down to earth

I wanted to continue on yesterday's theme of pinching pennies to talk about a few things we can all do to save money. One of the best ways to save at the grocery store is to work out the unit price of what you are buying. For example, if you want to buy coffee and one pack is 200 grams for $8.98 ($8.98 divided by 200 grams = 0.044 cents a gram) and another pack is 500 grams at $18.33 ($18.33 divided by 500 grams = 0.036 cents a gram), the second pack is cheaper. So even though the second price is more, it's actually cheaper coffee. Or pineapple slices might be $1.86 for one pound (16oz) ($1.86 divided by 16 oz = 11 cents an ounce). Another brand is $3.05 for 1½ pounds (24oz) ($3.05 divided by 24 = 12 cents an ounce), so here the larger one is more expensive so you'd buy the smaller one. Take your calculator with you to the shops when you're working out your unit prices.

Another thing you can do is to make do with what you already have. If you find you're short of one ingredient when you're cooking something, do without it or make do with something you already have. The housewives of the depression years and those during the world wars developed a fine tradition of making do. Many of them continued on long after they needed to because it saved them money and resources, and it was the sensible thing to do. Learn to mend clothes, so you don't have to throw good clothes away just because they have a rip in them. Sew on buttons, mend zips, stitch hems. Unravel an old jumper and knit something else with it. Good yarn will always look nice, even on it's second life.

Try to give up meat, or eat less of it. Meat costs a lot to buy and it also takes a huge amount of water, space and resources to produce meat for the table. There are many delicious recipes to be cooked that have no meat. If you cut out meat, keep chickens and grow vegetables and fruit in your backyard, you'll be well on your way to reducing your food bill considerably.

Use less of everything. Smaller servings, less dressing on salad, less toothpaste on your toothbrush, less sauce on spaghetti, less butter on bread, fewer peaches in the cobbler etc. Reduce your amounts a little bit, no one will notice but it will add up.

Generics - buy them. When I was a spender, I wouldn't even look at generic brands. Now I buy them all the time and have been amazed that they're the same as the advertised brands. They're cheaper because you're not paying for advertising. There is one word of caution here though. I always check that my generic is made in Australia. Make sure what you buy is from your own country. This is important for the economy of your country and it cuts down on your food miles. If you keep buying cheap food from another country, there will come a time when that is all there will be to buy. And we all know what happens when there is no competition - the prices go up.

These are a few of the things I do to save money. They are all small steps that add up to a big difference. If you have something a bit unusual that works for you, something we might not have heard of, please share it with us so we all might benefit.

It’s getting a bit scary with prices rises lately. It’s not just the price of fuel, which increases almost every week, it’s also grocery, meat, fish, fruit and vegetable prices. It seems everything is affected by the price of fuel; when that goes up, everything else follows. I thought by now more people would have realised that simple living could address many of the problems associated with these soaring prices, but it seems the blinkers are still on and credit card debt continues to rise. There are a lot of people being evicted from their homes because they can’t pay the mortgage, or from flats because they can’t afford the sharply increased rent. It’s pretty grim.

If you are still trapped in the have-now-pay-later mentality, think about your situation for a while. Petrol prices will continue to increase, so will food, clothing, appliances and everything made or delivered using fuel. If you are struggling now, it’s not going to get better if you don’t change.

It’s time to take stock of what we can do to help us through these tough times and to move to a gentler way of living. I’m pleased to report many of the things you’ll do in your simple life are environmentally friendly and cost less. But you already knew that, didn’t you? Less get on with it then. Let’s compare what you will pay for cleaning products if you are shopping at our largest grocery chain this week – Woolworths. I went online and checked these prices this morning. Let’s say we’re buying the general products used for cleaning in the home: laundry detergent, spray and wipe, floor cleaner, bathroom scrubber cream, dishwasher (machine) detergent, in sink dishwashing detergent, oxygen bleach, liquid bleach and toilet cleaner. Buying all that would cost you $51.91, most of it is environmentally unsound and you’ll have a lot of packaging and waste products to deal with, adding to the environmental expense. You do NOT need a different product for each cleaning job. That is a lie told to us so often by advertisers that we came to believe it. You can clean everything in your home using these five products: borax - $3.44, washing soda $3.22, laundry soap - $1.49, 2 litres white vinegar - $1.21, 5kgs bicarb soda - $6.95. They will cost you $16.31 (today’s prices) and they’ll last you a lot longer than a week or two. Cut up worn out towels for cleaning cloths.

Just on those cleaning products alone, you’ll save yourself $35.60, you’ll save your local streams from the harsh chemicals, you’ll save your rubbish tip from all that plastic waste, you’ll save time shopping less and you’ll add to your life skills by being about to make your own cleansers.

As well as changing what is bought, you could also start stockpiling so that you buy most of your needs on sale, then shop from your cupboard each week. I have written about stockpiling here and here.

There are many other things to be done in ordinary homes as well as saving on grocery prices. Get rid of pay TV, mobile (cell) phones and use public transport instead of driving everywhere. Mend your clothes, learn to sew and make a few simple things, knit. Grow vegetables and fruit, keep chickens, learn to cook from scratch – all these things will save you money. I know everyone can’t do everything suggested here, but everyone can do some of them.

Involve your children in your changes. Today’s children are much more aware than they’re given credit for. Ask one child to monitor your electricity meter and to devise a scheme where you can save electricity – turning off lights not being used, turning off appliances at the wall, buying compact fluro globes etc. Ask another child to monitor your water meter and to come us with a water saving policy for the family – using grey water on the garden, four minute showers, less toilet flushing and do a trial on how to save water on washing up. Is you dishwasher or washing by hand best in your home? There are many ways to get the children involved. Reward them with a family outing when you start seeing the results of their changes, and praise them for their thoughtfulness and their help.

I could go on and on about this but this post is getting too long already, so I'll stop. But I do want to state clearly, you are not helpless in these difficult times. There are things you can do to save money, get rid of debt and regain your independence from large retailers. The choice is yours. If you do decide to change and work towards a simpler life, once one domino falls, they will continue to fall and a new life will open up for you. The first step is yours for the taking.

I will continue on this theme tomorrow.

There is a secret gauge by which cooks measure other cooks - that gauge is how well dough is made. If you can make good bread, pasta, noodles, muffins, scones, tortillas or biscuits, you usually make other things well too. The secret to making a good dough is to use a good recipe and to feel the dough with your fingers. Most doughs require fingers in the mix but if you've only made dough in a bread machine in the past, I encourage you to feel the dough as you go. After a while you'll get to know the exact texture and whether the dough needs more water or more flour. If you go by eye alone, you won't get know "the feel" and you won't get a consistently good result. Please feel the dough. Become involved with the food you eat, feel it, know where it comes from, and make it exactly how you like it.

PASTA TUTORIAL

Wash your hands thoroughly.

PASTA RECIPE for 4 - 6 people

500 grams (1lb) plain (all purpose) flour

4 medium eggs - taken from the fridge two hours before use

salt

Make sure your working surface is clean and dry.
Tip the flour and salt onto your bench. This is where you'll mix your pasta. You could also use a bowl for mixing, and if you're a little bit uncoordinated, that would be better for you. Eggs might escape.
Make a well in the middle of the flour, making sure the walls of the well are high enough to contain the eggs. Break the eggs into the well.

Using your index finger, break the egg yolks, then swirl your finger around the eggs, slowly incorporating the flour into the eggs. Keep mixing the eggs and the flour together, making sure none of the eggs escape out of the well.
Mix until you have a firm ball of dough. The dough should be not too sticky and not too dry. If the dough is too dry, add half an egg shell of water to the mix. If it's too sticky, add more flour.

Place the dough on a clean plate and cover it with a slightly moist clean tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.
While you're waiting for the dough to settle, make your filling or sauce.
I made ravioli yesterday - with a spinach and ricotta filling.

RAVIOLI FILLING RECIPE

1 kg spinach or silverbeet (chard)

1 onion, finely chopped

garlic

olive oil

3 eggs

250g ricotta cheese

fresh oregano and thyme

salt and pepper

breadcrumbs or polenta on standby, just in case

Gently fry the onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent.
Chop the spinach and cook it in with the onion for a few minutes.
Put all ingredients, except the breadcrumbs/polenta, into a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Cool the filling.

Feel the filling. If it's too wet and sticky, add a small amount of breadcrumbs or polenta. I added about ¼ cup of polenta so I had a firm mix. When I put it on top of the pasta, it stood up without flopping or running.

Set up your pasta machine. Now go back to your pasta and sprinkle the dough ball with a little flour. Cut the ball in two, flatten it out and run it through the pasta machine on its widest setting about ten times. If the kids are around, they can help you by turning the handle while you feed the dough into the machine.
I used only half the dough I made, and froze the rest for use later.
Putting it through the machine ten times will work the dough and make it smooth. You can see in the photo below that the dough is kind of lumpy. This is the second run through the machine.
If you don't have a pasta machine, knead the dough for a few minutes to get that smoothness, then cut the dough in two and start rolling it out with your rolling pin. You need to keep rolling until you have a very thin dough.

You'll end up with a very long thin piece of dough. Cut it in two in equal portions.

Take dessertspoon portions of the filling and place them along the pasta dough, giving yourself enough space in between to cut the dough with an edge between each ravioli.

Put the other piece of pasta dough over the top of the filling.

Now get some sort of cutter - a cookie cutter, or scone cutter and cut out the ravioli.

Lightly sprinkle some flower onto a clean plate and place the ravioli on top. They will stick to the plate if there is no flour on it. Don't pile them on top of each other. At this stage they're fragile and have to be handled with care. You might need two plates. If you intend making up all the dough, sprinkle flour onto your bench and place them on the bench until they're cooked or frozen.
To cook the ravioli, boil water in a large saucepan and place the ravioli in. Continue a gentle boil. They will come to the surface after a couple of minutes, then cook for another five minutes.
Pour into a strainer to drain off all the water.
Serve with a little butter and a good sprinkle of fresh, finely grated parmesan.

If you make up all the pasta into raviolis, it will keep in the fridge for one day if you don't cook them all straight away. The ravioli may also be frozen: place the raviolis onto a lightly floured board or cookie sheet and place it in the freezer. When they're all frozen, take them off the board/sheet and store in a sealed plastic bag or container.

The pasta recipe above is enough for the amounts given for the ravioli filling. Just to clarify, you cut the dough ball in two - I used half and have the other half in the freezer to be used later this week. When you work the dough, you halve it again, but this time the two halves are used - one as the base of the ravioli and one for the top. I hope that makes sense.

You could also use this pasta recipe to make fettucini.

If you want to be more frugal with this recipe, use two eggs and enough water to form a firm dough. You could also make this pasta with no eggs, using only tap water or mineral water.

Pasta is a good wholesome meal that can be modified many ways. If you're learning to cook, pasta would be a great early addition to your cooking skills. If you've only ever eaten dry pasta, try this recipe, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Work is finished at the neighbourhood centre for the week and today will be my first day here doing my normal routine in what seems like ages. Hanno has done all the washing, hanging out and folding, without being asked :- ), so all I have to do with the laundry now is to put it away and iron. Ugh, all that ironing. I'm going to tackle it in 30 minute blocks. I know I won't get it all done but I'm going to pretend that is my goal.

There are a couple of bathrooms that need cleaning, I'll change the linen on our bed and I have some plants to go in. We have almost finished the vegetable garden now, there are just peas and beans to plant up, along with a few sugarloaf cabbages. I also have some small daisies to go in. I always plant flowers in the vegetable garden as they attract the bees, so we get good pollination, and they look beautiful. Beauty is always the best excuse for doing something.

Two buckets of rosellas were picked yesterday and I'll make tea and cordial with them today. There are still quite a few bushes to pick so they'll be made into jam that should be enough for us throughout the year.

I have more bad news about the chooks. Little Lotte was taken by a snake last Saturday night. The night after the party, Lotte went to bed, tucked up in a closed hen house with the rest of the girls, and the next morning there was no sign of her. She was Hanno's favourite, so he was upset and angry that she was taken. The only sign that something had happened was a small amount of blood, but no other signs - no feathers left behind and we heard no noise. Hanno spent the next day covering all the coop openings with small gauge wire so no snakes can enter. We think it climbed a tree right next to the coop and came in just under the roof. It's probably a young python, there are a lot of them around here; the same one that killed the other silver Hamburg, Stella Gladys, two weeks ago. Stella Gladys was bigger than Lotte and couldn't be swallowed whole, so she was left, dead, with a stretched neck and wet down to her waist. It's pretty gruesome. We've delayed putting the other babies into the coop at night and they're still sleeping in a large box covered with a blanket to keep them warm at night.

My sister Kathleen, who commented yesterday for the first time, gave me a pasta maker for my birthday. I'll be using it today to make some lasagna sheets that I'll make into ravioli. I'll stuff them with spinach and ricotta for our dinner tonight. Thanks Kathleen! There will be photos of that tomorrow and, if I get myself organised today, a tutorial on making pasta.

And another birthday gift is this felt and wool cushion cover, made by Tricia. Isn't it beautiful! As is the tradition of us sisters, we don't always go by patterns but rather what is in our heads. You get the best things using imagination as your guide.

People are often surprised when I tell them that I’ve never had a permanent full-time job. I have worked full-time hours as a waitress and in office administration, but they weren’t permanent positions – I was doing temp work or extra shifts as a student mostly.

I was a student doing a double-degree before I became a mother. I intended to go to work, to study further, to do something with my life. I’m glad I realised that being an at-home mother is a wonderful way to live. A blessing. A privilege.

I’ve been at home whilst my husband studied, did an adult apprenticeship, worked very long hours, worked away and worked part-time. We’ve always found a way to pay for our expenses and move ahead. We have struggled, but we have made it through so far.

I have usually dabbled in some sort of paid hobby:

* Several years ago I did some design work on the computer – stationery, address labels etc.

* I have usually sold our excess household items, books etc through auction sites and on internet forums. This generally funds new purchases.

* For awhile the children and I were packaging our saved seeds and bulk-bought seeds and selling these online. This appealed to us because growing food is something we are passionate about.

* We’ve also sold excess eggs, produce, jams and plants from a roadside stall.

* I have done some freelance writing and editing. Sometimes a lot of hours for reasonable pay, and sometimes only small amounts of work and financial reward. I stick to my interests with the freelancing, and don’t pursue work outside my field of parenting and education and my passion of gardening.

* Late last year I bought an online business from a busy friend who had returned to full-time study and couldn’t keep up with the business. It is called Spiral Garden and is a real blessing in our lives. Right now I am still investing hours setting it up and trying to make enough to expand and buy stock. In the future I think it will be a steady stream of income for me, while I’m at home with my children – homeschooling, growing food and planting trees. Ideally such a venture would support our family, but then I would be stuck in my home office several days a week keeping the business going and somehow our lives would need to accommodate this. At the moment my husband can earn more than me per hour, so he’s still out there working, dreaming of being home more to work on the farm and be with the children.

While my hobbies have paid me, they’ve been more about keeping my mind active and showing my children how there are many ways to make money. The pocket money is lovely, and has helped to support my hobbies at least – more plants for the garden, some fabric for sewing, magazine subscriptions etc.

If I needed more money to be able to stay at home I would initially look at where I could further save money. A dollar saved is a dollar earned – more because it’s not taxed! If we were still struggling I’d pursue one of my latest venture (such as those listed above) or take in ironing or offer childcare, because these fit with my lifestyle of being at home with children. If this didn’t work, I would look for casual work outside of normal working hours so that I could go to work when my husband was at home with the children. Now that they’re older, I can see that this could be quite manageable (the youngest is 4 years old). I'd try to avoid expenses such as commuting a great distance, or a large outlay for clothing - I’d want to keep as much of my earnings as possible! If you are crafty, computer-savvy, a keen photographer, a wordsmith, good with woodwork or flowers or languages for examples - there are alternative employment opportunities out there...

I hope this post helps you to think about your options, especially if you have young families. I encourage you to think about what you’re good at, where your interests lie, what sort of work you prefer, what’s lacking in your community and how you can perhaps make a little extra money to help the family budget or save for the future. I’m not saying that staying at home is better than working, but it is a wonderful lifestyle for us. Watching my sister juggle her children and work, and seeing my own mother (against her wishes) do the same from when I was three years old – I know I choose this way because it’s what I can handle. I prefer to be home, cooking from scratch, growing food, mending clothes and making do, and feel blessed to have been able to do so for 14 years.

Further Reading:
Bringing it Home by Wendy Priesnitz
Hundreds of Ways to Make Money From Home by Rosalind Fox and Tessa Stowe
Making Money from Home by Better Living Collections
Making Money from your Garden by Jackie French
Write to Publish by Vin Maskell & Gina Perry
http://www.wahm.com/
http://oz-e-wahm.com/

Happy Birthday to you, Rhonda!

* Third in a series of guest posts by Belinda Moore. Here are part one and part two of this series.

I will be 60 years old tomorrow. I can hardly believe it. How can someone who so clearly remembers being at school, seeing Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Rolling Stones when they were in their 20s, revelling in the first flush of motherhood and then being pregnant again 12 weeks later, and all those memories of my teenage sons, how could she be 60? It’s amazing. But it’s also wonderful, life affirming and beautiful. I love being my age. I feel I’ve gained my stripes and that I’m now a senior member of my community. I’m not sure what’s ahead for me but I want to make my later years just as interesting, if not more so, as my younger years. I owe that to myself, to Hanno, my sons and to those people who might look to me as a role model.

We have few good role models in this life. We all know they’re not apparent in the media; the mothers and women we see each day in magazines and on TV are not real. They’re a conglomeration of the 50s housewife and whoever has been fashionable on TV recently. I would like to have a role model that I can relate to; an authentic woman who believes in herself, works hard, supports her family and friends and who rejects the modern idea that no matter what age we are we must look and act young. I would like to have a role model who is independent, non-conformist and who expands the current idea of what it is to be an older woman in our society.

Before I started going grey I used to dye my hair. As soon as the grey appeared, I stopped. My hairdresser told me I did the opposite of what other women did and that I should keep dyeing my hair to cover the grey. I stopped going to that hairdresser. I don’t want to support people or businesses who tell women to copy every other carbon copy and who imply that women only have value if they look young. I want to look like myself. I want to look my age. I want to be authentic. I feel comfortable being me. I don’t look fashionable, I only look presentable when I go to work, often I look a bit daggy when I’m at home. I’m okay with that because I want to use the time I have, not on sprucing myself up, but on working on my life.

I know that what I look like doesn’t matter to my loved ones, just as what they look like doesn’t matter to me. It’s more important to me that they feel confident, loved and comfortable. I know that there will be days I look okay and days I don’t. If your hair is greying, if you’ve put on a few pounds or you feel you’re too skinny, too tall, not pretty enough, have the wrong colour eyes, or hair, or shoes, all those things are signs you don’t feel comfortable with you, and no matter what you change, you won’t change that feeling until you develop self esteem.

If you are struggling with aging or the fashion thing, if you haven’t yet developed your own style, I encourage you to stop thinking about what others think and decide what you want – what makes you happy and valued? If you can feel comfortable in your own skin, despite how you look, you will reap the rewards of it. Being your own true self will strengthen and sustain you. You won’t look to others for guidance on how to look and be, you will know what it takes to make you comfortable and you fix yourself on that.

One of the many wonderful things age brings, is confidence – it is but one of its many rewards. If you’re much younger, develop your own sense of style and confidence as you age. I will guarantee you this: if you try to fit into what your friends think you should be, you will never be tall enough, pretty enough, slim enough, or have the right clothes in the right colour, length or style. You will always fall short if you use someone else’s yardstick to measure yourself. As you evolve into the true and authentic person you are, without the trimmings – you will develop the grace and style that no fashion magazine could hope to emulate. You will be a confident woman, secure in the knowledge that you are who you are and not just a copy of someone else.

There is freedom in truly owning the face, hair and body of your own real age, even if they don't fit in with the current fashion. It is part of living an authentic life, rejecting the expectations of fashion and the judgement of friends and colleagues, to live as you really are. I know it takes courage to change, but if you feel uncomfortable or stressed or worn out by constantly trying to look young, slim and fashionable, I’m here to tell you that changing to what you really see yourself to be will liberate you and that growing older is nothing to fear.

I will be 60 years old tomorrow! I won't post as it is Bel's day and I might have a sleep in. After today I won't go on and on about my birthday or ageing for a while but I hope you've experienced a bit of joy I feel in turning 60. It really is a wonderful feeling.