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.

Saving Yourself Money By Investing in Your Skills

By investing in your skills - you can save money by being able to do it yourself, and also be able to make money by being more employable or having the opportunity to run your own service for others
About five or so years ago, I decided to go to the local TAFE college to learn how to put together and fix computers. Unfortunately for me though, I didn't get to finish it off - I did about two thirds of the course. What I did learn though has saved me hundreds of dollars!!!
Computer technicians can charge upwards of around $50 plus an hour (don't take my word for it though - phone around in your own local area for a good price). I remember a long time ago, we had a video card in the computer throw it in - it cost me around $130 to get it looked at - and that was a good price at the time (and that was quite a number of years ago). With the price of goods increasing, and the post global recession economy, people are deciding to go more frugal, and learning more DIY kind of stuff. There are ways and means of DIY - getting books from the library, attending a community course etc. *some things need to be left to the experts - I had a dream last night about making sure we hired a qualified electrician LOL - must have had something to do with the book I was reading about time saving tips*
Anyway - back to my course - the Certificate III in Information Technology (General): it ended up costing me about $500. I was able to get a concession fee, because I live on a disability pension, and I paid it off through Centrepay - which is where you can get course fees paid out of your welfare payment in Australia.
My hubby at the time - about halfway through my course - ended up getting a bad dose of pneumonia, and ended up in hospital. This kind of threw a spanner in the works, and it was difficult to get to classes. I did what I could, and I spoke to the disability services officer at the TAFE college, and he was able to help me get as much completed as I could.
So I finished off the six months of community college with about 10 competencies out of the course. And I was able to put together our computers, back them up, install operating systems, get rid of viruses, replace hard dives, set up a really great home network, and save myself loads of money in the interim.
Anyway - so fast forward to today - whenever I go to the main mall in the middle of town, from time to time I walk past the Skilling Solutions Queensland office. The Queensland State Government has set up this really neat scholarship program, where they can help you upgrade your qualifications, get recognition for your existing skills, and help you basically become more employable.
So two weeks ago, I visited Skilling Solutions http://www.skillingsolutions.qld.gov.au/ (for more information) to see if they could assist me. They were able to help my husband - who is by trade an engineering patternmaker, but has been working in a warehouse and stores at a local foundry. He was able to get a Certificate III in Transport and Logistics (Warehousing) through a recognition of prior skills scholarship. It was a very straightforward process, a little time consuming, but he was able to get recognition for his skills, and it will help him be more employable in the future.
So - I am braving it myself now. Today I am filling out the paperwork to finish off my IT qualification and get it off to the local community college ( http://www.tafe.qld.gov.au/ for more information on Queensland TAFE colleges - Technical and Further Education). I hate leaving things unfinished. It is really important to me to get this finished off, it gives me some closure, and it may lead to employment as a IT support officer. Either way - it will pay dividends. Speaking of IT bargains - check out some amazing specials on IT equipment - Comp-U-Plus 

In this day and age, it is vital to get oneself skilled up. I went to university and did a three year degree in Journalism and Communications. That is great - but there isn't much calling for it in the town where I work. I recommend when you are evaluating your own skillset, and looking to expand your skills, you do a web search to look for how much in demand those skills are (for example in Australia - the Australian Job Outlook: http://joboutlook.gov.au/ The other thing I recommend doing is to an online evaluation of your skills and interests, and compare these to recommended career fields - for example, in Australia - there is the My Future website, where you can register and have a free online career guidance report, according to such things as your skills, interests, and job requirement preferences (eg outdoor, indoor, lifestyle, flexible arrangements) http://www.myfuture.edu.au/ *Also check around and see what local resources are available to you, such as a careers counsellor at your local school or college*
Anyway I am off to get this paperwork done, and finish off this certificate!

The Benefits of a Declutter

Today I feel that I have achieved something! I decided that I would get in and do a declutter of my bathroom toiletries supply cupboard. I had a whole lot of stuff in there. I brought it all out, put it in a box, and went through and chucked out all the old out of date stuff, all the stuff that was no good, and I found a treasure trove - that will save me a fortune in buying more stuff - when I already have it!!
I found deodorants, razors, shaving cream, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash - all kinds of things. I am now in the process of putting together an inventory, and this will be my list of things NOT to buy :-)
A don't buy list is a great idea, because more than likely, if you haven't checked - you are wasting your money when you already have something.
It only took me about 30 minutes to go through it all and sort it out. I had some baskets that I could put all the sorted categories into (I thought I would need to get some but I already had those as well!) and I even set myself out a pamper station with all kinds of goodies that I can have a luxurious spa at home experience - all without having to go out and buy new stuff! So I have saved myself a load of money, and will not waste the resources I already have! *If you don't know how to declutter, and would like to develop organisation and routines - I recommend joining Flylady - she is great and very encouraging. I have her declutter kit, and have bought her book Sink Reflections. She really is quite good. There are other organisation sites around - check out a search engine. For Flylady's helpful hints - go to www.flylady.net.
And save yourself a whole load of time and money and resources!!!