Reflective Practice

As part of my Financial Counselling studies, I will be making about ten posts on assigned questions over the next month or so.  So you may find me making a couple of posts a day as I work through assignments, rather than my usual haphazard posting!

Life experience seems to have developed the skill of reflection in me.  How much is positive - considering how I can improve the next time - versus how much is beating myself over the head repeatedly with a (perceived) error in judgement, is however a line-ball call. 

And in some instances, I really don't want a 'next time' at which I can improve.  Such as remembering to expressly ask to be informed of what's learned from the procedure as I'm authorising a medical autopsy on my dead husband. 

As I progress to practice as a financial counsellor, being able to reflect on how I've worked with a client, the options I've identified for them, how I've presented those options and the lines of enquiry I've missed will help me improve my practice as I gain more experience.  Knowing I have a tendency to beat myself up for errors, the missed lines of enquiry will be a key area for learning through reflection.

I remember being surprised in a past job when I walked into the kitchen and found a senior executive washing the coffee cups after a meeting.  I asked him why - surely there were tasks and outcomes from the meeting he needed to work on.  He told me that doing the dishes was the time where he processed - ie reflected on - the meeting.  I found he also headed to the kitchen when stuck with a curly problem.  He simply took the opportunity to put his brain in neutral, and let the solution fall out.

In the modern work age, it's really hard to 'switch off' when you come home.  I think a lot of reflection will occur in times where you put your brain in neutral, and that's more likely to happen at home than the workplace where simple output can often equal productivity, not the quality of output. 

So, being able to put my brain in neutral regularly in the workplace will both help with further developing reflective practice, and with the issue of bringing work home with me - intended or not.  At least I can see that as one advantage of the community services sector over more commercial enterprises - stepping up and doing some of those mundane office management tasks is likely to be appreciated, if not outright expected.

Gloop

My mum and step-father used to make their own laundry detergent, known in the family as 'gloop'.

After the large supply of commercial powder that Mr Trifectagirl was finished some 12 months after he got sick - he'd bought a lot - I started making gloop again as a budget measure.

Gloop

1 cake of pure soap
1 cup washing soda
1 tsp eucalyptus oil

20 or 10 litre plastic container, old cheese grater, old saucepan (4 litre a good idea)

Time to make: about one cycle of my washing machine - probably about half an hour, but I really haven't watched the clock.

Heat 2 litres of water in the saucepan.

While the water is heating, grate the soap (this is a PITA job - I can't wait until J is old enough to help).

Add the grated soap to the saucepan and bring to the boil - watch it as this has the ability to over boil like milk.  I upgraded to a large stock pan that I found at a second-hand store for this batch after getting jack of cleaning over flows up, and I still had a mess to clean up.

I usually add the extra water to my bucket at this time (see quantity below).

Add the soda and stir until melted.  Forewarning - the soda will cause a reaction that could result in an over-flow if your pan is too small (my old over flow problem).

Pour the mix into your plastic container, and add the eucalyptus oil, and stir to mix.

For a 20 litre container, add 9 litres of hot water and 8 litres of cold water - this results in a claggy mix and use 2-4 cups per load.

I use a 10 litre container and add 3.5 litres of hot water and 4 litres of cold water.  This mix sets pretty solid and I use about 2 cups per load. 

I find this mix lasts a month or so, and at a rough, back of the envelop calculation costs $2 per bucket to make using higher quality ingredients.

 And the best thing about the new pot - all my bits and bobs for making gloop fit in it.  I can put on the lid and put it away until next time.

I've included this post in the Homemade Mondays link party over at Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity.

Budgeting Strategy - Menu Planning

I've been menu planning for a number of years, and it's a great way of controlling the grocery budget.

Many blogs I read post menu plans for the week on Mondays, and it's a good source of tested recipes, rather than something someone's pinned thinking 'ooh that looks interesting' and not tried it.

Planning for me happens generally on a Thursday, to run Friday to Thursday.  This helps finalise my shopping list for the week.  I build my list during the week as items run out, add what I need for the menu and do my weekly shop on Fridays.

One thing I make use of is my big freezer.  It's one of the first things I bought when I moved in.  I grab meat in bulk or when on sale (or even better - both!) and freeze up into meal portions.  I also blanch and freeze excess veggies from the garden. 

This week's plan - 23 to 29 August:

Friday:  The plan was for a beef curry, however once made (from a packet spice mix) this was too hot for J, so that got passed on to the parents, while we added toppings to a frozen pizza kept for just these occasions.

Saturday:  Was going to be soup from the freezer, but I used the rice I'd cooked for the curry and made a fried rice with bits and pieces in the fridge/freezer.

Sunday:  A pasta with a rose chicken sauce with mushrooms and spinach from the garden.  The chicken used was left-over shredded chicken in the freezer.

Monday:  Tonight will be yiros using left-over roast lamb. 

Tuesday: This is family dinner night at the 'rents with my sister and her little boy. 

Wednesday:  Roast lamb rack with veggies.  I managed to pick up a few mini racks that were just enough for J and I on sale, and put them aside in the freezer.

Thursday:  Hunt the freezer night - I will often cook extra and put them aside for some nights.  I then need to schedule freezer nights.  If it gets too out of hand, it's freezer weeks to ensure turn-over.

I'll sometimes juggle when things don't go to plan - such as passing on the curry. The pasta and yiros were meant to be on opposite nights, but I swapped them over based on how the day panned out (Read: I forgot to get the meat out the freezer early enough...).  But the menu for the week basically is as planned.