A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

I'm sure you'll all recognise the quote I've used as my title for this post. A quote from the very famous Confucius. I thought this was quite an apt topic following on from my baby steps post. I want to share with you a little of how our journey in life has changed quite significantly in recent years.

Just 5 short years ago, DH and I had goals that are quite different to our goals of today. He started farming with his father the day he left school and his dream was to build up quite a sizable farming business and get it to the point where he could employ at least one, if not more people to assist with the workload. Farming is a difficult business to find a balance in. Often there's more work than 1 person can handle but not always income for more than 1 person. Rising land prices and the increase in standard machinery prices (and sizes) were making it harder and harder to farm small acreage and the answer in our minds was to continue to increase in acreage as a way to offset the amount of equity tied up in our business.

We'd been attending a number of training type seminars trying to get a handle on the best way to run our business as well as our personal finances. One of the things we learnt was the very poor return that farming brings in relation to the number of $$ that are tied up in land and machinery. We'd also been learning about the importance of passive income in building wealth and given the poor returns in farming, it made sense to us to look to accumulating some off-farm assets of some description. It seemed to make sense to us also that investing off-farm would give us the opportunity to sell these assets should farming go into a bit of a decline through poor seasons.

In short - we were firmly entrenched on the treadmill of life that says work hard, build wealth, get bigger in business etc etc etc. At the same time, farming was going through a few reasonable years and we enjoyed the freedom of having a few more $$ to spend. Nothing hugely extravagant. A few more take away meals and eating out a little more often. Some more expensive clothes for the kids. Upgrading our vehicle to a 4WD so I could drive it through the paddocks more safely.

As is not uncommon within farming families, there were a few intergenerational conflicts. I won't go into them in depth as they're really a private matter. What I will say is that we were rather stressed out and seriously UNHAPPY. In a way we felt somewhat trapped in the situation we were in.

At that point it seemed an attractive option to us to move out of the situation we were currently in by building a house on the smallish farm that DH's grandfather had sold to us. That would give us a little bit of our own space. A place we could truly call home. Of course the cost of building a home on a farm (where houses are not really considered *worth* anything and therefore unlikely to add value to our farm) was something that gave us pause. We thought, talked, researched and prayed about the decision for a couple of years before we finally decided it was the right thing to do.

Not being all that comfortable with taking on more debt, we then discussed what options we had to repay the loan. I got interested in a particular "selling from home" type business that promised better returns than many of them did. They had the usual "you can have it all" type spiel and for a few months we thought it might be the answer to our dilemma. Then I was involved in a conference training call where the speaker advocated that it was the right thing to temporarily "abandon" your children as they would benefit down the track. I was disappointed to discover that it really was like many of the same style of business that promise "work part-time for a full-time income" only to put into practise the complete opposite once you scratched the surface a little. I concluded that it wasn't for me after all.

The next option was for me to physically go back to work (in a more regular, get paid by the hour type job). I did some basic calculations on what I thought my hourly rate would likely be (added a few dollars from what I'd been earning before) then subtracted tax, travel expenses in and out of town each day and child-care costs. All these brought my take home hourly rate down to around $2 an hour. It was going to take a LOT of hours for me to bring home the extra $5000 a year that we were hoping to find. Surely, there HAD to be a better way.

Around the same time I began to take more notice of a yahoo group that I'd been lurking on for some time. I don't even know exactly how or why I joined but most of the time I didn't even read the messages. Something made me take more notice all of a sudden and the old cogs in my brain began to turn. What if I could *save* from our current spending, the extra money we were wanting to pay for this house we wanted to build? It was an interesting thought. This was May 2004.

Little did I know what that one little thought was going to do to our lives. :-) That in reality it was the first step in the journey of a lifetime!

With some help from some very wise and generous people on the frugal aussies yahoo group, I began to examine our spending. We began by setting up a separate account for our personal spending. We needed the incentive of knowing that any money we didn't spend wasn't going to simply be absorbed by the business. Otherwise there was no real benefit to us for our efforts.

I began writing down the choices we were making that saved us money. Just small little decisions here and there that added up over time. In fact, we were stunned to find that they'd added up to almost $600 in the first month alone! I still have that list as a reminder of how far we've come.I also started to write down what I was spending in the grocery store. I had a weekly budget but had no idea whether I was close to sticking within it or not. Some weeks we spent less but other weeks we spent more. I spent what I spent and while we didn't appear to be extravagant in our spending - in reality we had no idea.

As things turned out, we finished the year with $6000 in our bank account!!!! That was after only 6 months and we were absolutely shocked with what we'd managed to achieve. Yes, it took some effort and thought. But I wouldn't say we felt we'd been deprived in any way.

Next Instalment: Joe Dominguez and my first exposure to the words "simple living". Yes, you have to wait to find out what happened next.... :-)

Knitting

I succumbed today and bought the new knitting series that has just come out in Newsagents. I thought I was good the other day resisting temptation but the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if I would like needle knitting now that I've gotten quite attached to loom knitting. I learnt to knit as a child but it wasn't something that really grabbed me at the time and wasn't something I ever thought I'd try again.



So I spent the whole $2.95 to get the knitting needles (although I do already have a pair), 2 small balls of wool and the instructions for getting started. The instructions were what I was really after. It's been toooooo long since I tried knitting to remember even the basics.



I've just given it a try and decided that I still prefer the loom knitting. It seems so much easier than trying to co-ordinate what feels like half a dozen items (but in reality is only 2 needles and 1 ball of wool). LOL. I'm not discounting the idea altogether. One problem I'm having with the loom knitting is that the cast on row is very loose. That's okay for some things but not so great for others. I'd like to try knitting my own facewashers and dishcloths sometime and can't see that working very well on the knifty knitter (loom) - unless I somehow learn a new way to cast on. So I think I will knit a few basic things with the needles and then see where to from there.



Knitting - I think I might make this number 3 on my "101 things I thought I'd never do" list.



Here is a picture of my latest project on my looms:

A pair of slippers in Crows colours for DS. The younger DS was very excited about these and insisted that he needed some too (even though he already owns a pair of slippers). In fact, every time he saw me not knitting his slippers he reminded me that I needed to do them. So he now has a matching pair. :-) Well, actually I changed the design a little on his and made them higher at the top (and of course his feet are not as long). I copied a sock pattern for the heel and the toe but the rest of the slipper was just guess work so it's all a bit of a work in progress.

I'm now working on a small handbag for my nieces for Christmas. Again, no pattern. So it's taking a bit of nutting out to get it how I want it. It is quite satisfying when a project does come together though. I like the fact that I can make some practical things with this hobby.

Baby Steps

Last night I made my own Tortillas for the second time. :-) Do you remember me saying I wasn't sure if I would make them again or not? This time I decided to apply the baby step principle. Made the dough and left it to rest. Came back and divided it up into balls and placed them in a sealed bowl. Came back a little while later and rolled out 4 of the balls into Tortillas and placed them on a dinner plate, covered in plastic to stop them drying out (used cut up bread bags between them so they didn't stick together). It took just another 2 stints of rolling out 4 Tortillas to complete the task. Come tea time I was nowhere near as worn out as I had been last time (when I rolled all 12 just before tea).

Well they were once again a HUGE hit with the family so I'm glad I've come up with a method of making them which seems less of a chore and more of a pleasure. I can see they're going to become a regular on our menu plan.

It got me thinking about the whole concept of baby steps and how much of a wonderful concept this has been for me. I know it's not a new concept. I first heard of it from www.flylady.net . I'll admit I don't follow her "system" completely - but I do like a lot of her concepts and have found them quite helpful.

I'm the kind of person who gets easily overwhelmed. If it feels like a task is going to take me a long time, I can't seem to even think about starting it. Breaking it down into smaller steps seems to work really well and takes away some of that overwhelmed, panicked type feeling I get. I think my DD might be similar. I've noticed when it comes to tidying up her room, she will dissolve into tears of desperation very quickly. But if I ask her to pick up 10 things or pick up her clothes off the floor - she can manage that quite cheerfully. It's just about breaking it down into babysteps.

I guess another aspect of my personality that lets me down is my impatience. I like things to be achieved "yesterday". :-) I'm sure that's something many of you will find familiar. We live in a fast paced society where everyone is in a huge hurry - even if they have no idea why. Like the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day", I can't help but feel that most things that are worth doing aren't going to just happen in an instance. If I can be content to take babysteps toward my goals, I can enjoy the journey as well as the final destination.

There are so many parts of life where the concept of babysteps can be applied. From learning a new piece on the piano (or learning any new skill really) to recoverying from a major illness.

I'm having to be content with babysteps in my new garden. And we're taking babysteps in turning our house into a home. :-) Even our journey toward simple living has had to be done in a long series of teeny tiny baby steps. Of course, the concept of baby steps itself fits in very well with the ethos of simple living.

Well, I'd best be off and apply these baby step principles to the lasagne I need to make for tea. I've been procrastinating as I can't really be bothered. :-) The meat sauce is already made so all I really need to do is make the white sauce and assemble. I guess there's an area of baby steps I haven't mentioned - they only work if you take a step. LOL. This lasagne won't make itself while I sit here.

What ways have you found the concept of babysteps helpful in your life?

My New Garden Bed

My new garden bed is finally ready to planted into. Hooray!!!! Lot's of excitement here (as much from my 3 year old as anyone lol). It's just been an empty frame for about 6 months or so.

We have made this bed a no-dig bed using compost from a supplier in town. It cost us $75 for a cubic metre - basically a small size trailer full. With the price of vegies I'm hoping that it'll pay for itself eventually. Not that it matters. I'm committed to growing as many of our vegies as I can manage more for health reasons than anything else. Not to mention freshness and taste. :-)

And it's turning out to be a very therapeutic hobby for me too. Can't say as I'd ever imagined myself gardening for fun (in the past I've always found it a drag - just done enough so our house doesn't look derelict). Now that I'm home more, I think it's easier to enjoy a few minutes here and there in the garden. :-)







This is what the finished bed looks like. The squares are basically a foot squared in size, as suggested with square foot gardening. It's not exactly a traditional "square foot garden" though. They recommend keeping beds to a maximum of 4x4 squares. We already had the actual garden bed built and it ended up being 7x8 squares, so I've simply marked off a row in each direction through the middle to use for a path. I think the reason for keeping beds small is so that you don't step on the compost and compact it too much. So I'm hoping having a path through the middle, I can still achieve a similar thing. Unfortunately that will take up some of my garden though. But it's easier for now to work with what we've got.

I didn't really follow any formula in filling it. I did line the bottom with cardboard boxes a while ago and also dumped some old hay and grass clippings in there. Then we just filled it in with the compost. Might have been a cheaper way to do it but at least it's done and I can use it now. Fingers crossed my own compost will be ready when it comes time to replant.

What a Shocker!

Boy am I having a shocker of a day! Slept in. When I finally got up - I decided I was too cold so went back to bed for a while. Probably should have stayed there.

Wanted to grate 1kg of cheese in the food processor. There's a vital piece missing so I can't!

Tried to make some bread dough in the bread maker - yeast got wet so it didn't work. Now I've just spent half an hour trying to resurrect it (and the past 5 minutes trying to work out how to spell resurrect - only to discover this thing has a spellchecker!!!! LOL). No idea if I've succeeded or not yet.

Went to start some soup in the slow cooker and can't get the lid of the Passata (man my brain must be on strike today - just had to go and look on the bottle for the spelling of Passata as well).

Plus I went and spent $30 on a box of cr*p when I'd promised myself I wasn't going to do that again!!!! AND I've been consoling myself with chocolate (at least it's Lindt dark chocolate!) and butter and vegemite on toast (and I'm wondering why my weight loss efforts have stalled????).

I read somewhere recently that someone didn't want to start a blog because all the blogs they read sounded like the author had things so much more "together" than they ever had. Keeping myself real and honest here. :-)

The most disappointing thing is I've just *wasted* my 100th post on this whinge. LOLOL. Who'd have ever thought I'd find 100 things to blab on about. :-)

If you've read this far - thank you. I hope you're all having a better day than I am! It can only get better from here on, yeah? I can live in hope. :-)

Menu Planning - August

Well I must admit that I never get all that excited about menu planning. I'm not big on having to decide what to have for dinner. Although menu planning does help in that I can get it over and done with for the month in one session. But this month seemed to be worse than usual. Not sure if leaving it until the start of the month had something to do with that (given I *had* to decide at least what to have for dinner last night). I thought having less meat in the freezer to choose from may have made it easier to decide - but perhaps that also made it harder. Or maybe I'm just a little bored with things and need to try something a little different.

Anyway, the plan is now done and I've even planned right through to the 1st of next month in the hope that I won't be in this predicament again (or running out of menu plan before the next months is done).

Do have a couple of new dishes in this months plan so it'll be interesting to see how they go.

1st Fried Rice
2nd Lentil Patties (new recipe)
3rd Chicken Tortillas
4th Lasagne
5th Pancakes
6th Leftover Lasagne
7th Roast Chicken
8th Chicken Pasta Bake
9th Pumpkin Soup
10th Pizza
11th BBQ lamb chops
12th Quiche
13th Tuna Mornay
14th Roast Lamb
15th Leftover Lamb in Gravy
16th Macaroni Cheese
17th Hot Dogs
18th Sausages
19th Toasted Sandwhiches
20th Fish
21st Corned Beef
22nd Corned Beef Hash
23rd Fried Rice
24th Hamburgers
25th Lamb & Potato Bake
26th Yellow Bread (French Toast)
27th Tuna Patties
28th Beef Rissoles
29th Sausages
30th Rice & Beans (need to look for a recipe for this)
31st Fish & Chips
1st Turkey Rissoles

So there you have it. Typing it out, I'm feeling quite satisfied that there are enough different dishes in there to make it interesting. It's so easy to get in the rut of cycling the same food items isn't it.

Most dishes, including things like macaroni cheese, lasagne and tuna mornay I tend to serve with 4-5 different vegetables. Friday nights we're more likely to have salad as the kids enjoy salad more than they do vegies (and it's our "fake take away" night). Sunday nights are usually a "scratch" meal so often not so healthy (other than they often include an egg dish so not completely unhealthy either).

We're currently getting a couple of sheep killed so I have several meals of lamb planned for this month. It's always the nicest when it's fresh. With the prices I'm having to pay for vegies at the moment - my cheap lamb may be the only way I'm going to achieve the $100 challenge. Nearly wanted to cry this morning when I read Aldi has carrots for 69c kg while I'm paying $1.89kg! I think you have to take whatever advantages your current location might give you when it comes to battling the ever increasing grocery prices.

Happy Cooking (and eating) everyone!

August 1st

Isn't it funny the difference a day can make? Yesterday, being still July, felt like we were about half way through the year. Today, now that the calendar says August, it feels like Christmas is just around the corner. LOL.

I remember even as a kid (well probably a teenager really) how the first half of the year seemed to drag by slowly whereas the second half of the year seemed to fly by much faster. Not sure why.

Perception of time is an interesting concept really. A bit like the saying "time flies when you're having fun". It's not time that changes is it? It's one of the few things in life that truly does stay constant.

I'm sure many of us would love to find a way to make time slow down (or even stand still occasionally). :-) All we can really do though is make sure we use the time we have well.

I always thought that the way to use time well was to pack as much as I could into the time I had. That works out to be false economy though. Half the time I was doing one thing while thinking about the next thing to be done (not being "in the moment"). Or I'd be so tired, I could hardly enjoy what I was trying to do.

Today I did some pottering around outside - pulled a few weeds, planted a few seeds and chatted to my chookies. Not the most efficient use of time by today's standards - but boy did I feel good afterward! I'm slowly learning that going slowly is not a waste of time but rather a USE of time. Being in the moment we actually get to experience that moment instead of wasting it thinking about something else.

And of course - the more you try to pack into your time, the faster it seems to move. I could spend all day pondering on time and not really made any headway into my understanding of it. And God being outside of time - there's a whole different facet to the concept of time that really blows my mind. Some things just "are" and thinking about them too much can leave me with nothing but a headache. :-)

And since I mentioned the dreaded "C" word - how many of you have started getting ready for Christmas? LOL. I promise you, it'll be here before we know it. :-)