Cushie Tushies

A cushie tushie way of life

The past couple of months have been pretty intense for a variety of reasons, and today I find myself in a rather reflective mood. How did I get here? Why do I do what I do? I'm always looking for inspiration around how to enjoy life, how to squeeze the most out of it with the time we have available, so I thought maybe my story might be of interest to others too.

In July we buried our 98 & 1/2 year old Grandma (actually a happy occasion – she had a long, happy and full life, she was a 'doer', she cooked her own meals and did her own washing right up to the end, and was healthy up until the last few months!) and during the ceremony one of my Aunties told a long story about my Grandma's life. It occurred to me that my Mum and I are actually both quite a lot like my Grandma. (Yes I realise this shouldn't have been such a revelation but there was a lot about my Grandma's life as a child and young woman that I'd never known before!)

I grew up in a generation when it still wasn't common for Mums to work. (My Mum is a pianist – she's still working full time actually, at 72 years old!). She always worked from home, so she was always there for us as kids, but we were also fairly self-sufficient (I made my own school lunches from year 1 onwards, we were responsible for our own homework and had to cop the consequences if we didn't do it, that sort of thing).

I grew up with a Mum who always cooked from scratch. Quite frequently with home grown produce. She was brilliant at making food go a long way and using up all the left-overs. (That would have been a necessity in a family of 7!) She also had an innate understanding of nutrition – I consider myself extremely lucky to grow up with such a fantastic example set for me of what to eat and when and to learn how to cook from such a young age (not to mention the example of self-respect, confidence and positive body-image!). 

My Mum also recycled – always. Even the water from the washing machine – she would wash whites first, empty the water into the laundry trough and then syphon it back through the hose into the machine for the next load of darks. We always had a compost and a recycling bin and the 'normal' bin was virtually empty each week. Not sure if that was the 'done thing' back in the 70's and 80's Adelaide, but that's what she did.

So as you can imagine, I grew up thinking it was totally normal to recycle, to work from home after having kids, to cook nutritious meals from scratch. Managing to fit all these things into life as a working mother of three has become second nature – my Mum did it with 5, so it has to be possible, right? But in meeting other Mums, especially other working Mums, I know that this doesn't come easily or naturally to many people these days. I'm hoping that by continuing on like my Mum and Grandma, my kids will also grow up learning these skills and incorporating them into their own lives.

Perhaps it's the Scottish thriftiness that is my heritage (thanks Grandma!) or perhaps it's the long line of self-sufficient, independent women that I come from, but I guess it is almost like a pre-destined fate that in today's modern world I would end up using modern cloth nappies and starting a business around these wonderful eco-friendly, money-saving products, a business that enables me to work from home around the needs of my children!

There are many other resources available to help with time management, business planning, meal planning, and much much more. I'm always happy to talk about what works for me if you want to know! If you are a Mum in business or thinking about starting a business, there are now tons of resources and support available these days (very different from a decade or more ago!). One that I rate very highly is the AusMumpreneur Network, especially their national conference, which is an inspiring, informative and highly relevant event for Mums in business.