Tuesday tip: Economical activities

Sometimes, it actually works out better to outsource some of your activities. Yes that's right, it sometimes is more economical to pay someone else to do your jobs!

Let me explain. If you can find someone to do your ironing for say, $15 an hour and you need two hours worth of ironing done, isn't it worth it for your time and sanity (not to mention time that you could spend with the family) to outsource this task? Would you get more than $30 worth of happiness, sanity and down time from it? I know I would!!

Things to consider:

• What is your hourly rate of pay? Could you earn more in two hours doing your own job vs doing the outsourcing task? If you could, it is better economy to outsource it!
• Will you save time and sanity? Why do something you dislike intensely if you can outsource it and save the effort?
• Does it free up some time that you could put to better use? Spending time with the kids/other half/pets or having some valuable personal time?

Jobs that you might consider outsourcing:

• Cleaning
• Ironing
• Shopping
• Gardening
• Childcare

Head over to With a Fork to read about outsourcing food shopping with a food box delivery service. If it sounds like your kind of thing and you want to try it, there is a discount code for your first box!

Do you outsource tasks? What works for your household?

Tuesday Tip: Take time out

Have you ever heard the saying, often in a derogatory manner, "happy wife, happy life"? It's true of anyone though - the happier you are, the happier and easier life seems to be.

So today, the tip is, make sure you look after yourself. Take a few minutes out of each day to practice some self love (not like that, minds out of the gutter please... although, it's totally ok if that's your thing too!). If you are happier, the house will be happier, the kids will sense it and they'll be easier to wrangle manage too.

Here are some ideas of things you could do, they only take a few minutes:

• Have a cup of tea. Sit down and drink it while it's hot!
• Go for a walk outside. Get some sunshine while the weather is still nice
• Primp. Nothing like locking the bathroom door and spending a couple minutes primping - whether that's plucking eyebrows, moisturising your hands or just plain sitting down and relishing having no other people touching you for a moment
• Do nothing. Leave the clutter and mess for a few minutes and put your feet up
• Read a magazine article or a few pages of a book

How do you take time out for yourself?

Tuesday Tip: How to use up excess produce

If you have a home garden, you know all too well that there are times when you have a glut of tomatoes or eggplants or something. Sure, you can eat them until the cows come home. There are many different ways to prepare vegetables, you can also preserve them and freeze them for later consumption.

But sometimes, there is just too much and you can't face the thought of another eggplant based dish. Or, you need just a little of something else, and you know it's in season right now, but don't want to pay supermarket prices for food that comes from who knows how far away.

Enter this awesome site: www.ripenear.me

Founded by two passionate foodies from Adelaide, I'll let them tell you how they came up with the idea and what the site is all about:

In winter of 2012 they noticed so many citrus trees scattered about the suburbs full of fruit that nobody was eating. And yet local stores were selling plenty of them - even some that were imported! It just didn't make sense. So, an idea was born: Why not have a site that allows foodies to connect with growers? Wouldn't it be cool if we could get all our fresh food from the local neighbourhood?... And so we started on our quest.

What a great idea! Around me, there are growers of chilli and basil, mangoes, figs and amaranth and even some eggs. I've got some of my own chilli and eggplants listed as growing, and I may even be able to offer some sweet potato if the harvest is as bountiful as I think it'll be.

You're welcome :)

* Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with this site although I am a member. I just think it's awesome sauce!!

Tuesday Tip: How to cut tomatoes without crushing them

In our house we have one good knife. The one knife we spent a stupid amount of money on and is never allowed in the dishwasher. Its the only kitchen item that gets washed and placed in its own drying space every single time it's used. It is kept sharp and well cared for so its an excellent kitchen knife and cuts nearly everything very well.

NEARLY everything. 

However, it is a straight edged knife so unless you're a chef with great knife skills, it's rubbish at cutting is tomatoes. And as you can see from previous posts I've been cutting a LOT of tomatoes. In fact cutting tomatoes with our nice sharp knife is almost dangerous since the smooth skin of tomatoes makes it so easy for the blade to slip and catch an unwary finger. Then if you manage to put enough pressure to pierce the tomato skin you're faced with the soft squishy insides which crush so easily. 

The solution, the least used knife in the house, The serrated bread knife (because our bread already comes sliced its rarely out of the knife block) The serrated edges are perfect for dicing soft tomatoes without crushing them. even if you're a complete knife knovice like me.  Perfect for making a nice chunky tomato sauce or perfectly forkable pieces in a salad. 

On a related note I've still got about 2 kg of tomatoes and more on the plant. I'm running out of ideas! HELP!

Tuesday tip - don't cook occasionally

That's right, you heard me - don't cook. It's a terrible thing, but people need to eat ALL the time. Especially small children; mine are particularly fond of declaring "I'm hungry" approximately 3.141592653 seconds after I've cleared away the last meal.

In our household we have a veg*n, a die hard carnivore, a picky toddler and a nursling, as well as two hounds. That makes for a lot of meals. Although we try to eat in themes - for example, on Mexican night there is a mince option and a bean option, it still makes for a lot of leftovers.

Now I'm frugal and I hate waste. So once a week or so, we schedule a hunt and gather night.

What that means is that we don't cook anything new, and instead we scavenge around the fridge and the freezer for leftovers and make up a meal. First in gets first dibs (unless one of you is pregnant or PMSing, that's always trumps!).

By not cooking and scheduling in a night where you forage in a modern manner, those leftovers get eaten and there is much less waste come bin day. Wins all around (except for the hounds who then have to eat proper dog food because there isn't any human food for them to beg for). Ha!

Read more about how I meal plan here.

Tuesday Tip: Save our knees

Today's tip comes from very extensive experience. Many many sleepless nights of experience. Forget saving our sleep.... that is an impossible dream... but at least we can save our knees.

Getting a baby to sleep is exercise. Serious exercise. It works out your arms, core, thighs and legs. Hours of bouncing and swaying and rocking it can be hard on the joints. Personally I found that my knees fared the worst (those are the days I feel way too old to be a mum). However put my in a situation where the baby is almost asleep and my legs are burning and shivering from the effort and I'd rather my legs fall off than stop bouncing.

I also have 2 little ones who don't seem to like rocking motions and prefer to be bounced up and down so the rocking chair we got doesn't do the trick of getting them to sleep.

But we can save our knees.... with an EXERCISE BALL! Yep. This handy little air filled ball is great for bouncing on and getting the little one off to dream land. And you can also get some incidental core exercise in at the same time without serious overexertion. Just remember to keep your back straight and and use the ball to do your bouncing for ya. Far less energy and probably better for your back and knees than the awful posture carrying a wriggling baby naturally puts you in.

Tuesday tip - take a rain check

Did you know, that if a supermarket is out of an advertised special, you can ask for a rain check? No? Neither did I, but you can! And this little tip is a gem!

Ask for rain checks on specials

If something you want is out of stock and an advertised special, you're entitled to a rain check. You can have up to four that you can use anytime within the next TWELVE months! Genius!

Quinoa reduced to $3 from $15 (example may be exaggerated) but none left on the shelf? No worries, just ask at the checkout / service desk and you will get your rain check - four of them if you ask actually. And you can then buy that item at the reduced price any time within the next 12 months by presenting your rain check.

Winner, winner, quinoa dinner!

Have you gotten any bargains lately?

Tuesday Tip: The no scrub method of removing mould stains

I don't know about you but I hate cleaning wet mess. Give me a messy library to sort through and I'm happy. However things like dishes, handwashing clothes and cleaning the shower and toilet are like yuck. So I'm always on the look out for short cuts to getting these unpleasant jobs done fast and with the least amount of physical contact (from me).

Since moving in to our current house I've had a huge problem with our shower. The previous shower leaked and left a yucky mould patch on the shower floor. I spent an eternity scrubbing all the mould off with alternate applications of vinegar, gumption, sweat and tears. I was pretty sure I got all the mould off but it left stains which looked like they had actually seeped into the plastic and grout itself. I consulted professional cleaners (who suggested bleach), holy men (who suggested exorcism) and soothsayers (who suggested burning various herbs). I tried the bleach and went back to scrubbing but to no avail. The stains would not budge.

Then I met Mr W, a professional cleaner whose services I was very fortunate to win in a fathers day photo contest. He suggested that instead of scrubbing with the bleach, I should lay sheets of paper towels on the shower floor and splash it with bleach and just leave it for a an hour or so. I was dubious given the amount of elbow grease I'd already put in that a simple leave and soak would work. So I tried it and OMG... it worked! And I didn't even have to scrub a thing!

Bleach Soaked Paper Towels. Corners have been left to show contrast. 

And the Difference! The bottom half is nice and white while the top corners still need a treatment. 

Caution: I used gloves for all parts of this process because bleach on hands is yuck and possibly dangerous. Also make sure the area is well ventilated. I did this all on a nice windy day when the kids were out of the house.

Tuesday tip - Making a dent in clutter

If your house is anything like mine, things just migrate constantly. Before children, everything had a home and I knew exactly where to find everything. These days, it's anyone's guess. My kids like to look at things and move them around, and my mind isn't what it used to be prior to pregnancies either! Heck, just the other day, I spent more time than I'd like to admit looking for my glasses (they were on my head).

Anyway, todays tip is all about chipping away at the endless clutter.

Never leave a room empty handed

Sure, sounds simple, but think about it. If I'm doing something in the kitchen and find something that doesn't belong, I pick it up and move to to wear it should be. I'm constantly running after the toddler so I'm in and out of rooms all day. It's surprising what turns up when I look for the out of place items too!

How do you deal with clutter?

Tuesday Tip: Call your Electricity/Cable/Telephone/Credit Card Provider

Everyone is always looking for a good deal but not everyone has the time to go comparing electricity plans or telephone plans. I'm convinced that with the advent of comparing companies like iSelect and Compare the meerkat market that there is some conspiracy where these companies take turns to be the lowest cost... then up their prices so that another becomes cheaper which spreads out the customer base while maintaining a steady income. But then I'm always paranoid that someone is trying to cheat me out of my hard earned buck.

But here are some quick and easy tips for saving some money WITHOUT changing providers:

• Sometimes its not a bad idea to listen to what a competitor is selling and take notes. Usually this comes in the form of those poor souls who go door to door. I feel so sorry for them at the same time I am annoyed that they come to the house ESPECIALLY if they wake the baby.
• Call your existing provider and ask them what deals are currently on and whether they can do something better for ya (helps to say that a competitor was at your door and that they were offering a better deal but don't tell them the specifics yet)
• Being super nice to the person on the phone also helps. Friendly but firm... remember these people are still trying to take your money.
• I find that saying that you've been very happy with their service and it would be such an utter wretch to have to leave them because someone is offering a better deal. 

Some additional tips: 

• Even if you are on an existing plan the good people behind the computer can find something to sweeten the deal. 
• If you're on a plan and the company changes rates on you or changes the terms of the contract, you have (in most instances) up to 30 days in order to call them and call foul and exit the plan with no exit fees. 
• Set reminders for yourself to call these guys every 6 months of so to check if there is a better deal (I've been told 3-6 months by the guy at my electricity company but who has that time)
• For credit cards, call before your annual fees are about to be charged and tell them you're considering dropping the card because you have others. Sometimes this results in a reduction or refund of some fees. This only really works if there is no balance outstanding on the card. 

So far I've had success from doing this with my electricity and telephone provider with some marginal success with cable because you have to call after your plan runs out and then bug them to change you to the one they are offering to new customers, so far this has been hit and miss. 

Just recently I got my electricity company to change my discount from a 18% to 40% discount. Saves me a couple of hundred a year. It was a 5 min call and didn't require any additional paperwork or fees. It may not be the absolute best deal out there but it saves me money and I didn't have to go do any research or through the hassle of changing providers or dealing with contracts and paperwork. 

Tuesday tip - Make your own buttermilk

In an effort to blog more regularly, we are introducing a weekly post segment, where we will share a life hack style tip every Tuesday. It could be about anything - eco tips, financial tips, cooking tips, something crafty, or maybe even a crazy good sale we've come across. The point is, it will be something fantastic that we think needs sharing.

Feel free to add your own tips in the comments or even let us know suggestions for future Tuesday tips!

Without further ado, the first tip for 2015:

Making your own buttermilk

Buttermilk is one of those ingredients that I use rarely, and don't tend to have on hand for the rare recipe that requires it. No problem though! You can make your own buttermilk from regular milk - just add 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice and let it stand for 5 minutes or so.  The neat thing is that this tip works in other milk types as well, so you can make soy buttermilk!

Note that the milk will curdle a little. That's part of the process, and you use the curds in your cooking as well. No need to skim them off at all.

Do you use buttermilk? What are your favourite buttermilk recipes?

Travelling with Baby Tip 3: The Flight

The helplessness, the anxiety, the no-where-to-go. I've never been claustrophobic but I think I can respect people who feel that way when I'm praying that everything goes alright.

It's OK when the the baby acts up

Babies are going to cry. I've found that if you look suitably concerned with trying to settle the kid than people around are generally sympathetic and understanding. It's when parents ignore a screaming child that annoys fellow passengers, other mums included. A plane flight is not a place to reinforce controlled crying, Feber or anti tantrum parenting techniques. The kid will deal with this one exception... they are resilient that way.

Dealing with changes in Air Pressure

This really isn't so much of a problem anymore as the newer planes are pretty good at maintaining the in cabin pressure well enough so that you don't get the problem of needing to pop your ears when the plane climbs or descends. But if you're travelling on an older looking plane or just want to make sure your little one doesn't get distressed, a good idea is to nurse or feed the baby during takeoff and landing. The sucking motion clears their ears and the comfort from the feeding or nursing calms the baby down during all the noise and g forces.

When to put the baby to sleep

I really should have known better but this actually took a fair bit of trial and error. First of all I try to do night flights which is usually easier to get the baby to sleep. Our first flight we noticed the baby was tired and therefore I started patting him to sleep just as we were settled down only to have him awoken by the announcements by the captain and cabin crew followed by the safety announcement. The next time we waited till after the announcements and he was fast asleep only to be awoken by the crew coming by with dinner. Since the Little Man is interested in all things food related there was no way we were getting him down whilst he was surrounded by food.

These days we get him to sleep after the food has come and gone. Depending on your airline, baby food may be available. On a recent Emirates flight the steward came by with a silver try with 12 different kinds of organic baby food (savory and sweet) and asked us which one The Little Man would like to eat today. Otherwise this is a good time to give them a little bit of brought baby food followed by a bottle or a nurse to encourage a good long sleep. Excepting urgent announcements due to turbulence, there should be no announcements till you're about to land.

The Bassinet Seat

Sought after by people with children and childless travelers alike for their extra legroom. These seats are not the easiest to come by. Budget airlines shamelessly sell these seats to the highest bidder (I'm looking at you Jetstar!)

So lesson here you're paying between 10-50% in far (depending on the airline) for having a 5-15kg weight sitting on your lap for a whole flight. Don't be afraid of trying to pull a little bit of weight. But always remember politeness and niceness always wins over yelling and complaining. At the end of the day you're not going to see the service people again but who knows how much your own Little Man or Lady remembers ;-)

Just one more thing to add about the Bassinet. Those things are only about 60-70cm long. Little Man was already squished in it at 8 months. These days we use it for extra storage space (place to put the food trays and blankets) so the main reason for getting the seat is the standing up room.

Travelling with Baby Tip 2: Packing

Having traveled so often I've gotten pretty good at avoiding underpacking/overpacking problems for myself. When I first moved over to Australia 10 years ago the contents of my suitcase included my hangers, a printer and an iron. I felt pretty silly when I arrived here and realized that these items could be purchased from K-mart for less money than I would have paid to not have to lug all that stuff to and from the airport. So if I'm travelling alone I only really stress about Passport, Tickets and Money. Anything else I forgot can be purchased if necessary.


Enter the Little Man. Who's "Stuff" takes up more of our house than his size would indicate. This also applies to packing space. Here are my lessons learnt:

Anything forgotten at the destination can STILL be purchased if necessary

This was a helpful reminder from a good friend when I was packing for our first trip to the US when Little Man was 7 weeks. Most developed countries have supermarkets and nappies and baby food can be purchased with relative ease. In fact I would recommend bringing enough spares to take you to when you expect to be able to get yourself to a supermarket because I have yet to arrive in a country* where nappies are more expensive than they are in Australia. Even the premium brands like Huggies and Pampers are way cheaper than they are sold here. I generally end up bringing back more nappies than I left with because they are so much cheaper.

*Sampled countries include: USA, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The most important thing to pack carefully is the carry on bag

The only area where the above lesson doesn't apply. The helpless hours when you're trapped in a metal tube with no room to move and surrounded by people you'd rather not annoy. Here's my packing list for on board:

• Nappies (disposable because no one wants to carry used cloth nappies on a plane) 1 per every 2 hours flight time.
• 2 changes of clothes for Baby
• Light Blanket
• 1 change of clothes for Mum *
• If Dad is going to travel too then 1 change of shirt for Dad **
• Baby's favorite snacks and rusks. Pack more than what you think he'll need. Little man is only allowed  2 or 3 baby bikkies a day but on a plane he gets as much as will keep him quiet.
• Couple of small toys. Though I've found that my Little man gets more fun exploring the remote control than his own toys on board a flight.

* Lesson learnt when Little Man got a bit of a tummy upset and decided to throw up all over me. He had a change of clothes but I had to finish the flight in slightly damp baby puke washed-off-as-much-as-I-could, T-shirt and jeans.
**Lesson learnt when on a different flight, the Little Man decided to knock a drink all over Daddy during the meal time. This time Mum and Baby had changes of clothes packed but Dad didn't.

When travelling for business I've got a rolling hard case cabin bag but that is a serious pain to get stuff out of when you have to carry a baby in one arm. Also when travelling alone with baby, the rolling bag takes up one hand which I tend to need when dealing with the Little Man. For this reason, I find a shoulder strap cabin bag or duffle bag with lots of zip up side pockets very useful. Why zip up? Because you can't control how other people are going to shift your bag in the overhead compartment when they are trying to stuff their own bags in.

Additional tip: Don't overstuff your carry on. It makes things difficult to find without unpacking everything. Also extra space is useful because some airlines will give you little pressie for the Baby (Activity kits, Comfort packs, Baby Blankets) and it's useful to have some room to squish these goodies into the bag when you disembark.

Some goodies from a recent 8 hour flight on Emirates

Travelling with Baby Tip 1: The passport photo

I have had the fortune (or misfortune in some respects) to do a lot of travelling in the last 2 years. Weekly business trips interstate for work all through my pregnancy ending in my 35th week with my blood pressure sky high and bedrest for 4 days (not recommended).

Our first international trip was in November 2011 with a 7-week-old Little Man flying from Melbourne-Sydney-Dallas (yep that's Dallas USA). We didn't exactly plan to travel with a newborn the whole thing happened because earlier in the year, Qantas launched their direct flights to Dallas. And since the In-Laws live in Dallas, we thought we'd take the opportunity to fly there for Thanksgiving. This was about 3 weeks before we found out that we'd be expecting the Little Man to be born in October. This necessitated a bit of a nervous wait for his birth certificate to arrive so we could apply for his passport. Which leads me to my first tip.

How to take a newborn's passport photo

Australia has some of the strictest regulations for passport photographs that I have ever seen. These rules include:

• show head and top of shoulders close up, so that the face measures between 32mm and 36mm from the bottom of the chin to the crown (ie top of head without hair)
• show your shoulders square on (not looking over shoulder)
• show your face square on (edges of face visible)
• show you looking straight at the camera (not tilted head)
• be taken with a neutral expression and your mouth closed (not laughing or frowning
• show your eyes open and clearly visible, (no hair in eyes).

Additional Requirements for Children and Babies

• show the baby or child awake, looking straight at the camera with mouth closed and no pacifier.
• show both edges of the face clearly (no toys, blankets, chair backs or other people visible) and no hair across the eyes

First off getting a newborn to sit at a photobooth or a postshop where they take passport photos is impossible. They are just too wriggly and temperamental. 

My best tip is to lay a whiteboard or white piece of cardboard down on a bed. Lay the baby on the bed and get your digital camera ready. Take A LOT of photos. If the baby gets restless... do something else for a bit then try again. 

What Not to do

On the left one of the better ones from our early attempts. We used a sheet on the bed as suggested by many websites. The problem is that the sheet always creases and is really really annoying to have to remove on photoshop. This was about 20-30 shots in and we finally get one of him. On the right, an attempt to swaddle him so he wouldn't move and I could take the photo without having to hold him at the same time, except he wriggled out of the swaddle and had his mouth open...Mummy Fail!

After a nap, a nurse and a bath we try again with not much better results.

Finally after another 30 shots, much coaxing and some photo shopping we end up with:

Not quite the best shot but it was the best we could do on short notice which satisfied the Australian Passport requirements. We took this and several other shots which we thought might get a pass to the photo processing shop and they told us which would work the best and sized it to the requirements and printed 4 copies for about $15.

What we SHOULD have done.

When Little Man was 4 months old we took a trip to Singapore for my brother's wedding. When there we had to get passport sized photos for some official documents. Since the Little Man looks so different from his 3 week old photos. We had to take more pictures and I wasn't anywhere near my copy of photoshop. This is when my mother had a brainwave. To avoid the creasing of sheets She laid a white piece of cardboard board down on the bed and put the Little man down on it. And we ended up with a much better photo in fewer shots.