After reading over my old blogs and posts I realised that I had been increasing my living costs as my available income increased. Talking about it with a Son In Law he named it the grocery creep. I decided to sit back and overlook what we spent on groceries and how we could lower it. Not from a financial need but because there are other things I would like to be using our finances for, and in preparation for retirement.

We are empty nesters now and fast heading to retirement. So at the beginning of this year I started small with one skill I knew I had and that was breadmaking. I began by trying out a few tried and true recipes and I found one that made a 1kg loaf. I only need one loaf a week at this size and instead of spending over $4.50 for a smaller loaf at the supermarket for less than $1.50 and it tastes so much better.

Once I mastered the bread again I started making Pizza Dough, Calzones and Cinnamon Scrolls. Saving us a lot of money and eliminating a lot of take away.

From there I started looking at what else I could bring back. We live near to many local fruit and vegetable growers. This February we purchased 50 kilos of Roma Tomatoes for $75. With a few other cheap ingredients, I made enough Herb and Garlic Pasta Sauce for us and my children for a year, same with Tomato Relish and Passata. Cheap plums at $2.50 a kg became plum jam enough for the family for a year, 10 kilo bag of onions at under $9 became Mimi's Onion Comfit, I love this. Pineapples were $1.99 each locally at a market and two large pineapples became Pineapple Jam (Don't knock it until you try it).

We have two apple trees and the produce was left to eat fresh and then the rest was Bottled in a light syrup. To make Apple Crumble or Pies just need to add the topping or pastry. I no longer buy sauce for myself as I am happy to use the Relishes I have made and they also make a great gift. The only Relish I had never made before was Corn Relish and I found a recipe on here today so gave it a go. I made 7 pints using up ingredients I had on hand here.

Having both reduced our grocery spending by making so many more of our treats, relishes and basics as well as having a more disposable income being mortgage free we are now in the position of having built up a stockpile that means we now only need to buy to replenish what we have used up or run out of. We have nine months at least of protein sources, a years worth of laundry powder and cleaning supplies. It means when there were fears of supplies running off the shelves in grocery stores we are immune to the rising prices and lack of stock. We can wait it out and at the same time we are working to reduce our needs to buy so many products.

The biggest savings made on one product was yoghurt. My husband loves a sweet commercial yoghurt. At $7 plus of between 600 and 800 grams. I tried my hand at making it and succeeded thankfully with a copycat that my husband loved. I am making 1.25kg of yoghurt for around $2-3 cost depending on what I use to flavour it with.

I am feeling more and more accomplished and am trying new recipes at least once a week and am so pleased with the amount of money we are saving. Heading into retirement we are feeling much more secure and am planning to plant more fruit trees this Spring reducing our costs over the next few years.

As many of you are aware I'm now living at my little house in North West Victoria. Today marks the end of the first week here and it's gone incredibly quickly. I'll be honest and say apart from unpacking I've mostly just allowed myself to rest. I was really exhausted by the lead up to the move as well as the move itself. It's also been really hot here.

Now that most rooms are unpacked I want to start working on the outside of the house, clearing away any long grass and tumble weeds. A lot of them have blown away but I need to clear more each day I suspect if I want to keep them from piling up. I'll need to mow in stages, the front part of the house is fine - I mowed that last visit but the rest will be done in order of priority.

My first inside job is to attach panelling to the laundry room wall to block the cat from escaping. It's only a temporary fix but it will mean I don't have to worry about her until I'm ready to fix that part properly.

I also want to cover a couple of floor holes in the back part of the house. Fixing the subfloor is the next job my son-in-law will be helping me with but he's busy replacing his own kitchen at the moment so it will probably be a while before he's available.

There's so much heartache and angst in some of our SS postings, recently (August, 2011) e.g. "The lack of Human Touch, Why are people so angry etc.

I wanted to add sooooooo much more to these threads, with wonderful advice I've collected off the net. But if I do this ....it overwhelms the thread. I've been more discreet ... so if I'm missing some good threads worth adding here, please let us know the links for others to benefit from.

It seems that thought provoking posts raise interesting questions and always elicits our show & tell stories, with more snippets of remedies sadly lost in amongst all the chatter.

Mimi made a posting that's very dear to my heart - "The lack of human touch ". aka caring and compassion and another older posting " For anyone who has a child who is 'different'...weepy verse

Deliberate Creator/Lone Ranger's latest posting "Why are a lot of people so angry? " is another deep and meaningful thread ( one of many).

Most people however just want to recount their stories, but not go further or do anything about it i.e.(not solve it, or remedy it, just complain and relive those sad feelings or memories).

Mimi says I work hard at making home our sanctuary.... Calm home, calm life 1 and 2.

So I offer this info and hope it helps.

I always like to clearly show links to articles on what we can do to improve or remedy the situation. But that's me and not everyone likes that style.

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The Dalai Lama offers wisdom about anger:

1. Anger is the real destroyer of our good human qualities; an enemy with a weapon cannot destroy these qualities, but anger can. Anger is our real enemy.

2. If we live our lives continually motivated by anger and hatred, even our physical health deteriorates.

3. Anger or hatred is like a fisherman's hook. It is very important for us to ensure that we are not caught by it.

4. We have a saying in Tibet: "If you lose your temper and get angry, bite your knuckles." This means that if you lose your temper, do not show it to others. Rather, say to yourself, "Leave it."

5. According to Buddhist psychology, most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities. The pursuit of the objects of our desire and attachment involves the use of aggression and competitiveness. . . These mental processes easily translate into actions, breeding belligerence.

Such processes have been going on in the human mind since time immemorial, but their execution has become more effective under modern conditions. What can we do to control and regulate these "poisons"-delusion, greed and aggression? For it is these poisons that are behind almost every trouble in the world.

5. Hatred can be the greatest stumbling block to the development of compassion and happiness. If you learn to develop patience and tolerance towards your enemies, then everything becomes much easier-your compassion towards all others begins to flow naturally.

6. Happiness cannot come from hatred or anger. Nobody can say, "Today I am happy because this morning I was angry." On the contrary, people feel uneasy and sad and say, "Today I am not very happy, because I lost my temper this morning."

* Through kindness, whether at our own level or at the national and international level, through mutual understanding and through mutual respect, we will get peace, we will get happiness, and we will get genuine satisfaction.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-dalai-lama-s-wisdom-about-anger.html

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Words of wisdom regarding anger and compassion

It is because our own human existence is so dependent on the help of others that our need for love lies at the very foundation of our existence. Therefore we need a genuine sense of responsibility and a sincere concern for the welfare of others.

We have to consider what we human beings really are. We are not like machine-made objects. If we are merely mechanical entities, then machines themselves could alleviate all of our sufferings and fulfill our needs.

However, since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. Instead, we should consider our origins and nature to discover what we require.

Leaving aside the complex question of the creation and evolution of our universe, we can at least agree that each of us is the product of our own parents. In general, our conception took place not just in the context of sexual desire but from our parents' decision to have a child. Such decisions are founded on responsibility and altruism - the parents compassionate commitment to care of their child until it is able to take care of itself. Thus, from the very moment of our conception, our parents' love is directly in our creation.

Moreover, we are completely dependent upon our mothers' care from the earliest stages of our growth. According to some scientists, a pregnant woman's mental state, be it calm or agitated, has a direct physical effect on her unborn child.

The expression of love is also very important at the time of birth.

Since the very first thing we do is suck milk from our mothers' breast, we naturally feel close to her, and she must feel love for us in order to feed us properly; if she feels anger or resentment her milk may not flow freely.

Then there is the critical period of brain development from the time of birth up to at least the age of three or four, during which time loving physical contact is the single most important factor for the normal growth of the child.

If the child is not held, hugged, cuddled, or loved, its development will be impaired and its brain will not mature properly. Since a child cannot survive without the care of others, love is its most important nourishment.

The happiness of childhood, the allaying of the child's many fears and the healthy development of its self-confidence all depend directly upon love.

Nowadays, many children grow up in unhappy homes.

If they do not receive proper affection, in later life they will rarely love their parents and, not infrequently, will find it hard to love others. This is very sad.

As children grow older and enter school, their need for support must be met by their teachers.

If a teacher not only imparts academic education but also assumes responsibility for preparing students for life, his or her pupils will feel trust and respect and what has been taught will leave an indelible impression on their minds.

On the other hand, subjects taught by a teacher who does not show true concern for his or her students' overall well-being will be regarded as temporary and not retained for long.

Similarly, if one is sick and being treated in hospital by a doctor who evinces a warm human feeling, one feels at ease and the doctors' desire to give the best possible care is itself curative, irrespective of the degree of his or her technical skill. On the other hand, if one's doctor lacks human feeling and displays an unfriendly expression, impatience or casual disregard, one will feel anxious, even if he or she is the most highly qualified doctor and the disease has been correctly diagnosed and the right medication prescribed. Inevitably, patients' feelings make a difference to the quality and completeness of their recovery.

Even when we engage in ordinary conversation in everyday life, if someone speaks with human feeling we enjoy listening, and respond accordingly; the whole conversation becomes interesting, however unimportant the topic may be. On the other hand, if a person speaks coldly or harshly, we feel uneasy and wish for a quick end to the interaction.

From the least to the most important event, the affection and respect of others are vital for our happiness.

http://www.dalailama.com/messages/compassion