A simple life in Sydney

Today is a beautiful day in Sydney now that all the rain has stopped (briefly??). I decided to go for a drive to the Blue Mountains and it was beautiful. I stopped off at Leura and looked at the shops - I was very good and didn't buy anything (things were just too expensive for my budget) but it was lovely just getting out and looking.

I came home to a beautiful clean house as Greg had spent his time doing washing and vacuuming - thanks Gregxxxxxxx.

Whilst I am writing this I am having a cup of home made coffee from our espresso machine and some banana bread that I made yesterday. This banana bread recipe is as good, if not better than the bought banana bread and my friend Louise gave me the recipe. This would have cost approx $6+ if bought at the coffee shop but it cost me a LOT less than that to have at home.

Here is the recipe - you won't be dissapointed I promise!!!

Melt and Mix Banana Bread

300ml sour cream (or make it with cream and lemon juice)

1 tsp bicarb of soda

125g unsalted butter - melted (I do use the normal butter which has salt in it & it tastes good)

1 cup caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon (ground)

2 ripe bananas mashed (or substitute 1 cup berries & 1 or 2 pears chopped)

Preheat oven to 180c (or 160c fan forced). Grease loaf tin (a tin one is better - it is sturdy).

In a large bowl mix together sour cream and bicarb, set aside for 5 mins, then stir in melted butter, sugar & eggs.

In another bowl combine sifted flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Gradually fold in sour cream mixture, followed by bananas (or substitute).

Pour mixture into tin and bake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until cooked. Set aside to cool in tin for about 20mins before turning out.

YUM YUM YUM - just finished mine and it was delicious.

Have a great dayxxxxxxxx

A BIG lurker and a bit lazy

My chook pen with passionfruit and jasmine growing over it

Well, I checked my blog yesterday and WOW I haven't posted since October 07. I do have some excuses including I AM LAZY but also because I was arranging our holiday to Tasmania in early December, then Christmas, then I fell pregnant!!! YAY, then BAD morning (noon and night) sickness........ blah blah blah - yeah ok, I am lazy.

I am still a big lurker on Simple Savings and Down to Earth although with the severe sickness I really couldn't do much except go to work and then lay in bed and die but now I am back on track and lurking again!!


Rhonda, from Down to Earth did a request this morning for others to tell a bit about their lifestyle and I thought since I have been so slack, it would be the perfect opportunity to start back at my blogging........... so here goes.......

My story.......................

Greg and myself have been together about 3-4 years. I have two beautiful daughters from previous relationships - Alex (18) and Jemma (7). Greg has no children but we have a little one cooking in my oven at the moment!!! (Due August 2008).


Both Greg and I work full -time and we both enjoy our work. I have always worked (since Alex was about 10 months old) as I was a very young single mum and wanted a future for my child which I felt I wouldn't get living on govt benefits. Thus, I have always been a bit careful with cash but I admit, I did waste a fair bit too. I guess I started to really think about my financial lifestyle seriously when I broke up with Jemma's Dad and went from being pretty financially secure to being single and living only off my wage, renting and wondering how I was going to afford to buy another home when we settled on our other place - hmmmmmmmm. I joined a site called Simple Savings and started packing away some $$ by following some of the advice from there.

As I said, we work full time - Mon - Fri and leave the house at about 8am and back about 5.30 - 6pm. When I have the baby and (hopefully) get into a routine over my maternity leave, I hope to do more - but at the moment...........


What I do is:

• bake cakes, biscuits etc
• take lunch to work
• menu plan
• cook basic meals and when I have a day off I cook and freeze food for later (eg spag bol)
  
• use the washing line
• buy my hand wash/washing power/washing up liquid/spray cleaner etc in bulk
• only have 1 car (plus Greg has a motorbike)
• ask for useful presents for Birthday or Christmas
• buy clothes when there is a sale
• try and stay away from the shops so I'm not tempted to spend
• buy groceries on special (I love marked down meat - into the freezer!!)
• dont get caught up in fashion trends eg I dye my hair at home
• buy second hand where possible - sometimes this works, some times not
• repair our stuff where possible (I am very luck that Greg is handy)
• try and look after our stuff
• pay heaps more off the mortgage to get it down

Some cheese and bacon bread and banana bread I made today YUM!

What I could do better:

• Bake more!!
• Veggie garden - all our veggies were wiped out by a big storm when we were away and I haven't started again
• Menu plan better - sometimes I am slack
• Make more - eg pasta sauce, cordial, soap, washing powder
• Be a bit more organised!!!!!

I have since bought another home (a fair bit smaller than my other one but I love it) still around the area I love. The bank wasn't going to lend me all I needed (about 15k short) but I put on my power suit (lol) and negotiated!! I also negotiated a lower rate of interest too (always ask). When interest rates started going up, I decided to fix half the loan (and negotiated a lower rate for this too :-) - this was a good thing as interest rates have gone up about 5 times since then.

At the back of our home (a bit water logged at the moment!!)

We have chooks, some fruit trees (young), veggie garden (unproductive at the moment) and our cats and dogs. I plan to use cloth nappies for bubby. We have really focused on our mortgage in the past 2 years and have paid off a fair bit - every payrise, overtime, money presents etc goes off it to get it down. We still live pretty well and don't go without however we earn pretty good salaries and are careful with our money.



I believe that if you really want something you will get it. I really wanted my own home, especially when I had my first daughter. I was 16yo, single and had nothing then, but I studied and worked hard (at one time I had 3 jobs plus was studying!!) and was lucky enough to buy a home with my new partner where I wanted to live (I was going to have to buy my first home in a not so convenient area if he didn't go in with me - but that was what I would have done). My career also started going somewhere - all my hard work was finally paying off. After that relationship ended, I had to refocus and although I had a small deposit from the settlement, I still had to get a scary loan for a single person. But I did it!!! And am now the proud owner of a smallish 4 bed cottage which I love (see above).

Anyway that is enough for now. I hope you enjoyed this VERY loooooong post about my life - past and present :-) I will definitely add to my blog on a regular basis now. BYExxxxxx