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How Do You Do Pocket Money?

March 14, 2013 in Children, Finance, Lifestyle, Money, Parenting

Way back in the Christmas holidays, I started pondering the subject of pocket money. I have two boys, 5 and 8, and the subject of pocket money had come up now and then, but never seriously. As my youngest was about to start school for the first time, and my older child got old enough to be able to save for things, I resolved to make a decision on the subject before school started. I thought I’d share my thinking process with you all, as some of my friends found it helpful to think about too. I opened up the [...]

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Wealth Distribution, Inequality and Sadness

March 8, 2013 in Current Affairs, Finance, Home, Human Rights, Lifestyle, Money, News, People, Politics, Self, Society, Work

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about money. I hate money. I hate it with an absolute passion. As a child I wanted to be rich, purely because I didn’t ever want to have to think about money. I just wanted it to be there when I wanted it and never have to worry about it again. I’ve reached a point now where even that would not be enough. I would need to be completely, totally, stinking rich, so not only could I not think about money but I could give most of it away to others without it mattering [...]

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Why Good Customer Service Is Important

January 25, 2013 in Lifestyle, Money, Self

Apart from the “be more active and eat healthy” new years resolutions everyone seems to make, another common one people make is to save more, cut down on spending and be in a better financial position. Right? We download budgeting apps to our phones or tablets, read as many things as we can about cutting back costs and say no to some social gatherings so that we can save an extra few dollars. Another thing we do is try to find out if there are things we can be paying less for. How do I know this? That’s what I’ve [...]

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The Help: Motherly Musings

January 17, 2013 in Anecdotes, Children, Mothers, Parenting, People, Society, Stories, Technology

The views expressed in this piece are not necessarily the views of the writer I eavesdropped as they sat at a table, adding sugar to tea and talking about how different parenting had been for them. These women were all young mothers in the 1960’s and 70’s. Their experience with babies and raising children seemed so different to the way my generation approach it. “I can’t believe there’s a ‘baby bonus’”, said Mum #1. “Why are they given money, thousands in fact, every time they have a child?” The other women murmured responses. There wasn’t resentment in her tone, but [...]

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8 Tips for Living Below Your Means

January 14, 2013 in Finance, Lifestyle, Money

Recently I received a comment referring to a post I ran on Confessions about a year ago about living below your means. The comment said: Hi Miss T…about a year ago you wrote a piece about living below your means. I liked this bit of advice very much and I wanted to share with you that from then till now I have managed to save $14,000. I know !!!! $14,000. I opened an account that is joined to my everyday account but I can’t withdraw money from it or I miss out on the interest that it pays, which really [...]

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The Disaster Spiral

January 10, 2013 in Health, Lifestyle, Mental Health, Money

Around December every year, and a few times throughout the year if we’re honest, I tend to find myself caught in the disaster spiral. If you’re unfamiliar with the disaster spiral (lucky you!) it’s when you go from a rational thought that’s a little bit stressful to complete disaster in only a few steps. For me, particularly around the holidays, it goes like this: We have too many people to buy Christmas presents for. We have to pay for Stepdaughter to visit. We’re going to spend too much money. We don’t have any money. We can’t afford to go overseas. [...]

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I Don’t Want To Keep Up with the Joneses

September 28, 2012 in Finance, Home, Lifestyle, Money, People, Self, Society, Technology

It amazes me what people class as necessity.  Society hammers us with the concept that the more you have, the better you are- the bigger display of wealth, the higher social standing. Most people have flat screen TVs- surround sound home theatre systems, Blu-ray and an array of pricey gaming consoles. I have my faithful PSP 3 and a boxy older TV. Sure, I can afford a new flat screen telly but I would rather spend my money on other things. It’s simply not a priority. I’ve been car shopping for a while now, and am doing so on a [...]

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Are You Ready To Die?

September 25, 2012 in Health, Lifestyle, Self

Every moment of your life brings you closer to the moment of your death… and now you’re closer… and now you’re even closer… and now you’re closer still. Which begs the question – Are you ready to die? It’s going to happen to everyone, even you… so are you ready? I’m 46. If I live to my 90s, I’ve still got half my life in front of me…but I could also die tomorrow. Who knows? Does it make a difference? Should it make a difference? There are those who say you should live every day like it’s your last. Well, [...]

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Has iTunes Killed Music Stores?

August 29, 2012 in Entertainment, Finance, Music, Technology

I remember the first time I entered a music shop – Vinyl everywhere, plus cassettes. I grew up in a home where records played almost constantly.  When I finally made a purchase with my own money, I was excited. I browsed the cassettes and ended up choosing Eric Clapton. I took it to the counter, handed over my pocket money and got an appreciative nod from the older male owner: “Good choice, kiddo!” I went home and played my cassette. I loved it. And there began my love affair with purchasing music. Over time, the format has changed. Where once [...]

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Materialistic? Drowning in Fashion Excess?

August 8, 2012 in Fashion, Finance, Human Rights, Lifestyle, Money, News, People, Self, Society, Style

Are you materialistic? Drowning in fashion excess? Here lies the cure. I have stayed in touch with some of my former students after they have left school. I have done this with the aid of Facebook, and recently noticed something that interested me . One of these students, a bright and thoughtful young woman was taking part in an activity called ‘Project 333’.  I was intrigued and through chatting with her, I found out that ‘Project 333’ is exactly the kind of experiment our society needs. For 3 months, you may wear 33 pieces of clothing, which includes shoes, hats, [...]

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