No Shopping Challenge - 1 month down

Today marks the half way point of our No Shopping Challenge!

It's been an interesting month. I remember when I first decided to commit to this challenge I was really worried about whether I would be able to follow through. The thought of not buying anything caused anxiety for a few days, which only goes to show that it was a challenge I really needed to do.

I've managed to stay motivated over the last month mainly because we're saving up a house deposit. Mr J and I are desperate to get out of renting and into our own place where we can plant trees and grow our own food. I've reminded myself of this dream whenever I've felt tempted to buy something and it's helped me to focus. Over the last year of saving I've often moaned about how hard it is to save on one income and at times I've been really discouraged about the whole thing. Tens of thousands of dollars is a huge sum to save and sometimes it just feels plain impossible. Over the last 31 days of this challenge I think I've learned a thing or two about spending & saving and it's made me realise that our goal isn't impossible at all.

Here's what I've discovered:

• It's just numbers.  That's all it is. To save the money we need we must spend LESS and try to earn MORE.
• We can save a thousand dollars - that I know we can do, then it's just a matter of doing that over and over  until we have enough in the bank.
• Shopping shouldn't be a recreational activity. It's a lazy choice. There are so many things we've done with the kids when shopping or window shopping simply wasn't an option.
• Every financial choice we make whether it's $2.50 or $250 has an impact on our savings.
• The less I shop, the less I want. The more I spend, the more I think I need.
• Life isn't going to go perfectly just because you've decided to save. The car needs new tyres or someone gets sick and it costs money. What's important is getting back on track as soon as you can.
• If we keep going we will get to our goal. One day we'll get to dig a hole and plant our first apple tree. It's just numbers and simple arithmetic at the end of the day. There is no mystery behind saving, it's just one decision not to spend made over and over and over again.

Home made laundry liquid (and day 27 of the no shopping challenge!)

Since we're focused on being frugal with our No Shopping Challenge happening at the moment I thought I would try my hand at making my own laundry liquid. It only took me half an hour to make about 10L of the stuff - enough for months for my family and some to take along to the Crop & Swap next month. Nice.

There are loads of recipes online for making this stuff but this is what I went with:

8L water
1 C washing soda (NOT baking soda)
1 C borax
1 bar Sunlight soap - grated
2 Tbsp pure eucalyptus oil

• Heat 4 L water in a large stock pot that will take at least 8L of liquid
• Add grated bar of soap and stir until dissolved
• Add washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved
• Bring to the boil and let it simmer until you're convinced everything is incorporated and dissolved (about 3 minutes)
• Let it cool a bit then add the other 4L of water
• Once cool add the eucalyptus oil and stir
• Bottle and label

For a normal size wash I use about 100ml and that works well for us. You can use this in a top or front loader but in a front loader I would try using less liquid first to see if you can get away with it. The consistency is more like a gel than a flowing liquid and you may want to give it a shake before using it. You don't have to use Sunlight soap - any soap will so. 

While I was at it I thought I'd make some dishwasher powder using this recipe:

Washing soda, borax, and salt in equal parts plus a small amount of citric acid. This was my first try so I made a small batch in case it didn't work. My ratios were 1/2 C each of washing soda, borax, and salt, and 2 Tbsp of citric acid. We used 1 Tbsp in the dishwasher and everything was sparkly and clean this morning. 

You can get washing soda at the supermarket for around $3.60 a kg, and Borax was just over $7 a kg at Bunnings. There are cheaper places to order Borax online in bulk if you search for them.

The No Shopping Challenge

We're almost half way through our challenge and we're doing great. Our attitude to shopping has definitely changed and we're thinking a lot more about what we want to use our money on than we did before. We've had some big bills and a holiday last week so we haven't saved as much as we wanted to but I'm hoping that will change next month!

No Shopping Challenge Day 19

So here I am on holiday almost 3 weeks into my no spend challenge and I thought it was high time for me to let you know how I'm doing.

Being in a beautiful summery tropical place with new shops to look at and new food to try is definitely making this harder than it is at home. The morning we left had us spending over $50 on train tickets to the airport and lunch when we were there - I had planned to pack a lunch then realised that it wasn't really feasible. To make it worse, I hated the lunch we spent the money on and wished I could have had something healthy at home rather than fork out over $20 for greasy chips and burgers. A bit of a rip off really.

Then there's the sightseeing here and the activities. I'm trying to have a much needed real holiday and play the tourist and I'm also trying hard not to spend money. I'm finding the two don't really go together that well. I did promise I would report back and be honest so here it is!

We've been to an amusement park and packed food which saved us loads. We did spend $10 on ice creams for the kids.

I did a big grocery shop when we arrived and stuck to the budget, but I did put in lots of treats and quick meals rather than my usual organic allergy friendly stuff.

Today we went to a mall and bought the kids school shoes and socks which was planned and we had allocated money for. I bought two singlet tops using a gift card although I cheated slightly because I had to pay $1 on top. We got out without buying anything else which was actually a bit of a major for me. I saw lots of lots of things I really wanted and it was tough. No more malls for me until this is over I reckon.

Tomorrow we're checking out a free museum but we'll be paying for parking - which I reckon is within the limits of household expenses.

So, we're doing ok so far. I'm trying hard but I'm also not going to beat myself over the head if we spend more than we normally would on food/parking/transport while we're here.

How are you doing?
Have you been tempted this week?
How long are you doing the challenge for?

Day 14 - Free fun & Fimo

Today started as one of those days. The kids were sick and tired of being stuck inside following a week of weather that made it too uncomfortable to go out. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get them to agree to disagree and tempers were frayed (including mine).  Time to go out!

We had planned to do a quick trip to the park hoping that some fresh air and exercise would change their moods for the better. Then someone mentioned a walk to a cave down the road in the National Park where you can see Aboriginal hand paintings and suddenly we were on a bush walk. Half way to the cave we saw another sign to a swimming hole that we've been meaning to look at since we arrived in the mountains. Our plans changed again and we took off down some steep rocky steps.

Gosh, I'm so glad we did. We hadn't planned to visit the National Park today and we certainly hadn't planned for a swim -but with my children where there's water and a bit of sunshine someone is always going to get wet. We had the whole place to ourselves so I let them strip off to their underwear and dive in.

In seconds my tired and moody kids were happy again looking for "crystals" in the sand and splashing around in the cool water. If I'd packed sun screen and food we could have stayed all day.

With my patience restored I was in the mood for some craft this afternoon so we got out the Fimo clay and made some beads. Ben made a robot to make into a magnet.

I'm two weeks into my no shopping challenge today and we've done really well. So far we've stuck to our plan. It's been hard at times. Mornings like this morning usually make me want to go and do something with the kids - the mall, the zoo, a trip to Sydney, DVD's from the shop. Today we did get to do things together - free things - and it was just as fun.

Day 13 - You'll thank me when you're older

At around 12.30pm this afternoon I found myself swinging open the door to my pantry, balancing on one leg while drumming my fingers on the other one - all while staring into the dark nothingness before me. There is, of course, plenty of food in there. But there was nothing at all I wanted to prepare for lunch let alone eat. If I wasn't in the middle of a self imposed spending embargo I would have probably nipped out to the shops to buy the things we like for a Sunday throw together lunch - potato chips, ham, cheese, grapes, and chocolate for after.

But I am in the middle of a no spend challenge. I reached for the lentils. I don't know about other kids, but mine are less than enthusiastic about lentils. My daughter has an annoying habit of popping up every time I start making a meal to ask me "whatarewehaving?" and it's never what she wants, so it's always followed up with negotiations and bargaining that I usually have no patience for.

Clearly unimpressed with the lunch menu Jemima asked me what was for dinner. As I said Curried Cabbage Stir fry I couldn't help but laugh at her face. My poor children.

When they're grown I wonder what they'll remember about these years. Will Jemima remember that her mother made her funny looking dresses out of old tablecloths and doilies? Will they recall the felt soft toys stuffed with the rice that spent the next 6 months escaping through the stitches grain by grain? Will Ben remember his pirate pants, his "yee-ha" cowboy pants, his explorer bag? I wonder if when they're feeding their own families they'll follow the food philosophies they've been brought up with - or reject them entirely?

There are definitely things I've carried with me from childhood to parenthood.

My mum making us lunches made up of lots of little morsels of food that we rather originally named "things on a plate".
The big carton of little boxes, egg cartons, and food wrap rolls that mum had saved up for a rainy day of "making stuff".
The way our dinner plates were always piled high with mountains of vegetables.
Knowing that if you wanted something it was always possible to make rather than buy.

So early this afternoon I resisted the urge to spend money and made dal and rice with roasted cashews on top and it was actually really yummy.

But if I'm honest, what I really wanted was hot chips.