Our Sundays can be a but a hectic but they have fallen into a bit of a routine.

As our youngest decides that 5:30am is a good time to wake up and demand some food typically one of us is up even on the weekends at that time.

Chickens and ducks get fed, any plants needing it  watered (depending on rain), cats fed and then a homemade breakfast.

I then head off to the community garden or my garden and do some work, Catch up together for swimming classes a few hours later, home for lunch, a nap for one of us while the other heads out with the older child to get anything that we need for the week ahead(I also do a fair bit of urban foraging for pallets at the is time in the industrial area’s near home)

Back home for stuff around the house (today was getting the ropes off the shade sail and replacing it with real hardware). Kids bathed, dinners cooked maybe one of neighbors over for dinner (we do this a lot), clothes ironed for the corporate week, house cleaned up as much as we can before we collapse in exhaustion.

Sounds normal and probably is. I will draw yourself to a few details. Homemade breakfast and lunches. Today we had sourdough hot cross buns and coffee for breakfast, and great lunch post kids swimming lessons of artisan bacon, home free range eggs, sourdough, tomatoes and mushrooms  with a good red rind soft cheese and baked beans. Again with coffee.

So all of this set us back maybe $20 at the max for both meals. In the day A. and I would go to a café and the meal for one of use would be this much on one meal. We see a lot of the people in our swim class head to café at the swimming center and they probably spend twice that for a meal for them. And that is fine. We just choose to save our money and know where our food comes from.

The garden and the community garden help to keep us sane and in good fruit and veg. It is easier to just buy it but not better.

The shade sail cost us probably $1000 in total (probably a bit less) and we had neighbors who put in a similar one by a professional company that set them back $15,000. Now there’s took two weeks to get put in, mine took about a year to get ready. It does the same great job and keeps the back of the house 5 to 10 degrees cooler on a really hot day. Kids sleep better we sleep better. Again skills in house, be it cooking, concreting or managing the tension on the sail it is all skills to have and use.

Our evening meals on Sunday are typically a roast, stew or curry. And we would more than 50% of our time have a neighbor around for the meal. We enjoy their company they bring some booze we chat we eat it is all good. One thing we always try to do over the weekend is to get some extra meals ready and that also means a big curry or stew so we have enough for lunches. A meal at work canteen will set you back a minimum of $10 for a meal that is $50 per week $2500 per year… Yes I would prefer that in the bank or off my mortgage thank you very much.

Tonight I managed to get 10 meals together for the week (1 meal a day, 2 people, 5 days) and juice 4 cups of lemons (got a big bag from my parents) while chatting to my neighbor and cooking a meal. We are set and I can still be social even while doing things (hey I can drink beer and cook curry)

Even the setback of finding my work pants in need of repair was handled by A. who just pulled out the sewing machine and just repaired them. Again a set of skills used.

The reason for this long winded post is to show that while busy, we spend a lot of our time with each other and the kids, we get a nap often and save some money. I think this is how is should be. Yes we are buggered some times. Yes some days we order pizza and I end with a meal of two minute noodles and a can of tuna for lunch on Mondays but all in all we like this. We like the extra money in the bank it keeps us sane in this crazy world and our kids like to watch us do stuff not just stare at the TV screen. It allows us to control our consumerism and keep it under control.  The skills are critical. I keep harping on about this the more skills you can build the better off you will be.

Learn absorbe, do!

Well this Sunday has come to an end and my last task before collapsing is to get this post out. Have a great week of work and remember if you a wishing it was Friday you are wishing away 5 days of your life.