The fatmumslim/white peach photography 30 day photography challenge....
Day 27 - From a Distance
Our Pretty Carousel Horse
A few months ago, the lovely man who lives at the top of our street rescued this carousel horse from one of his friends, who was going to send it to the dump. Can you believe it? The DUMP!
She has been a beautiful addition to our backyard. The girls absolutely love sitting on her. She often has a bucket of leaves placed lovingly in front of her nose for when she gets hungry. We have named her Roslyn, because she has beautiful roses strewn all over her.
The close up in yesterday's post is of flowers on Roslyn's rump. She is just drippingly pretty all over.
Taking the photo of those flowers has had me thinking. How often to we see the minute details of life without seeing the big picture?
At the moment, we have a rental property that does not have tenants. So, on our comfortable and very adequate single income, we are paying our mortgage, plus rent on top of that. We have gone to a cash system to try and stem the loss of money from our accounts. This means, we draw out a certain amount of cash each month and that. is. it. That is all the money we are allowed access to.
When we started, I thought it would be easy and I thought I might be able to snaffle some spare money aside to save for a little holiday or something (like pretty shoes). But, it turns out, it has been tough. Last month we had some pretty interesting meals by the end, I had to simply use up what we had. This has been a good lesson in just buying what we actually need, not too many 'just in case' things.
It has been a great practice in discipline for us. I don't think I realised how much those morning teas at cafes, or that bargain rack shirt, or that extra 2 or 3 things from the grocery store was adding up to each and every month. But, we have worked out, that we were actually eating and wearing and experiencing thousands of dollars a year.
So... now? It has been fun. Miss Z and I don't do morning tea at the shops as much, we will duck into Coles and buy 12 donuts for $3 and enjoy them at home with hot chocolates and marshmallows on the porch. We don't buy takeaway for lunch on a Saturday, we buy some hot chips and have hot chip sandwiches (not healthy or gourmet, but delicious). We don't go out to the movies as much, we buy a $12 DVD and enjoy cuddling up on the couch. We bake more and eat more home cooked meals. We don't actually feel as if we have lost any of our lifestyle. If anything, we have gained because we literally, physically know how much money we have.
Back to the horse and looking at things too closely. At times, $250 for groceries each week seems really hard. I have put many things back on the shelf. But... in the long run, we will have our investment property for a long time and it is making us more money than we can ever save. So... to put back the Nutella and the Tim Tams may seem unfair at the time, but when I think of the investment that is working for us, it is worth it.
When we get tenants and things settle down again, we have decided to keep up this system of dealing with money. It is keeping us honest and keeping us disciplined. We really want our kids to know that you don't need money to have fun and that long term goals are worth it.
Just as a footnote - we are really careful not to use the phrase, "We can't afford it" with our children. We feel this is so negative, we prefer use phrases like, "Not today", or "Maybe another day", or "One day", or "Let's wait and see" or even better, "We can only spend our money once, so let's think about it for a while". Note: We do say "No" to some things, but it is nice for a child to dream and to know that one day they might be able to have a Rupunzel Barbie or a Pink Skateboard.
So, are y'all thrifty?
