SIMPLE HEALTHY FRUGAL

Part 2 of our declutter for spring leads us to the dismal bathroom vanity. The steps are much the same as with the wardrobe. Assess the mess Remove absolutely everything from the vanity and wipe clean. Start by throwing everything that is rubbish in the bin. Then decant all the half bottles of things such as shampoo (of which I had four half bottles) into just the one or two bottles needed. Give creams and potions that you know you will never use away to friends and family. Organise the rest so it makes sense to you and your fam. Note: I love scented candles that come in fancy pants jars and I’m always getting them for birthdays and Christmas. But what to do with the fancy pants jars when the candle runs out? Use them as your bathroom storage jars for things such as cotton balls, toothbrushes and bath salts.

It’s that time of the year where it is warm enough to air the house out and the need to declutter overwhelms me. Last night I watched “Minimalism – a film about the important things” and this morning I showed my sons “The Story of Stuff”. If you haven’t watched either of these then I strongly suggest you do. Both films have motivated me to start the yearly spring clean. I declutter a lot during the year but now is the time of year where pretty much everything in the house gets reviewed and decided upon. Oh yeah and another sign for me was the Garage Sale Trail advert on telly this morning. Yep, a garage sale is also a good incentive. Why the wardrobe first? Lately I have found myself thinking that I don’t have enough clothes or that I don’t have matching clothes. This is when it becomes necessary to do a purge as you not only discover clothes and accessories that you no longer wear, but you discover clothes you love and haven’t worn in a while. I also like to do a bit of a s...

Recently I have been involved in helping a friend of mine move house. This particular friend has had to move house for financial reasons and will still be in considerable debt despite the “downsizing”. Something I have noticed in the move is that my friend just simply has too much stuff. Half of the furniture she had was cheap storage furniture to house half of the stuff she no longer used. It took a lot of time to move a lot of things that ended up in the massive rubbish pile in the end. This made me sad because it just seemed like such a massive waste of time and money. But then I thought “He is not alone. He is one of many. This is now considered normal”. Yes it is now normal to just keep buying stuff such as books, dvds, nail polish, shopkins, vases, candles, statues of meerkats and the latest cushions, towels, wall art and hair pins. And then it becomes “essential” to acquire storage for all this stuff. So not only is buying the “stuff” a waste of the earth’s resources an...

Ever heard of “Shoppertainment”? No? Well it’s when people are bored and choose shopping as their entertainment. Up until recently I believed this term to be mainly an American trend; however I’m beginning to think we are exactly the same. Being that I visit a large shopping mall about once every five years I am able to notice the difference in the amount of people shopping from one time to the next. The last time I went to a Westfield I was shocked given that Australians are forever being told that our retail sector is struggling, the place was absolutely packed! The question I ask myself every time I go to a large shopping mall is “Why are all these people (and their families) here?”. They are there for shoppertainment. I’d rather eat fried toad than go to a large shopping mall every weekend. But apart from eating fried toad here are some other things we prefer doing over hangin' out at the mall. Walk the dog Go on a picnic with family or friends Go for a hike...

Firstly let me just say thank you to Scott Pape, the Barefoot Investor for giving us the final nudge we needed to cut the credit cards up. I “opened Scott’s wallet” (virtually obviously), where he gives some very sensible financial advice. The piece of advice that excited me the most was to get rid of the credit card. Now the hubby and I have been seriously considering giving the credit card up for ages but a few things were holding us back. “What about the credit card rewards points? We could totally get enough points to go to New York with the kids” – Ummmm no, there is no way this was ever going to happen. “Let’s keep it just in case we need it for an emergency” – isn’t that what our emergency savings is for? “It’s only a small amount! We’ll just use if for bills and absolute necessities.” – yeah like concert tickets and online shopping!!!! What we came to realise is that we are not like the financially illuminated folks that can “hack” their credit card and its re...

One of my favourite frugal hobby’s is veggie gardening. Not only is it a cheap hobby but is has the added benefit of being able to feed the family. For me feeding the family well is a primal urge (bordering on obsession). This may have something to do with my Italian heritage and possibly a little to do with the fact that I’m a guts. I’ve had people question me as to whether a veggie garden really is frugal because there are costs involved such as water, fertilizer, seedlings etc. However once you have set your patch up it becomes quite cheap. Also if you compare it to organic food you will definitely come out on top. Benefits to having your own veggie patch include………. Giving your kids a real sense of where their food is coming from and what it takes to get it to the table. Your kids will often try foods they’ve refused to try from the shop as it is more intriguing for some reason.  We even have numerous kids trying raw chilli’s at the school veggie patch. Maybe ...

I don’t know about you but I just don’t find sharing my sweat with a hundred other people all that inviting. I also am not a great fan of the floor to ceiling mirrors that most gyms seem to have, presuming that people like to check themselves out while exercising (is that a thing? As in does it somehow improve your exercise?). So as you can probably tell I’m not a fan of the gym unless of course I wake up feeling the need to be alone and self-conscious in a sea of people. Ummm no thanks! But having an aversion to the gym (and their fees) doesn’t mean I have an aversion to staying fit. Here are some of the frugal ways I like to exercise …….. 1.       Bushwalking or hiking – my absolute favourite and one you can enjoy with the whole family. Tip – if you have kids who are not yet seasoned hikers it’s a good idea to let them choose the paths you take(as long as you’re not getting lost). If you just follow them instead of trying to lead them it becom...