Talking About Money

I've been saving money and reading the frugal literature and blogs. But with the want of a house in the next 2 years we need to start getting our head around mortgages and the best solutions for us. It's scary when you were brought up with none of this knowledge or financial education. It's a whole different language and an intimidating one at that.

When we purchased our unit in 2007 it was the scariest step to take. Once done it wasn't so scary and I wondered why we had taken so many years to gather the courage to save and buy. Now with 4 years of water under the bridge I have that scary feeling again.

Lucky for me when I went to the op shop to gather party trinkets I was able to take a whole pile of FREE Mortgage and Property magazines from 2008 to 2011.They will help us to understand the language and get our head around the best solution in buying a house with our own yard.

Free Magazines To Read and Release

Tonight we went to FREE bedtime story time at one of the public libraries. While Dolly had milk and biscuits, I borrowed books on bread making, decluttering, self sufficiency, sewing, parenting and a Money magazine.

Learning How To Use My Money To My Best Advantage.

I have been reading the magazine and have learnt so much already in just a couple of hours. I hope to build up my confidence, start looking a real estate, talk money/loans and be a savvy buyer when the time comes.

Are you confident talking real estate and big money deals?

I Dedicate This Post To Dolly's Teacher, Ms Leah.

Dolly's preschool teacher Ms Leah has been the most wonderful start to schooling my daughter could have. She's smart, kind, full of fun, very loving, a great female role model, dances like no ones watching, creates with trash, encourages cultural diversity and speaks to students with respect. Everything that was important to me was enhanced by her.

We Heart Ms Leah.

I feel very sad that she will no longer be part of my daughters life (my tears are flowing). My daughter blossomed under her guidance. Dolly is very energetic but has a gentle heart. She is at times attracted to stronger children who bully her. She tells me she likes them because sometimes they are nice to her. Like all mums I worried on that 1st day of preschool. There were times at childcare my daughter would come home feeling sad and excluded with a tear running down her face. It would break my heart. With Ms Leah, Dolly's confidence grew and she has been made to feel proud of of who she is.

At preschool with Ms Leah, tolerance, difference and acceptance was promoted. The children all felt safe and were all able to grow into children ready to face the challenges of primary school. I always felt comfortable leaving my daughter in her caring hands and can only hope for more teachers like her during my daughters schooling life - however... I have worked in schools for many years and know she is a rare and special indeed. I must congratulate her parents on their remarkable achievement on creating such a special human being. But most of all I must thank Ms Leah for being the generous, kind and beautiful person she is.

THANK YOU MS LEAH WITH ALL MY HEART.

Lovely Readers, Tell me about a remarkable teacher that is/was unforgettable...

A Subversive Plot: How to Grow a Revolution...

I saw this on Hazel Dene. It's complimented many of the books I have been reading lately. It's powerful and thought provoking so thought I should put it up to. Enjoy.

Poverty Awareness Week

Dolly and One Mob.

We went to a Poverty Awareness Week Community Dinner hosted by My Sisters Kitchen. We placed our $10 donation in the bucket for the 3 of us. (The buckets seemed sadly empty for the number of people in the venue). I had also packed our own cups, plates and cutlery in my basket for the event to avoid having to use any wasteful plastic and paper items keeping to my eco ethos.

We queued to serve ourselves at the buffet loaded with Nepalese and African type dishes cooked by My Sisters Kitchen refugees and new migrants. We guessed what the dishes were and ate our spicy meal, (Dolly could only eat the non spicy salad and white rice). It was a bit overwhelming hot for me at times, so I had wished I had not served myself so much. Nevertheless I ate all of my meal with teary eyes and a burning mouth. LOL.

Dolly and My Plate (The Rambling Expat is Busy Eating His)

There were also community groups performing to entertain the crowd. The Tongan Youth Group sang, played music and danced to the sounds of their islands. We also really enjoyed One Mob, a group of Aboriginal men from the Arnhem region.

Demonstrating Traditional Dance.

It was an enjoyable and feel good night of food tasting from other cultures without the restaurant prices. We supported the important community project through our donation and our presence. And it allows us to dialogue with our daughter about poverty, the issues that surround it, what we can do about it and how lucky we are, to not be living in poverty.

Do you try and attend community events that support others and inspire you or your loved ones?

Dolly Made Dinner

Sunday afternoon was unpleasant as I have had a red puffed up irritated eye. I was hoping to just relax at the nice cool clean library while Dolly played and looked at books. But I had asked Dolly early on in the morning if she wanted to cook in the afternoon and she happily shouted "Yes!" So the library was ignored and cook she did!

I gave her the ingredients and talked her through the process. She rolled, cracked, grated, measured, stirred and poured. (The Brazilian Spinach from our garden was placed uncooked in the mix).

All Mixed and Ready to Bake.

Mmmmmm, Dolly on Her Way to Master Chefdom.

 2 hours from her commencing, we ate and it was delicious. The spinach leaves peeking out of the quiche were thin and crackly. Just divine.  The best part is she said to me "I don't like spinach". To which I replied "But you LOVE spinach quiche you make yourself" and to that, my influenceable daughter replied "Oh yes, that's right" and gobbled it all up :-)

It then rained, so to end our day we went puddle jumping and umbrella twirling. It was so much fun. Loving the simple things in life and the changes in weather. The library was not missed. My eye was irritated either way and my 4 year made our family the most yummy frugalicious dinner. I am living the good life on days like this and Dolly is skilling up for life.

Do you have tricks to get your family to eat their greens? Any skills your children are eager to learn? Have you been jumping in puddles lately?

Carbon Tax Discussion with Ross Garnaut

Two nights ago my mum babysat Dolly for a couple of hours so that The Rambling Expat and I could attend a Public Lecture on Global Warming and the Carbon Tax in Australia by academic, economist and policy advisor Ross Garnaut.

I was very lucky that a colleague at work sent me the details for the free public lecture as I had not heard about it (Thanks Jeff). Not reading the local newspaper and not watching television can put me out of the loop at times. The event was free and booked out quickly so I was thrilled to get 2 seats.

Thanks to the Rambling Expat who was less shy than me to take a photo up close.

The Carbon Tax is being heavily debated in Australia and I feel ignorant. If I feel something is important and I should know about it, I like to push myself to learn. This way I am better informed and able to decide what is best for me, my family, my country and my planet. So off to the lecture we went and so far I'm for the Carbon Tax in Australia.

In my limited knowledge and expertise I do feel that the large companies will rant and rave and make some noise as to not loose money by paying the tax, however they will pay and continue to create waste and carbon emissions at the same level or higher as they always have. I feel the tax will not stop them as they are rich and getting richer by the minute. However in my mind this is a good place to start and other initiatives and innovations will be created by those who feel hope for the future. And I dearly hope that inventions will be made so our finite resources stop being exploited at the level they have been, in the global race for more and more. I am deeply worried my Dolly will not have the luck I had to live on a beautiful planet. She will have to clean up our mess and live in uncertain times.

The lecture was at times difficult for me to focus on and understand. However I feel if I attend things like this I can only increase my knowledge bit by bit until I have a better comprehension and that, is a very good thing. Ignorance is bliss but knowledge is power. And I prefer to hold the power of my life and its choices.

You can read The Garnaut Climate Change Review Final Report by clicking here.

Do you push yourself to attend talks where you might learn something new and expand you knowledge? There are so many mind expanding talks available for free all over the world.

Do you have an opinion on Carbon Taxes in Australia or elsewhere?

Cultivating Sustainability Workshop

Today I went to the Cultivating Sustainability Workshop. It was so good to meet like minded people and bounce ideas about making changes in our lives and most importantly in our work places.

I gained new knowledge on how to Action Changes. One of my lightbulb moments was learning what a person values and link the action to the value(s).

A personal example:

• Have Solar Panels Installed. 
• Expensive short term, inexpensive long term, uses renewable energy, is a drag to get organised but is less wasteful.
• Links with my values of thrift, environment, love (my daughter and her future), respect (for walking the talk), self pride and courage.

Linking it to values gives me personal encouragement to Take Action.

Hope I made some sense. I'm not good a relaying information I have learnt very well.

AWAKE Presenter with a few Values.

On a side note; I didn't make or eat my sandwiches today as I was in another area of the city for the workshop. I took left overs from home but since everyone was heading to a local cafe for their lunch I headed there too. I really didn't want to miss out on having extra time with active people who care about the environment and sustainability. My lunch cost me $11.50-AUS. The choice was not frugal however it was worth hanging with a bunch of inspiring people. Also after the sustainability motivation I walked the 40 minutes home :-)

Have you been acting Green lately or been to any interesting workshops?