Juggling Motherhood

Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

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Tags: 1 Week Challenge, Children, Free, Goals, Health, Making memories, Motherhood, Time Management

October 2, 2009

Spending detox: Day 6

Today was the day that I had secretly been dreading. We usually go on a family outing on Saturday – were we going to be tempted to spend? Would all the week’s work go down the drain because of one day?

I looked up the word detox and in Wikipedia and it said that detox diets involves a change in consumption habits in an attempt to remove toxins from the body. This last week has been made me change some of my habits, and helped remove some of the toxic thoughts that were in my head like “just buy it”, “you need it”, “it will be fine” and finally “go for the activities that cost money, because they are the fun ones”.

How we spent day 6:

Had a lovely blissful sleep in courtesy of my hubby

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Went for a walk to a bush reserve near our house

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Went to see a horse in a nearby paddock
Had lunch at home
Went to our local school to ride bikes
Watched DD2′s DVD
DD2 and I had a nap together (I have no idea why I needed a nap after this morning’s sleep in?! DD2 doesn’t usually nap either? Can we blame it on the movie? Or maybe all the walking we did today?)
Hubby and DS4 made afternoon tea for us (DS4 was really getting into it, it was so cute!)
We all did a 15 minute tidy up of a stash basket we had accumulated things in during the week
Played red light, green light
Hubby made dinner HUBBY’S TEMPTATION: He wanted to go out and buy a sweet treat
We did drawings and crafts

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

I love it when we find win-win situations. Hubby and I decided that he would look after the kids for part of the morning, then I looked after the kids while he went to volley ball.
You can make your own adventures. While hubby was at volley ball, the kids and I went for a walk. We have a bush reserve near our house, and one day my DS4 was leading the way and found/made a new path that lead to a horse paddock. The path he found/made was overgown with knee high plants, so each time we go through this path that “no one knows about” we all feel like it is a bit of an adventure as we step over the plants and climb up over a small hill to get to the paddock. The kids have named the horse Hony – pronounced ho-knee (it is the cross between pony and horse – aren’t kids creative!)
Sometimes it is good to be led by the kids’ interest. As I started to think about what we could do after lunch, my girls mentioned how they wanted to ride their bikes at their school. Perfect! That was our family outing for the day. Cost: Free!
To a child love is spelled T*I*M*E. This week has challenged some of my toxic thinking like “go for the activities that cost money, because they are the fun ones”. I now feel that as long as you are enjoying yourself as a family, any activity is a fun activity. Like today, hubby took the time to involve DS4 (Darling son aged 4) in the preparation of afternoon tea. DS4 helped distribute the fruit that hubby cut. He took orders from everyone on what spread they wanted on their toast. He helped choose what was for afternoon tea. Well, you should have seen the look on his face when he called us for afternoon tea…absolute pride! What made this magically moment even more touching, was when his sibling really showed appreciation to him for making their food *warm fuzzies!!*

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Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

Posted in 1 Week Challenges, Random Ramblings, Stretching your Dollar | Leave a Comment »

Tags: 1 Week Challenge, Bikes, Bush walk, Children, Crafts, Creativity, De-cluttering, DVD, Free, Happiness, Horse, Making memories, Motherhood, Outings, Red Light Green Light, Simple joys, Wellington

October 2, 2009

Spending detox: Day 5

Mothernature didn’t co-operate with us today, it was very windy and cold. If the weather was better, I think I would have liked to have gone on a bushwalk. In the end, the children were in a melllow mood, and were getting into their own projects. I also got into a big project myself, and I was so busy, that I didn’t get around to taking any photos today…I also faced my biggest challenge which had me thinking about breaking the spending detox!

How we spent day 5:

Older girls did portrait sketches
DS4 used his mobilo to make transformers (he rented a transformer DVD last night. It was so cute how he would transform his mobilo and make that “chh chh chuu chhhuu” transformer sound)
DD2 played with dolls (isn’t it weird how the children take on a higher voice when they are doing the voice for the dolls…makes me smile every time!)
I moved the car out of the garage so the kids could ride their bikes inside
I started decluttering the garage and ended up staying there most of the day
DS4 found our picnic basket and decided to make us an indoor picnic with bread and fruit
All of the kids enjoyed the new space I made for them to do their drawings and crafts
The charity shop came to pick up 2 tables, a cot mattress, and a few other bits and pieces. BIGGEST TEMPTATION: I really wanted to take a load of rubbish to the tip/dump. I was really torn: finish my goal for the week or finish decluttering the garage and pay to go to the dump. ugh!
Hubby was late from work, so the kids started watching out for him out the window. All of a sudden I heard “DADDY!” then another wouldn’t know what to do with themselves so yelled out “HIDE HIDE!!” TEMPTATION: Felt like having a lazy Friday and pick up hubby from work and get take aways
Had a “breakfast dinner” at home (just to change things up, we sometimes have scrabbled eggs and/or bacon, and or mini sausages and/or pancakes for dinner as a fun treat)
After we played with the kids in the evening, we ate the traffic light jelly that we made in a bowl a few days ago
Got a DVD for DD2 that we will probably watch tomorrow
For a date, hubby and I watched a movie on tv together

MONEY SPENT TODAY $0.00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

Sometimes you just have to let go of your things. I had to make some tough choices today about some of the furniture we have (did I mention I’m a bit of a hoarder!). Asking these questions, helped me to let them go: Does the item fit, or have a home? Do you use it now? Is it even worth keeping?!
I had trained myself to look past the mess of the house all these years. In reality, I was never really looking past the mess, if anything the mess was like a “to-do list” staring back at me, and that can make anyone feel down. As we de-clutter the house, and all pitch in to keep it tidy, I actually feel lighter!
Whenever I finish de-cluttering a section of the house, I ALWAYS say to myself afterwards “you should have taken a “before shot”. Then I do the same mistake the next time, and the next time! Will I ever learn?!
I love watching my kids play together! I also love it when they give each other sympathy when they get hurt.

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Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

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Tags: 1 Week Challenge, Bikes, Children, Crafts, Creativity, De-cluttering, Free, Goals, Happiness, Making memories, School Holidays, Simple joys

October 1, 2009

Spending detox: Day 4

I’m not sure when everyone else in the blogging world writes their posts!?! I seem to be doing mine late at night. I guess when you read what I have been up to today, you will understand why!

How we spent day 4:

Woke up to a tidy house. Thank you kids and hubby!

The Wind Chimes they made at the craft workshop & one of the balloon animals they got at the circus show

The girls made wind chimes at the hardware store kid’s clinic. TEMPTATION: A pack of two nightlights were calling my name “buy me, you know you want me, I would look so cool in your kid’s room!”)

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Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 026

Went to a beach that we haven’t been to before
Went home to get changed and have lunch. TEMPTATION: I was starting to feel a bit hungry on the drive back to our place. Had to talk myself out of stopping off at my favourite bakery and getting a sugar donut.

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 030

Went and watched a juggling/circus act at the mall. TEMPTATION: Curse those mall ice creams! There’s just something about sitting together and having a relaxing snack to finish off an outing.

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The girls got taught how to do the diabolo in a workshop after the show. The younger kids and I enjoyed going up and down the escalators over and over again! TEMPTATION: There was a coin operated massage chair, that looked very inviting!
We got some balloon animals made after the show
DD6 won a $10 mall voucher at the show!

Day 4 Sept Oct School Holidays 044

DS4 looking at worms up close!

On the way home we stopped by our local mall to go see the Science Roadshow. DD2 was in heaven unlocking and locking a larger than normal lock with a larger than normal key at an exhibit that showed how the inside of a key lock works. By the way! I didn’t even think about the mall ice creams! yay!!
We rented DD4′s free DVD
DD4 watched his DVD while the others pottered around
Had dinner at home
Hubby and I spent some lovely quality time together and had a nice dessert treat

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

MONEY GAINED TODAY: $10 DD6′s mall voucher, $45 supermakert voucher I got in the mail from my grocery loyalty points, $10 voucher for free online grocery delivery. TOTAL: $65 (We spend nothing, and gain $65! That’s crazy!)

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

Although we did a lot of things today, I felt like at any time, if things got to be too much, we could just go home and unwind. Once again this meant that there was no pressure or an expectation that we needed to do this or that. Since we had no real concrete plans, I would tell the children what we were doing next as we came to it (eg I wouldn’t tell them we were doing A, then B then C). That way there was room to really guage what activity would suit the mood of the children at that time.
Having an idea of what things are available to do in the area that you are in is helpful. Thanks to the research I did at the beinning of the week about what events were on and what activities to do, I always had a couple of options available on what to do next.
Being prepared and organised paid off, but there is always room for improvement. Packing food and water not only extends your outing (like I said in “day two“), but it means you are less likely to have to stop off and buy food – very helpful when you are on a spending detox! Going to the beach was another spur of the moment thing, so I had not packed any towels or swimsuits etc. The kids got a bit wet (some more than others), and because we weren’t too far from home, we just popped back home to get dressed. I’m thinking that having a couple of towels that lived in the car wouldn’t be a bad thing. I remember a couple of summers ago, the sand toys lived in the boot, because we were always going to the beach.
Sometimes you can make things work and sometimes you might have to revisit it another time. Once again the younger ones weren’t too interested in the craft workshop. Unfortunately the placement of the craft table was a little bit further from the play area and outside area. So trying to be with 2 sets of kids was proving to be a bit difficult, especially since the craft activity this time was a bit more tricky and needed more adult help. Thankfully a lovely grandma, assisted one of my daughters who was stuck. I thanked her thoroughly and she seemed happy to help. *bless!* I think this the craft workshop is one that I will have to revisit another time or I wil have to get creative in how to manage the children (eg in the past my friend and I arranged to take turns taking the older children to an activity while the other stayed back with the younger children). Keeping the younger kids busy and happy by going up and down the escalator can definitely be counted as getting “creative”!
You feel a stronger family bond when you all pitch in and help out. There were times when the older girls would push the pram for me while I was holding DS4, or would help with food prep or everyone helped to clear the car of food and wet clothes etc it just makes you feel a sense of togetherness.
The sun just makes me want to go outdoors! The weather was really bizarre this week. It seemed to know whenever we wanted to go out, and stayed nice for that duration of time! On Monday it poured down. On Tuesday it was nice for half the day (the part where we went out). On Wednesday it rained and was cold. Today it was sunny and warm for most of the day.
Even though kids are kids (and I had the sort of day that you would expect when you go out with children who are aged 8 through to 2), in the end, I feel like I had a great day with the kids! And that is a good feeling!

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Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

On the way home we stopped by our local mall to go see the Science Roadshow. DD2 was in heaven unlocking

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Tags: 1 Week Challenge, Beach, Children, Crafts, Creativity, Free, Goals, Happiness, Making memories, Mall events, Motherhood, Outings, Simple joys, Time Management, Water, Wellington

September 30, 2009

Spending detox: Day 3

Ummmm….I’m sounding like a broken record….but I slept in again! Hmmmm…I am starting to see what goal I need to be working on very soon!

How we spend day three:

Kids all played dolls etc together

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We made traffic light jelly

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We made fruit kebabs
The kids watched DD8′s DVD
I spent way too much time working on getting the Playcentre workshop and course schedule sorted

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We made a huge mess, and had loads of fun with junk construction
I went met up with 3 of my friends for a “girls night in” at my friend’s place,where I taught them how to make sushi TEMPTATON: go out and buy some yummy drink for the night

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED:

Just because I am on holiday, doesn’t mean my laundry is! I have so much laundry to catch up on! What was I thinking? That the laundry would collect and wash itself?
Stress and anxiety = Stressed and anxious Mother. I have no idea how mother’s working from how fit everything in? I took the opportunity while the kids watched the DVD to try and work on the Playcentre training schedule for next term. I need to get it sorted by the end of this week, and the added stress does not help me be a happy mother!
Let go, regroup and rejoin the kids. Sometimes you just need to let the stress go. Park it, and address it later. It takes effort to unwind and let go of the stress, but it is so worth it. It is so much more fun to be “present” and enjoy the kids, rather than having your mind plagued with things you can not sort out while the kids are still awake. I was glad that I did this, so I was able to be “present”with the kids. We ended up making kebabs (I was being a funny mummy in the kitchen and started dancing around while DD2 and DS4 yelled out “stop” and “go”…..did I mention that there was no music…hmmmm unless you call the tunes coming out of my mouth music!), and then I went out and got the junk mail, which gave me the idea of doing junk construction with the boxes etc in our recycling bin and old catalogues etc.
Having fun the with kids is great, but you need to keep the routines up, otherwise you pay for it later. Case and point: the laundry.
If you do not project ahead and plan according, you will end up making more trouble for yourself. Dinner was late, which had the roll on effect of the clean up being late, and by the time I was due to walk out the door for a meeting, my hubby was left with all the tidy up and bedtime was just around the corner….oooops!
Good conversation with Good friends + Good food = A Good night. We all staggered out of my friend’s house past midnight. We had no idea it was that late because we were having such a good natter!

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Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

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September 29, 2009

Spending detox: Day 2

Once again, we all woke up late, but I can’t blame it on daylight savings this time because I went to bed late the night before!

How we spent Day 2:

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We went to the craft workshop at the hardware store.

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Watched a show at the mall. TEMPTATION: they were selling a cute tote bag to raise funds for a charity and the kids wanted to go upstairs and have an ice cream like we have done in the past.

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Went to a park that we haven’t been to before TEMPTATION: there was a shop across from the park with a big sign saying “fresh bread” yum!
Had a yummy lunch at home
Watched DD6′s free DVD that she choose yesterday
Did more origami and the girls dressed up as farm animals
Had dinner at home
Went out to get DD8′s free DVD. TEMPTATION: saw a couple of DVDs that I wanted to rent.
Played tickle monster
Played hide and seek in the dark

MONEY SPENT TODAY: $0.00

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY:

I could have easily spent little bits of money here and there without thinking today.
You don’t necessarily need to go out to have fun. We had just as much fun yesterday when were stuck inside because of the weather.
Not having a strict plan meant that I didn’t have the added stress of trying to push the kids to keep to a schedule. We only decided to go to the craft workshop about an hour before it started. When we finished the crafts, I decided to try a nearby park that we had not been to before. On our way to the park, we drove past the mall, and I remembered a show was starting in 5mins, so we stopped by. After that, it was off to the park and then home for lunch.
Being prepared pays off! The kids gobbled down the fruit and water we packed. Another set of clothes would have come in handy when one child spelt water on their pants, and the other got their top all dirty. If we didn’t pack any food, and the spills were worse, we would have had to cut out outing short.
Provide activities that suit your children. You know your child best, and what they will or will not enjoy. The younger kids didn’t really go for the pot painting, so we went for a walk in the outdoor area of the shop, while the older girls finished up. My DS4 found the music at the mall event too loud, so I stood back with him, while the others sat closer to the stage etc etc
There are definitely parks that you need to closely supervise children (eg where there is water or equipment that the younger ones may be unsafe on), and there are parks that you could get away with sitting down the entire time. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Atlhough today’s park was one that I had to closely supervise the kids (which is sometimes hard when the younger ones are going in different directions) there was lots to do and it kept them entertained for a long time.
It is sometimes tough to manage outings with children who range in ages. The older ones get too far ahead, while the younger ones get behind. It’s important to regroup and restate the rules to keep everyone safe. A happy outing means you are more likely to do it again!

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Is it possible to not spend any money during the school holidays?

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Tags: 1 Week Challenge, Children, Crafts, DVD, Free, Goals, Hide and Seek, Making memories, Mall events, Motherhood, Origami, Outings, Park, School Holidays, Simple joys, Tickle Monster, Wellington

September 27, 2009

Free activities to do with your children

Check out if there are any free activities at your local library. Sometimes they have story time, or special events during the school holidays.
Check out if there are any events happening at your local mall.
Bake some easy recipes with the kids like pikelets, rainbow cupcakes, pita bread/toast pizza etc.
Make traffic light jelly.
Arrange a playdate at a friend’s place or arrange to meet at a park.
Go park hopping to your favourite parks or go on an adventure to a park that you have never been to before. You can usually find lists of playgrounds on your local council websites or take a look in your map.
Have the kids help you make a picnic and go to the local airport and watch the planes take off.
Time to get messy! Make your own playdough, gloop or fingerpaint and have fun!
Go to your local kid friendly museum that doesn’t charge for parking!
Get the children to help you make a family newsletter to email out to family and friends. Have them summarise what they have been doing lately (if they are old enough they can type it themselves, or you could ask prompting questions to your younger children.)
Pack some water, a warm top and a snack and go on a nature walk. You could even bring some paper and crayons to do some bark rubbings and collect materials for a nature collage.
Go bike riding/scootering/roller blading at the local school.
Fill a sink up with soapy water and let them go for it.
Get a paintbrush and bucket and let the kids “paint” the fence with water.
Potions making. Provide a bowl, spoon and a selection of items from your pantry (flour, herbs, cocoa, essences) and items collected from the outdoors (flowers, grass, bark). Pretend to be magicians and make up silly spells.

Last updated: Monday, 28 Sept 2009

I will keep adding to this as I think of things.

Please share what fun things you like to do with your child/ren!

Posted in Fun Kids Activity, Stretching your Dollar | 1 Comment »

Tags: Children, Park, Bikes, Airport, Water, Playdough, Library, Mall events, Bush walk, Free, Mall eve, Baking, Jelly, Picnic, Gloop, Fingerpaint, Newsletter, Collage, Scooter, Rollerblading, Potions, Museum

September 27, 2009

Spending detox: Day 1

Our sleeping is all out of wack because of Day Light Savings. We all woke up so late today for the first day of the holidays and Day One of the Spending Detox!

As I mentioned, my girls were not too enthusiastic about my “brilliant” idea! We later had a talk about whether they have ever done something that seemed hard or challenging, but then succeed, and how they felt when they achieved it. I tried to explain that, this week was going to be similar to that. It is something that may seem difficult, but we will feel so good when we achieve our goal. (not too sure what the drama is about, it’s not like I am a spending queen…hehehe)

The kids have been playing so nicely today. The 3 older children have been playing barbies (well, my girls were playing barbies and my boy was using his mobilo and playing with the girls and their barbies) My two year old just pottered around playing with the others, and following me around. She also enjoyed some water play in the sink towards the end of the day.

I started to make a list of things that we could do during the holidays that was free. I even found some free local events that we could attend if we wanted.

We had an early lunch and missed morning tea since we had a late breakfast. As I was cleaning up, I made a note to myself that if we were going to do various activities at home, it would be really important to make sure that we have as much space available. In other words, we all needed to pitch in to keep the benches clean (so that we could bake or do messy play in the kitchen if we wanted to) and keep the family room manageable (I’m sure the clean space that was available to the kids this morning fostered their lengthy play there.) So keeping on top of the house is going to be an important challenge this week.

Oh! Another important challenge: to get plenty of sleep. I know when I am tired, I don’t have as much patience and the fun ideas don’t seem to flow.Wasn’t so tired today, so I’m sure that helped me have a good day.

After I cleared the bench etc, I made a batch of playdough. I thought it could come in handy if the kids got bored and came to look for something to do.

The two younger ones played with this, while the older girls continued to play dolls. Later on the older girls came and made all sorts of fun things. DD8 made an apple that opened up to reveal a smiling worm inside…cute!

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After hubby came home, I went out with DD6 (darling daughter 6 year old) to go get her free DVD. (I asked my DD6 to write down the order of when people go out and choose their DVD for the day – the perk for her was that she put herself first!)

We didn’t end up watching any TV today. My DS4 asked to watch TV whenever he was bored, I managed to distract him by getting him involved in what I was doing or making some origami or printing him out some cut and paste worksheets that he started getting interested in yesterday.

How do you fill your time during the school holidays? Is it something that you love or dread?

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