Meal Planning

I used to struggle with meal planning. I made this great plans to try all these amazing recipes and then I went shopping and bought loads of jars of this and that where in the end all I needed was 1 tablespoon of this and a teaspoon of that. Not only did I make it complicated for myself to try out all these new recipes, I also spent a lot of money on something I probably never going to use again. Don't get me wrong, I believe in buying ingredients, not products but especially in Asian cooking there's a lot of ingredients I normally don't use.

As my income has reduced significantly over the past couple of years, I can't afford this anymore. So I learnt better meal planning. One of the things I've learnt from Rhonda was to have a leftover meal a week. For us, we have Monday night leftover night. I tried the whole 'Meatless Monday' thing but hubby wasn't impressed, so now leftovers it is. Normally I do cook a roast or something a bit more elaborate on the weekend so there's leftovers. For example, on Saturday we had chicken drumsticks with salad and there was 3 drumsticks leftover. On Sunday we had Sticky Pork Spare Ribs and there was meat and rice leftover as well. Together with my abundance of capsicums, on Monday night we will eat Fried Rice using the leftover meat, the leftover rice, adding some more veggies (capsicum and peas) and an egg which we have in abundance as well.

I could freeze leftovers but I prefer to re-use them immediately. I have started to use Pinterest to get my ideas when I have used something or have something left over. Obviously it is important to cook enough to have leftovers in the first place. I could have just cooked 4 drumsticks instead of the 7 ones and freeze those but then I wouldn't have had enough for another meal, plus the time and energy to prepare the food would have increased.

For the new year, we have agreed that Mr S will cook a bit more, so Tuesday - Thursday I don't need to worry about what to cook. Mr S is a typical Aussie male - meat and 3 veg is his staple also he does do a fantastic Spag Bol and really good casseroles. In the future Mr S might go shopping a bit more often as well but so far I do this task as I work in town anyway.

If we wouldn't have leftovers for some reason, on Monday night I would just cook an easy dish, like some pasta, a quiche or even just an omelette. I like to cook fish or seafood on Fridays as I pass the seafood shop when I do Thursday night shopping and I make sure I have all staples in the pantry. This helps me to reduce the food bill from about $180 per week (late 2016/early 2017) to about $35 per week (since 2nd quarter 2017).

How do you manage meal planning?

How to get organised - BEFORE

This is too long for one post, so I decided to do a before and after one. Hope you enjoy it!

My life has changed significantly in the past two years. I've been trying to live a simple life since I first saw Rhonda's Down to earth book in 2013. I was working FiFo at the time and my busy life didn't suit the simple lifestyle I was craving. I was trying but it didn't work. I became really frustrated. See, the problem was, that I was trying to live a life of simplicity. A simple life isn't an easy life, it's a lot of hard work and determination and it just doesn't work if you do it part time.

So when I came back home at the end of 2016 to take on a 'normal' job, I suddenly had so much time! Working only 40 hours instead of 84 hours a week was amazing! I suddenly had mornings and evenings and weekends and public holidays and holidays when I wanted them - fantastic! I wanted to try all those things I've never had the chance to do before. I had Janus, my beautiful Rough Collie Pup and we went to obedience training on Tuesday night, then Janus got older and smarter and we started to do agility and Rally O and suddenly I was doing dog classes about 2-3 nights a week plus weekends.

Sewing was another hobby I started way back but I never learnt on how to do it properly or how to read a pattern. So I was really happy to attend the local sewing class on Monday night and then a bag making class that weekend and a pant making class another weekend and then an overlocker course... What I didn't finish in class, I never finished at home because I didn't have the time or the relaxed mindset to do it. My best friend works full time, runs her own business and has a family. I always looked up to her and thought 'if she can do it, I should be able to' but I never did and it really frustrated me. She had a lot less time than me but she managed to do more - how? Why wasn't I 'producing'?

Suddenly I found myself so busy I was hardly ever home. But I still have 3 acres, a thriving veggie garden, 15 chooks, a husband and a home to take care off - plus all the other simple living things such as knitting, preserving, making break, making cleaning products, meal planning, grocery shopping, budgeting, taking care of taxes, superfunds, repairs and so on. While 2017 started with so much time, by the end of it I was so busy, my days were scheduled to the max. 

It wasn't until I had a break that I noticed I was going on 120% ALL the time. So I decided my new year's resolution will be to slow down. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all those things I did but I just don't need that many of them or that much of it. I craved sitting on my porch and just take it all in like Janus does every night. He sits there on the grass every afternoon and every night and just looks around. He checks out the cows and the roos and the stars, he watches the moon rise and the neighbours coming home from work. I should be doing that too - so I decided to stop multitasking and take time to smell the roses.

BUT if I still want to do all the things I love doing, I either have to do less or be more organised. I noticed that I wasn't very organised during the last year, so I looked into why that was. I noticed that because I scheduled everything so closely last year, I didn't always complete it and than I didn't have time for other things. Those things were normally things which I don't enjoy doing like my paperwork. When I started 2017, I started a Home Folder similar to what Rhonda suggested. By about May I could have filled 3 folders with sewing and knitting patterns, garden ideas, recipes to try and so on. I just found more and more, printed it, piled it on top of the folder and when I was looking for something, it was too hard to find. I used Pinterest and that was overflowing with ideas as well. I had so many outstanding tasks, it was a nightmare. 

My first plan was to go into 2018 with no outstanding tasks. And so I used the last few days of the year, the time between Christmas and New Year's Eve to sort my paperwork, do my tax, organise my SMSF (self-managed-superfund), paid all outstanding bills and sorted all my unfinished projects with Janus resting on the cool tiles in my study, the aircon on (it was HOT outside) and watching Hallmark Christmas movies on You Tube...

Organise the year ahead

As I was saying in my last post, Rhonda from Down to earth will take us through her Simple home book this year and I would like to join from my perspective. Chapter 1 is called 'organise the year ahead'.
I have started with my new style of diary. I use this one here: Leuchtturm1917. It contains 

• all birthdays, public holidays, holidays
• upcoming invoices (e.g. car registration, insurances, rates)
• income and expenses
• meal plan
• electricity readings
• harvest
• rain
• list of fruits/vegetables we eat, so I know how much to plant in future

In the back it has an address book which I don't use, so I changed its use to a notebook containing the following information:

• addresses (only from my family)
• books I want to read
• Craft I want to do
• To Do list
• garden ideas
• recipes to try
• ideas for simple life
• Webpages to visit
• shopping (one off items other than groceries)

The diary has the week on one side and a 'notes' page on the other. So when I think about something I need to do, I can write it on the page and then do it when I have time available. So I always have everything I ever need with me at all times. Some people prefer a digital calendar but I'm old fashioned in that regards. I like to write it down.

I also created a system at home on how I deal with my paperwork and I try to deal with it once a week. I have set up folders for various items with the most important ones being '

• "Pay" for all current invoices to be paid
• "Do" for anything which needs to be done
• "File" for paid invoices and things done which then needs to be filed in the appropriate folder
• "Tax" for anything which I need to keep for the next tax return, so I can hand it over to my accountant and don't have to worry about a thing anymore.

Furthermore, I manifested my routines. I have morning, evening and weekend routines. In the morning, I tend the chooks, walk Janus, water my veggies, have breakfast and go to work. In the evening when I come home from work, I relax with a book or magazine in the garden, playing with Janus, tending my garden and so on. When it's time to cook dinner, I go inside and do that. I try to have a leftover meal on Mondays and Mr S cooks Tuesday to Thursday. So really I only need to cook Monday, Friday and on the weekends. Nice! We normally eat around 7ish and afterwards Mr S tends to go to bed and watch a movie. I then clean up the kitchen, put everything away and prepare my lunch for work the next day. Then I mop the kitchen floor, have a shower and go to bed to read a little but not until I have sat outside for a while and watch the stars with Janus by my side. 

Tuesday I have dog training which starts again in February and on Thursdays I go grocery shopping. 

I want to try to keep my weekends open, so I try to do my housework during the week. Unless it's the first Saturday of the month - then I do a bigger clean and therefore do these tasks on the 1st Saturday of the month:

• Dust ceilings, fans, lights, skirting boards
• Dust blinds
• Wipe down doors
• New linen, towels, tableclothes
• Brush flyscreens
• Clean couch
• Vacuum dining chairs
• Clean dishwasher
• Dust all surfaces with oil/conditioner
• Clean kitchen
• Clean bathroom
• Vacuum floors
• Mop floors

I have also set up some new savings and budgeting goals but more about that in another post. For now, enjoy your week and see you soon!

Welcome 2018!

Well, I was going to publish this post on Monday but so far not much goes to plan in the new year. maybe that's my sign to not always be so over prepared? I mean I started 2018 with ALL of my outstanding tasks done - all bills paid, all washing done, 2018 calendar set up, new routines planned, schedules and meal plans done, everything was sorted. Ready for the new year, a new month and a new week!

I got up relatively early on Monday morning as I wanted to videochat with my Mum in Germany. As I had nothing planned other than to relax that day not a problem. So I got up after only 5 and a bit hours sleep, chatted to my Mum and together we watched the fireworks in Cologne, some 16,000 km away from me... Afterwards my Mum went to bed and Mr S and I had brunch. Then I tidied up around the house, looked after the animals, went for a stroll around the garden before coming back inside as it was just boiling outside (= 39 deg C). I watched a movie and when I was just about to lay down for a snooze, the power went off. Not a problem normally but due to the heat, I was hot very quickly. 

Mr S wanted to try out the generator as we had an outlet installed in our switch box to connect the generator to. After a few hours of trying to figure out how it would work, we finally created our own power. Not enough to keep the aircon AND the pumps going at the same time. Since we don't have townwater, everytime we use a tap, 2 pump will turn on - one to bring the water in, one to take it out again. Painful! Then the storm hit and we knew Ergon wouldn't be able to go out and fix whatever is broken for a while... Suddenly it was time to prepare dinner, prepare for work and go to bed. We didn't sleep much that night - it was just too hot. The power finally came back on just before I had to get up to go to work. So 2 night with not much sleep. Ah well....

I've spent Tuesday and Wednesday at work with having another big storm on Tuesday night. I got completely drenched when I went to lock up the chooks - it wasn't raining when I went to the pen but by the time I got back to the house I looked like I jumped into a Pool. I got to the Patio and Janu's kennel was under water, I moved that inside so he has a dry place to sleep and when I walked in, I noticed that the back entry was flooded. I tried to dry it the best I could but didn't have enough rags. All the while lovely hubby was up in the backshed wondering if he'll need to hook up the generator again. Sure enough we did loose power and had a lovely candlelight dinner. Mr S was annoyed that the TV didn't work while I really enjoyed it. Luckily the power came back on after a few hours and we could go to sleep in airconditioned surroundings. I was so tired I went to bed at 8 pm!

The garden was thankful for the rain but the days are still very hot with temperatures around 38 deg C and very humid (around 85%). Every morning when I come back from my walk with Janus, I jump in the warm Pool and still feel refreshed. The garden looks great for this time of the year.

So what have I planned for 2018? Well, firstly no more procrastination! Due to being away for long period of times in my old job, I didn't really feel like having to deal with paperwork, SMSF, tax ect when I got home. Plus we traveled so much that I really wanted to cherish my time at home. I might not do everything straight away but I will do it that week. During my Christmas break I managed to clean up my computer and saved all my documents, photos, music and movies on external harddrives. I had probably half a dozen 'recipes to try' documents! so I started fresh, started new and when I create a new document I save it in the cloud so I can access it at work, from my ipad or my Laptop and I can update it immediately.

I even went as far as archiving all my pins on on Pinterest, so I can create new boards with sub sections and do the things I save rather than just keep saving more and more pins and then be too overwhelmed to look at them. I guess it's a 'less is more' situation for me.

I created a new kind of diary using this one here: Leuchtturm1917 It's small, it fits in my handbag, it shows on page for a week and one empty page. It has an address book in the back which I use for all kind of things - even addresses... I've set it up and I take it EVERYwhere! Now I immediately write down any expenses. I have savings challenge and my meal plans in there, write down the monthly electricity readings and reminders for upcoming birthdays and gift ideas. I note down which books to read and new recipes to try. It's light, I love the colour and the paper is nice to write on. I love it very much and so far it's perfect. It might sound strange to you but if i have a well organised planner, I feel better and I am more accountable. i often think about things at work and write them down and then as I go to the next page, I forget about them and never look at them again. This one is different. I even went as far as writing down the amount of vegetables we eat, so I can plan the veggie garden accordingly.

Rhonda from Down to earth will take us through her Simple home book this year and I thought I join in and will report on here how I implemented her suggestions, modified to suit and share the outcome. So I hope you join me to create a simple home this year!

But before everybody stresses about all the things to do in the new year and then exhausts themselves just thinking about the year ahead and having a list of New Year's resolutions, I want to share one enlightenment which has struck me recently: the art of doing nothing!
I had each night planned with a certain task and also there's still things I will have to do such as go to dog classes on Tuesday and shopping on Thursday, I decided, I don't HAVE to do anything on the other nights. So yesterday afternoon when I came home from work, I took a book, sat own in the garden and read. After I finished my book, I moved to a different spot and just sat there and did nothing. Mr S was tasked to cook (he's now been tasked to cook 3 days a week) and I really enjoyed staying outside until the sun went down. As it is really hot during the day, the evenings are beautiful! I've never allowed myself to do nothing. I always tried to multitask. I want to sit outside and watch the sunset - take some knitting/write the shopping list/do the meal planning/groom the dog/water the plants/weed. I will make sure, I do all the things I have to do, like feed and water the animals, look after my garden and I know I still have to do paperwork once a week. But when I come home from work, I make sure I take the time to just sit there with Janus by my side and watch the world go by. After all, who knows if we make it to tomorrow's sunset? So make sure you take today's with you - you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Happy 2018!!!

Happy New Year 2018!!!

I hope everybody had a beautiful Christmas! We had a quiet one - just the three of us and it was very nice also it was very HOT!

Lots of beautiful presents underneath the Christmas tree

Janus wasn't keen on wearing the reindeer ears - I have to think of something else next year.

He prefers himself as a 'minimalist' without anything.

And I love him to bits...

... and I know he loves me too.

This little man has brought so much happiness into our life - especially into mine.

I can't imagine a day without him!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

After Santa drove by, I started to prepare our Christmas dinner.

For Christmas, we had a Roast Chicken (not one of ours, just couldn't do it), stuffed with a honey macadamia mix and baked vegetables from the garden.

It was delicious! At least 50%  of the dinner was out of our garden.

On Christmas Eve I unpack presents from Home - as in Germany the gifts are exchanged on Christmas Eve. As always, my family thought of me and made us some beautiful presents - thank you!

After a quiet Christmas Eve, an even quieter Christmas Day followed. Janus was very excited to check out what was in his stocking. I made it for him this year - I think it turned out beautiful!

So what's in there?

It squeakees but it's wrapped...

Yay!!! A new squeaky toy to throw!

Janus loves it!

And these are our other presents.

We also got some lovely gifts from Mr S's family.

So we had a lovely Christmas and now we're preparing for a successful new Year - more about this in a few days. In the meantime, we wish you all a happy, healthy and successful new year 2018 - may it bring all the happiness we need!!!

Mumsy's Visit

Every two year my Mum (= Mumsy) visits us in Australia. last time was in 2015 for her 60th birthday and our wedding, in 2016 I went over to Germany for my 40th, so it was time again for her to visit us in 2017. Next year I will go over to Germany again as it's my Grandma's 80th and I want to celebrate that with her. 

My Mum always travels light (NOT) and so she brought with her half of a German supermarket. all things I am really thankful for and am looking forward to eat/use. Thank you Mumsy!

 On Sunday we went to the Keppel bay Sailing Club for lunch. It was nice relaxing day.

On Monday, the first chicks hatched! I had a broody hen and purchased fertile eggs which I laid under her. By Monday evening, 6 little chicks had hatched!

Tuesday morning was nice and Mumsy and Janus are getting along so well, it's really nice to see. Later on the weather turned bad but luckily we were at the shops and stayed dry.

We checked on Mumma Chook and she had 11 chicks, 1 was found dead and 1 egg didn't hatch. How cute are they?!

We dropped the little ones in their new enclosure and took 4 of them to one of my colleagues who wanted some new chooks for her kids.

Mumsy and I built this enclosure, so they're protected from all sites and still can enjoy green pastures.

On the weekend, I had an agility seminar with Janus and Mumsy wanted to come along and watch us. She also made a good dog walker. :-)

 Janus and I learnt heaps and had a lot of fun, but it was very hot and we all were buggered!

On Monday we wanted to relax, so we drove to Mount Morgan Dam for lunch. Janus went for his first swim, we had so much fun!

 It's so beautiful after the recent rain.

 Mumsy enjoyed her hamburger and her time with Janus.

 Tuesday was another hot day and we left home early to go to the Rocky Botanic Garden.

 Even the Rosellas felt the heat and enjoyed a cool bath.

Afterwards we went up to  mount Archer and had a look around there. there's lots of plans and I hope they will become reality because then it would be a really cool place to visit. For now we just enjoyed the views and went for a walk before heading to the Frenchville Sportsclub for lunch. once we were in the aircon, we didn't want to go for another walk - it was just too hot. So we spent a relaxing afternoon at home.

 Janus, the Collie King! Such a beautiful photo of my sweet boy.

 Mumma Hen and the chicks have settled in ...

 ... and Roos are visiting us.

The next day, we had a planned power outage, so we decided to go to Keppel Island for the day. It's so pretty over there and just a 20 minute ferry ride away...

Mumsy even went into the ocean! it was a great day full of fun, laughter, cocktails, good food and sunburn...

We rested and stayed out the sun while Mumsy and I prepared for a weekend away. I made myself this cosmetic bag ...

... and I made her a little bag for her camera.

Saturday, Mumsy and I went to Bargara for a weekend on the beach. This was our view from the cabin. Nice!

 We went for walks...

 ... spotted Rainbows in the making...

 ... and watched spectacular sunsets.

 Sunday morning ....

 Breakfast on the porch - what a nice start to the day. Afterwards we visited the Shalom Market.

Unfortunately than the weather turned bad and then worse. Sunday afternoon, we spent inside with the heater on, trying to dry our clothes and shoes. when we packed on Monday morning, we were totally drenched and I was glad when we arrived home, had a nice hot shower and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

 It kept raining, so Mumsy bought summer to us by making us some nice Pavlovas.

Due to the heavy rain, i was worried that the chicks might drown or get too cold, so I collected them all and put them back in the Cubby house.

We spent the next few days dry - either inside or shopping. We received about 100 mm of rain and all of our tanks are full again! i took the time inside to embroider some towels for my Grandma's birthday. They turned out nice!

And as it was close to the end of my Mum's visit, we all went to the beach. Look how happy these two look!

 Love Janus' ears in this pic.

 Enjoying the ocean breeze...

 Janus found an old turtle carapace, he decided to play with.

 On the way to the Singing Ship, we took a family pic.

 Mumsy and Janus in front of the Singing Ship.

 Janus was going to inspect it and check out where the sounds came from.

 Emu Park has a beautiful ANZAC memorial area.

 And then it was time to say Goodbye again... I was very sad...

 ... and so was Janus. He was sitting in Mumsy's spot waiting for her return.

Unfortunately the weather wasn't kind to Mumsy. It was either stinking hot or raining. But at least the rain has shown her the garden in the most beautiful light. The Frangiapanis have leaves and blooms.

 The Hippeastrum has started to flower.

 Potatoes are waiting to be harvested.

 Nasturium is going crazy.

 There's still new lemons growing.

 Quentin's tree has grown as well.

 Mumsy's Hibiscus is flowering.

 The yard is nice and green and looks so beautiful!

 Rockmelon are slowly growing in front of the cucumber.

 Capsicum are coming and the Rhubarb and asparagus are growing quickly as well.

 Corn is growing and I'm looking forward to juicy steaks with fresh corn and potatoes. Yummy! 

 Mr S's new seating area is looking fabulous as well!

 Grapevine and vegetable squash are growing.

 Sunflower and beans

 Happy Sunflowers all around!

 This Hibiscus will flower soon.

 And one of my three new Elderberry trees is getting leaves!!!

 Beautiful Princess Lillies

 The roses are flowering again.

 And the chook pen is so nice and green!

 This is a day's harvest! I'm so proud of my little productive garden!

Mumsy, I hope you had a great time and i look forward to celebrate your birthday next year with you!