Routines

Mr S and I have been together for 17 years this year - a long time. But believe it or not, we never lived together where one of us comes home every night. This is new for us and so we have to develop our routines. Mr S is retired and I now work Mon - Fri. As I don't want to do all housework and washing on the weekend, I need to establish routines and follow those so I have time for all the things I want and need to do. In my opinion it's as important to set up routines of required tasks such as housework, washing, cooking ect as to set up routines for tasks of leisure such as craft, reading, exercise and meeting with friends.

Firstly, I made a list of all the things which need doing like housework, washing, cooking, grocery shopping, administration duties and then added the things I like to do such as craft, dog training and exercise.

This is what I ended up with:

	AM	PM
Monday	Walk Janus; Exercise; Washing	Cooking; Craft
Tuesday	Walk Janus; Feed and water chooks and bird; Washing	Cooking; Dog Training
Wednesday	Walk Janus; Exercise	Cooking; Administration duties
Thursday	Walk Janus; Gardening	Shopping; Cooking
Friday	Walk Janus; Exercise	Cooking; Watch BHG
Saturday	Feed and water chooks and bird; Cleaning	Gardening; Cooking
Sunday	Craft/Gardening	R’n’R; Cooking

My new working day is only 8.5 hours long and my starting times are flexible as long as it’s between 7 and 9 am. I have chosen to start at 8 am as that gives me time to do things in the morning. I could start earlier and come home earlier but personally, I don’t ‘feel’ like doing things when I come home. So I leave that to a minimum.

During the week, I get up at 5.45 am, open all doors and curtains to let the light and fresh air in – I love those early mornings where it’s quiet and not yet too hot and just pleasant. I then get dressed, let the chooks out and by 6 am Janus and I are on our morning walk. We usually walk about 3 km and upon return I exercise with my Kettlebells on Mon, Wed and Fri. That will make me all hot and sweaty, so I jump in the Pool afterwards and go for a swim. Feeling refreshed, I get dressed for work, feed the dog, have breakfast on the Patio and off I go to earn some money. On Tuesdays and Thursdays where I don’t do any exercise, I just walk Janus and then feed and water the chooks, week, water the vegie garden ect. 

I’m usually home at around 5.30 pm. I get changed and spend time playing with Janus, collect eggs, harvest vegies for dinner, water the garden ect – I love just spending time outside our beautiful place and feel the garden, see what’s going on, what’s doing well and what needs a little bit of help. I find it very therapeutic to stroll around the yard, it relaxes me. Between 6 and 6.30 pm, it’s time for Janus’s dinner and then I start cooking ours. Mr S will help if I ask him but mostly I just enjoy getting dinner ready for the two of us while he’s getting me a drink and sets the table. We eat dinner between 7 and 7.30 pm. Mr S normally heads straight to bed afterwards, I clean up the table and kitchen and then retreat to my Study. On Monday I finish off some sewing or embroidery projects from the weekend; on Tuesday Janus and I go for dog training at the local obedience club. Wednesday is the day for all of my administrative tasks – paying bills, filing, ect. As Thursdays he shops are open longer, that is the day where I do my shopping. Normally I only need to go to the Supermarket but it is pretty handy when I need something from another shop. Fridays Mr S and I enjoy our fish & salad night and watch Better Homes and Gardens to start the weekend.

Every 2^nd Saturday I do a deep clean here I change all the linen and clean that little bit more, so I prefer to do it myself. Every other Saturday Mr S will clean the house by cleaning the bathroom/toilet, exchanging towels, vacuum and mop. After cleaning the house, I normally like to spend a bit of time outside and I might clean the chookpen or do some gardening. In the evening I cook our dinner and we might watch a movie together or I might read or sew or knit or just sit outside and watch the stars.

Sunday is leisure day, so I do whatever I like doing. If it’s not too hot, I might do some gardening, otherwise I might enjoy some sewing or embroidery in the comfort of my study. Or I might sit outside and read or go for a swim or bake or do all of that. I might have some tasks which need to be done in the morning but I make sure that I observe R’n’R – Rest and Relaxation in the afternoon. Usually Mr S and I sit outside with a cold drink and sometimes a platter and talk about the week – past and coming, any events or some planning of things to do around the yard. I usually cook a Roast for dinner on Sunday night to supply us with meat for our lunch for the week, so once everything is in the oven, it doesn’t need looking after too much. I used to dislike Sundays because I didn’t know what to do. Now they’re my favourite days!

I did mention washing in my little table but didn’t talk about it in my weekly routine. The reason is that we’re only 2 people and we only have a maximum of 2 machines a week – clothes and towels/linen. So really it’s not a big deal compared to say a family of 4 or more. My washing machine has a delay option, so I can put everything in just before I go to bed and the washing machine will start up at 4 am and do it’s thing. By the time I’m up, the washing is done and either before or after my morning walk, I hang it up. usually Mr S will take it inside during the day and I can fold it and put it away in the evening. Done! I have a front loader so they take a little bit longer (but use less water) and I don’t need to ‘wait’ for 3 hours to hang up my washing or leave it outside during the night. I’m lucky that I do live in Queensland where it’s mostly sunny and the washing is line dried 95% of the time. For the remaining 5% I have a dryer but I only use it during the monsoonal downpours.

So that’s my week. I feel organised and happy that I have the “have to’s” and “want to’s” in one week. that makes it easier for me to stick to my routines. How have you set up your routine?

Budgeting and tracking spending

Most people will roll their eyes just by the thought of those things. I used to be like that. I ALWAYS started a budget - have done so for the past 6 years but I never finished one and I never tracked my spending. It was just too hard. I used to have plenty of money so that spending didn't really bother me too much, but now I earn a fifth of what I used to earn and I NEED to budget and track expenses.

Last year, I started with tracking my spending as I knew this would help me to create my budget. In order to track EVERY expense, I bought myself a little pocket calendar. Personally, I try to work my budget to the tax year as it makes it easier to collate all of the relevant info for my accountant. But this is totally up to you. So, I bought a little pocket calendar smaller than my phone and carried it around everywhere. Each week, I added expenses from our bank accounts (e.g. direct debit etc.) before I summarised the expenses and highlighted any tax relevant ones. It was actually really really easy. I wondered why I never thought of this before. I always found it too hard to remember those little expenses where you pay a couple of $ for a cuppa – all those things you normally don’t get a receipt for. now I could write them down while I was waiting for my cuppa.

With one year of tracked expenses in a pocket book, I could transfer the information into a budget. I also saw where I spent too much money – in our case that was eating/drinking out and obviously, the travelling was pricey too. So, for 2017 I created a realistic budget and of course I’m tracking it as well. I only earn a fifth of what I used to earn, so it’s important that we have a plan on how I spend my hard-earned money.

Another thing I did, is calculate how much I actually earn an hour. Not just the 40 hours I’m actually at work but also the time to get to and from work, time to get ready to go to work etc. So, I work 40 hours a week, it takes me 20 mins one way to get there and another 20 minutes to get back. Then it takes me 20 mins to get ready to go to work plus my half hour lunch break and a weekly time allowance of 1 hour for work related laundry. For me, that works out to 51 hours a week – I haven’t included time for networking, training etc. I also haven’t included the cost (e.g. fuel, clothes etc.) to work. I wanted to keep it simple. 51 hours a week times 46 weeks a year (52 weeks minus leave and public holidays), that’s 2346 hours a year I’m occupied with work. If I then divide my income after tax with 2346, I have calculated how much I actually make an hour. Like I said it’s a simplified version but let’s say the result would be $25 and I want to spend $50 on shoes, I need to work for 2 hours to pay for them. If I want to go to one of our usual dinners which used to cost us about $120, I actually need to work for 4.8 hours – that’s half a work day just to pay for dinner! For me that put’s it into perspective.

But it’s not just about spending, we all need to save some money as well. A few days ago, a dear friend of mine has posted the link to the 52-week-money-saving-challenge. I have done this challenge in the past and thought it was great! You start with $1 in the first week, then save $2 in the 2nd week, $3 in the 3rd week and so on until you put aside $52 in week 52. You will save $1378 by the end of the year - a fair amount of money! Some people turn the amounts around so they start with $52 in week 1 and have to pay less at the end of the year when it's Christmas time and normally expenses go up. As I don't give expensive presents for Christmas, I will start with $1 and work myself up to the $52. As my friend who gave me my 'Sparschwein' posted the link, I will use the pig to save my money.

What sort of money bags or coin jars do you use to save?

Welcome 2017!!!

Oh dear, I haven't written in a while - my apologies!!! In hindsight, I should have started a bit later but I was going to write about all the things I was doing... Unfortunately, moving back into our house, making it a home, cleaning the yard, training a puppy, starting a new job, getting chickens - that all took a lot more time and effort than I had anticipated and I didn't have time to write. To make things worse, I was struck with Pneumonia and I was too sick to even get off the couch. Two agonising weeks later didn't really do much for my stamina and I was quickly exhausted. Nevermind, this all was last year, let's concentrate on the new year!

Janus has grown heaps. He was 30 cm (shoulder height) when I got him and he's now 5 months old, has grown to 52 cm and his weight increased from 8 to 15 kg. And he's (nearly) perfect. He's smart, obedient - and a little stubborn. He has NOT destroyed anything, chewed anything or dug the garden up. I can't believe how well mannered he is. I love him to bits and so does my husband. I had him de-sexed a week ago and he has recovered quickly. On Tuesday he will get the stitches removed and then he can jump in his Pool again which he's missing immensely over the past few hot days. I'm looking forward to continue to train him in 2017 and if he does continue like this, he might be able to go on his first trial.

I have distributed 1 m3 of cow manure and 6 m3 of soil around the garden and as we were lucky to have a little bit of rain, everything is flowering and looks so beautiful!

I haven't seen our yard in such good health for a while, I'm very happy with my effort and grateful for the rain - hopefully there will be some more. Currently we're discussing some changes in our yard due to some further renovations, I will talk about that another time. For now, we just have to keep the water up to the plants on those hot days and it will be fine. I'm hopeful that we will be able to get the yard in such a state that we don't have to do any major work over the summer months - it's just way too hot. All that dirt shuffling nearly killed me - especially after being so sick for so long.

Today is the first day of 2017 - a year I'm looking forward to. I feel prepared, ready and I have big plans. I'm looking forward to develop myself, my career, my marriage and our home and I'm hoping you will follow me along this journey - I know it's going to be great!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!