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.

The first thread, Tomorrow ...., is becoming long, so here's a new one documenting my experience with breast cancer treatment.

I do this as I see value in other women having a familiarity with what could be involved in addressing cancer for their own or a loved one's treatment one day. Everyone's cancer and treatment is unique to the individual.

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A great benefit to me has been the kind and genuine support, interest, and encouragement from forum members. I am humbled by your kindness and earnestly thank you for it.

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The cancers:

1) breast cancer. HER2 positive, meaning that it's aggressive.

2) Paget's disease of the breast - a rare form of breast cancer of the nipple and areola.

Treatment so far:

Doxorubicin. The world's strongest chemotherapy, also known as Red Devil Chemo - named after satan because it's red and because of its side effects.

Paclitaxel. Another chemo often known as Taxol.

Perjeta, a targeted immunotherapy treatment.

Herceptin, a targeted immunotherapy treatment.

Surgery - mastectomy and removal of lymph nodes with implant reconstruction.

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This morning, the PICO dressing (with its pump) was removed, and a simple dressing applied. I didn't actually see the scar tissue, but apparently it's (still) almost healed with the deterioration looking only superficial.

I then met the Oncology Radiologist who had a look at the scar tissue and cleared me to start radiation this morning.

I was set up on the table for radiation treatment to begin, but the technician found that there were changes in the breast/chest wall, and radiation treatment could not begin. Thankfully, someone had the foresight to predict this change, and had scheduled an appointment for another planning session. I had to wait around for another 90 minutes, but the session was completed.

Radiation treatment will now commence next Monday 24/2 for 15 sessions Monday-Friday. The Oncology Radiologist now, therefore, does not want the new chemo to commence until after radiation is completed - Monday 17/3 which allows for the Canberra Day public holiday in March (the chemo clinic runs every day of the year, but radiation treatment does not occur on public holidays). This means that drug treatment won't finish until December now, but that's OK.

This is what a PICO pump looks like. It stays in the bag, and is worn around the neck. The OK button should periodically flash green to show that it is working. If the next icon is lit up, it means that the seal around the dressing has lifted and air is escaping. If the third icon is lit, it means that the dressing is soaked in blood/fluid and needs to be replaced. The fourth icon will illuminate if the battery has drained. They cost several hundred dollars and have a 14 day shelf life.

You can see the thin tubing; the other end is embedded in the dressing somehow - not actually visible to me.

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.