$40,000 Challenge - Week 3

This week thanks to public holidays we earned more than usual as public holidays have great pay rates. Other than that though I don’t think we did a lot.

I earned another gift voucher which should be here in a few weeks. I also just didn’t go to the shops. We ran out of milk on Good Friday and normally when we run out we rush out to buy more. We go through way too much milk in this house as far as I am concerned so I have decided to cut back.

We are a 4 person household which can easily go through 3L of milk a day. We drink it instead of water, despite the fact my children are more than happy to drink water.

This week I have made a conscious effort to offer them water first and also to drink water myself. I have 3 drink bottles I keep filled up so they can just grab their own and drink. Since we are all drinking it there is no whinging. It has more than halved our milk consumption.

We also ended up being able to stretch a few of our meals further than expected so our menu plan will last a little while longer.

Whilst these are not huge changes right now, they will add up over the next few months. We have save $26 this week with stretching food and reducing the milk. If I can do that each week it is an extra $598 I can save over the remaining 23 weeks. That is a lot.

We have started looking at things differently. Is it a want or a need? Can we go without it for a bit longer? What can we sell to make money now? How can we do things more frugally?

There are so many more things we could be doing. We need to step it up. This week we plan on

-          Selling the 2^nd car

-          Selling some things online

-          Refinancing (just waiting on some paperwork to complete it)

These 3 things will make a big difference! On top of them I still plan on doing menu planning and saving every way we can.


Earlier posts on $40,000 Challenge
$40,000 Week 2
$40,000 Week 1
$40,000 in 6 months?

Gifts to make for guys

Men can be incredibly hard to buy for. As I mentioned before I have a few nephews to buy for which I find really difficult. It’s a combination of the parents being very brand conscious as well as me finding male presents harder.

I have however come up with a few ideas for males I thought I would share ranging from young ones (my nephews are under 5) to grandpa’s. These are all either easy to make or relatively cheap to buy.

Young boys

Lego mat - This can either be a mat you can convert into a bag for ease of transport and packing up or a play mat.

No sew blanket - you can make it in character fleece to personalise it more

Chocolate pizza

Slime/playdough/paint - all these can be made with ingredients from your pantry and kids have a ball with them!

Science kit

Hand soap with plastic bugs - get a jar for liquid hand soap, fill it with soap and put in some plastic bugs

Snakes and ladders - You could sew a large one or just create one with cardboard

Quillow - blanket/quilt that folds into a pillow

Sleeping bag - You can make one out of fleece or other fabric by sewing the edges together

Pencil rolls/pencil case - choose some funky fabric and zips

Art smock

PJ’s

PJ/duffle bag

Super hero capes        

Matchbox car holder

Giant freckles - Just like chocolate pizza, only smaller and covered in 100's and 1000's

Teens/older boys

Duffle bag

Quillow

Giant cushion

Food – biscuits, cakes, slices, chocolate puddings

Tool belt

No sew blanket

Boxer shorts/Pjs

Christmas stocking

A recipe book of your favourite recipes (if they are into cooking)

Adults
Food is usually popular and there are a few options
- BBQ spices or sauces
- Biscuits, cakes or slices
- Bread/cake/slice of the month - take a new one to them each month.
- A stocking or basket filled with goodies
- Masculine soap (such as one with sandal wood and sand. The sand makes it rough and helps scrub off grease as well as exfoliate the skin)
- a cd of their favourite music
- Personalised glass or mug. You can either paint one with glass paints, have one engraved or buy one
- A this is your life dvd

Remember too, you can personalise gifts such as chocolate by getting a mold such as one for golf sticks if the person likes golf. You can do the same for soap.

If you have no money but have spare time you can always offer services like lawn mowing, gardening or cleaning.



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Priorities

Lately I have not been the best at prioritising my time. I have had so many things to do, each with equal importance to me, making it hard to work out what to do first. I have been getting things done, but am questioning the quality of what I am doing. I am trying to do it all at the same time, instead of one thing at a time.

By having an “I can do it all” attitude I am spreading myself too thin and not paying enough attention to each thing I am doing. If I slowed down and took on one thing at a time, prioritising properly I would achieve more in a smaller amount of time.

Why?

When you are trying to do a few things at once (which for me is study, my book, renovate my house, blog as well as spend time with my family) you can only give so much attention to each. You will waste time setting up and packing away each thing.

If you choose one thing, do it, complete it and then move to the next one you will not wasting time flitting between projects not really achieving much.

There are some things in life you can double up on, but for big things such as studying or working you can only really focus on one of them at a time.

I have been working with more of a routine and trying to focus more and work out what it is I want to spend the most time on and what I would like to streamline.

I want more time with my family. They are my number one priority. As such everything else needs to be streamlined. But how?

Well, with blogging there are a few ways you can streamline things and make it easier on yourself

1.)    Schedule posts. Write up a bunch of posts and set them up to self publish when you want them to. This way you only need one block of time to do it all, the rest does itself.

2.)    Get guest posts. Guest posts are written by other people and you just need to schedule them in.

3.)    Stop messing around with the layout. Decide what you want, do it, and then leave it. So many bloggers spend so much time tweaking their blog. Yes, you do need to refresh and modify things here and there occasionally, but mostly it should be left alone once you find what works. (I know I have changed mine a few times.)

As for the other things in my life such as renovating, we have outsourced a few things when the price difference between DIY and professional has been negligible. Why spend so much time on something that will take us longer and not look as good. Not saying all DIY should be thrown out the window. I’m just saying for some things it is better to get a professional in.

That goes for a lot of things actually. The hours and hours you spend trying to do it yourself can work out more costly than paying someone else to do it for you.

Another big way to save time and streamline everything is to switch things off. Don’t be on Facebook, twitter, your blog, forums etc... all the time. When you are working focus on just that. If you are writing a blog post do it and it only. Don’t be on twitter at the same time or you will waste and hour and have achieved nothing.

Set a time limit for each task, stick to it, then switch it off and step away.

This I am not so good at since I love my phone and check things on it, but I am getting better. Just because I can do everything from my phone and can be connected all the time, doesn’t mean I should be.



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Your success is your choice

This weekend I experienced some things I had not come across in a while. They were both about money and success, but they were other people’s views, not mine. One I understood, disagreed with, but understood. The other, left me feeling like I just wanted to get out of the conversation as fast as possible.

I’ll begin with the first one.  “I can’t earn any more or it will affect our pension.”

Earning over a certain amount means your pension will be reduced, but only on a percentage of what you earn. So whilst you may lose 30cents for every extra dollar you earn you will still be 70 cents in front.

I understood they felt that way and that many people do. I also understood that the age group the person who made this comment is in is very set in their ways, so I did not say anything.

For the most part, whilst your ‘free’ pension money may go down, overall you will be earning more, so it still makes sense to earn as much as you can.

The second experience left me speechless.

I won’t go into it in detail, but suffice it to say I experienced an insane amount of envy aimed at me. I was spoken to very condescendingly and negatively purely because I have a blog that is going well and a publishing contract. Basically for becoming successful at home.

The person who behaved that way I have known for a very long time.   It was the first time in a long time I have wanted to run from a conversation. Thankfully I have children who interrupted and gave me a reason to leave.

Why am I sharing these experiences? What do they have to do with anything?

2 things! The first comment shows me how our own thinking can seriously limit our earning potential. How much money you have is a direct result of what you think and do.

The second thing is that no matter how others treat us or react to what we are doing it is up to us how we react and the thoughts that follow.

Had that sort of thing happened to me a year ago I would have dwelled on it, spoken negatively to myself and quite possibly been in a slump for some time. Now however I realise it is their issue, not mine.

How I think and feel is my choice. No one can make me feel bad. They can say whatever they like, but the reaction is my choice. And I am so glad I now have the strength within me to choose to not let people affect me.

I am choosing to be happy and successful.

What are you choosing?

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Focus on the positive - $40,000 week 2

This week has been amazingly good. So many things indicated it would be a bad money week, especially since my husband only had 1/2 his usual amount of work, but it turned out great.

To start with I went to Canberra and did a little work with my sister in law. It coincided with days my husband was not working, so that was great. One of the days my husband worked was a Saturday which is all paid at overtime rates, so even though he only worked 3 days, his pay was still good.

My husband got an awesome job he started yesterday. It is with the same company he used to work for and since he never really left, they just didn't have a contract for him he has been on the books the whole time, so we can now redo our mortgage and go with another bank for a better deal. This contract also has a higher hourly rate.

Plus now we know his wage I can finally set a real budget because I will know our income and expenses. I have had a loose budget, but when the wage is variable it is a bit harder.

I found out about some money I had been expecting will come in the next few weeks. I found a gift card I got given for my birthday which I didn't even know about. My brother and his darling fiance sent me it so it would arrive before my birthday. It did, but I wasn't home, my husband was and he opened all my mail. He put it inside a package I was expecting (I knew what was in the package and I didn't need it right now, so didn't open it) and forgot to tell me.

That's ok, because it was a double surprise when I opened the package this week.

I managed to reduce our groceries by stretching what I could and experimenting with a few things. I also got a bag from my mother in laws work with $70 worth of food for $7. She can get them weekly and it contains Ol Del Paso and Betty Crocker rejects. The box might be crushed or something like that but otherwise fine.

I also got some free food from my sister and sister in law thanks to a deal my sister in law was able to swing. She is an awesome  negotiator and often gets great deals. We also decided we would go in together on a Costco membership. One opens near me at the same time as near her. By joining together we halve the fee for us and my sister can shop with her as well, so we all win.

I was also able to reduce some of our insurance by $200 a year and have another policy I am looking into. Add that to last week and we are doing pretty well for this challenge.

So what started out as a nervous week turned out to be great. At the start of the week I was looking at the negatives and focusing on how much we were not earning. When I realised what I was doing I changed my thinking and focused on money flowing to us and that we have more than enough and you know what? Money flowed!



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Gifts to make

One of the ways many people suffer a budget blow out is through buying gifts. It is often thought the bigger/more expensive the better. That is not true. A well thought out gift is more meaningful and many nice gifts can be made from things you already have at home or for very cheap.

Here I have compiled a few lists of things you can give. Some require sewing, others cooking etc... But essentially there is an idea for everyone in here.

Food Gifts
You don't need to be an excellent cook to give great foodie gifts. Some times the simplest things such as microwave fudge (melt 375g chocolate with 250ml sweetened condensed milk and 2Tablespoons of butter in the microwave for 2.5 minutes, stir, repeat then pour into to tray to set. You can add nuts, smarties, jelly beans or whatever to make it interesting) make great gifts and are really easy to do.

Cupcake tower
Cookie in a jar
Treat basket e.g make some simple slices like rocky road, fudge and brownies. Cut them into pieces and place in a basket then wrap it with cellophane and ribbon.
Bread/cake/slice of the month - This is a gift that gives year round. Basically each month you bake a different bread/cake/slice and give it to them.
Jam/sauce - You can make jam easily in the microwave. Simply hull and wash 500g strawberries. Add 1.4 cup lemon juice and microwave for 1 minute. Mix in 1 cup of sugar and microwave for 20 minutes. Pour into warmed sterilized jars. Yummy sauces are similar just add a bit more juice.
BBQ or meat spices and rub mixes



Crafty Gifts
You don't need to be able to sew to make cute crafty gifts. Things like the no sew blanket (see below) are simple and can be tailored to suit different people.
Candles

Felt Santas are great at Christmas, just fill them with some lollies
Aprons aren't just for females
Dream Catchers are popular with girls and are essentially a ring covered in ribbon with a spider web weaved into the middle incorporating beads and attaching feathers. It only requires gluing and stringing a few beads.
Pencil cases or pencil rolls
Table cloths, table runners, place settings etc...
A no sew blanket This is just 2 layers of fleece which is cut and knotted together. You can get fleece in various characters now, so one side could be that and the other plain. This is something even children could make to give
Quiet book
Portable doll house
Heat packs - these are just a bag sewn filled with rice to be heated up in the microwave. You can scent them with dried lavender as well.



Service Gifts
Service gifts are excellent when you are short on money but have some time to help out. They are often worth a lot (for example a lawn mow costs around $60 or more where I live), but only require an hour or so of your time.
Beauty service - things such as a manicure, pedicure or facial which are easy enough to do are appreciated. There are many tutorials online about how to do them.
Lawn mowing or other gardening
Cleaning - most people hate the thought of cleaning their bathroom or oven, you could offer to do it a few times for them.
Massage
Cook Dinner
Baby Sitting

Garden Gifts
When looking at giving gifts from the garden growing from seed or cuttings make the gift very cheap. It takes longer to grow, but is worth it. You can approach garden centres for pots, they will only be plastic. Otherwise second hand shops and garage sales often have nice pots for cheap.
Herb pot - you could grow one herb such as rosemary or mint in a pot or try doing an Italian herb mix where you have all the herbs used such as rosemary, basil, sage, marjoram etc... Growing them from seed makes it cheap.
Bruschetta pot Grow a tomato plant with basil at the bottom
Basket of produce If you have a good vegetable or fruit garden you could give a basket of your produce
Potted colour Some flowers such as geranium grow from cuttings really easily. Grow flowers from either cuttings or seeds to make a cheap gift.

Other Random Gifts
A photo album with photos
A collection of your favourite recipes, money saving tips or any other tips
Bath bombs, bath salts, soaps, shower gels and other beauty items


I plan on making a lot of my gifts this year and the gifts range from new born babies right through to grandparents as well as for things from births to weddings and house warming's, so I will post more ideas soon.

Gifts for Guys

$100 Christmas Update

It has been just over 1 month since I committed to a $100 Christmas. I have honestly not thought a lot about Christmas itself, but in my entire gift giving this year I have been looking at what options I have to make/buy a nice gift without spending a lot of money.

I honestly think we have too much stuff. We give and receive stuff all the time and whilst it is nice, I often wonder how much of it gets used or is really appreciated.

The first half of the year is busier for us with more birthdays, our anniversary, mother’s day etc... So I tend to leave Christmas thoughts until a bit later.

I consolidated everything I had bought for presents at anytime into one spot and planned who they are for. I have also got all the wrapping paper, cards, tape and ribbons in one spot. I used to have them spread out and would invariably go get more because I could not find what I needed. Now it is neat, tidy and organised. It is also documented in my household binder.

I am cashing out some vouchers this week to set aside for Christmas. They might be used beforehand if I see anything good though.

As far as making presents goes I am leaning towards growing some plants such as herbs, tomatoes etc... to give as well as making some jams and sauces (I know my mother in law will love the strawberry kiwi fruit sauce that is my husbands favourite) as well as a few baked goodies. I have enough things to make some dream catchers for my nieces, but am still not sure what to do for my nephews, they are all under 6.

I was also considering compiling the recipes I always get asked for from my in laws for them to have altogether in one spot. It would be a simple present to make, but I know it would get used.

I have a house warming next month which I have been trying to work out what to take. I am thinking a hamper of some sort, or possible some of the herbs and things I have been growing.

Now that my house is coming together I have to time to focus more on things to make to give as presents. I think the hardest ones will be my nephews. I know one likes Ben 10, another likes Thomas, Toy Story, that sort of thing, but branded stuff is expensive.

I will think up some gift ideas for different age and gender groups to post later.


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$40,000 Week 1

Following on from my $40,000 in 6 months, I am happy to say we already have $1,250. I was very tempted a few times this week to buy a few things, but I decided my $40,000 goal is more important. Some were only $1, but its the little things that add up.

We were able to keep our groceries low and aim to for the next few weeks, as we have a fair amount of meat and dry goods, so we only really need fresh food. I have my menu plan and we are on track.

The next few weeks will probably be a bit weird for us financially as my husband is changing work slightly and his pay will go from being weekly to fortnightly so we will need to get used to that again. It has been nice having a weekly pay, but we have had fortnightly before, so its ok.

We are seeing our bank this week to discuss options as our mortgage comes off the fixed rate. I am seriously considering changing and have spoken to a broker about our options, so I am going in fully informed. If they do what we want we’ll stay, if not we will change everything. Doing what we want would free up $250 a week and other banks are willing to do it, it would just cost a fee, whereas staying with our current bank is free. Anyway, that $250 can go straight off the car loan then.

We have some things to sell, so will list them in the classifieds and eBay this week. It won’t be until the end of the week as I am in Canberra on my own.

On top of all this I have a garden which is coming along nicely, we have been saving as much electricity and water as we can and are watching everything closely.

Earn More Stress Less

Earn More Stress Less by Fergus O'Connell is a great book in my opinion. I think what I liked so much about it is it covers everything from using the law of attraction to making a plan and putting it into action to make more money. Not only does it cover money, it also covers ways to stress less such as the 19 ways to stop worrying found towards the back of the book.

I agree with the authors opinion on making more money and how to go about it. In a nutshell you need to work out what you want, how to get it and then go for it.

It starts off discussing the law of attraction and asking for what you want, but asking BIG. It then goes onto visualising, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you read further things become more in depth and serious about what you need to do.

The next part goes over your plan, how to build it and carry it out. There are some great exercises in this part of the book to help you work out your plan properly and set it in stone.

Following on from the action plan is the Believe section, where Fergus discusses 'acting as if". What's acting as if? It is acting as if you are living your ideal life. Its not going out and buying a flashy car because thats what you will have. Its doing simple things like choosing where you want to live and looking at property there. Doing this is an act you would do if you were living your ideal life, because you would be buying your ideal home.


Then lastly is the stress less section. It covers 19 ways to stop worrying such as make a worry date. Set a date in the future to 'worry' about it, such as 15 minutes on Monday afternoon, then stop thinking about it. Allow yourself to worry at the set time and leave it at that.

This section also covers gratitude and problem solving which are both so important when seeking to build your finances.


Overall I think this book is great. It might not be for those who are not 'into' the law of attraction, but this book is about more than that. It has great strategies and activities to help you achieve what you want to achieve.

$40,000 in 6 months?

Image from my Hawaiian holiday and where we need to go this year

About a week ago I worked out I would need $40,000 in 6 months to be able to complete renovations, attend my sister in laws wedding, visit my sick grand parents, get rid of debt etc... Its a lot of cash and I am determined to do it. I did my $10,000 challenge and whilst this is bigger I believe I can do it. (I use the term 'need' loosely as they are mostly not needs, but wants we will regret if we don't do them because of family).


This week I have been doing a $21 Challenge. What is that? I originally heard about it on Simple Savings. Basically you have $21 to feed your family of four for the week. You can add $5.25 for each extra family member. It is up to you if you choose to include nappies, toiletres etc. or just do food. I decided to include everything.


Not only did I decide to do a $21 Challenge, but I also decided to do a No Spend Challenge, meaning no spending except on bills and groceries.

And what a week for me to pick it. Without thinking I committed to it, then a few hours later it dawned on me. This week includes my mums birthday, my birthday and my wedding anniversary. Great. Real smart!

Actually, as it turns out it is. It has prompted me to look at how I can change a few things around here to make sure I stick to my challenge. I could use the excuse that 'its my birthday' so that's the same as a get out of jail free card, but I am not. I could just go crazy next week and buy whatever I want right?

Wrong. I planned to do the No Spend until we have the necessary funds. I have budgeted a small amount for gifts but mostly I want to make them or use things from my present box, after all, that's why it's there.

I have found some options for my mum, our anniversary meal and have a few ideas for my birthday.

To be able to do all of this effectively I will need to be organised and plan things well.

This is mostly separate to my challenge, but I thought it was interesting all the same.

Ways to save time

Sometimes the thing you are working on is a waste of time. You know it but you are doing it because you feel obligated too, because it is what you have always done or because it is what you have been told to do.

Over the last week I have been changing my view on my life. It isn’t a dramatic life event or anything that has changed my feelings (though I have been through quite a few). I am just growing and evolving.

Whilst I always knew what I wanted, I didn’t always act on what I knew. Looking at everything I have been doing I have been swamped and am wasting my time on things I either don’t love or could be done by someone else.

I wrote down everything I spend my time on, looked at what NEEDS to be done, what I love doing and what I can get rid of and what I can streamline or outsource.

Considering it is time that we all seem so short on we sure manage to waste a lot of it. Add to that “Time is money!” We may as well be flushing notes down the toilet.

There are so many things we can do to save time

1.)    Keep a time diary

2.)    Outsource anything that can reasonably be done by someone else

3.)    Stop watching TV or at the very least limit it.

4.)    Recognise what makes you happy and what doesn’t. If it doesn’t make you happy and you don’t have to do it, stop it.

5.)    Get organised. Have a place for everything and get rid of what you don’t need so you are not searching through mounds of clutter for 20 minutes looking for a piece of paper.

I am reviewing and changing my life. I want more time to spend with my family and do what I love. I also want my life to be simpler.

I am de-cluttering ruthlessly. I put a calendar, a list of our goals and a savings chart up in our kitchen. I have spoken to a few people to cut back on activities I don’t really want or need to do. I have also started to schedule more things and have more of a routine.

So tell me, what are your time saving tips?

Should I attend this Financial Bloggers Conference?

Recently I attended the Aussie Bloggers Conference which I loved, but one thing I have always wanted to attend is a financial bloggers conference, as my blog is about finances.

My mind is racing. I just came across a Financial Bloggers Conference. This conference happens to be in the month my sister in law is planning her wedding in Hawaii. My husband has family in many parts of the USA, so accommodation and things between the conference and wedding would not be a problem.

The conference is in Chicago, but a flight from Hawaii to Chicago is not as expensive as I would have thought. In fact most flights around the USA are not as expensive as you would think considering how big the country is.

As much as I would love to attend, I probably won’t be able to due to many variables, but I think I am going to look into it further. I think it would be very beneficial as it is more geared towards what my blog is about and I would learn a lot. Also there are heaps of bloggers going whom I would love to meet.

It’s no secret to most people I know how much I love America. I love Australia too, but for some reason, ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to live in America. I’ve only been once, in 2005 and I got to do a lot of what I wanted and had dreamed about for years.

I can find pretty much any excuse at anytime to go there. Actually doing it is a different story. Whilst I would love to, it is not always practical.

If I am going to be in America in October I will go. I should know soon if we will be there, as my sister in law is getting married in Hawaii, well that’s the plan. She hasn’t booked yet, so we’re not sure.

What would you do? If you found something you have wanted to go to but it was on the other side of the world would you find any way to go or would you just leave it?

I know I need to weigh up the pros and cons of attending. I did this with the Aussie Bloggers Conference. I almost didn’t go to it and only did decide to attend as it was so close to me. Had it been in Melbourne, I may not have gone. (Although if it is in Melbourne next year I will definitely still attend). I unsure as I had never been to a conference, my blog was small compared to many I followed and I really couldn’t see what I would get out of it besides networking.

I am not a drinker so didn’t want to attend the dance after wards, but that clearly looks like it was heaps of fun.

I am so glad I decided to attend that conference because if I had not, I would not be in the position I am in now, with a book coming out in June and a variety of other opportunities which have presented themselves.

This is why I am questioning if I should just go.

What would you do?