Having "sense" means saving dollars!

A while back I posted that I had decided to fix our lawnmower instead of buying a new one. Well - I saved myself $161.00 by doing so today! The lawnmower cost us $39 to fix, whereas buying a new cheapie from the local discount department store was $200. So I was economical with our financial resources, and saved our already owned lawnmower from going to the landfill.

The other thing I did today was to order a new bowl and feed tube for my food processor. It is a brilliant little device - it has saved me countless hours of food preparation and has been so faithful. The motor in it still runs like a charm. I bought it on sale when I was pregnant with baby number two, so it is about 11 years old.

Unfortunately the plastic bowl on it cracked - probably from many years of use - and being in and out of the dishwasher. Plastic does tend to end up getting brittle after a while, so 11 years for a plastic bowl is a good innings, for the really heavy load of work that it has done.

So - considering that the food processor cost me about $150, that I had bought it on sale, and it had been reduced in the post Christmas sales by about 60 percent - and that was over a decade ago, I looked at an equivalent replacement, and to buy a new one I was looking at at least about $400.00.

So, I enquired about replacing the parts to the bowl that I needed - all up, including postage - the parts are being imported from France where it is made - it cost me no more than $26.00. How crazy is that. I bought a brilliant French food processor at a bargain price, it is great quality, and to replace the parts was dirt cheap!

Doing your research, getting a good quality product at a good price, and keeping it in good repair will pay you lots of dividends!!! The same is true of your car, and your computer - make sure that you maintain those, and they will give you good service.

This pretty much extends even to your body!!! I have only had two sedatives in the whole lot of the past 14 months - because I have been eating lots better, not drinking 12 cups of coffee a day like I was, drinking heaps and heaps of soda pop, eating lots more fruit and vegies, and cutting back on sugar and processed foods.

My son wanted chicken and chips for tea - he even suggested to me that "Mum we should have broccoli with that to make it a more rounded meal," from a ten year old who was raised going virtually every other day driving in a takeaway store drive through, wow, it blew me away!!! The chicken is a fresh roast chicken that I have stuck in the oven, along with my own home made chips. I peel them, chop them up and put some gourmet vegetable stock, some olive oil and the cut up chips into a tupperware season serve, shake them up, then bake it all together for about one and a half hours at 180 degrees celsius. Nice. Then we shall have steamed up broccoli with that.

I even buy plain old fresh meat for the cats now, instead of dry cat food. My brown cat was having serious allergies to the dried food, and puking it up all the time. The cat's back end products weren't particularly pleasant either.

I swapped to unprocessed kangaroo meat and since then the two moggies (Australian slang for cats) have been really quite healthy, and don't have any more digestive complaints. So I am saving money there by giving them better food. Using a lot less kitty litter too, because they aren't as thirsty as they used to be.

*I am not saying that dry food is bad for your cat - check with your vet as to the recommendations that they have for an appropriate diet for your cat or dog. Fresh roo meat was recommended to me by the breeder of my two burmese fur babies. There are certainly some very high quality dry foods available for cats.

I also spend a lot more on preventative health than what I used to - I go and see an exercise physiologist once a week, and this costs me a reasonable amount, but I utilise my health cover to help cover it. To me it is worth it, because I am much more mentally resilient and not as exhausted all the time.

Do I still have chocolate?? Yes, but I buy the very best I can afford - I buy an expensive Swiss dark chocolate with roast almonds. I don't tend to read fashion magazines anymore either - I tend to buy more health magazines, because I find great little health tweaks in there that help me keep on the straight and narrow, and if I get back on the bandwagon they are also a source of inspiration to keep going with my healthy lifestyle.

Better quality, consistently maintained - seems to save money for a whole lot of things!! It takes an attitude of looking at yourself as though you are worthwhile - I know because I don't hate myself anymore and think that I am worthwhile as a human being, I take better care of myself - I am learning to take better care of my things too, not just to throw them away and get another cheap and nasty whatever when something breaks down.

You are worthwhile. I don't know if anybody has told you that lately, and I know that I have been writing today about saving money - but it really comes down to being a wise and resourceful person who has healthy self respect. If you have healthy self respect and love yourself and take care of yourself, that is not a bad thing. If you don't take care of yourself, who will? I had to learn to take up my responsibility, and I have to say that my life, although at times it can be very exhausting and stressful - I am loving my life, more now than I ever have.

Discover how wonderful you are. I learned that I was wonderful through my faith, and learning about God's love for me. You may have a different thing that will show you how valuable you are - but know that the world would be not the way it should be, if you weren't here. You are here for a reason. Cherish your life, and your uniqueness.

Repair it or recycle - don't chuck it

Well, I have just gone and cancelled a layby for a new lawn mower. I put the money onto my credit card.

I have made a resolve with myself not to put anything else on credit, and to give myself a cash allowance per week - it is really making me sit down and examine what I really am motivated to purchase, and if the purchase will serve me well, or be a dud investment.

As for the lawnmower, we have a good quality lawnmower sitting out in the garden shed, but it isn't currently working.

I just rang and got a quote to repair it, and it is going to cost me $20 for a quote. I am hoping and praying that it is a simple repair, and that I won't end up having to shell out huge amounts of dollars ... either way, it is going to be cheaper than the cost of a new lawnmower.

As far as resource management goes, I have been getting the message from things I read, and pray about - that I ought to look after the things I already have rather than to go out and shell out money for new things, only adding the broken down stuff to the landfill.

I have a really really old fridge in the shed - I don't want to turn it on, but neither am I going to give it away to a charity, because I don't believe that it would be environmentally responsible - it burns way too many kilowatts and it would also cost somebody a hideous amount of money to run. So I figured I have solved my conundrum - I rang around the scrap metal recyclers, and have found somebody who will buy my old fridge to recycle the metal. *cool*

So, two dilemmas solved today - repair the old mower, ditch the old fridge to put money towards the cost of repairing the mower.

Oh yeah - before I forget - if you want to get paid for all your old electronics - there are websites that will buy them - they pay you to be environmentally responsible: Buy and Sell Your Old Electronics here.

Here is a resource (and a thrifty one!) for economically and environmentally sustainable living: (Amazon)Reuse Repair Recycle: A Mine of Creative Ideas for Thrifty Living
And another: Don't Throw It Out: Recycle, Renew and Reuse to Make Things Last (Amazon)
For home decorating ideas Restore. Recycle. Repurpose.: Create a Beautiful Home (A Country Living Book)
And one of my own favourites -
Shabby Chic (Amazon)