Thirteen Groceries I Can Survive Without

As you should know if you’re a regular reader, we’re moving house today, so to keep you entertained, here’s my T13 for cutting the grocery bill.

I can cope without these things until Christmas, anyway…

1. Peanut M&Ms ~ $7.50
That’s right, I go through a 450g pack a week. So my hips will benefit as well as our hip pocket.

2. Brie / Camembert ~ $2
We don’t buy it weekly, but I averaged out the cost. Ditto with the hips, here also!

3. Fancy-shmancy jam ~ $2
Savings brand will do us just fiiine.

4. Crumpets ~ $1
Two years ago, they used to be $2 for a 6pk, and $1 on special. Now they’re $4 and $2 on special if you’re lucky. I really don’t enjoy them that much.

5. Biscuits ~ $3
We’ll make our own each weekends, and the kids will love the cooking with Mum & Dad.

6. Evening snacks ~ $6
By brushing my teeth with the kids and doing cross~stitch until my bedtime, I’ll be less inclined to snack with my evening cup of decaf.  Busy hands leave less time to snack!

7. Dips & paté ~ $2
We don’t have it that often, but when we do it adds up.

8. Craft bits & pieces ~ $4
Each week when I do the groceries, I found myself sneaking a little crafty something into the trolley. I told myself that I deserved a treat and it wouldn’t make much difference to the total.
But I have a drawer full of unused craft stuff in my wardrobe, and there’s nothing in there that I need.

9. Potato crisps and corn chips ~ $4

10. Fortnightly online shopping ~ $7 +
Because I’ve been so ill I began doing our groceries with Coles online, but I’ve noticed that groceries are dearer online - on top of the $13.95 delivery fee.
A perfect example is the 36pk Bega sliced cheese we buy, which is $9.99 in our local store and almost $12 online. Not good.

11. Toilet cleaner with the fancy duck neck thing ~ $2
I’m going to go back to how I used to clean the toilet; with gloves, a brush and bicarb.
Uses more energy, but it cleans better and I’m also training the kids to wipe up spills.

12. Dishwashing liquid ~ $1
Wonderhubby bought a huge bulk container of a generic ‘Morning Fresh’-like brand from a place he used to work, and we refill the bottle on the bench as needed. So far, it’s lasted us 2 years and we should get another year. It works out as a saving of around $200 over 3 years.

13. Generally choosing generic over branded products ~ $15
We used to buy Kellog’s this, Mars that and Coca-Cola. Now we eat Aldi breakfast cereals drink their cola and WH munches on “You’ll Love Coles” brand ‘mars bars’.

Generic products are often made by the large brands on contract for the major supermarkets. One large manufacturer of bread that WH once worked for packaged their surplus product as a low-cost supermarket brand.

Keep trying generic products and you’ll be surprised at the number of products that taste just like the big brands you pay more for.

Total amount saved: $56.50 per week.

Check out more Thursday Thirteen posts today, and more money-saving grocery tips at GroceryMama ~ I am but a worshipful acolyte.

Another Thomas Birthday Cake

Since we’ve been kind of busy with buying a house and all, there’s no plans for a Wren b’day party this year so far. ~ Not to mention the money issue.

Apparently I’m pretty short on time for more than just parties at the moment, and I’ve been pretty slack with blogging, too.

So anyhoo, here’s a little something I prepared earlier to keep you occupied while we do the packing and moving stuff.

I thought that Thomas’ face would be a bit different to last year’s effort, so I traced the outline from a picture and got to work.

I used the same grease-proof paper technique for the eyes and mouth.

For the outlines, I would usually use finely cut liquorice, but unfortunately I went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare…

The only thing I could see that would work was some White Wings ’space food sticks’, and they turned out fine.

Around the face at the edge of the cake is a line of small silver cachous. At the top is a chocolate muffin cut into the shape of Thomas’ funnel.

Rhys also decided he was interested in pirates the day before the party, so that’s what the things at the bottom of the cake are: Pirate candles, the perfect accompaniment to a Thomas the tank engine cake, don’t you think?

Is every woman in labour this dopey?

With Wren’s birthday coming up next week, I’ve been reminiscing about her formal entrance into this world.
As you do.

And while the memory of the pain involved does indeed fade with time, the embarrassment remains.

My main memory is of suddenly becoming scared and refusing to open my legs to push.

That’s right, when the midwife judged the time was nearing, I clenched my knees and refused to co-operate. I don’t know how I thought that baby was coming out, but it wasn’t through down there.

Luckily, my mother was also present and knew how to deal with the situation. Seeing that I was beyond persuasion she turned to persuading the midwife, and the pair of them ganged up on me. Bullies.

They each grabbed a knee and, well, let’s just say that I was not the winner in the very short wrestle that ensued.

Once Wren finally emerged and was laid, naked and pink, on my deflated belly I blurted “It’s a real baby”. Real perceptive.

The attending medical circus must have thought I’d slipped a cog. Pethidine has a lot to answer for.

Then again, maybe dopeyness is more common in this situation. In the interests of objective scientific research, I’d love to hear your dopiest birth stories.

What were your first words upon sighting your newborn? Did you brawl with your obstetrician?

Feel free to bare all here, or if you write a post about it on your own blog, I’ll include a link to it.

We’ve been to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

First off, we had to go on the skycar.
Why? Because I remember what it was like last time we went.

The skycar at Taronga Park Zoo runs from the harbour’s edge at the bottom of the zoo, up to the entrance at the top. The usual idea is to walk down the winding roads past the exhibits and then catch the skycar back up to the top and either walk some more or go home.

We did that last time, and 4yo Wren spent the whole day asking when we could go on it. Here we were ‘oooh’ing and ‘aaah’ing over lions, tigers and bears, and Wren’s squinting up at the sky saying “Can we go on it now?”.

So we were prepared for 4yo Mr Bump to have the same reaction and did the skycar thing first, and again at the end of the day (by which time we needed it).

In between, we saw frogs…

Some very unusual tortoises called star tortoises. Isn’t that shell striking?

Crocodiles snapping, or was that a yawn?

Gorgeous, gentle giraffes against the beautiful backdrop of Sydney Harbour.
If you look closely at the skyline, you can see Centrepoint Tower, our tallest building (and also the skinniest one).

Then we grabbed some lunch in a quiet area, although it really wasn’t busy after the long weekend.

Wren got snap-happy with the camera and that’s why she’s not in the shot.
This is my Mum, below. You can see why the kids love her so much, she’s great fun!

After lunch, Wren made a new friend, who I thought was a bit wooden but still nice.

We also saw a Tasmanian devil, stretched out in the sunniest spot in his enclosure…
Yes, he was breathing (I looked).

Then a family shot of me with the Kidz…

And who could not love these meercats?

Wren wants one for a pet for her birthday next Tuesday, but for some reason they’re hard to get hold of at the pet store.

Poor kid. First she’s not getting a party this year because of the move (and the saving money thing), and now she can’t have a meercat as a present.

Isn’t life tough?

Daddy took us to the zoo today…

And here are the first photos, more coming tomorrow.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Doorways to Faerie

I’ve found some wonderful faerie doors for sale on mintd and just had to share them with you here.

Aren’t they the most adorable things you’ve ever seen?

Maybe you already know all about faerie doors, but I’m a newbie & was fascinated by the idea.

The doors provide a portal to the land of faerie and can be placed anywhere you need a bit of extra magic.

They don’t open for ‘big folk’, just the wee ones they’re made for.

Wren & Mr Bump are both really into the idea of fairies and have already begun discussing where (in our new garden) they might be found.

At the moment, they’re in favour of the area under the gums, towards the back fence.

I’m sure they would just love a faerie door to place there and make the area more welcoming for little visitors.

It’d be perfect for Christmas, so I just hope I can decide upon one before then!

I’m wondering how well-known this idea is.
Do you have a faerie door at your house, or know someone who does?

We have Cooled Off

I tweeted a couple of weeks ago that we’d made a successful offer on a house and signed contracts.

We’ve now gone through the cooling off period and taken the kids to have a look at it.

Well, here are the pictures.

We actually had an appointment on Saturday afternoon, but the agent didn’t turn up and when we called to check she was apologetic but unable to give another time.

People who disappoint excited children deserve a special place in hell.

It was the first time the kids were to see the place, and they had to make do with running around in the front yard for half an hour.

But luckily I maintained my sunny disposition and suggested a walk around to the reserve behind the property, where WonderHubby lifted them each up so that they could see the backyard over the rear fence.

So the kids had a ball anyway.

Anyhoo, we finally went through on Wednesday and the official verdict from Wren & Mr Bump is that they don’t like it.

They love it!

No joking, that’s what Wren said when we asked her. And of course Mr Bump had to echo her response.

I am sooo hanging out to be there now.

Settlement is on the 27th of October, although it all depends upon the vendor moving out. If he moves sooner, we may too.

He’s looking for a place to rent, so cross your fingers that he finds a good one this weekend.