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It's Spring and I'm down with a cold

Can't believe it. The weather is getting better, the garden invites. And here I am sick. But on the positive note, we had our 1st light party as a family and it was a hit. Really good to focus on what the Bible says, and have fun together. Then sitting and waiting for trick or treater to turn away. sadly we had one little girl come to the door. And this is how that went. Knock, knock (me) "Hello" there's a little may be 5yrs old girl all alone at our door silent. (me) "Sorry, we don't do Halloween here" while I looked for some adult or someone she must have been with it was 8pm. Finally she spoke (little girl) "Got any lollies?" (me) "No, sorry" and that was true only lollies we had in the house was DD9 birthday present lolly bag. As the story continued I went to see who she was with and out of the bush at front of our property was he 12yr old brother. (me) "Bye" as she was halfway to her brother. More then ever I can't stand Halloween!!
Well time to get ready and get children off to school.

Lets Get Spring Cleaning

It just has to be done. Next week on Monday 16th we are having a rental inspection of our home. I want the place shipshape. Have made it through most of winter, soon will be spring. But we have to get this done sooner then later. And the truth be told I'm thankful for it.
So today I have been attacking my DD8 room. Cleaning her walls and outside of her drawers, have yet to put clothes back into the drawers but have cleaned out her wardrobe. Will be sharing before and after photos today. Giving the room a total declutter, and making sure all is clean and tidy. Before I tackle the boys room, then my room (oh boy, oh boy)

Big Bills Due this Month

So I'm setting myself and our family a challenge. Live off what we have in our cupboards (freezer), only buying the basics. Save on petrol, power and water. Make do with what we have for the rest of this month. Have to pay over $2734 in bills. Our extra help we were getting has gone down saying my husbands pay has gone up, based on what he earned last year. But my husbands pay has gone down, this past month. It's the way life goes. and we have to make the most of it. Any way I'm going to focus on cleaning our home up this month and our veggie garden. Have had some great encouragement from this website Get Growing with NZ Gardener.  They have lots of helpful information and it's great to see things in action, not just reading what to do. So this week when we have a fine day I'm going to dig up our raised garden bed and get it prepared for growing vegetables. We have lots of sliverbeet but I want to grow some other vegetables. Will take before work photos and share our progress. Other plants that are growing are Rosemary bush, Parsley, and Thyme. We have a little tomato plant that I have been growing inside. Our mandarin tree still has fruit and so does our grapefruit. I would love to get some strawberry plants with my Mitre10 voucher, and vegetable plants. Then I'm not spending any money.

As I make another Waste Not Want Not Soup

My thoughts go to how much we can waste when we are not careful of planned. And I don't just mean with food either.
Clothes = How many times do we throw out some perfectly good clothes because they need mending? Or buy brand new clothes instead of Opp shopping? Or have more clothes then what we wear?
Power = Have all the lights on, use all electrical appliances all the time?
Water = Keep the tap running, fill the sink up high to wash dishes?
Petrol = All the time use the car even to places you could walk to?
Time = Doing nothing much when you think about it?
and of course Money = Buying what you don't need?

Almost Finished my Price Book

My $5 address book is almost complete, as my new price book. I'm getting a feel for the best prices for what we normally buy. I know the effort I have put in is worth it. So I can plan my shopping better. 
This week I hope to not spend much at all on groceries. But do have have a couple of friends birthdays to do something for this week.
The other project I'm working on is my routine. I'm getting put together on coloured card, since I'm a visual person it will help motivate me.
I have already done the family routine and it is up on the fridge now.
But must get back to getting children ready for school.

I could cry over the cost of MILK

We have been bless for awhile to be able to buy 2 litres of milk for $2.50. Where many other bottles of milk cost between $3 to almost $5. But this week I had a fright our cheapest place to get milk is now selling it for $2.80. It's still cheaper the $3, but it is almost there. We use to spend $10 a week on milk, now it will go up to $11.20. Now I do try to stretch our milk with a mix of milk powder, water and milk, but now might be the time to research. See if it is still the cheapest place to get milk, and how far can I stretch our milk?
Milk is a daily part of our diet. We have it with our cereal ( I had it with my porridge this morning), with our hot drinks, even in our baking it can be added. It's also used in making our cheese sauce for homemade lasagna. So I see this as an important project.
Today I have already made a loaf of bread for school lunches as well as cupcakes. Will be going to help my mum make chocolate chip cookies. So you could say today is my baking day. DS10 has done all the dishes, but I must go and wake the others up to get ready for school.