As I rapidly move towards becoming a “Grumpy Old Woman” (A distinction that I am looking forward to) I have discovered a couple of things and as one of those is the inability to go to sleep at a normal hour I will have a rant and see if I get tired.
Why is it when you age women suddenly start growing unnatural amounts of facial hair? I have these lovely whiskers on my chin. Why is the happening to me? They are scratchy and I can feel them, but the problem is my eye sight is going as well and I can’t see them to pluck them out. So then starts the blind plucking episode. If anyone was watching they would think I have bypassed middle age and gone straight into the dementia phase. Then, as if things could not get worse, I catch a glimpse of my chin in the right sunlight and realise that there are 1 inch hairs. These ones are soft so I cannot feel them. Why has no one in my family pointed this out?
And as it is not bad enough that we have had to go through being pregnant, having a monthly curse, we then have the grand pleasure of going through menopause and not just menopause; we have to have pre-menopause; a several year build up to it. I really don’t think we really need to visit abnormal hormone levels again. Did we not do this when we were teenagers?
I have learned that grey hair is rude. It stands straight up, as if to shout: “LOOK AT ME”. My grey is rapidly coming in, but I am not going to colour it. I am personally hoping for a white streak down one side.
I am completely convinced that the earth is made of metal and there are high power magnets in my chin, boobs, and bum. It appears that every day they are inching closer to the ground. I fear by Christmas I will be getting road rash on my bum cheeks.
I had a hot flash a couple of months ago. I thought I was going to die. I was in the shops and got extremely hot and faint. Well I REALLY hope that was the one and only hot flash I have. I am trying to convince myself that my whole “change of life” occurred in during that episode. I may be getting older, but I can still dream.
I also find myself looking at the Young People and thinking why would she wear only a long shirt and 5 inch heals? Why are her shorts so short that I can see bum? Is it necessary to dress this way? Why is there a need to show your stomach? I really don’t like seeing the fat rolls hanging over your waist band. I feel so old when I have these thoughts. People should be able to express themselves. I just get the urge to run up say “Darling you should really try wearing clothes that cover your body. You will look like a lovely young woman that a nice young man would WANT to take home to his mother.” Does this mean I am old?
I have also developed an unusual desire to hang out in the gardening section and kitchen appliance sections of stores. I find these areas to most interesting and can spend enormous amounts of time looking. I don’t buy a lot. Just look and think well if I buy the $2 starter I can root some new ones from it. How many of any one plant do I really need? Could I not just spend $4 dollars and get 2 and be done with it?
Right, I feel tired now. I will try to go have a sleep. I will probably still laying there awake in an hour.
The Paint.....Yeah! I was so excited about finally painting, that quickly went away several hours into the project.
Looking from the foyer into the lounge. Notice the dark pink rosette on the ceiling. We have also changed the blinds and have put up wood venetian blinds. 
Okay. This is not the best picture of me. Keep in mind this is day 3. I am very tired. In the kitchen / family room we went with a golden colour. The paint is wet in this picture and is actually a little darker and warmer than it looks. 
I found this great crocheted bedspread at the local charity shop for $15.00! What a find. I could not purchase the thread to make one for $15.00.
So how have we gotten here? The first step is to STOP using credit cards. John and I stopped using credit cards about 10 years ago. If we cannot pay cash for it we don't buy it. We will save up for it. I have no problem with having a credit card. They come in handy in an emergency, but once used they should be top priority to pay off.
The second thing we do is to shop second hand first. We wanted to upgrade our lounge suite, so we shopped for about 3 months, looking at all the new things, the used items, over and over again. We decided that we wanted a leather suite and the style we wanted. Then it was a watch and wait game. We found what we wanted at a second have furniture store. We got a 3 seat lounge, 2 recliners, and a comfy chair, all burgundy leather, for $900.00. We would have had to pay $2400.00 new for just the lounge and 2 recliners.
When we needed a new fridge in February, we looked at new and scratch and dent and finally ended up buying a large Whirlpool from the classifieds for $400.00. It’s a great fridge.
In fact all of my furniture is used, except for 2 small end tables I bought at a discount store, $80 for the pair.
The third thing we have done is limit the loans. We have a mortgage and 1 small car payment and a truck that is paid for. We also did not go for the maximum the bank would loan. This is the only debt we have.
The fourth thing is I am careful at the grocery store. We have Aldi's, which is a discount grocery. You have to bag your own groceries and there is mainly Aldi's brand, but that is okay, it saves a ton on our grocery bill. I also shop for meat sales, so whatever meat is the bargain that week is what we have. Shopping the local farmers market is another way we save money. The less packaging it has the cheaper it will be. We also avoid convenience foods; they can use your weekly food budget up quickly. We cook at home and limit eating out.
The fifth thing is shopping for bargains and sales. I always look at the thrift shops and sales racks first. Don't get me wrong I have no problem paying for quality items, such as, shoes. I just try to find a bargain and keep looking until I find it. I recently purchased a pair of Timberland sandals for the summer for $20.00; they were marked down from $160.00. I certainly do not advocate purchasing undies and such second hand, but for summer shorts, jeans, etc....second hand and last season stock can save you heaps of money.
The other thing I do is watch my bank account. Actually I might be developing a slight compulsive behaviour with this one. Anyway I monitor it, track of it, and try to anticipate upcoming expenses, especially, yearly expenses. For example my car registration is due in October. I was going to go to visit my Aunt in Victoria, but have put this off until I get my car inspected to ensure that I don't have any extra expense to pay out. Also I have to pay taxes this year, Damn Income Tax, so I will have put my WHOLE family on extra frugal alert. This brings me to my next point.
The sixth thing is communication. We do not pretend that Mom and Dad are endless money pits. We try to teach the kids about money and I have no problem letting them know, here is what is happening and we have to cut back a little more. I certainly do not give them details about the family finances, but I do not pretend we have more than we do. The other part of this is we have 1 bank account and both our salaries go into this account. We do not make large purchasing without discussing it with each other. You have to be honest with your spouse about what is going on with the money. We rarely argue over money. In fact I don't think we have argued about money in several years.
The last thing I will talk about is a Plan. We have a plan, a goal. We want to move back to the country and do a partial retirement. I do not want to work until I am 70. To make this happen we have a plan. This plan was enacted before we moved to Australia and is well on its way. We purchased our house in February. Our purchase was not an emotional one. It was an investment one. We purchased in an area that we feel will grow over the next 10 to 15 years. We purchased a house that is in good condition, with only minor upgrading to be done. So over the next few years (as we save the money of course) we will start to upgrade the kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and lay some wood flooring. All in an effort to help our property value increase and it will over time. We also were fortunate enough to purchase our home below the property value. We did purchase at an action and we were the high bidder, but 24,000 below the reserve. We stuck to our price and were prepared to walk away, 3 days later the seller accepted our bid.
Alright; I suppose that is enough rambling on my part.
Cheers,
Julie
I am so happy that spring is here. I am ready for the warm weather. Our fruit trees are blooming and we have started our vege patch! I have put in some new flowers in the garden.
This is our Pixie Peach tree! 
