A New Day

One of my favourite blogs is A Slob Comes Clean. I first found it shortly after getting married four years ago and I think it was a couple of years old then. I still check in every few months. I love a lot of things about it. I love the honesty and the humour. I love the practical advice and the motivation. But what I love most is that she isn’t afraid to acknowledge that she’s on a journey and share when she slips up and be honest about it. It wasn’t a simple quick fix but a lifestyle change that needs work.

I’m am telling you this as I’m feeling a bit ashamed that we’re in a worse financial situation then when I last gave you numbers. I’m not ready to give you our new credit card number debt but they’re a bit more than they were. But life happened. More importantly a beautiful little baby happened.

Our gorgeous daughter Zoe was born on the 2nd of July. Some money was spent on her, some was spent as we were too tired and overwhelmed to be careful with money.

Whatever the excuse, it happened and here we are. And we’re ready to take it seriously now.

We have short term goals and long term goals but more importantly we know that actions we need to put them into practice.

I’m going to aim to be much more deliberate with my blogging. I intend to post our monthly goals and budget at the start of the month and a review at the end, and then maybe a blog in between with things I’m learning or challenges we’re experiencing.

But the point of this blog is that even though we’re not in a great position we’re determined to get back on track.

Money Saving, world saving.

Part of this journey and part of being pregnant has really brought out the organic in me. In fact I did zero cleaning until I stocked up on organic cleaning supplies. It was also the motivation for us purchasing the Thermomix.

Here is a list of things I am doing or want to start doing that are both organic and economical. I’m happy to talk more about any of these.

1. No poo. I’m on my second week without using shampoo or conditioner. I did my first baking soda and vinegar wash today and my hair feels divine. I was using a high end shampoo and conditioner – $120 for both, although it lasts me over six months. I do believe that the one I use actually helps my hair but the chemicals in all of them scare me and seem unnecessary.

2. Sew more and with material I already have. I went to start sewing for the baby and I weirdly already have a book called ‘making baby clothes’. What’s stopped me is the price of material. In my last post I spoke about cleaning out my wardrobe and saving clothes that I love material from so I have patterns, the machine and the materials ready to go.

3. Making my own soap and body wash. I currently am using an organic soap that I bought which I love, but I’d love to make my own as it was like $8. Same for body wash.

4. Make my own cleaning products. I went to our organic shop and purchased organic cleaning products as I just couldn’t be bothered making them. My plan is that once they run out I’ll use their bottles and make my own. 

That’s where I’m at 🙂

Let me know if you’re interested in hearing more about any of these in another post by commenting.