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What is this…a day with a cloudless sky and a peaceful morning while the girl naps….am I in the twilight zone?  Oh wait…you’ve locked your keys in the car for the THIRD time in less than 2 weeks, darling?  Nope, this isn’t the twilight zone after all, it sounds like an ordinary day in this household!  (3 times?!?!)

Over the weekend I checked out a site that had been suggested to me by Melody (you can find it in the comments on the last post) for Organic coupons etc.  If you’ve been following along for a while it was back in Australia when I decided the fam could do without the additives & preservatives, and started cooking more from scratch.  While it is certainly more difficult here because the US allows more filth in our food than they did in Oz, I am still making a pretty strong effort.  My concern has been how can we afford to eat this way on our teeny tiny budget?

We already do quite a bit to save $$.  For one, we don’t have the expense of diapers or formula.  That’s a huge help.  The food Tanami consumes is really a very small cost because we don’t buy commercial baby food.  I am in the process of switching over to making our own cleaning products.  The one thing I would LOVE to do but can’t because we live in a rental property is start a garden.  My parents do have a small garden out on the farm though, so hopefully they will pass on any extra goodies they can’t consume.  They usually have way too many bell peppers – and those are expensive at the store (and one of the “Dirty Dozen”)

So the one thing I haven’t tried is couponing.  And I’m a little bit chicken to tell the truth.  It all seems VERY overwhelming and time consuming.  It should be right up my alley though since one of my favorite things to do is hunt out the best price on gas – it gives me a great sense of accomplishment to know I got it for a few cents cheaper.  Nevermind that I probably spent what I saved just to get there.  I suppose I will give this coupon-hunting thing a go.  What can I lose?

Speaking of the budget…we are really pushing it these days with Mat’s new (better, but lower paying) job.  We are having to dip into savings just to make ends meet.  I am not getting very far with J.Hilburn, but not from lack of trying.  The service and product are great, but I can’t seem to find clients to have an opportunity to share it with them.  I can’t invest in the gas, or the promotional items, to get out and do more marketing.  I’ve all but gotten on my knees to beg people to send out the $50/50 coupons – and they would even get free stuff for something that would take 2 minutes!  I’m kind of running out of ideas.  I’ve been looking almost every day for interior design work in Nashville, but have not found anything.  I’ve applied for everything I have come across, as well as sent in my resume’ to people that aren’t hiring just yet, but have heard nothing.  I’ve broadened my search to jobs all over the US, but haven’t heard from any of those positions either.  I haven’t had much freelance work either.  It’s really a bummer when I think about how hard we are working to pay off this loan and I can’t even use the damn degree 3 years post graduation.  My next idea has been to go back to waiting tables by finding a place that is open for breakfast so I could hopefully be back in time to take over baby duty before the hubs leaves for work.  I would need something close to home to save on time and gas…but I haven’t come across much out here.  My last option is baby-sitting.  I wish we could just open up our dance studio now and get that show on the road.  Yes, I want to keep Tanami out of daycare, but I never intended to stay home and this loan isn’t paying for itself.  In Oz we were paying $3K/mo., now we are down to $550/mo and $420 of that is interest.  We aren’t going to get anywhere at this rate.  Grown up life is really the pits sometimes!

In other news….just an update on the Amber teething necklace.  It’s AMAZING.  Tanami has started cutting teeth and there is no drool, no irritability, no fever…nothing.  She has been more clingy than usual, but I can tolerate that.  Maybe it’s not the necklace and we’ve just been lucky, but I am not taking it off to find out.

I’m just going to take it one day at a time.  I’m going to make as healthy choices as I possibly can.  I’m going to enjoy the moments I do have with my Daughter before any major changes come up.  I’m going to do what I can to promote my business from home to the best of my ability.  I’m going to try to make the most of what we’ve got.  I’m going….no, seriously, I’m going.

 

clean.

Organic and frugality….is that an oxymoron?

Since April 2008 (so our entire marriage), we have lived on a tight budget to pay off this loan.  Now we are not only living on a tight budget to pay off the loan, we are on an even tighter budget to accomplish this while allowing me to be home and keep Tanami out of daycare.  Sadly, at the moment, the student loan is on the back burner until my business picks up some more.  Not to worry because if I had been working out of the house, I would have missed my baby girl’s FIRST 6 STEPS she took today.  Could someone please clean my melted heart up off the carpet?

I digress.  I’m not sure if Nashville is more expensive than Atlanta, or if prices have just increased a lot since we were living here last, but grocery money just isn’t going as far as it used to.  We are almost paying exactly what we were paying for groceries in Australia.  Groceries of a much better quality might I add.  Ideally, we’ve got $65/wk to spend on groceries.  This includes pretty much anything and everything you would buy at the store…so grooming products, cleaning products, whatever.  Unfortunately, I can’t seem to keep it under $75/wk, so we are going to have to change our shopping.  So with $65/wk…can you really buy organic?  Well, possibly, somewhere…but in our home…not really.  In our home, Tanami gets organic, and the rest of the family gets the next best thing.  I found a recipe for a produce wash that Oprah suggested when you can’t buy organic.

1 cup filtered water

1 cup white vinegar

1 tblsp baking soda

a few drops of grapefruit seed oil

Of course, if you remember from middle school science class – this is almost the recipe for a home-made volcano…so use a big pitcher to mix before putting it into a spray bottle.  Spray it on your produce and let sit 5-10 minutes, then rinse.  Personally, I leave out the grapefruit seed oil and use lemon juice instead.  The FDA doesn’t have wonderful things to say about Grapefruit seed oil and I’d rather just not risk it when I am using the stuff to be healthier in the first place!  It works a treat!  I was a bit iffy at first because vinegar just flat out reeks…but you don’t taste it at all.  So all of this is much cheaper than buying the fancy schmancy veggie wash at the grocery (which does contain grapefruit seed oil) – and I suppose if you can’t afford “organic” it’s the next best thing.

And just because you are an el’cheapo like me, there is no reason your health must suffer.  We steer clear of the harsh chemicals to clean the house as well.  I’ve been shown, or found myself, some great recipes for all-purpose cleaner and dish washing detergent.  Again…I was skeptical, but I’m going to give them the thumbs up.

Someone likes to play in it…

And who wants to eat off dishes covered in left behind detergent.  Ick.  So here ya go:

Cheap, Effective, Eco-friendly Dishwashing Detergent  (found this over on TheJadeLeaf’s Blog)

1 tablespoon of borax
3 tablespoons of baking soda
a few drops of lemon essential oil

Amazing All Purpose Cleaner (Thanks Melody!)

1 tsp. washing soda
1 tsp. liquid peppermint castile soap
2 cups hot water
2 Tbsp. white vinegar
10 drops peppermint essential oil

Here’s one for laundry detergent:

1/3 to 1/2 cup liquid lavender Castile soap
1/2 cup washing soda ( I use Arm & Hammer Washing Soda)
1/2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team Borax)

I honestly have not tried the laundry detergent yet…but when I run out of the crap in a box that I currently have, I will be giving it a go.

I think I may hit up the local farmer’s market to do some comparison shopping.  I’ve been making things from scratch as much as possible and avoiding the simple cheap options like betty crocker dinners that come out of a box for $3.  They are cheap and tasty, but full of badness.  Speaking of, I’ve got some home-made oatmeal cookies to bag up before the little wakes from her nap.

 

 

small victories

sheer excitement

this week is for small victories.

mathew started a new (and much better, I hope) job

i joined a meet up group for mamas who are entrepeneurs in my area…and happened to meet my neighbor across the way

i sold my first custom shirt to a client and made an awesome contact (must stop wanting to adopt clients as friends)

my 8 month old daughter is peeing in the toilet…and i don’t mean the plastic baby ones either

i’ve been blessed with kind people in my life lately

when one door closes…

This new year hasn’t started out exactly as I’d hoped.  You see, we’d gotten this momentum of good things going and had slightly figured things out…but as the world does, it threw a kink in the plan.  When Mat went to work after the mandatory break they made him take UNPAID from the 24th – 1st, they told him they were not only cutting his hours from 40 to 37, but also decreasing his pay by $3.00/hr.  Perhaps some people don’t notice an extra $10K a year missing form their paycheck, but in this house, every penny counts.  Ouch.  This has come as a pretty big blow.  Especially since I am still ticked at this company for saying they were going to get health insurance and still not doing it.  We are a ticking time bomb with no health insurance.  Did I mention my baby girl has her first runny nose of her entire life, but it’s a good thing I am not one of those “rush to the Dr.” types of Mama’s because we can’t afford it.  Dear Australia, I miss you, and your philosophy that Healthcare is a RIGHT, not a privilege.

All of that is about to change.  A few new doors and other opportunities have been opened.  My husband has integrity.  He is a ballroom dance instructor…he sells an elegant, true-to-form service.  He doesn’t take ridiculous amounts of people’s money and sell them crap and call it gold.  This studio had the word “Ballroom” in their name, but they didn’t want to teach ballroom dancing…they wanted to teach country and western dancing in their blue jeans to the younger crowd but still charge them $116/lesson.  Their marketing was not matching their service.  This is probably the reason they are going under.  It’s really a shame…the financial backer of the whole thing was a really lovely lady.  Anyway…glad my husband has gotten out of their before he sank with the ship.  In one day he has left one job and been offered two with another interview tomorrow as well.  Secretly, I am hoping he takes the job at the dance studio — it’s the studio his job in Atlanta had taken their business plan from so it’s something he is very familiar with.  They are incredibly successful and friendly.  Plus I might be able to do some work from home for them.  They get my vote!!

On a different note…I have started making my own bread.  It was DELISH.  So incredibly happy with how it turned out.  Even happier that I froze two loaves worth of dough.  It took 6 hours, but totally worth it.  Dear Santa, next year I want a bread machine.

homemade wheat bread...mmmm

I’m into making things at the moment.  I’m a real Martha Stewart.  For lunch today I had homemade broccoli and cheese soup (thank you magic bullet).  Oh, did I mention, I’m back on dairy!  WHOOHOO.  Tanami has not seemed to be bothered by it.  Though I am limiting it simply because my body (while it may be smaller) feels happier when it isn’t bogged down with cow’s milk.  Speaking of making things…I’ve found a few recipes I can’t wait to try out.  Nope, they aren’t for food.  One is for dishwasher detergent, and another one is for all-purpose cleaner.  Seeing how I am into all things natural…I’m ditching the green cleaning solution that I currently use and making my own.  My kid likes to lick things…doors, the oven, the fridge…so I want to be cleaning these things that are safe for her — and if I am lucky things that might deter her from such strange activities.  Our dishwasher is pretty crap at getting things clean so I can only imagine the ick that is left on the  dishes.  No thanks.

I also broke out the sewing machine and made an attempt at sewing…a finger puppet.  So maybe there is a hole in it from where the sewing machine went absolutely crazy fast and I couldn’t control it…but otherwise, I think I did well not to sew my finger to it.  I just have a problem of wanting things to happen immediately without so much as reading an instruction manual….but I think I am going to have to suck it up and read about it a bit.

To get in the habit of practicing with my camera, I’ve started the 365 project.  You can follow me here  I don’t know if I will really complete it since I am already finding it difficult to find the time every day to get a photo decent enough to put on it.  I am wanting to change the layout of my blog a bit anyway and make it more about photos and less about words.  Don’t photos speak a thousand words anyway?  I don’t know…but I’m finding myself wanting to withdraw from technology these days.  My little shadow doesn’t allow me much time to myself and I think time is better spent doing things like showering than typing out long blog posts.

Life is changing quickly.  I can’t wait to see what this week will bring.

2012 improvements

I don’t like the word “resolution”.  So here is a short list of “improvements” I’d like to make in my life for 2012.

Reflect More.

Those moments spent in the quiet dark while rocking my girl to sleep are some of the most lending for thought.

Say Yes.

To chances, adventures, the unknown, and most importantly to the times I assume things will turn out in a negative way.

Be present.

We are in the States.  I must learn to appreciate where we are today, and not get fixated on where we are going.

Craft more.

I will conquer the sewing machine.  I will conquer the DSLR (complete the 365 project).  I will make home-made goodies.

Eat Breakfast.

Breakfast is our only meal time as a family – make it a priority.

Make plans.

Begin working on our business plan for the dance studio.

Remember ME.

I won’t neglect myself, or forget that I am more than just a wife & mother.  I have a career, hobbies, thoughts, and feelings of my own.

Live wholesome.

Real food.  Real products.  Real values.

Frugal (well)living.

Continue to pay down the loan without compromising our health or happiness.

Get healthy.

Gain weight by eating well, build muscle, remember my vitamins.

Be thankful.

A beautiful family, roof over our heads, food in our bellies, and money in the bank.  Life. is. good.

2012….ready, set. GO.