Furniture - Kind Of

So our new place is unfurnished - hoorah which means we get to furnish....

whilst I do like a good house and garden (actually just the house bit) magazine I also don't want to spend all our income on furniture.

Also I really want to buy as much second hand or re-use as much as possible when it comes to making accumulation decisions.

The boys are in quite a small room with very large wardrobes which is kind of pointless seeing as they don't own anything that hangs up and the only ironing that gets done in our house is every morning when The Atlas irons his shirt for the day....

So when it came to draws I wanted to use the wardrobe space instead of the floor space in their room.

Enter a cheap set of put it together yourself shelving from Bunnings, but I knew that would still end up in rather a mess so rather than purchase a whole lot of plastic boxes we just used the boxes we moved with. I taped them up again and cut them in half using a kitchen knife. (yes I am that blatant in my disregard for doing things carefully).

Then we let the boys decorate them and for the in-between space (because we couldn't fit 3 across) we used those soft but not too soft reusable supermarket bags.

For a grand price of about $15 and some awesome reusing (even if I do say it myself) we have their draws sorted. The Atlas also has the same shelves in half our wardrobe for his clothes.

So easy, so cheap and so recycly. Don't you think?

love you more than extra money to spend on the furniture that counts xxx

We Recommend - for the super thrifty

The year we got married we were pretty broke at Christmas time. We'd both just finished studying,I wasn't  starting work for another 6 weeks and The Atlas had only be working for 2 weeks before we got married. This was about 3 weeks before Christmas. The only finances we had to our name were student loans.

So the Christmas presents for family members were frames from The Warehouse and photos from our wedding.....

the other night I remembered that and I thought I'd like to share some ideas for people who'd like to give something but really have to watch every cent. I know that for present givers and lovers (me) your desire to give isn't always supported by your bank account.

So here are my super-duper cheap ideas. Less than $5 a pop.

Wallet photos - for parents and grandparents. I got this set of 8 passport sized photos printed for 35cents at Warehouse Stationery - and because I paid cash it was 30 cents. That's a new photo for Dad's wallet, one for Mum's wallet and 2 sets of grandparents. Slip them inside a heartfelt card and they'll mean a lot to the recipient.

Posting Game - take one empty coffee, milo or quick tin. Make some little discs from plastic containers or cardboard. Cut a hole in the lid of the tin and you have a super sweet posting game for a little person who will play it for hours and won't have any idea that it cost you nothing. You could draw pictures or use the photos above and coverseal them onto the disks if you wanted to put in more effort. Photos super cheap and durasel/coverseal is about $2 a roll. Use an empty cereal box. I know my boys would have loved posting photos of their relations and photos of things from around the house.

Dated Voucher - I love the idea of making people vouchers but I think people don't cash them in, so why not write a babysitting voucher for a busy friend and date it with a Friday night for some time during the year? Write the date on your calendar and ring them the week before to remind them to plan a night out.

Tealight Delight - Buy a cheap pack of tealight candles and split them up. Wrap each in washi tape. Wrapped nicely this is a gift that looks beautiful for little effort and cost.

Treasure Hunt - Write all the clues for a treasure hunt and put them in a sealed envelope. Write on the front you can give me 1 (or 2) days notice and this envelope and I will set up a treasure hunt for you with a prize at the end. Pop aside 2 (or however many kids you have) mini chocolate bars or chup-a-chups or whatever cheap treat and pull them out when the kids come to you. All the creative work is already done you just need to hide the already-written clues and prizes and they get to anticipate the fun.

Super Simple Jewelry - I made this necklace for less than $5 and I love it (so do most of the little people I come in contact with). If you live in Chch Warren Agencies is where I got all the bits. The necklace was $1.80 and the plastic train was 20 cents I think. The whale might have been 40cents.

Wheatie Bags - if you have a fabric stash you really can make these for very cheap too. Some good tutorials around the interwebs if you want one.

Do you have any ideas for those days when the love is there but the money isn't??

We Recommend for Christmas 

our posts about genuinely lovely things

Thanks for your recommendations. Button code on the right.

What are your go-to ideas for those days when the love is there but the money isn't??

Love you more than finding $5 unexpectedly in my wallet xxxx

Giveaways will be draw later today. Still time! Click on the button above to see the posts.

Spring Creeps Up All Lovely On Us

I so enjoy the slower pace in the holidays - the making fun wherever we find it. The washing of bears in the sunshine, finding new hidey holes with little friends, going to Clip n Climb with Uncle A.

Sadly The Atlas begun his summer football season by blowing his knee out but he is a very good patient and the sort that still tries to help out and is most grateful for anything done on his behalf. (I'm also selfishly super grateful he didn't do this just before the 2 of us go away on a very special trip in a couple of weeks).

We also really enjoyed mum's shop number 2 with Flip running the shop. Unfortunately all our customers pulled out with sickness but we still had our friend from next door and Daddy was happy to part with some of his pocket money too. Our neighbour who came is so delightful. He walked in and said, 'Wow what a great selection.'

The mail box has been exciting this week too - I received this amazing and generous parcel from Lara whose giveaway I won a while ago. Very excited and inspired about what I might make.

And my new blog card - oh and ah! I know it is a little ridiculous seeing as this blog is a fancy rather than anything serious but as I am often banging on about it to people I thought this is an easier way than trying to find paper to write it on when I tell someone about it. And it's double sided and printed on 100% recycled paper and including postage with a voucher it only cost me $6.... so it's a fancy but no more than a cup of coffee fancy - no judging 'kay? and it has a quote I feel is rather apt for my life.

I can't believe we are already at the end of the first week of holidays!


happy Friday lovelies - may the weekend treat you well x Miriam x

B.M.W.B # 36 - Mum's Shop

I get the Simple Savings emails once a month and quite some time ago someone had written in how they run a shop for their children every now and again instead of them going to the dairy and being over-charged for stuff.

I loved the idea - for me it's about teaching financial skills as well. In a dairy the owner (and me!) just want them to pick something and get out. Many moons ago I worked in a dairy after school and I used to love the kids who came in with their 30c and picked out their lollies one by one asking 'do I have anything left?' after each selection.

Over the last couple of months I have bought extra bits and pieces at the supermarket and other places and kept a record of the prices so I can charge the right amount (hate rounding with 10s though such a shame we have no 5c pieces any more).

On Friday after kindy Bounce and I set up the shop. Then after school - no homework hoorah! - we had 2 other families over (if you are going to go the effort...) and the kids all brought their money and came to 'Mum's Shop'. I borrowed a cash register (play one) from kindy and had all my change ready to go.

It was really interesting how the kids shopped - highlights for me were:
The youngest shopper who bought a ball and a mini-chocolate bar for his $1 and then asked me for some more money
My Bounce (3) who bought one thing, sat quietly eating it and then came back to the shop again, ate, returned until he was finished (he had money left at the end and he was done with shopping).
Flip (6) added all his purchases up in his head and bought everything at once. All the others just picked something and trusted me to do the maths and give them change
Another shopper said, with great delight, 'you keep giving me money back so I never run out' (he did eventually!)

We're hoping to do Mum's shop about every 4-6 weeks. The boys loved it so much. After the shop had shut they all played. Just before home time Flip decided to hand out spare packets of chips from the shop for free (bless his generous heart) and they all received a 'taking things without paying is stealing' lesson. (While the parents quietly laughed). Here's what the stock looked like at the end and I have money to re-stock:

I really, really enjoyed the afternoon and it was really interesting to me which things went first (balls, glo sticks, chup-a-chups and 50c mixtures) and which didn't have much interest shown surprisingly I sold more packets of raisins than I did mini-chocolate bars!

Do your children get pocket money? Would you do this?

This year I am making more of a conscious effort to have quality moments with my boys. B.M.W.B (becoming the mama I want to be)  is my way of recording and hopefully inspiring other mama’s too. Please inspire me with the little moments you are snatching with your little people OR with ideas I could do with mine. If you have blogged about it please leave a comment so we can all visit and encourage each other. 

Simple. Achievable. Intentional: becoming the mama I want to be.