24 April 2009

Cutbacks

This week my husband and I have been talking about our financial goals and the way the cost of living in Dubai is way higher than we had anticipated despite our research before moving over here. Just as an example, our rent, which must be paid in advance annually works out to be approx $1100 per week for a 3 bedroom townhouse. The books and real estate websites we looked at before moving here suggested at least half that. We soon learned that real estate websites were at the time not kept up to date. It was during the boom and villas were being snapped up at a very fast rate.

We have decided to make some serious cutbacks in order to actually move forward and hopefully return to Australia next year. Our financial situation and the current world economic climate has me thinking about the way previous generations got on during the tough times.

The blanket pictured above is a beautiful example of stretching something and making use of every last scrap. The image is not as clear as I would have hoped, but this knitted baby blanket was passed on to me when my paternal Grandmother died 22 years ago. It measures about 50x30cm as must have over 100 knots from where the small lengths of cotton were joined. I treasure this blanket for the love and beauty that went onto such a frugal piece that has lasted over time.

9 comments:

  1. How beautiful that you still have it after all these years. It was obviously made to last all those years ago.

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  2. Truly a treasure.

    Living in Dubai is not easy anymore. I agree. I hope things take a turn for the better for your family soon.

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  3. sensible attitude

    lovely blanket, and that you can see its beauty and relevance

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  4. That's such a lovely piece to have! At the moment, I'm alternating between being frugal but then get excited about setting up home and getting things for the baby, that I splurge a little again.

    Sorry about the tease on my blog by the way :) And yes, everything else went well with the scan. It's funny, in Japan I was getting scans every 2 weeks, whereas here, only a few get done, but are soooo much more detailed! How do you find the system over there?

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  5. Such a lovely special blanket-good luck with all your cut backs

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  6. What better money saving advice than to re-use something instead of replacing it with something new.
    And there's nothing more beautiful than something passed down through the generations. Lovely.

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  7. Beautiful little blanket for the new one.

    I've wondered how you all were faring in the Emirates. We have friends who were set to go and I looked forward to visiting them - and you! - but with the economy those plans fell through. sigh To better times!

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  8. Hey Lisa, haven't seen you around in blogland recently.. Hope you're doing well !!

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  9. Well, I have been AWOL for a while now, but it seems you are taking a longer vacation than even me!
    Where are you?
    I hope you are ok.

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Thank-you for stopping by

Lisa