Not Zero Days

Not Zero Days

Oct 3, 2016 | Personal Development

Make everyday a “Not Zero’ day

I came across the concept of “Not Zero Days” this week.  WOW what a revelation.!!

The idea of a Not Zero Day is that whatever you are planning to do, whatever your goal is just do SOMETHING toward it everyday.

Sometimes we can set ourselves such big tasks that it all just gets to hard and we feel like giving up.

For instance;

Is your goal to do 30 minutes of exercise everyday?  If you jump right in and do that 30 minutes today, you might find you are sore and sorry tomorrow (and the next day) and you really won’t feel like doing it.   Rather than 30 minutes, just do SOMETHING- Not ZERO.  One push up or just a quick 5 minute walk. Just NOT ZERO!!

Is your goal to be saving 10% of your wage?  That might mean that if you do that this week you won’t have the money for that bill that is due.  Instead, maybe save $10 Just NOT ZERO!!

Is your goal to build a new business?  You know you really ought to spend a few hours a day to put some steps in place. When you get home after the 9-5 you are just tired and don’t feel like it.   Instead, do just 15 minutes ( pour yourself a drink – wine beer or coffee) spend that time doing something for your business.  Just NOT ZERO!!

I am really loving this concept.  I always have so much on the go at once, I often get myself overwhelmed and then do a “declutter” of my life and weed out the unimportant stuff. Then I find myself frustrated that I didn’t achieve my goals.

NON ZERO days are now factoring into my schedule.  One of my long held (and scrapped) goals has been to practice Yoga every day.  I have downloaded HEAPS of beginners classes and tried half-heartedly to force myself to do 20 – 30 minutes each day.  It has never become a habit 🙁   Now with the concept of Not Zero Days, I went searching for some 5 minute yoga lessons.  Google showed me heaps of options, but this one caught my eye.  An app for 5 minute workouts.

The app has easy to follow home workout sessions that take no more than 5 minutes. You can choose from Abs, Fat Loss, Butt and Legs, Chest and Arms, Pilates and Yoga sessions, or you can mix sessions together and create your own workout. ( I am currently doing a mix of Yoga and Butt and Legs)   The free starter pack is adequate for quite a while, but it is just so darned easy to find 5 minutes a day (Not ZERO ) that I was more than happy to upgrade to the full package which gives a lot more exercises and the option to track your results.

This same developer has heaps of other 5 minute apps too.  Check them all out here.

What can you do to implement a Not Zero day?

Just too busy and feeling a bit tired. :(

Just too busy and feeling a bit tired. :(

Sep 28, 2016 | Health & Wellbeing, Personal Development

Hubby and I have been just so stupidly busy lately that we are both feeling quite overwhelm

ed.  I can tell, both of us are a bit cranky and TIRED  oh so bone weary TIRED.  We often find ourselves struggling to stay up past

8:00pm

We work for ourselves and recently lost a key staff member. It shook both of us around a bit and rather than re-hiring immediately, we tried to do it all ourselves.  (Bad move..although saving 3 months wages has made the bottom line look healthy)

We have now hired some more help so we know it is going to get better, but just the act of doing ANYTHING at present seems to be a struggle.  I have made sure we are eating well with minimum cooking fuss.  Quite a few “throw the ingredients in a pot and cook it” type meals.

Luckily neither hubby or I are not  prone to any severe depression or anxiety, but after the last month or so , we can certainly see how these conditions can manifest very quickly.  We keep reminding ourselves that there IS an end in sight. The new staff members are coming up to speed and the workload is coming back to a manageable level.  Heck, just the fact that I have time to type this post, means I am not “drowning” beneath a pile of paperwork to be completed.

We have both been fairly mindful that we have been too busy and that the need to look after ourselves is important. ( hence the in bed at 8:00 caper)
Some things I have done are: (in no particular order)

  • Ignored the housework to a certain degree.
  • Made sure we eat. At work we have been so busy there were a couple of days we forgot to eat, so I set up a reminder on my phone for coffee breaks and lunch – even if it was just a sandwich on the run.
  • Planned simple no- fuss dinners that required little prep and cooking.  It sounds fancy, but a simple roast is just peel a couple of potatoes, slice off a chunk of pumpkin and thrown it in the oven with a piece of meat for a couple of hours.
  • Ordered groceries online and had them delivered to the office later in the afternoon.
  • Tried to stay positive and actually talk to each other. While we work in the same business, we don’t actually work together ( does that make sense?)  I am busy in the office while he is busy in the factory. So we can still have a “how was your day” conversation when we get home.
  • Hubby has been very good at prioritising which jobs need to be done by which day, and we have not upset any of our valued clients. He is far better at To Do lists than I am.  I make to do lists but not in the correct order and then I can get stressed when they don’t pan out.

How do you cope with a busy life?

 

 

Why every one of my dollars is a “blazing sunbeam”

Why every one of my dollars is a “blazing sunbeam”

Jun 20, 2016 | Personal Development, Wealth & Money

“Sunshine Cash” is the opposite of saving for a rainy day.

For me, Sunshine Cash is the money I earn on top of my regular income.  It is not intended to pay the bills or be saved in the emergency fund.  It is FUN MONEY!!  However, it does trickle in sporadically depending on what I am pursuing at the time, so I have a separate bank account for it.

Making the dollars s-t-r-e-t-c-h

It is not so much the saving of the amount, as maximising the value of it.  I want every sunshine dollar to be a blazing sunbeam!!!

example: If I choose to spend my Sunshine Cash, I might choose a fine dining restaurant that is promoting a two-for-one deal.  Or we might choose to buy some really expensive ingredients and cook a restaurant quality meal at home, complete with the “good” china and crystal.

Daily deals sites are brilliant for eating out. We often use Groupon, Living Social or Our Deal to have a meal out at restaurants that we would not think of.

Use deals for gifts.

Daily Deals sites also have some good ideas for gifts too.  Just last Christmas I bought these awesome hampers for just $39.00 !!!

I ended up buying 6 of them.  The recipients we MOST impressed with a (what they thought) was a very expensive gift.

Have a clothes swap party.

Instead of going out shopping, get your girlfriends together (with a few snacks and glasses of wine) and host a clothes swap.

Stay in for a movie marathon.

Love going to the movies but don’t like the high price tag.  Host a movie marathon at home. For a “large screen” experience, hire a projector (or borrow one from work if your department has one.)  Make some popcorn and ice cream snacks and enjoy the saving.

Always look out for deals at the supermarket.

I am not talking extreme couponing here. I am saying, while you should always shop with a list. Don’t be a slave to the brands on that list. eg; Instead of putting Cornflakes on the list, just put Cereal.  Have a look in the aisles, you might just find something different at a cheaper price. Same with fruit and vegetables. Don’t just write “Kale” think “green leafy” you might find baby spinach or Asian greens at a fraction of the cost.

Look for deals on gift cards.

Check your autoclub to see if you can access discounted grocery cards. I regularly get our major supermarket cards at 5% discount. These are “ecards” so there is not even any postage cost. 5% on 200 grocery bill is $10.

How do you maximise your dollars?

25 Solutions to “not enough” money.

25 Solutions to “not enough” money.

Jun 18, 2016 | Free Resource, Personal Development, Wealth & Money

25 ways for kids and teens to earn some cash.

From the time I was a little kid, I never seemed to have enough “fun money”.

Sure, Mum and Dad gave me pocket money for doing chores around the house, but I was made to put half of it in the bank.  (Who remembers the good old “dollarmites” school banking?)

Money Box

After depositing my hard earned cash into the bank, there wasn’t enough leftover for the latest Barbie fashion or tastiest lolly that I “just had to have”.    It was just soooo hard. Everyone else’s Mums gave them lots of pocket money 🙁   It just wasn’t fair.

 Something had to change.

I complained to Mum about it LOUDLY!! and was told basically to “suck it up – that is life”  🙁

I looked for other ways to get money.  A paper round with my brother was a good earner, but hard work in the cold and rain at 6:00am.  I made a bit for a while polishing my Girl Guide troops’ brass badges ( coz it is a YUK job that no one liked doing, but we HAD to have shiny badges)

I soon found there were many simple ways a young girl could make a little bit extra, and did many different things over the years.

Growing up, we lived in an inner city location with not a lot of “suburbia”. This made looking for the usual ways of looking for odd jobs from the neighbours a little more difficult.

There were, however, shop around and most of these shops were “Mum & Dad” type businesses with few if any staff.

I soon discovered that I could earn money by offering to do jobs such as

  • cleaning the front window of the shop, or
  • taking the garbage out to the big central skip bin, or
  • restocking shelves or even just
  • sweeping the floor.

I struck a deal with Mum and Dad that anything I earned from these odd jobs was MINE and did not have to go into the bank.  They agreed, and my Sunshine Cash earnings began.

As I got older, I was always on the lookout for ways to supplement my pocket money.

A suburban goldmine.

When I was a teenager we moved to the suburbs and this was a veritable treasure trove of  Sunshine Cash.

  • Baby sitting
  • Dog Washing
  • Car Wash
  • Lawn Mowing

Finally, when I was old enough to have a regular job, I would still look for ways to receive extra money to “live the lifestyle I wished to become accustomed to!!”

A world of opportunity.

As a young adult, a whole new world of Entrepreneurship was introduced to me and I was soon earning good amounts of  Sunshine Cash.

A super simple method was to buy things from op shops and resell them in the weekend classifieds (nowadays we use eBay, Gumtree, Craig’s List etc).  I would look for clothes that were in good condition. I could often find clothes that had been donated in Brand New condition, or that just needed simple things mending ( like a button missing or a new zipper)    Furniture was another great seller. A couple of coats of gloss white paint and a $20 table could sell for as much as $100.

Over the years I have rarely been without something generating a bit of extra cash on the side of my regular job.  When I had children, they too were taught to look for ways to earn their own “Sunshine Cash”

As a special freebie for you today, I have put together an eBook with over 25 ways that either I have done personally or friends have done to earn a little bit on the side.  Just sign in below to gain access to this and other free downloads.

Enjoy 🙂

How I live a champagne lifestyle on a lite beer budget.

How I live a champagne lifestyle on a lite beer budget.

Jun 15, 2016 | Personal Development, Vision Board

I have long admitted to having Champagne taste on a Beer budget, and I have discovered many ways to live the life I want on sometimes very little money.  Whether by earning a bit of cash on the side, or just getting great deals on the products and experiences that make up life in general.  I have found that the niceties of life can usually be found with some creative thinking and female ingenuity.

What sort of things?

My “Champagne taste” extends itself to most areas of my life 🙂  I love good food, nice cars, lots of travel and a quality wardrobe. (mmm Shoes  🙂  )  I have never earned enough to be able to go on wild shopping sprees so I need to be a bit creative to satisfy my wants.

How do I do it?

I am also a great believer in asking the universe for what I want.  I have had vision boards and wishlists since I was a child ..Loooong before “The Secret” made the concept popular.

I hope you will follow along as I post ideas and tips on making the most of your money and start living your own “Champagne Life”.

 

Mind Movies

Mind Movies

Oct 22, 2012 | Personal Development, Vision Board

I recently found an awesome site.
The idea of a mind movie is to take the
humble vision board a step higher.
By making a movie or even a powerpoint presentation
you create a moving visualisation of your desires
and project them to the universe.
By watching my mind movie daily,
wealth, joy and abundance will surely manifest itself.
I hope you enjoy my mind movie