choose the healthiest option on the menu.
Buy local products as preference, and make more things from scratch, reduce the amount of pre-made and packaged items.
Eat breakfast.
Eat healthy snacks. A list of which I have made up and stuck to the fridge.
Sweets can be consumed when it has been made with love :) by myself and Button. Or offered when visiting others.
Shop and buy food wisely and less wastefully. I already do this to some extent but i often end up with a pantry full of things i never use, so now i am basing my meal planning first on things we already have in the pantry. Also making more effort to use things i buy in a week eg. if i need celery in one dish, then use the rest of the celery in another dish, or chopped up in sticks for snacks.
Daily routine and health:
Follow new routine as on fridge! :)
This includes early to rise, to see Scott off to work with a healthy packed lunch.
Time management of housework, time with button, time with friends and leisure, and computer time.
Computer time, is to be limited to when Button is asleep, and occasionally as needed during his afternoon quite and tv time.
Don't take the easy way! Stop using the dryer all the time. walk. ride my bike(this could be an issue with all this dang rain, but we will do our best. take the stairs, not the lift(not that this is an issue in Westport) etc.
I would like to note a few other things:
This is not about relying on others for things, although some borrowing from friends may be involved. I still need to be self reliant, and find ways to get around not having something we need. or getting it by other means than it being new, 2nd hand, garage sales etc.
This is about me learning to have self control over my spending and needs, re-learning about what is wasteful unnecessary consumerism, and what is essential, and making it habit to think about those choices.
Its about being the person whom i always thought i would be, trying harder to be that person. Being more concious of my choices.
I know that things went very much down hill when CJ was born and(with reason) I became too busy with a new life of disabilities that i let all my other goals go to the wayside. I became consumer driven because it was easier, i stopped looking after myself because my son became of greater need of me and my time. With my depression i dropped the ball on being aware how my choices affect my health and my family and the greater world around me.
But now its time to make a change!
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