Day One - 1/1/11 - What we are planning for the day.

Good Bye 2010

Well it is a beautiful sunny morning in the Hunter Valley and we finished 2010 with attending the Hunter Valley Gardens Christmas lights and New Years Eve fireworks and all had a lovely time together as a family.

                                                                    HELLO 2011

Well this morning the washing got down over night and now needs to be hang out.

Hubby and I will be baking bread from the week, making yoghurt, ice blocks and jelly.

Need to sit down and work out what snacks we will cook for the week and start baking those and a menu plan for our lunch and dinner meals.

Going to plan out what other vegetables we can add to our vegetable gardens as we have some gift vouchers to Bunnings and plan on heading over their tommorrow to use these. Today will be a relaxing day for the family a well deserve break after getting ready for our challenge over the last few weeks, going to do a bit more planning and then go on a walk and chill out for the day in the kitchen and with a good book.

Weekly Family Meetings

Well day one - it is a beautiful sunny day here in the Valley, and this morning DH and I are baking bread, making yoghurt, ice blocks for this week. We then will be making the snacks up for the week and writing our menu plan with the kids when they wake up.

We will be having a weekly family meeting each Friday night after dinner over dessert (the only time of the week that it is allow lol).

At each meeting we will be discussing ideas, problems and suggestions.

Each of our children has their own calendar and on their calendars their days are marked out washing days, days that they need to feed the animals, meetings, things on etc.... This will be updated at each meeting.

The kids help with a phamplet deliver twice a week and receive $5.00 from each one, so they will receive their $10.00 from this each Friday and also their $10.00 pocket money. At the end of each month if they have not spent this money we will double it for them.

Out of their money they must purchase any thing they want through out the year, clothes, shoes, toys, books, dvd's, outings etc..... This will give they more control over their own money and how to use it wisely and they will learn that it does not go to far.

At each of the meetings the kids are to bring along their calendars to be updated, problems from the week, improvements for the next week both personally and as a family, 1 new saving idea that can be put into place. Our diary where we will be keeping our running costs for the family through out the challenge will be updated and we will go through what we have spent and highlight the things that we really could of done with out. We will add up what has been spent on food, and what hasn't been spent will come off our debt. We have allowed a food allowance of $80.00 per week only. The same will happen with fuel and a allowance of $100.00 per week has been allowed.

We have drawn up a hugh chart so we can see our debt coming down and this will give us a new lease of life at each meeting seeing it be reduced. The debt that we are aiming to clear in 2011 is $52,750.00

So here we go.

normally would have our family meeting on a Friday night to discuss how the week will pan out, do our menu plan etc.... but since we were out celebrating NYE last night it got moved forward to breakie today.

The kids are to bring to the meeting their calendars, which has their jobs on it for the week and things that are on in the family, 1 new saving idea, the amount of money they have spent over the last week, suggestions, complaints etc....

This will happen at the end of each week and give us some input on how we are going and where we are slacking off along the way. At the end of each month any money that the kids have not spent out of their pocket money and paper run we will be doubling it for them as a incentive. If they can do it for three months in a row they will receive a extra $50.00.

They is no spending planned for today so it will be a excellent day

Good bye 2010

Well it is nearly over - Good bye 2010, hello 2011 and debt free!

So looking forward to begining our challenge in just under an hour, $52,750.00 off debt will be gone this year and we will be debt free!

On top of this 2011 will be a year for me to find and rekindle with myself and my life, both physical and mentally. 2010 has not been a good year for our family nor for myself so we are now going to put all this behind us and move forward.

I say bring on 2011 and a happy new year to all my followers and their families. Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and follow on our journey. During the year would love to get your feeback on what we are doing, and your thoughts and suggestions along the way.

Linda and Family. xx

My wood stove has arrived!

Well we pick up our new secondhand wood stove over christmas and what a little beauty she is.

This is another way for us to save on our NO spend challenge, cheaping cooking and heating.

It has a water boiler on it so before winter comes we will get this hooked up to be able to heat all our water on, The oven has two shelves that are nice and deep so a lot of baking will be done, and two large hot plates on top to cook.

We are really lucky it fitted into our kitchen nicely right near the loungeroom also so our lounge room will get nice and warm also and since we have good flow throughout the house, the whole house should become pretty warm, so no more gas heater = no more electricity or gas.

We will be running it during the day and night during winter as we have access to unlimited fire wood so this makes it also so cheap for us as it is FREE also.

Travelling the road to our financial freedom

Travelling the road to our financial freedom

2011 - Family Challenge

This video is going to take part in our NO spend challenge 2011, unless we can do this challenge I don't think we could survive doing the NO spend challenge.

http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=76KDZ7NX

Let me know what you think.

Bring on 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get your FREE power thermomter here and receive great tips

Let's get power smart

Did you know?

Our population is increasing and each one of us is using more electricity all the time.
That's having a growing impact on our environment because almost all the electricity generated in NSW comes from coal-fired power stations. Burning coal to generate electricity causes a lot of carbon pollution (or greenhouse gases) to be released into the atmosphere.
In fact, electricity use accounts for more than a third of the carbon pollution in NSW.
The Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water NSW is supporting the community (households, businesses, public facilities and government agencies) to reduce our power use by being more energy efficient. This means we are all working together to lower the state's carbon pollution.
Reducing electricity use doesn't mean less comfort, it's just using power more wisely – like we've become more aware about the importance of conserving water. Of course being power-smart also means lower electricity bills, so saving power is a win-win situation for everyone.

Switch on to Save Power

The Save Power campaign is a NSW government initiative set up in response to the community's request for more information about how using electricity impacts our environment and what can be done to save power and lower power bills.
The Save Power campaign is designed to show households, business and public facilities simple actions that can be taken to reduce carbon pollution and save money on power bills.
It also provides information for all sectors of the community about rebates available and the many energy efficient programs the NSW government is providing.
Have a look around the Save Power website for more information about how you can save power and make a Power Pledge to lower the number of black balloons you produce.

What's a black balloon?

A black balloon is a great way to show the impact our power use has on the environment. The Victorian Government was the first to use the black balloon concept and many states are adopting the idea because it helps us to visualise something we can't see - carbon pollution.
Imagine one black balloon contains 50g of carbon pollution. The average NSW home produces 160,000 black balloons of carbon pollution a year - that's easier to visualise than eight tonnes of carbon pollution! Multiply that by 2.7 million homes in our state and that's an enormous number of black balloons being released into the atmosphere each year.
If we see how many black balloons our electricity use produces, and how many balloons can be saved by easy changes, it's more motivating for us to make those changes happen and lower the number of black balloons we are producing.
The Save Power campaign and website provides tips and tools to help you measure how many black balloons your home and workplace produces and shows you how to start making changes that will have an impact straight away - both on our environment and your power bills.

The campaign also provides information for all sectors of the community about rebates available and the many energy efficient programs the NSW government is providing.
Have a look around the site for more information about how you can save power and make a Power Pledge to lower the number of black balloons you produce.

LETS - Trading Items and Service without money.

Thought I might let people know about this who doesn't - we were in the Blue Mountains Lets many years ago when we lived there and used it heaps for many things, now we are in the Hunter Valley we have joined Hunter Lets and are getting good value out of it.

A LETSystem is a trading network supported by its own internal currency. It is self-regulating and allows its users to manage their account balance within the boundaries of the network.LETSystems are community based non-profit trading systems that enable members t...o exchange goods and services using little or no cash. It is a method of trading, which depends on skills and time instead of money, exchanging a unit of local currency (Molly), not as an alternative to conventional money but to compliment the current system of trade.LETSystems do not issue any currency, each person creates their own.The currency only exists as numbers in accounts, moving from account to account. The recording of these transactions is done using a computer.

This is very much like having a conventional cheque book account.Each member holds and account in a "central office" where transactions are recorded. trading is done with cheques and multilist transaction sheets. All accounts begin at zero.... For one account to move up, another account must move down.

So at any one time approximately half the members will have positive balances and the other half negative. Negative Balances are an essential feature of the system, so that they are not to be viewed as bad or wrong (ie. debts). Negative balances simply mean members have received more goods and services than they have given out. You can buy something with your first trade. If you wait to earn before you spend, you could find it slower to start trading.

If everybody had to wait to earn before they could spend, nobody would get started!A commitment or negative balance, represents a willingness to consider supplying goods or services to one or more account-holders at some future date.In a healthy system, account balances bob up and down, sometimes having a balance in credit and sometimes in commitment. It makes no difference whether you have a positivie or negative balance.

Here is the actual link for all the Hunter / Newcastle people -

http://www.auslets.org/hunter

For others - in Australia and the rest of the world.

http://www.lets.org.au/


What about the DSS?

The Dept of Social Security supports the idea of non-profit community trading systems and exempts all LETSystem income from declaration, ie. it will not affect any benefit or pension. However you should not allow LETSystem trading to interfere with your obligations to be available for work or training programs. Negotiations are underway to have LETS administration work counted as part of the "Work for the Dole" requirements for single parent pensioners and unemployed.

What about the Taxation Department?

Accountability for taxes incurred by members is the obligation of those involved in an exchange. The LETSystem has no obligation or liability to report to taxation authorities or to collect taxes on their behalf. The official ruling states that if you earn local units whilst providing a service which is your main profession you must pay tax on all profits OVER 300 units as if you had earned dollars. Units are also deductible so if you spend your local units (money) on your business expenses you may declare it. For example: if your main profession is a plumber and you do some plumbing work to the value of 700 (local unit money) then 400 (local unit money) is considered taxable at the normal rate. If however you spend those 400 (local unit money) on bookkeeping or other business expenses then the profit you have made in that year is only 300 (local unit money) and the tax department don?t want to know about it. Also if you earn (local unit money) as a handyman (ie put up a chook shed) then this is not considered as earnings under your main profession (plumber) and is exempt from income tax

You don't have to trade in your own area either, you can trade with anyone else in Australia or around the world and their currency (local money) will be transfered over into your own local money.

Here are some of the things traded in the Hunter LETS the other areas would be pretty simular.

Goods and services categories of Hunter LETS

• Accommodation • Advertising, Marketing • Animals and Petcare
• Art & Crafts • Automotive • Business Management, Consulting
• Catering, Cooking • Childcare • Clerical, Office
• Clothes/Sell/Swap • Computers • Haircare & Beauty
• Counselling • Education, Training and Tuition • Entertainment
• Esoteric • Facilitation • Fencing
• Financial • Firewood • Food/Produce
• For Hire • Gardening • Goods for sale
• Healing, Health & Well Being • Home Help • Holiday Care
• Home Improvement, Maintenance • Housekeeping • Labouring
• Languages • Massage • Media
• Miscellaneous • Music & Musicians • Party Time
• Photography • Professional Services • Recreation, Sport
• Repairs • Sewing, Knitting & Crochet • To Be Assigned
• Tools & Equipment, Hire & Repair • Tradesmen • Transport/Hire
• Video/Books • Working Bee Participation • Worms/Products



Some questions and answers that get asked.

LETS stands for - local exchange trading system

Q. What is the CES?

The CES is essentially an exchange system. It allows us to exchange our narrow specialisations for the narrow specialisations of others. The regular money system, of which we are so familiar, is another exchange system. Throughout history there have been many different exchange systems. All of them assist us to overcome the inconveniences of direct barter. While the monetary exchange system uses a value representation to mediate exchanges, the CES has no such medium. Instead it uses information as the organising principle. Value is transferred from sellers to buyers and a record is kept of it. These records ensure that buyers 'pay' for what they have received by doing or selling something for/to someone else. This works just as well as money but sets up a completely different relationship between people. In the monetary exchange system production is geared towards maximising the amount of the exchange medium that can be obtained, whereas in the CES production is geared towards the satisfaction of needs. This imparts a completely different logic in our relationships with each other.

Q. What does joining the CES mean for me?

The CES is not a club or organisation but a new exchange or 'money' system. Therefore you do not 'join' and become a 'member' of an association. You register to use the CES as a new way of trading, without using your national currency. You will feel that you are part of a community but this is because you will experience a different spirit among the traders of the CES. The CES is characterised by openness, friendliness, honesty and trust, which is quite different to what your are likely to experience in the 'old' money system.

Q. Does it cost anything to join the CES?

There are many CES exchanges. Some charge an annual subscription fee in the national currency, others have no charges in conventional money, or any joining or membership fees in the exchange's own currency. Where there are no subscription fees, administration costs are covered by a small transaction levy (in the CES currency) that is added to all transactions, but such levies only become effective when you begin trading. Administrations require an income for running and promoting their CES exchange groups.

Q. How can I begin trading without any money in my account?

A. The CES does not require that you have anything in your account to begin trading. As 'money' in this system is just a book entry or 'point scoring', there is no need for a supply of it. You begin either by going into debit (not debt). This means your account has a negative balance but unlike with conventional money you do not have to pay interest on it and there is no stigma attached to it (unless it gets large and is never reduced). Your debit simply means that you owe the community goods and services to the value of the debit.

Q. What is to stop me just entering payments into my account so that I get lots of credits?

A. You don't need credits to trade so there is no point in this. In any case, your credits are someone else's debits, and they will question your false trades with them. Your balance, which is open for everyone to see, will also reveal what you are doing. There is no need to cheat in the CES because you can simply go into debit and 'pay back' what you have received by delivering goods and services to others at a later time.

Q. What if someone exploits the system and then leaves the community without giving anything in return?

A. This can happen but equally someone who has given more than they have taken can also leave the community. If someone exploits the system it is the community that bears the burden, not any particular user.

Q. What if someone doesn't pay me for work I have done for them?

A. That is impossible. You - the seller - are responsible for entering or getting entered the transaction information and you will be immediately credited for it. In the CES the buyer is the passive party.

Q. Is this just a tax dodge?

Definitely not! Our motives are noble. We want to create a more equal and just society where wealth is distributed according to contribution, not according to your ability to 'make money'. In other countries where these systems have become big, the state has either ignored the tax angle because it saves the state money on welfare payments, or there is an agreement to provide services to the state. Our approach is that when we become big, the state should become a member of the CES and participate in the normal way. In this way the state could credit itself through the services it provides to all members and debit itself by purchasing the services of CES members.

Q. What if someone takes more from the system than they give back?

Before agreeing to trade with someone you should check their balance. If you see they have made a lot of purchases and are running a large debit, then refuse to trade until their standing has improved.

Q. What if my service is popular but I can't find anything I want? What is the use of a large credit balance if I can't spend it?

A. Don't trade unless you feel there is something you can get in exchange. As more and more people join the community the more likely it becomes that someone will have something you want. Encourage others to join.

Q. What is the currency called and what is it worth?

A. Each exchange has its own name for its currency. A common name used in the CES is 'Talents'. One Talent (or other name) is usually equal to one unit of the national currency (Dollar, Rand, Pound). This is purely to give it reference. CES currencies are not linked to the national currencies so could deviate over time. CES currencies are also not subject to inflation. Some exchange groups base their unit of account on time (e.g. one hour, one minute).

Q. How are goods and services valued?

A. Traders value their own goods and services, using the 1:1 relationship between their exchange's currency and the national currency. The ‘law’ of supply and demand applies, but within the context of a closed group. This frequently differs from the situation ‘outside’.

Q. Is there just one CES exchange?

A. No, there are many established CES exchanges in different parts of the world, with new ones being introduced all the time. If you would like to start one in your area go to the registration page and fill in the form.

Q. Is it possible to trade between the different CES exchanges?

Yes! All the CES exchanges are linked and inter-exchange trading is possible. The CES currencies are as versatile as the national currencies. This means you can trade with any participant nationally or internationally, and your offerings are internationally accessible. Currency earned in one place can be spent in another

Were ready to start well nearly....

Well we are finally ready to start 1/1/11 the only thing we have left now is to go on a food purchase drive so far we have saved $1172.47 from money that hasn't been spent from our food and petrol allowance over the last few months.

We are going to head off and do this with the kids on the first day after they finish school in a couple of weeks (10th December).

We have got a medium box about the size of a washing basket and the kids are allowed to fill this with things that they would like for next year during the challenge. They have a limit of $200.00 only. This is their choice on what they would like to buy like chips, drinks, lollies, biscuits, things that we would not normally buy.

With the rest of the money we will be purchasing either things that are on special that we use or things that we will use during the time period. Like toilet paper, rice, flours, cake mix, tin food etc....

This will not only save us time for future shopping next year, but will also give us a bit of a stockpile to start next year off with, so hopefully will reduce the amount of times that we will head out to the shops to purchase things in the begining of the year.

It has been really hard the last few weeks for me as I have brought a lovely bright pink one day to a page diary for us to record what we do and purchase each day and also a running cost of our debts reducing, and I am dying to use it but can't and it is frusting me to bits.

Blogging help

Is there anyone who can help me add a comment box at the bottom of each of my posts and also a like button for facebook? please.

Saturday 13th November - Power usage

Well today is a very nice sunny day out side, hopefully we will be able to get to see some of it sometime today.

To we are installing our power point timers into all our power points, they all will be set to come on in the low period of the smart meter. The fridge does not have one of course.

This will ensure us that they are not used in the shoulder or high periods of the smart meter.

How our electricity runs in our household -

Loungeroom -

We have a grand electric piano which is pluged into the power point and will have a timer set to come on between 6.30pm and 8.30pm (high period) but this is the time that the whole family is in this room and Gordon plays the piano during the week. During the week we can over ride this if we have to.

Cooling - we have a over head fan that is always on low which also has lights in it - the lights are not used.

Lighting - We have a huge window in the room and the curtains are open, and so much light streams in through here during the day we do not need the lights on. Accross the bar we have two sets of fairy lights that are run on rechargeable batteries which get switched on in the evening when it is getting dark.
We also have two rechargeable leb laterns that are used at the end of each room, which throw enough light to read, play games by and everything else.

Powerpoints - the stereo and the computer(TV) go into one power point which is on a timer only to come on between 5pm and 7.30pm (high period). Our children do not watch much tv at all hense why we don't have a proper tv. They each have their own computers and a dongle for watching tv on their computers.

Kitchen/Dining Room

The kitchen/dining room has a over head fan with lights in it. The fan is on low at all times the lights are not used. We have a large window over the kitchen sink and bench that lets enough sunlight in the be able to have a sauna on hot days lol, so plenty of light comes in.  There is also a skylight tube over the kitchen and also one over the dining room table.

We also have rechargeable fairy lights above the kitchen window and around the ceiling over the dining room table.
We also use a huge candle holder on the dining room table when we eat which can hold 4 normal candles and quiet a few pillar candles in the middle depending on sizes of the candles. We also have a row of tea-light candles down the centre of the table.

This gives as a very pleasant way to eat our meals.

The powerpoints in the kitchen are for the blender, bread maker, coffee maker which are all only turned on when in use and then turned off immediately.

The fridge is the only one left on at all times.

Laundry

Our laundry is our charging station room for all our rechargeable batteries, lanterns, lights, phones, computers. Gordon has set up a couple of charging stations in here where we can hook everything up to be charged.

They are all hooked up to a few different power boards and powerpoints and each power point has a timer to it and they are set to come on at 10pm and turn off at 7am which is the lowest period during the smart meter. So before we all go to bed we all hook up our own things that need charging, if you don't you miss out.
The washing machine is on a seperate power point and is turned on and off when needed.

Kids and Our Room -

The kids and us have power points in our rooms but none of them are used so they are all in the off position. Each room has a overhead fan which is kept on low, they also have lights in them but most of the time they are not used only the sunlight that comes in through the rooms.

Each of us have our own rechargeable lantern that is used in our rooms at night.

Bathroom -

Has fairy lights rechargeable around the mirror, and around the room, so elimates using the lights at all. There are lights above if we really need to use them. The heat lights have been disconnected at the light switch so can't be used. The bathroom also has a exhaust fan which is very rearly used as we make sure that the bathroom window is always kept open.

The boys have electirc toothbrushes and a shaver which is hooked up to a power point with a timer to come on between 10pm and 7am each day. (low period).

Ok we don't have -

Normal tv - we use our charged up computers with a tv dongle to watch tv
No microwave
No electric kettle
No electric clocks or alarm clocks
No seperate freezer or extra ones or fridges
No air conditioning
No dryer
No electric stereos/cd players except the one in the lounge room

When I wake up at 4-4.30am I do all my cooking and baking for the day (meals, cakes, bread etc...), ironing, vacumming, washing and of course a coffee from the coffee machine. My aim is to have all this completed before 7am when the low period of the smart meter finishes.

By doing all of this we have been able to keep our electricity bill down to around $240.00 - $280.00 each quarter for a family of six so think we must be doing something right.

Sorry I have been missing - but I am back!

Ok going to say yes working out this blogging was hard, so have decided to go back to a really really basic blog so hope you will still follow us.

We have been up to so much these last few weeks getting all the final things ready for our challenge in 2011.

Will sit down tomorrow night (my night off) and let you all know what we have been up too.

How it all started

Daily Diary

How it all started On September 25, 2010 ~ I was on the Simple Savings forum reading a post when I thought "what would happen if we spent as little as possible for a whole year?"

Ok this is going to be the biggest challenge of our family life!
No spend challenge for a year - 2011 except for the essentials and emergencies.

Going to remove our DEBTS - once and for all!! and follow our dreams of furthering our travel of the world.

We have come to a agreement with the kids that at the end of each month if they have gone spend free them selves eg: no lollies, no takeaways, no purchases in toys, videos, gifts, clothes etc.... and they also help the rest of the family to do the same we will give them $50.00 each (there are two teenagers) right through to the end of the year.

If they go a whole year we will double it for them 50 x 12 = 600 x 2 = 1200. So that is quiet of bit of money that they can bank, and we would of saved much more than this through out the year.

As a family we have decided that our no spend for the year will consist of the following (some of what we do now).
no takeaways  no alchol (except on birthdays)  no clothing (except school clothes)  no shoes (except school shoes) + kids are getting shoes for xmas  no lollies or soft drink  no commercial cleaning products (all home made)  no paid outings (will go to free outings eg: things listed on radio)  no buying drinks, sandwiches while out (take own from home)  no wet ones (will make our own home type)  no purchased bread (make our own - currently do)  no purchasing pre grown plants for the garden (must be grown all from seed)  So for this christmas guess what - we are going to purchase each other things that we really want/need, as at as January 1st 2011 we will not be able to purchase these.

We are going to buy a family special food hamper that will have to last us a whole year (2011) things that we are going to include are lollies, chocolate, soft drink, all the things that are luxuries not necessities or basics. We will fill only a washing basket, no more.

We are also going to buy the kids a new pair of shoes or two, a couple of pieces of clothes each, a birthday present for 2011, craft items, etc... just after christmas when they are on special and before the end of 2010.

With three months to prepare, we decided recording our progress could be as entertaining as undertaking the project itself.  Sit back, hold on and enjoy the ride ~ we plan to have fun!!

 

Family Life

Family Life

There are 6 human beings that live in this household and then there are our fury friends.

Darling hubby who is 44
Darling wife who is 40
Darling teenager son who is 14
Darling teenager daughter who is 11
Darling teenager son in training who is 4
Darling teenager daughter in training who is nearly 3

I say darling teenagers as they can be when they want to. DS 14 is our quiet one, DD 11 is our attuide one, DS 4 is our terror, DD 3 is our girly girl.

DH works full time as a air conditioning/fitter/mechanic technician on the railways.
DW is a full time stay at home mum (and loves it to bits)
DS14 is in year 7
DD 11 is in year 6
DS 4 and DD 3 are at home with mum and playgroup.

We love spending time together as a family, going on picnics and car trips. We love the outdoors, camping, gardening, renovating and meeting up with friends.

We are currently renovating the inside of our home, have just completed the kitchen, loungerooms and bedrooms and carpets. Next step is our ensuite and the main bathroom.

Then we are tackling the outside of the house as in redoing the bbq area, garage, cement rending the house, fences etc....

We try and do it all our selves, we are basically handy so get buy and get the satisfaction that we did it, saved money along the way, and we can enjoy it.

Keeping House

Keeping House Ideas

This is one of my favourite places - keeping house. Yes if you think I am house proud - your right - I am!

Here I will list and show you pictures of ways we keep house and how we run our family life. I will list ways that you can make your lives easier, less complicated and save money along the way.

Routines and Lists

We use a lot of visuals within our home it makes it so much easier for the kids to know and see what is going on.

Here are some of the list of the way our house runs on a daily basis. We have these lists printed out on A4 and laminated and up on our walls for all to see often. If you would like copies email to you please email me at snoopstravels@bigponddotcom  when they are emailed they have a lovely background not just plan white.



Afternoon / Dinner Time

 Afternoon tea and diaries updated
 Homework and next day things ready
 Tv and play time
 Washing in, folded and put away
 Dinner served and cleaned up
 Bath and pjy's
 Family time together in the loungeroom


Morning Routine Before 7am

• Washing on
• Bake bread, cakes, cookies and slices
• Recharge all batteries and computers
• Cook or prepare dinner
• Vaccumming
• Coffee and hot chocolates


Animals

Mondays – ducks, chooks, rabbit
Tuesday – dog, bird
Wednesday – ducks, chooks, rabbit
Thursday – dog, bird
Friday – ducks, chooks, rabbit

Every 2nd weekend - clean cages

Monthly Cleaning

• Week one – garbage bin, cupboards and drawers, clean table and chairs
• Week two – all inside windows and fans, wipe over walls.
• Week three – bleaching of toilet, bathroom and  washing machine.
• Week four – disinfectant floors, clean oven and fridge.

Weekly Cleaning

• Mondays – kitchen and dining room
• Tuesdays – vacuuming, dusting, kids rooms
• Wednesdays – our room, bathroom and toilet
• Thursdays – vacuuming, lounge room, kids rooms
• Fridays – floors, our room, laundry
• Saturdays – vacuuming, kitchen and dining room
• Sundays vacuuming, floors, lounge room & kids

WASHING

Mondays – Normal
Wednesdays – Normal & hand washing
Fridays – Normal & pjy's
Saturdays – Work clothes & towels

Every 2nd w/end
Pillowslips & sheets if needed

Last w/end of the month
Sheets, quilt covers & school bags

Working out this blogging is giving me a headache :(

Ok who is a top blogger and wants to redo my site to make it so much more simple and then explain to me how to use it easily so I can use it on a daily basis.

Here is what is getting to me lol :{

Think I may get rid of the seperate pages, these are a pain when they don't load up onto your home page as well.

Working out how to upload the new work I enter onto facebook.

Getting tabs down the side.

Adding pictures.

Copying and pasting all the things that I want to from my word to the pages and home pages.

Getting comment boxes after each entry


Think I really need to go and do a course, will keep plodding along at the moment so please please be kind to me.

Any help is greatly accepted.

Travelling the road to our financial freedom: Routines and Lists

Travelling the road to our financial freedom: Routines and Lists: "Routines and Lists We use a lot of visuals within our home it makes it so much easier for the kids to know and see what is going on. Some..."

Routines and Lists

Routines and Lists


We use a lot of visuals within our home it makes it so much easier for the kids to know and see what is going on.

Some of our lists and routines are - washing, afternoon/dinner time, morning routine before 7am, monthly cleaning and weekly cleaning.

You will find these under keeping house.

We have these lists printed out on A4 and laminated and up on our walls for all to see often. If you would like copies email to you please email me at snoopstravels@bigponddotcom when they are emailed they have a lovely background not just plan white.

Finally got the manual on bits n bobs

Well I started at 10pm already to copy and paste the home organisation manual on the bits n bobs page. Firstly I realised it was on the old computer, get old computer, it's flat, can't find charger, use a different one. That one doesn't really fit it and had to hold it down with a rock to power it up, then the email on that computer is no longer working so couldn't email it to myself.

Had to search high and low for a stick to copy it on (there are like 7 in the house) do you think I could find one no. Finally found one in the bottom of the filing cabinet up load it to here, copy and paste to my documents. Then I thought great all set to copy to my page.

WRONG!

It wouldn't work, lots of playing around, reading help, 3 scotches and a packet of peanut m & m's later got it to work. Then find out it wouldn't copy over the tables, all come up as blanks. So here I have been for the last hour and half, fixing it all up to try and make it readable lol, now 11pm and think it looks ok. Will re-read it in the morning when I am feeling awake, so tired so going to hit the sack.

If you would like a copy to print off email me at snoopstravels@bigponddotcom

Tuesday - tommorrow (and not that far away) will be adding info on my organisation and home pages of tables, and visuals that we use on a daily routines.

Travelling the road to our financial freedom: Busy Busy Busy Today

Travelling the road to our financial freedom: Busy Busy Busy Today

Busy Busy Busy Today

Well today I have been busy busy busy.

Tackled the old taxation from the business and shredded three whole garbage bags full of taxation that we don't have to keep any longer, now it feels good and I have so much more space.

Updated and cleaned out our filing cabinet, everything is now in a seperate file in order, so will make finding things so much more easier, gosh there was some junk in there.

The littles have been wanting to help so got them to shred it all, they loved seeing it go into the shredder and come out the other end in little shreds. They had so much fun playing in the shredded stuff it kept them busy for me, now a mess that needs to be cleaned up, but oh well.

Well to my blogging - I have made great progress on paper with 13 pages written up and now I must get it into this blog. Think Wednesday will be the day as the little ones will be at preschool, so can hit it with great speed without being annoyed along the way.

Rang the banks, etc... today to get all the balances on everything so will be sitting down and working out the total debt that is owed and what we hae to tackle along the way.

Been experimenting with photobucket so I can up load photos here, think I have worked it out now just need sometime to experiement with it. Tonight after the kids have gone to bed sounds good with a drink to keep me motivated.

On our bits n bots page you will find a copy of my home manual that I created and which is our bible at home. We have printed it off and put it into a folder which stands proudly on our kitchen bench, so it is always at hand. This was one of my first creations from bing with Simple Savings (SS), it has made our lives so much easier. If you would like a emailed copy please email me at snoopstravels@bigponddotcom and I would be happy to send one over.

So please be patient with me over this next week while I get around to updating this blog to be able to bring it up today.

I will be listing -
the reciepes that we currently use for our meals, and will also upload photos of them when I next prepare them.
- photos and information on our family activites, progress and dreams.
- photos of our gardens and information on what and how we are doing and will be doing in our gardens.
- lots of things will be added to ebay over the weekend and I will also list them on here. (household items, tools, car parts, books, toys, baby items and much more).
- tips on how we currently save money within our family and photos of the things that we do.

Gosh I have so much more I want to add, better find some more time in the day and night to add it here.

Thanks for reading, and I would love to get your feedback, questions and ideas on some things you might like to read about on here.

Have a great day. Linda :)

PayBox.me

PayBox.me

A work in progress

Well this is my first attempt at a blog, so please be nice to me over the next few weeks, while I learn how to work and edit it lol, any help or suggestions are really welcome.

Most of my pages have information in them now and I will be adding to them over the next week.

A HUGE thank you to my SS mentor (Mands)- I really appreciate your help in setting up this blog and teaching me how to use it.