Spending Hiatus - Weeks Ten & Eleven

The last two weeks have been quite busy here at Lynwood Ave, yet I still was able to think about how I was spending my money. It isn't to say that I haven't bought anything but groceries and essentials, I have bought some extras, but these were necessary. 

A new chair for J to sit at the table (if anyone is looking for an IKEA highchair, I've got one I'm happy to sell). J looks like such a little man now, he is so happy sitting alongside his brother having his meals.

In our family room we have a large blank wall over the sofa, that F has been asking to fill with artwork or photos etc. I have resisted until now as the boys love to climb all over the sofa, jump on it, ets. I didn't want tears as a result of falling pictures on little heads (and broken glass of course). So on Wednesday whilst at IKEA buying J's new chair, I stocked up on frames for photos, prints and other things I want on our gallery wall.  I'll be using all my skills as a handywoman (sorry F you just don't have it in you!!) over the coming weeks as I put the gallery wall together.

I mentioned in my last Spending Hiatus post about how I was going through all my things and reinventing their use and moving things around. I'm having a ball doing that, in fact it is my new addiction that has replaced shopping. Once I've done all that needs doing and I'm happy with how our home looks, I'll do a little house tour of my home (probably in a month's time).

One of the things I did was use a leftover piece of felt from a craft session with the boys as a table runner (images above).  It was a small piece (it should be longer given the length of the table). I trimmed it, added some tea lights (a wedding present still in its box!!) plus some bud vases I bought last year with fake flowers from my mum's place (she said she got them from Spotlight).  I'm pretty pleased with how this little project turned out.  I may change the centrepiece soon, add a small fishbowl vase I have and fill it with pinecones (for an autumnal vignette).  The possibilities are endless when you just look around at what you already own and use a bit of imagination.

One more week of the official hiatus, it is looking good.

It is a long weekend here, so I'll be back on Tuesday. Have a happy day and a great weekend.

Spending Hiatus - Week Nine

Good morning I hope your day is as bright and sunny where you read from as mine is today. If you are a Sydney reader you probably noticed that it was quite cool this morning when you awoke. According to my weather gage it was a nippy 16C (60F), so maybe Autumn is due shortly after all, just in time for Easter.


Well, so this week is the first of my extension on the spending hiatus. How did I go? I am happy to report that all I bought this week were the groceries and chocolate eggs for teachers gifts and of course the Easter egg hunt on Sunday morning. Very pleased with myself indeed.


I am even more pleased with the little activity I began the other day when L and I had to change our outdoor activities for indoor ones because of the rain. L helped me do some rearranging of things around the house, including some furniture and just that exercise has given a real sense of newness to our home.



There are a few more rooms that need some refreshing so I'm looking forward to continuing this over the coming weeks.


This will be the last post for this week as we are off on a little break for a few days, I'll be taking with me the books shown above which have all been borrowed form the library and friends, how good am I?

So happy Easter to all my blog friends around Australia and the world and I'll see you next Tuesday.

Images courtesy of The Book Depository and Amazon

Spending Hiatus - Week Eight

I have reached the end of the original deadline of my little exercise in mindful consumption. It went by really quickly and in general I did OK.

I went back over my posts to see where I had fallen and found to my surprise that I didn't succumb to temptation too many times: the jute rug, the spangly t-shirt (which I am ashamed to say haven't yet worn!!) and J's new lamp (his old one is still in the cupboard waiting to be recovered).

Then there were the sunglasses and the christening gift as well as the face wash, the beautician and hair appointments. While these are big ticket items, I do consider these purchases to be essential.

Using the image above as my illustration, I don't think I've measured up too badly. However I know I can do better, so yes I will continue on for another month. What I want to do is have a good clean out of my home which I started a few weeks ago and then stopped. I want to revive things I find which are in storage and see how they can be repurposed as Joslyn and Janette did this week. I'm excited by the prospect.

Oh and don't you love the measuring sticks above? Such a clever idea, I am trying to work out how I can make one up for my boys, the hiatus plus the $US120 price tag is stopping me from getting my credit card out.

Have a great day and weekend.

Spending Hiatus - Week Seven

I can't believe it is week seven already, I really feel I have failed in this exercise in restraint and more importantly mindful consumption. Therefore, I am going to extend my hiatus to 12 weeks. I am determined that April is going to be the winning month. This doesn't mean that I am going to let things slide during the remaining 12 days of March.

Suffice to say that this week has been winner, but only because most of the week I was in bed with a fever, so even online shopping wasn't going to happen. And lets be thankful for that, because one can only imagine the damage that could be caused to a credit card by a delirious woman!!!

Today, I was tempted by John Olsen, in my opinion one of the greatest artists of the modern era, to do a little spending. I'm a huge fan of the Olsen style of painting, lots of squiggles, mad lines, dots on vast expanses of glorious colour. To me his paintings scream "life". I always feel charged and energised looking at one of his paintings.

I had a dental appointment today and my dentist happens to be around the corner from the gallery that specialises in Olsen exhibitions. There is one at the moment called "Culinaria, The Cuisine of the Sun" which showcases works capturing the time Olsen spent in Spain as a young man and discovered Spanish cuisine. I popped in for a quick visit as I had J with me who likes to run a lot (if you know what I mean). I just fell in love with the painting above "Duck a L'Orange" and if I had a spare $Aud380,00 lying around it would have been mine. But alas it will go to another more fortunate person, pun intended.

And then I spied the book above, and on the cover what did I see, yes it was "my" painting. The book is only $Aud30.00, but I thought to myself, I don't need it, especially when all I would be buying it for was the cover picture.

So although tempted, I thought, nah I'll just go home and look at the two Olsen etchings I already own (actually they were gifts from my sister to my boys for their first birthdays, so technically they own them, but I'll call them mine till they turn 18!!)

Now, if that isn't a good start to the remainder of my spending hiatus, I don't know what is.

Hope you have had a happy Friday.

Off to a school Movie Night in a short while, I'm on BBQ duty and I'm still a little under the weather, so not sure how long I'll hold out, but you just have to do it for the kids don't you.

Speaking of which, thank you to all my lovely readers for your thoughts and kind words while I was away in bed. It is so nice to know that people are interested in what I have to say here on my blog. Thank you also for your support in relation to yesterday's post. I wasn't sure about doing such a post as I pretend to be no parenting expert, but I am so glad I did.

Have a happy weekend and see you Monday.

Spending Hiatus - Week Six

I have been such a good girl this week, but really after the last two weeks of dismal failure it was about time I actually only spent money on what I need, namely food.

Don't get me wrong, I have been tempted, seriously tempted, but I held off this week. Also after feeling guilty the last few weeks, which actually diminished the joy of purchasing those goodies, I did feel a real sense of achievement, I also discovered a really wonderful blog to help me over the next few weeks which is a must read if you are doing the hiatus.

Now, the image above has nothing to do with the hiatus, but I have come down with a really bad case of the flu, we are coming into flu (dare I say swine flu) season and it has knocked me about.

F is taking time off work next week to give me time to rest. So I'm going to snuggle into lots of pillows over the next week and not do anything but rest. I may blog, but probably not, so I'm just going to take a blog break for a week.

I plan to still follow my favourites, so I might pop in and say hello.

Have a happy weekend and week.

Image courtesy Contemporary Hotels

Spending Hiatus - Week Five

I'm doing an early update post because I have been a very. very bad this week, actually all in the last two days.

It all started with a trip to a children's store to look for a lovely baby present for a friend's new born baby girl (who arrived 10 weeks early, so a special gift was called for). There is a lovely store in Sydney's inner west called My Messy Room and I found something gorgeous for baby P and then I saw the lamp above.


It has J's name on it. He loves animals, and his room will eventually be decorated around green and blue (currently a pale yellow, time to get the paint brushes out). J also has a few items in his room which are exactly the same as L, bedding is one and the lamp was the other (picture below is from L's room which has a blue and red theme). I want some individuality to be reflected in their rooms.

So, I bought the lamp which now sits on J's bedside table and the other lamp well, I'll probably recover it and use it elsewhere in the house.

Then today, I went to the local large shopping centre to meet a friend for coffee and while walking around stopped into a store I never go into because I think their clothes are a little frumpy and there was a rack with the sign "Last Items of The Season" which I flicked through and found this pretty top and bought it.

I am going to have extra hard next week to make up for this week.

Have a happy weekend everyone.

Spending Hiatus - Week Four

Oh, I've been a bit naughty this week. See that lovely jute door rug above, it is brand new. I bought it on Thurday last week at K Mart. I went into the store to buy some craft supplies for the boys and walked out with the rug as well!!!

Why did I buy it, not because I needed one, the old one was doing a perfectly good job and it was still in good condition, wasn't because of the price ($15.00), but because I thought it looked nice!!! Not really what mindful consumption is about really...

Apart from this naughty purchase, I spent only on necessities, groceries and face wash.

After the weekend's organisation and after reading Joslyn's update along with this and this post from Tina, I am itching to get into a major overhaul of our home to clear out closets for goodwill and council clean up and to discover any unfinished and hidden treasures I have lurking in my closets and storage bins. I feel excited just thinking about what may eventuate.

Two examples from Tina's blog which have inspired me.

Tina found this beautiful bowl in one part of her home not really being used and put it in another part and now it is being used purposefully.

This beauty was stored away unfinished in a suitcase and now she has finished it and hopefully gets the use it deserves.

I'm off to soccer with L and then I'll be clearing out drawers and closets.

Have happy day.

Spending Hiatus - Week Three

Image: Flickr

Image: Enhabiten

So I haven't done too well this last week, there was a big ticket item, a pair of sunglasses was bought to replace ones that J broke. All I can say is that it is high summer and having pale eyes I find the glare of the sunlight too strong to walk around without my eyes being protected. Plus they were 25% off!

Oh and another confession, my husband bought me that dress I wanted so much, does that count as breaking the hiatus when it came out of our joint account?

There was also the christening gift, but that was a necessity, but again it wasn't a cheap item it was George Jensen. Still it will be a an heirloom piece from her cousins.

Apart from that I've been pretty good, just bought food.

I have also raided my fabric stash and have begun making two cushions based on the designs (red cross in the first image) above. They will be put on the bed in the guest bedroom. My mum of course is contributing with the crochet.

I hope I do a bit better this week with my spending.

Have a happy day.

Spending Hiatus - Progress So Far

I'm on day 15 of my hiatus and I'm pleased to say I have not done too badly.

There has been some questionable "essential" spending: I went to the beautician today to get waxed (absolutely essential as far as I am concerned, trust me, especially as we are in the middle of a hot steamy month) and here is where the question mark pops up to get a pedicure!

But in general my spending has been predominantly food, groceries and school items. You will recall from a previous post how I managed to avoid buying a dress that I do not really need. I may yet capitulate though, I just love it so much and it looked so good on me!!

I even managed to avoid spending a single cent for a 5 year old's birthday party. L received a double up of a gift at Christmas (fantastic Djeco origami planes) so I gave his little friend that and then L made a card using paper from the printer and his crayons. Easy and of course this hiatus is also about repurposing what I own already, so I am very pleased I managed to meet that goal.

Finally, and again repurposing what I own, I searched my fabric stash for a piece of vintage linen that my maternal grandmother spun when she was a young mother. Having found the linen I asked my mother to help me make something special for the dining table in the formal dining room. My mother is brilliant at crochet and isn't too bad at embroidery. Mum has a huge stash of crochet and embroidery threads so we were able to find a match for the linen. Together we designed a pattern for the embroidery and the crochet lace and above you see the result.

All said, a very good fortnight.

A Test of My Will

Last year I discovered the world of blogging and was instantly addicted to the smart, witty talented women I came across as I travelled the world from Australia, to the US, Scandinavia and southern Europe.

I have many favourites which you can see from my blogroll. One which instantly captured me was Simple Lovely which I came across when Joslyn was in the middle of a spending hiatus. It was the philosophy behind her hiatus which triggered my interest. It was about appreciating what she owned already and making better use of the things around her and tweaking their usage to freshen them. It made her rethink how she approached acquiring things in her life and how she used them. Joslyn calls it mindful consumption.

The result of her 2 months hiatus was an increase in many of the things she values most in life, creativity, family time, reading, discovery.

Joslyn is doing it again and I've signed up. I started my hiatus on 1st February and have set a goal of not spending on non-essential items for a period of 2 months. This will be a serious test of my will. I am the ultimate consumer an advertisers dream target, I am seduced by pretty packaging, adverts and the lure of having "something new" drives my husband to despair!!!

This post is a way of making me accountable to this goal. I am going to keep you posted on how I'm tracking and I'm going to be honest when I fall off the wagon, like I almost did today when I went to a shop to try on a dress that I saw last Sunday (31st January). I tried it on, it looked great and I even have a dinner I could wear it to in a couple of weeks. I didn't buy it, and I feel pretty good about that.

Now I'm going to make myself a cup of tea rather than go to get a coffee from my local cafe.

Have a happy weekend.

Images: mine from my honeymoon in the Maldives. I thought they aptly captured what I am trying to achieve, simplicity in living.