
Don’t Dismiss 2020 as a “Wasted” Year.



Hello December !!

December!!
For some people the mere thought of this time of year brings on a level of stress. The busy holiday season, extra expenses and the prospect of deciding on what the New Year might bring.
For me, December is a planning month (along with June).
For the most part, I have gift shopping sorted well before Christmas. I will only need to buy some fresh fruit, chocolates and “scratchy” tickets to go with cards.
What I do in December is to reflect on the past year.
- How have my plans worked out?
- What have I achieved
- What has brought me the most joy?
- Have I created any new (good) habits?
- Do I have more to do to reach my goals?
- What could I have done differently?
I also start to do some preliminary planning for the next year. These early plans can be refined through the month. This means that I start the New Year with a solid framework rather than a hasty, unconsidered “resolution” that stands little chance of being implemented or achieved.
December is a time to have a look over my RISE Plan and see where my current life balance is and what I feel needs to improve. Often this makes any resolutions easy to make and prepare for.
Here are the steps I take to create my plan for the New Year.
GOALS:
Starting with the lowest scoring items from my RISE Plan, I will create a plan to bring them up to a level that will create a better balance in my life. I will do a Be-Do-Have exercise to visualise what I want this area to look like in its 10/10 ideal state and plan toward that. This plan becomes a high priority so that area does not stay languishing in a less than perfect score
I will always try to work out how I can improve while keeping the monetary outlay as minimal as possible. If I find that an upgrade does require actual money spent, then I need to work out how to incorporate it into the budget so the expense has as little an impact as possible.
These goals may change slightly over the year. (I am not so rigid that my January plans MUST be adhered to all year), but it creates a good launching pad for the New Year to come.
JOURNAL:
Spending some time of journalling what I see in my “new normal” life for this year helps in a number of ways. It helps imprint your visualitions into your mind. It has been proven that magic happens when you put pen to paper. Also knowing what little things I have planned as upgrades helps when people invariably ask me “What do you want for ( Birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas)”. I will have a ready made list in my head of what I am desiring 🙂 This same list might also become saved searches in eBay, Gumtree or Facebook. It is surprising how often the “perfect thing” comes up at a great price.
SPECIFY:
I will get specific with my goals. Vague goals such as “I am going to make self-care a priority” does not cut it.. It needs to be a SMART Goal. So my goal may be broken down to specific goals like
1: Book hairdresser every 6 weeks ongoing
2: Spend 30 minutes each morning on “me time”
3: Find a massage coupon (3-4 times for the year)
SCHEDULE:
The first thing I do in my new year diary is to book out family birthdays and occasions. I know we get together as a family for many of these, so pencilling out those weekends as busy shows me how much spare time I have for “US”
I will then dedicate each month to a specific area from my RISE Plan. By concentrating on the areas that need the biggest upgrades first. It is these areas that might need to have new habits over a longer time period or a separate budget to consider. For example, I have a renovation of our Kitchen and Bathroom on the plan for 2021. I would like this to happen mid-year, but I will schedule it early in the year, so I have plenty of time to plan, get quotes and even start purchasing items for it as I might see sale items pop up.
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:
While is great to have “Stretch Goals” if you make your goals too hard to achieve, it serves only to make you disillusioned and with feelings of failure. Many of my goals will be two pronged – “Can certainly achieve if I stick to the plan” and “Would be nice if I really push it”
ALLOW DETOURS:
As in any journey, there is no “right way” to get from A-B, and allowing for detours to the plan is Ok as long as the direction is ultimately toward the end goal. Sometimes it is these detours or “scenic routes” than can the most surprising results.
Your RISE Plan will help you pick up where you left off or reset some ideals of your ideal life.
Keep in mind that you are creating YOUR ideal life, and every bit of progress is a win.


Eating “Out”
Although in Queensland, we have been lucky to not have had the heavy lockdowns of some places, hubby and I have not been go out as much as usual.
This weekend though I felt like a “Cafe” breakfast and a Picnic lunch 🙂
Rather than going out, we decided to look at what we already had.
My usual go to menu item in Eggs Benedict. It really is quite easy to prepare.
A slice of sourdough bread, spinach, ham and a poached egg.
To finish it off, I have a great “cheats” hollandaise sauce that I found years ago on a website.
- 2 tsp Butter
- 1 tsp Mayonnaise
- ½ tsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
- Salt and Pepper
In a bowl, cup or small jug, microwave the butter until melted
Mix in mayonnaise, lemon juice and mustard and heat until warm.
Whisk until smooth. and add in salt and pepper to taste.



For our picnic lunch, I used two cold roasted chicken pieces and a selection of fruit, vegetables, cheese and nuts from the fridge and pantry. Served simply on a board, it made for a simple but abundant meal overlooking the nearby beach.

What is Sunshine Cash?
What is “Sunshine Cash”?
The whole concept of “Sunshine Cash” is the total opposite to “Saving for a Rainy Day”
It is, of course, important to save an emergency fund for unforeseen events, but (in my opinion) to have money in the bank for money’s sake is just not necessary.
In no way would I EVER advocate spending more than you have, but cash is there to be spent. ALWAYS pay your bills first, then allow funds for savings and general “adulting” then allow some “Sunshine Cash” for just having fun.
My Story..
I have been on this planet for 50 something years now and have learnt a lot in that time ( as we have all) Some of the lessons I have taken to heart and have created a happy content life that is MY version of pretty damn good 😊 All while NOT “keeping up with the Jones’ (or the Kardashians)
I vividly remember as a child, the excitement of the big Saturday paper. Mum would read the lifestyle, cooking and fashion liftouts, Dad would have the news and sport, my brother would race for the comics and I just LOVED the ad catalogues.
The JOY of browsing each page and tenderly touching images of items that seemed only for the “rich”. With my hands on an image, I could close my eyes and imagine exactly what it would be like to have that thing. The way I felt, the touch, the sounds, the smell. Ahhh bliss!!
Little did I know that I was manifesting my ideal life even as a youngster. I always knew what my ideal life looked like.
My life is not “frugal” in the traditional sense of some ( I do not scrimp on every penny) Instead, I know what my ideal life looks and feels like and actively work toward that goal everyday.
Over the years I have been told MANY times how “Lucky” I am and my answer has always been “I worked bloody hard to be this lucky” The truth is though… I am LAZY 😊 I actually don’t like to work too hard, but I do work hard for my money and I expect my money to work hard for me.

Transformation
I Love this quote. “Just when the Caterpillar thought her life was over, she became a Butterfly”
It says so much about the past and the future. It is good to remind ourselves that no matter what happens in our lives, surely there is beauty to come.
Did you ever wonder what ACTUALLY happens to that caterpillar in her quest to transform into that gorgeous butterfly? I did, so of course I Googled it. OMG I tell you I have a whole new respect for the MASSIVE transformation that happens.
You can check it out here
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/caterpillar-butterfly-metamorphosis-explainer/
With the work we will do in the Rise to Rich courses, I promise you it will be just as transformational, but you won’t need to turn to soup to come out other side 🙂

Being True to Your Dreams.
My version of self-employment
This week I made the decision to close one of my businesses that was, quite frankly, just not performing.
It is hard to explain people who are not, or have not been in business very long, how freeing letting business related things go can be.
I have been seriously self-employed since November 1995. I say “seriously” because there were lots of “side hustles” in the lead up to the purchase of my first bricks and mortar store and the determination that I was never going to work for a boss again.
That first business was a Kodak Express One-Hour Photo shop. For the 15 odd years prior to that point I had worked in One-Hour Photo shops, so I did know what I was doing ? I had been a manager for at least 8 or 9 of those years. I made a pact to my family that, as I did not ever need to bring work home with me when I was a manage, I could see no reason why I would have to bring work home now.
I stuck to that pact and right up until VERY recently have not even had a “work” computer at home. iPads with just my person email address is just fine. Work can stay at work.
It is all about boundaries.
The other pact I made to myself was that my wage must at all times be at least that of the job… For me that meant that the shop MUST be able to pay me as the manager of a photo shop. If it could not do that, why was I doing it? I may as well get a job.
As a couple, we decided that my husband would go out on his own and became self employed in 1999. Same rules applied. No silly hours, and same pay as the “job” required.
One business decision we do in all our businesses is to have a really close look at the profit and loss numbers at the beginning of both the financial year and the calendar year (So July and January) to determine what needs to change. We look at what has done well and how can we improve on that but also what has done poorly. We look at products, services, staff, clients, time we are spending in the businesses and profit margins as well as actual dollar profits.
Over the years we have seen many a product or service be introduced only to realise that it was a drain on resources and be let go in 6-12 months. Sometimes they have not been as profitable as we planned. Sometimes it might be a good dollar earner, but took too much staff time to create. We have tweaked staffing levels to be fairer for all concerned. We have “sacked” clients that are less than ideal. Those one’s that we might need to be constantly chasing for payment, or one’s that are just a general pain in the rear.
Working my way out of a job
My lifestyle plan began a number of years ago and involved trying work out a way to replace 1-2 hours of work consistently over a 4-6 month period. The idea was that in the beginning I did 40 hours a week work, then 38 then 36 then 34 etc etc over time. The money needed to stay the same.
This has worked pretty well and I now work about 15 hours a week
I am not at the point of being able to “sit on a beach with a laptop” type lifestyle, but I am creating businesses that do not need the owner in them all the time. This makes for attractive businesses when it comes time to sell.
The Question of Money
This is a very personal issue. How much YOU want to make to live your lifestyle will most likely be totally different to what I want.
Most people VASTLY over estimate the amount of money they actually need o create their perfect life.
My advice is to always start with a “Be-Do-Have” Perfect Day exercise and when you have completed it, price that day out.
Now, remember, in your ideal day, you might have that you are going to a café by the beach for breakfast…but do you REALLY want to do that EVERYDAY??
Unless your ideal day included a far bit of workout time, those café breakfasts are going to be pretty detrimental to your health eventually ?
As a good guide though, start with the salary you have and think what would it look like if you had that same salary but only worked ½– ¼ of the hours
Where to now?
If you are working fulltime and trying to become self-employed, but can’t afford to buy a business or try to create a product or service that can replace a few hours work. Once you can do that, it might be possible to reduce your hours at work. Keep going until you replace all your hours
Have FUN!!
Business can be hard, there is no denying it, but you do have to be doing something you enjoy. If you wake up in the morning and dread the day ahead, you may as well go back to a job and take advantage of the benefits that this might bring – sick pay, holidays, superannuation etc
I can honestly say that I do love being the master of my own destiny. If mistakes are made, I know they are mine and mine alone. Conversely, the rewards are welcomed with pride that I created them.

Why Do I Want To Be A “Princess”?
There is somewhat of a backlash to girls and women wanting to be a “princess”. After all, in this modern world can’t us women be so much more than a figment of prettiness that relies on a saviour in the form of a man?
Well…DUH!! Of course ? I do not aspire to be a Disney Princess nor an actual Royal Princess -that appears like faaaaaar to much work.
What I DO aspire to is the perfect life that most little girls are led to believe that a Princess has.
Waking up in a huge fluffy soft bed ( where even so much as a small pea creates discomfort) surrounded by woodland creatures and twittering birds.
The sun is shining as she slips into a lovely outfit and partakes of high tea in luxurious surroundings. If there is any light work to be done, it is met with a merry song and is never a drudgery.
Her prince is dashingly handsome and treats her with the love and adoration that befits her – and she reciprocates. TOGETHER they live happily ever after.
I guess it is not so much the idea of being a princess as such but rather it is the idea of being the heroine of your own story, whatever that looks like.
I ask you WHAT IS SO WRONG WITH THAT!!!
So… Use the good china, Wear the jewellery, Bathe with the nice soap. Who is more important to use it for than YOU!

My Top 3 Tips For Living Your 10/10 Life.
1: KNOW what your ideal life looks like
Dream, really image yourself living your ideal life. What does it look like? Who is in it? Where do you live? What do you do every day?
You need to be REALLY specific here.
Start from the moment you open your eyes. What is your bed like? What do you do first thing? Now get up, what do your toes touch on the floor? Is it lush carpet or cool polished timber floors? Do you go directly to the kitchen to have a glass of fresh squeezed OJ or do you make your way to your spa-like ensuite for a vitalising shower under the glorious rain head while rubbing your body with luscious body wash.?
What is next? Breakfast, yoga, a run or quiet reflection on the patio overlooking the mountains?
How do you dress? What are your plans for the day?
Keep going until you complete your ideal day until the moment you slip your body back into that comfortable bed you rose from this morning.
You can create a number of these ideal days. You might have an ideal work day, an ideal Sunday and an ideal family day
2: CHOOSE to live that life NOW.
Pick one or two things that are less than ideal and start slowly upgrading.
Simple achievable upgrades are the lesson here, you want each upgrade to be a regular part of your life.
3: Don’t STRESS.
If you are feeling stress about an upgrade in any way, it may be that you are trying to jump too many steps. Is your Ideal Car a brand new Mercedes or BMW but for now you have an early model Toyota? Start small, set your intention for that new car, buy a key ring with the logo on it, look at slowly updated your Toyota. Look at the price of older Mercedes’ or BMW’s ( you might be very surprised)
Be – Do – Have
An exercise in creating YOUR ideal life.
Be, Do, Have exercises have been around the self help circles for a long time. The intention is to show your mind what can be. It is more than a “fake it and make it” folly, it is more about opening yourself up to the possibilities of what your best life FEELS like.
I like to take some quiet time most mornings, in that time before you are fully awake, and just BE. See yourself in that ideal life. TRULY be there, what does it feel like?
The following prompts can help you guide your thoughts as to what you can BE, can DO and can HAVE.
Get my FREE worksheet prompt to help you create your ideal life vision
Enjoy ❤❤
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How to be Friends with your Money
What is your relationship with money?
Do you have a feeling of dread that there is never enough? or do you rejoice and welcome the possibilities that every dollar can provide?
I am sure you have guessed by now, that I love my money, I welcome it and treat it nicely like I would a trusted friend.
By making money welcome, more will be attracted to you and there will always be enough. Sure, I would like more sometimes, but I very rarely say “I can’t afford that” rather I say “What do I have to do to afford that”
The act of purchasing anything is always a choice. Even the simple act of buying bread can range from the budget $1.00 supermarket offering up to high end $10 a loaf artisan bread. While I may not buy the artisan bread every day, it is sometimes bought on the weekend as a treat. That artisan sourdough loaf together with slices of good ham and a couple of poached eggs still equates to a far smaller outlay than hubby and I going to a cafe for breakfast.
So how do I do it?
In our personal life, we have been “living on the pension” for a few years now. (you can read about it here)
It is due to this spending plan that we have been able to pay down a huge amount off our debt and will be debt-free (with a luxury car) well before retirement age, which is still over 10 years away for us.
To welcome my money like a friend, I have devised a method of preparation like one might do if they knew a friend was coming to visit and stay a while.
Step 1: Set aside some time to prepare the visit.
Make a time (I do it monthly) to have a look at balances and spending.
Having an in-depth understanding of exactly what comes in and what goes out each month is VITAL to creating a great relationship with your money.
(As a starting point, try using your debit or credit card for EVERY purchase for a few weeks, I know that sounds against what every “guru” says, but seriously who has the time or inclination to track every cent in a book or app for more than a few hours? Having purchased on a card means you can go back and examine the transaction list and allocate where each dollar has gone.)
Once you have an understanding of your spending habits, you can organise a spending plan to accommodate the lifestyle you wish to have. Note that I called it a Spending Plan NOT a Budget. Budget is a word like Diet in that it has a negative connotation and feeling of lack for many people. So have a Spending Plan and a Healthy Eating plan
Your money will not be a burden if it knows exactly where it is meant to go and what its purpose is.
Step 2: Welcome Money
When you do see money arrive, welcome it with open arms ( or wallet 🙂 ) Don’t dwell on thoughts that it is not enough. Would you open the door to a friend and greet them with “Oh, It is only you, I was hoping for more”?
Step 3: Treat money nicely.
Literally, have a nice purse or wallet to keep money in. It will make you feel abundant every time you remove it from your handbag. Keep your purse tidy, clear out those scraps of paper, old receipts and rubbish. This shows money that it is important and has a clear space to live. Look after bank accounts too, have your emergency money in a higher interest account that means it is working as hard as you are.
These simple things will change your mindset around money and ultimately you will attract more 🙂

How Much Money Do You Need?
How much money do you need?
Interesting discussion recently on this subject with a group I am in.
Now of course the whole philosophy behind my life and, indeed, this blog, is that I don’t aspire to be financially a gazillionaire.
Sure, I wan’t to be a princess but there a whole lot of factors that are brought up around being financially rich.
I enjoy working, but have no wish to do it for 100 hours a week. I also love travelling, but when we are away for an extended period of time, it i lovely to get home.
So, how much money DO you need?
To answer this question, I believe you need to know firstly how much your ideal 10/10 life would cost.
Once you have that, it is a simple case of working backwards to obtain an annual income level.
I guarantee you it will NOT be as high as you might think.
A fundamental cornerstone of my Rise to Rich course, is my RISE Audit to determine where your life is at right now, and then diving deeper into the RISE Plan to fully map out exactly what YOUR 10/10 life looks like.
Check it out here

Why Consistency is the Key to Achieving Everything You’ve Dreamed
There is one thing that stands in your way to becoming anything you want to be and accomplishing anything you’ve dreamed of.
It’s not money and it’s not time. It’s not a lack of luck or not having the right opportunities handed to you on a plate.
The thing that is standing in your way is a lack of consistency.
I am sure everybody has heard that it takes approximately 28 days to create a new habit (or break an old one)
Changing behaviour is HARD, you are rewiring mindset patterns that have been deeply ingrained and are just soooo familiar. Even simple tiny tasks like making your bed every morning can prove to be a tough thing to master.
Making our bed EVERY morning has been a “thing” for me. I was in the kitchen a while back waiting for the kettle to boil for my morning cuppa, mindlessly thinking of not much really, when it occurred to me that THIS was the perfect time to make the bed! Who would have thought LOL
It took less time to make the bed than it did for the kettle to boil. Now I have a consistent morning habit of put the kettle on, make the bed, make the tea.
Making this tiny consistent change to my behaviour has helped me set up my day in the ideal way I want my home to look.
Why Consistency is the Key
If you want to be successful at anything then it takes work. As much as we might like to think we can be successful through luck or by gaming the system (and as much as we might be tempted to buy into ‘get rich quick’ schemes or diet fads), the reality is that “luck” requires work.
You need to make consistent progress toward your goals.
And the problem is that most of us just don’t commit to the consistent action
We make grand claims about the things we are going to do. We might proclaim we are going to lose weight, get fit, write a best selling book or even just go to bed before midnight each night. The plan may be carried out for a few days but then it sort of gets forgotten about and we slip back into their old ways. ☹
And why is this? We say that it’s a matter of time but most of us – even the busiest of us – manage to find the time to watch large amounts of TV, flick through trashy tabloid magazines or play long computer games. Many of us will waste time on the train staring into space, or we’ll randomly scroll Facebook or Instagram on our phones in bed not really accomplishing anything or having a particularly good time!
Why? Because we don’t have a plan to enable a consistent behavior to become a habit.
What to do About it
We might claim that we “deserve” a night watching Netflix, or eating things that we shouldn’t really. It feels like a reward.
But the reality is that if you are working towards a goal you care about and that you’re passionate about, you’d probably enjoy that just as much.
This is purely a matter of creating consistent ACTION Often our goals seem too large or just too far out of reach, but by chunking those goals down to smaller easy to manage steps, we can create ways to find a consistent action to do that task.
And there are few ways you can do this:
- Start Simple. Choose ONE area of your life you want to change right now
- Write down your goals. There have been numerous studies that show the pure action of writing a goal down can help it come to fruition ( you still have to do the work though ? )
- “Reverse Engineer” those goals. Eg a goal might be “To Save $1000 this year” reverse engineering might mean you need to save $83.34 per month, or $19.23 per week or just a TINY $274 per day (and who can’t do that?? )
- Formulate a CONSISTENT Action for that goal. Set up a daily/weekly/monthly transfer from your back account into your savings account.
- Reduce the “consistency disruptors” of the rest of your day – Switch your café coffee with one from home, get off the bus one stop earlier to get some extra exercise
Commit to your plan for 28 days. After that time, if you have succeeded in your goal, add another goal. If not, don’t beat yourself up, review how you can do things differently and commit again for the next 28 days
Find the consistency and you’ll find you can do anything. Now you know the problem, there is nothing to stop you from fixing it!
My RISE to Rich programme helps you determine your goals and breaks each part of your life down into smaller, manageable steps. By taking baby steps you CAN be living your 10/10 life.

Did I got what I truly wanted?
I got what I truly wanted ?
Every now and then the Universe decides to give you exactly what you ask for. It might be in the form that you visualised, or it might be something completely from left field.
For years I have been following the idea that visualising your perfect life will indeed create that life. It has been a cornerstone of the way hubby and I treat most areas of our day to day life.
And, of course, it is the foundation of my concept of Sunshine Cash and the creation of my “Rise to Rich” course.
One of the big parts of our ideal life is the wish to be able to travel more. We do manage to get away for many short breaks, but, due to my husband’s business requiring to be “on deck,” it has been a section of my life that has not lived up to my desires.
I have followed many ladies who have created seemingly wonderful lives for themselves and managed to “retire” their husbands. What joy that would be! I know my husband has toiled HARD for long enough and has provided a good income for me to be able to stretch with my “Sunshine Cash” methods.
It has been a top of mind goal for me to create a location independent business that would be able to sustain our living standards without him having to go into the factory every day. I have included travel scenes on my vision board, I read lots of travel books and blogs and have created many “perfect day” visualisations about this reality.
Now you may know that the universe DOES listen to what you put out there, and sometimes does get a little quirky in its interpretations in providing the answer. This is what has happened to me 🙂
Due to unforeseen circumstances, I have had the opportunity to join a friend in his business as he bows out. This business is within my zone of genius and I am looking forward to continuing the great work he has begun.
So, for now, at least I am pausing my work with the “Rise to Rich” course. Of course, my ongoing ways of stretching every dollar that comes through my bank account will continue. It is who I am 🙂
This opportunity has certainly cemented the belief in my mind that what you believe DOES become your reality and that there is no such thing as “the Right Way” to reach your goals.
Keep dreaming, be open to odd pivots that might come your way and I cannot wait to see you RISE!!
Sue
ps. If you need great images for your eCommerce store
( Amazon – eBay – or website)
check out my page at GoMibby

Making “Budget” Food High Class
Part of the appeal of eating out is often, for us ladies, the fact that we don’t have to cook 🙂
Luckily hubby and I enjoy cooking so that is not such an issue for us. We tend to look for “something different”
Different flavours, different pairings, different view.
We were wandering along our local restaurant strip recently and neither of us felt the compulsion to try anything (and subsequently spend $100 for a “blah” experience). One restaurant has “Italian Lemon Chicken with Garlic Beans” I have had this dish before and it is nice so when I pulled some chicken Maryland pieces out of the freezer for dinner, I thought that is what I will make.
The other appeal of a meal out is the beauty of the meal on the plate. We all eat with our eyes first and it does make a difference to the most basic of meals if you take just a little time to present it on a plate with care.
I like to look at Instagram or Pinterest for plating ideas. The rise of “FoodPorn” Instagrammers means there are loads of examples of beautiful plates of food. You don’t need to copy them verbatim, but take some clues as you why a dish takes your fancy and keep it in mind when serving your meals.
I found this image of a nice chicken dinner to provide some inspiration for my “Italian Chicken”
With just a little bit of “foodie” style elevated what could have been a standard Chicken and Mash dinner into something that felt much more like the experience of a meal out. A glass of my new favourite sparkling wine certainly helped too 🙂

4 Simple Rules to Create a RICH Life
When you think of RICH does the image of money and wealth immediately spring to mind? For most people it does, but did you know that the dictionary has many definitions of the word RICH and only one has to do with actual money.
However, by following these 3 simple rules, you can become financially rich.
Rule Number 1: Do Not Live Above Your Means.
I think everybody knows their income should be higher than their spending to be able to achieve financial stability. Certainly, my philosophy of making my cash work hard for me has been the cornerstone of creating my “Sunshine Cash” lifestyle
Rule 2: Save Up and Invest
Again the common thinking is to save the balance between your income and outgoings and invest to create further income. Planning income for your future self is a wise decision if you do not to be still working 9-5 well into your 80’s.
Rule 3: Improve on Rules 1 & 2.
It is easy to plan and budget your expenses. The issue comes in the practice. So many have the greatest intentions only to slip back to bad habits in a month or two. It is VITALLY important to keep checking in with yourself and keep yourself on track to achieve your long term goals.
Rule 4: Do Not Apply These Rules to Just Your Money.
To have a truly RICH life, every area of life needs to follow the first 2 rules.
Let’s see how this can be applied to the 8 life areas..
Life Area | Rule 1:
“Do Not Live Above |
Rule 2:
“Save Up and Invest” |
Financial Wealth | Spend less than you Earn | Save and Invest the left over money after expenses |
Home and Environment | Have a home that suits your lifestyle | Maintain your home to keep it in good condition. |
Family & Friends | Have hundreds of “Friends” | Nurture and protect true friendships that see you through thick and thin. |
Romance / Partner | Be too busy to give your partner time. Taking them for granted | Taking time to connect on a personal level often to keep the spark alive. |
Health & Wellbeing | Overeat and don’t exercise | Have regular check-ups with health professionals. |
Career & Business | Jumping from one job to the next often. | Creating a long term career that creates job satisfaction. |
Personal Growth | Being constantly stressed and busy | Allowing some “Me Time” to create balance and unwind. |
Fun & Recreation | Being constantly stressed and busy | Finding time to have fun, engage in a hobby or just relax with friends |
Take some time and consider how can you apply the 2 rules to your life in all areas.
If you want to explore deeper how YOU can create your RICH life. Check out my Rise to RICH course.

Why Self-Care is an Important Part of your 10/10 Life – or – How Finger Nails are a Barometer of Your Life Balance.
A little over a month ago, I had a speaking engagement at a conference. I was also meeting a number of my coaching clients for the first time. In the lead up to the conference, I was determined to have nice long strong nails for the weekend. To achieve this, I had a routine of using strengthening oil on my cuticles and coating them with Sally Hansen’s “Hard as Nails” Strengthening Polish twice a week. (If you have not used the Hard as Nails polish, try it, it is great for growing long healthy nails.) By the time of the conference, my nails were GREAT!! Nice and long and strong.
After the conference, I was even busier than usual, and self care was the thing I neglected. I felt I just did not have time for me amongst everything else that was going on. Exercise, quiet mediation time, and – yes- my nail routine, went out the door.
As a consequence, my nails are currently NOT long and strong 🙁 , my stress levels have been high, and I am not living my ideal life, in fact, I feel like I am careering out of control, backwards down long hill 🙁
My plan for this week ( and subsequent weeks) is to take back some me time and rebalance my life. I know that this will mean i have to delegate some tasks, and outsource others for a short while, but it is necessary.
Do you make YOU a priority in your week? Let me know in the comments.

Achieving Life Balance
Ahh the elusive subject of “Balance” It can start out with such good intention and quickly spiral out of control and, before you know it, you are back to square one.
Often your life might seem like a never-ending game of “Snakes & Ladders”. Forever taking one step forward and three steps back, until maybe – finally you get a lucky roll of the dice.
So what CAN you do to create balance and momentum ion your life to achieve your 10/10 life.
PLAN!!!
Yep it really can be that simple. (but oh so HARD)
Step 1: List your Goals
Get REALLY specific here. What does your perfect life look like?
Break your life down to these areas and write a few pages of what “perfect” looks like for you.
Home/Environment, Family and Friends, Romance/Significant Other, Health & Fitness, Career/Business, Wealth, Personal Growth/ Learning and Spirituality, Fun & Recreation
Rate each area out of 10, don’t think too hard about it.
Now write down what each area would look like if it were a 10.
What can you do this month to improve each area by just ONE STEP? This is the best way I have found to set realistic goals for my life, not trying to jump ahead too much at once. Eg: Set yourself a goal of losing just 1 kg this month. Simple? Probably, now duplicate that each month and you will have lost 12kg in a year.
Step 2: Plan your Days.
Schedules and To-Do lists need not be restrictive. In fact if they are too tight, you are far more likely to not stick to the plan. Look over your life goals and plan to move those areas up one step. Get creative. Want to exercise more and have more time to read? Use your commute time, walk one extra bus stop, park a little farther way. During your commute, read a book rather than a trashy magazine, or if you drive, listen to audio books or podcasts rather than talkback radio.
Step 3: Prioritize YOU!
Don’t minimize the time available to do the things you want to do, particularly if they are contributing to your life goals or wellbeing. Include ‘me” time around other essential life activities that require your time and attention.
Keep to the Plan unless in an Emergency ( a real Emergency)
Most people who create a daily plan, keep to it for a while, but not long enough for it to become a habit. Habits take around 28 days to form, so if you want your new plan to work and lifestyle to be improved, you must protect it at all costs.. Eventually, the changes you implement will become second nature, but until then, you need to stay in control of your plan. Have a look over your plan every day to remind yourself of where you want to be. Think of your plan as a roadmap to your perfect life. Just like any journey, there may be some roadblocks or detours, but if you just follow the map you will arrive at your destination.
Want to learn more? Join me on my Rise to RICH Programme and create YOUR perfect 10/10 life.

Morning Routine
Morning..,.
I admit it, I am a morning person, and I know some of you might hate me right now:)
I know that for many people, the mere thought of morning brings feelings of dread and panic.
However, for me, mornings are the time I get some “me” time.
I like to get up 30 minutes earlier than hubby. He is one of those – “as soon as his feet hit the floor he is go go GO!”
My 30 minutes or so are quiet time. I like to make myself a cup of tea, read a few pages on whatever book I am currently reading, maybe do some stretches and most importantly THINK!!
It’s the perfect time to focus on myself before life gets in the way and it’s the perfect way to ensure the day gets off to the right start.
Another thing I frequently do is to start the day with meditation. Meditation is a fantastic tool for relieving stress and helping yourself to cope better with the challenges that life throws at you. So if I know I am in for a busy day, some calming thoughts can prepare me for the onslaught.
Part of my quiet thoughts are often gratitude exercises. Gratitude is super valuable for being happier and more effective. The problem is that many of us forget to stop and take stock of how far we have come or how good our lives are already. Instead, we tend to overthink and dwell on the things we have yet to accomplish and what we want next.
Spending five minutes in the morning writing down at least three things that I am thankful for (these can be big things or small things), but simply by focusing on them, I will feel more content and happy.
Starting the day with a to-do list is an excellent way to enhance productivity. It’s also a very good way to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the volume of things you need to do. I tend to make my “Tomorrow To-Do List” at the end of each day. By reviewing this list in the calmer atmosphere of the morning, I can prioritise the top two or three tasks that will be my “Main Thing” for the day. Chunking down the tasks into bite-sized pieces makes the day far less daunting.
My morning routine helps me save money too. By knowing what I doing throughout the day, allows me to plan meals, so I rarely have to resort to a rushed takeaway meal. If my day looks like it will run late, a meal thawed from the freezer stash means dinner can be on the table in a matter of minutes. Or it might mean packing some healthy snacks in my bag for lunch on the go.
What is YOUR 10/10 ideal morning?

Cozy Minimalism
Have you heard this term yet? I have a hunch it will be BIG very soon.
I first came across the idea of “Cozy Minimalism” a couple of weeks ago. I must tell you, I am HOOKED!!!
Like many of us, I scour Pinterest for home decor ideas and have not ever really nailed down a style that is “me”
I like elements of many styles…
Farmhouse Styles like Joanna Gaines does on “Fixer Upper”
Hampton Style from when the TV show “Revenge” was on
“Resort” style
But nothing made my heart sing. Hubby and I are not “frou- frou, frilly. pillows everywhere” people
So often, I will look at decorating ideas on Pinterest in magazines and just see clutter and dust collectors, all which translates to far too much cleaning for my liking.
However, on the other end of the scale, I am not really into the starkness of true minimalism or “Industrial Chic”
The feeling I get from this style is somewhat “Bachelor Pad” or “Hotel Room”
THEN!!! I found “Cozy Minimalism”
The term has been coined by blogger Myquillyn Smith of Nesting Place As I read through a number of posts, I could feel myself getting drawn to this simple compromise of stark bare minimalism and over cluttered and busy.
Her ideas have been so popular she has written a best selling book on the subject…
To complement the book she even has a course to follow and create your own Cozy Minimal home. You can find it here. I have a bit going on right now, but I have signed up for the course. Here is what Myquillyn has to say about the style…
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Cozy minimalism isn’t a style, it’s a mindset.
Cozy minimalism isn’t about going without or achieving a particular new, modern style. Nope. It’s simply a mindset that helps you get whatever style you love with the fewest possible items. Why use more if you don’t have to?
I know you want a warm, cozy, inviting home, without using more resources, money and stuff than you need to.
Cozy minimalism is the perfect balance of simplicity and abundance and you get to decide how cozy, abundant and simple you need your home to be at any given time.
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I am really looking forward to starting this and seeing how our home evolves. I have no intention of spending a great deal of money ( as usual ? ) as I am sure I will be able to create the suggested looks with either what I have or with KMart or Op Shop finds.

Life – It is About Choices and the Decisions We Make
Life is like a road. There are long and short roads; smooth and rough roads; windy and straight roads. Many roads are on the map as we journey through life. There are roads that lead to a life of marriage and family or others that lead to a fulfilling career with our without a family. There are roads that lead to fame and fortune on one hand or isolation and poverty on the other. There are roads to happiness as there are roads to sadness, roads towards victory and success, and roads leading to defeat and disappointment.
Just like any road, there are corners, detours, and crossroads in life. Perhaps the most perplexing road that you would encounter is an intersection. With four roads to choose from and with limited knowledge on where they would go, which road will you take? What is the guarantee that you will choose the right one? Will you take any road, or just stay where you are: in front of a crossroad?
Guess what-There are no guarantees!
You do not really know where a road will lead you until you take it. There are no guarantees. This is one of the most important things you need to realise about life. Choosing to do the right thing ( what even is the “right” thing) all the time would always lead you to happiness. Loving someone with all your heart does not guarantee that it would be returned. Certainly fame and fortune does not guarantee happiness. Fast tracking your way up the corporate ladder by accepting a “favour” from somebody is not always bad, especially if you are highly qualified and competent. There are too many possible outcomes, which you really cannot control. The only thing you have power over is the decisions that you will make, and how you would act and react to different situations.
Wrong decisions are always far clearer in hindsight.
Had you known that you were making a wrong decision, would you have gone along with it? Perhaps not, why would you choose a certain path when you know it would get you lost? Why make a certain decision if you knew from the very beginning that it is not the right one. It is only after you have made a decision and reflected on it that you realise its relevance. If the consequences or outcomes are good for you, then you have decided correctly. Otherwise, your decision was wrong, but even a seemingly “bad” decision can produce some positive benefits. Taking the wrong path might turn into “the scenic route” where you discover new things. That bad career move might have given you a skill that you would not have otherwise achieved, or maybe a bad relationship created beautiful children that you cherish.
Take the risk: decide.
Since life offers no guarantee and you will never know that your decision would be wrong until you have made it, then you might as well take the educated risk and decide. It is definitely better than keeping yourself stuck in a rut complaining that nothing ever goes right, or dreaming that “one day life will change”. Although it is true that one wrong turn could get you lost, it could also be that such a turn could be an opportunity for an adventure, as you discover more roads. It is all a matter of perspective. You have the choice between being a lost aimless traveller or an accidental tourist of life. But take caution that you do not make decisions haphazardly. Taking risks is not about being careless and stupid. Here are some pointers that could help you choose the best option in the face of life’s crossroads:
· Get as much information as you can about your situation.
You cannot find the confidence to decide when you know so little about what you are faced with. Just like any news reporter, ask the 5 W’s: what, who, when, where, and why. What is the situation? Who are the people involved? When did this happen? Where is this leading? Why are you in this situation? These are just some of the possible questions to ask to know more about your situation. This is important. Oftentimes, the reason for indecision is the lack of information about a situation.
· Identify and create options.
What options do the situation give you? Sometimes the options are few, but sometimes they are numerous. But what do you do when you think that the situation offers no options? This is the time that you create your own. Make your creative mind work. From the most simplistic to the most complicated, entertain all ideas. Do not shoot anything down when an idea comes to your head. Sometimes the most outrageous idea could prove to be the right one in the end. You can ask a friend to help you identify options and even make more options if you encounter some difficulty, but make sure that you make the decision yourself in the end. Remember there is rarely only one road to any given destination.
Consider this scenario. You wish to travel from Brisbane to Sydney – you have no time restraints to arrival time. Will you fly? Will you take a coach? Will you drive? Which highway will you take? There are many options, but in the end, all will see you arrive at your destination. Are any one of these paths “wrong?”
· Weigh the pros and cons of every option.
Assess each option by looking at the advantages and disadvantages it offers you. In this way, you get more insights into the consequences of such an option.
· Trust yourself and make that decision.
Now that you have assessed your options, it is now time to trust yourself. Remember that there are no guarantees and wrong decisions are always at hindsight. So choose… decide… believe that you are choosing the best option at this point in time.
Now that you have made a decision, be ready to face its consequences: good and bad. It may take you to a place of promise or to a land of problems. But the important thing is that you have chosen to live your life instead of remaining a bystander or a passive onlooker of your own life. Whether it is the right decision or not, only time can tell. But do not regret it whatever the outcome. Instead, learn from it and remember that you always have the chance to make better decisions in the future.
· Take action and make the move.
The next step from making the decision is to take ACTION. After all, it is no good if you are at the intersection, with the brakes on and you decide to go right and do not move your foot to the accelerator. Without action, you will remain right where you are – good or bad decision.
On my path of life, I am aiming to create a 10/10 life for myself in all areas.

The ONE day I did really have NOTHING 🙁
As I read blogs and self help books, I am always amazed at some of the true Rags to Riches stories that abound.
While I have never earned a huge salary , been unemployed for any long period of time or been even close to homeless, I have not often ever though of my situation as being POOR.
Except for ONE DAY. Let me tell you about it.
The year was 1984, I had been working as a photographic assistant in an advertising agency in the city.
For a young 19 year old girl who was newly married, it was a glamourous position. It was very “Mad Men” with the ad execs ( both men and women) in suits, champagne lunches and celebrity “talent” often arriving in the office.
One of my duties at this job was relief receptionist to cover the lunch hour. In enjoyed this and was paid a small bonus for the extra work. All was going well, I loved the people and the job…UNTIL.. I fell pregnant. Sadly 1984 did not have the equality of workplaces today and I was told that it was “not a good look” to have me in the office 🙁
I did manage to find another job form a friend and I was able to work a couple of days a week while some staff members were on holidays.
My husband was working full time and we actually got along reasonably well on the reduced wages. I had been planning on having to reduce our budget to one wage anyway in preparation for the baby’s arrival.
Hubby had found a new job at a large factory nearby, we had a decent car and very little debt. Things were looking good. 🙂 UNTIL.
One Friday hubby came home and said that the factory he worked for closed down over the Christmas break for 4 weeks!! As he had not been there very long, there would be no wages for that time. A Trip to Social Security to see if we were eligible for any assistance proved fruitless. Because he technically still had a job, we were not able to access any benefits. We knew if he quit that job, the likelyhood of getting it back in January was slim at best.
So, together we looked at what we had left and formulated a plan. We would need to cover the 4 weeks of close down plus the one week when he went back to work before the first payday.
We could see we just did not have enough.. So we moved from the house we were in to a tiny one bedroom flat, we backtraded the car to a “sort of” ok one and we felt we were ok. We now had no debt, I paid rent upfront for the duration of the time we would need. All we needed was food, petrol and utilities money.
For Christmas that year, we asked for baby stuff and cash and we were looking OK. We gave family and friends Christmas gifts that I had bought throughout the year, nobody missed out, and I did not need to break the budget. .
We even managed to have a couple of weekends away camping with friends over the Christmas break.
On Friday the 18th of January 1985, the last friday before hubby was due to go back to work. Hubby filled up the car with petrol so he could get to work for the upcoming week and I went shopping with our last $20.
Keeping a couple of dollars aside for fresh milk and bread through the week, I spent that last few dollars on eggs, cheese, mince, onions, frozen mixed vegetables and some potatoes.
The resulting huge pot of mince, onions and veges would turn into the following meal plan for that week :
- Savoury Mince on toast x 2
- Add some tomato paste and pasta from the pantry and have (sort of ) spaghetti bolognese x 2
- Add some mashed potato and grated cheeseon top and call it shepherds pie x 2
- Add some to roast jacket potatoes
- And for the last night whatever was leftover could get a tin of tomatoes added and it turned into “minestrone”
We were quite proud of ourselves for managing so well at such a tough time. We had not asked family for any money at all, and I doubt they knew we were as skint as we were.
It was a stinking hot Brisbane day, so after dropping me back at the flat with the shopping, hubby and his friend were going out to Centenary Pool in Brisbane (about 20 minutes away from where we lived on the North side) to have a “play” They have high diving towers that “boys” like jumping off 🙂
I set about preparing the big stock pot with the mince mixture and by the time it was simmering away, I was sitting down watching TV.
The first indication that we may have a problem that day, was it started raining. Then it rained HARDER, then the wind started. The wind was so ferocious I could see the glass sliding door bowing under the force. Then the hail began. At that point I got scared. 🙁 I was 8 months pregnant, on my own in a TINY flat with no where to go that felt safe.
Hubby and his friend had seen the storm coming from the high tower of the pool and had started heading home they made it roughly half way when they got stuck in the hail. From their accounts the hail was horizontal as it slammed through the back windscreen and broke the front. They were both huddled under the thick carseat covers from our friends car.
When they were able, they tried to make it home and they have both said that when they came closer to our suburb they were both really scared for both their wives. It looked like a bomb-zone.
When hubby got home, he called out for me as he could not find me. When I heard him, I called out and he found me in a curled up mess hiding in the bottom of the tiny linen cupboard/broom cupboard in the flat. It had not been a fun afternoon 🙁
Our flat was totally devastated with not one single window left whole. The place was flooded the carpet was ruined, curtains shredded and our bed was also soaked. When I had a look in the kitchen, that is when it hit me the hardest, my big pot of food for the ENTIRE WEEK had broken glass all through it.
There was no power or phone as the lines were all down. We could not contact anybody to see if they were ok. On the way back from town, Hubby had come through the suburb where my parents lived and said it was very badly damaged there too, but we had no way of knowing if we would be able to go there and the reports we were hearing on the radio suggested we would not be able to get through. The inlaws lived approximately 50kms north and it was getting dark by this stage, so there was not much we could do but put a tarp on the floor to try and stay dry , blow up our camp mattress and attempt to get some sleep.
I remember we had sandwiches for dinner that night.
The next morning we were able to get a look at the damage. What a mess. Still no power. ( it would take a couple of days to come back on) and of course NO FOOD 🙁
This was absolutely the lowest point of my life. I honestly had NO IDEA what we were going to do.
Later that day, our landlord came to see the block of flats ( he owned the whole block) He said we could not stay there and gave us $50 in cash to help out until he could get the glass doors and carpets replaced. He also offered that we would have free rent for the time we were not able to live in the flat.
Not long after the landlord had been, hubby’s Mum came. We packed up what we could and spent the next couple of weeks at her house, before finally returning to a fully renovated flat.
It was quite some time before I could face the thought of making Savoury Mince 🙂
Here are a few news reports from that day
Brisbane Super Storm January 1985
The Big Storm
FlashbackFlashback: South East Queensland’s worst hail storm. It struck Brisbane in the summer of 1985 and the timing couldn’t have been worse. www.7NEWS.com.au #bnestorm #7NEWS
Posted by 7NEWS Brisbane on Sunday, 24 November 2019

New Year – New You

OH NO!! you might be thinking that this is yet ANOTHER New Years Resolution post. It is not!!
In fact I don’t “do” resolutions. As most of you know, resolutions are easily made, but seldom kept, with most being broken by the first week in January.
What I DO do, is have a strategic plan for my year. This is broken down to a Quarterly Plan, Monthly Plan and finally Daily Tasks. That is not to say that I am so scheduled that there is no room for spontaneity and fun. My daily tasks are flexible enough to cope with almost any diversion without causing the whole plan to implode.
So how to start?
To move forward, you first need to know where you are right now. Take a good hard look at the state of your life and decide – REALLY decide to move each area just one step closer to your version of perfect.
Now the point here is to look at YOUR version of perfect. The perfect holiday for instance for me is not a 5 star hotel, but rather a cute cottage by the beach or in the country that is close to a farmers market where hubby and I can buy some amazing local produce and spend a lazy afternoon cooking up a superb meal.
To help guide you to see where you are right now, and them move forward, why not take a look at my
“Getting $#!T Done” course

“It Is What It Is But It Will Become What You Make It”
I saw this quote on Pinterest today as a wall mural. You can buy it here
What a powerful message… Sure life hands us all lemons occasionally, but the mindset to “make lemonade” is an admirable quality, that I try to live to.
When I read this, I was reminded of a friend of mine just recently. The closure of his bricks and mortar retail store, an impossibly hot Queensland summer week in a house with no air conditioning, bushfires around and just to top it off him and his wife were struck down with Whooping Cough ?
It would have been enough to make most people curl up in a tight ball of self-pity. Instead, this man picked himself up every morning and got on with the DOING. He has been learning the ropes of online selling and this week, without the restraints of the retail store, has kicked the proverbial butt.
Online stores have been built, products have been sourced, great images taken and decent images shot. The next step, of which I have no doubt will happen VERY quickly, is to run a Facebook campaign with the aim of going viral and drive lots of buyers to his products just in time for Christmas.
So not only has he made “lemonade,” I think there might be a good shot of Vodka in that tasty drink too 🙂
He has certainly proven to me this week that while “It is what it is” with the right mindset “it will become whatever YOU make it”
May we all have the power to do the same 🙂

Thank God for Dirty Dishes
I saw this lovely little poem recently by author Mary Stuber. Initially I smiled and laughed to myself, then I really thought about it and how true it is. We are blessed that we can have food on our plates and a safe home in which to prepare and eat meals.
It made me think about how often we complain about little things and how, with a simple reframe we can turn an annoyance into a blessing. Some examples:
Do you complain that the kids have left toys all over the living room floor?
How blessed that, not only do you have children when so many cannot, but you have had the resources in your budget to be able to provide them with not only lots of toys, but a living room in which to play.
Did you have a minor car accident and now have a repair bill?
How blessed that it is only the car with a few scratches and dents and that you, your family or other people were not injured.
Are you complaining about the cost of Christmas?
How blessed are you that you have a large family and circle of friends that love you and deserve your generosity.
I could go on and on. It is an important mindset “hack” on the way to happiness, to be able to find the good in all situations. I am often astounded and inspired by people who have had the darkest of situations and find strength and light when they are able to focus on any tiny piece of “silver lining”
I am attempting to make it my habit of stopping myself when I have complaint surface and reframe to find the good.
Thank God for Dirty Dishes;
Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.
Author: Mary Stuber

Friday Night “Eat In”
You may remember that last Friday, I made the decision to create a restaurant style meal each Friday night.
I had the week to think about it and ponder over what was in the fridge and freezer. This what I came up with.
Salmon Wellington with Lemon Butter Green Beans and Carrots


Would I make it again?
Yes…. but. The pastry did go a little soggy, so if I was do it again, I would place baby spinach leaves on the pastry to try and combat some of the moisture. It would have been nice with some flaked almonds added to the vegetables too.
Overall though, it was a success.

Staying Fit as We Age
As a “middle aged” lady, I do try to keep myself fit-ish. I no longer go to Gym. I was a member of Curves for a few years but the fees kept rising and our local center changed hands and the opening times were not a “work time friendly” for me. Hubby and I had been walking every evening, but now the Queensland Summer is just about on us, it is far to hot, even in the evening. What to do?
My Daughter has been into yoga for as long as I can remember, and while I do enjoy yoga, again I find the times of many studios (and fees) not suitable.
Imagine my excitement when I decided to search YouTube for some gentle yoga and I found HEAPS!! Who knew? People keep telling me there is all sorts of “stuff” on YouTube. I recently bought a box “thingy” that plugs into the TV that turns it into a smart TV. It is primarily for Netflix, but the opportunity to have YouTube on the big screen is great too.
Anyway, I found this instructor who I have found great.
Yoga with Adriene
I won’t promise to do yoga EVERYDAY, but it nice to have so many options.
How do you stay fit?

A Restaurant Style Meal
Have you seen my “Getting $#!T Done” course yet?
I ask because, part of the challenge is to audit your life in every area and slowly level each area up to a “10”
One area of life is, of course, “Romance / Significant Other” I have rated this area of my life as a good solid 8 🙂
Nobody is perfect and I don’t know that anybody should actually rate their relationship as a 10. Let’s face it there is always more to do and some little thing that we are not 100% happy with about our partners (or ourselves).
When I was going through my monthly plan and trying to decide how I could level up this area, I thought one thing we enjoy doing is eating out. We choose not to spend $100+ very often on a restaurant meal, but we are both capable home cooks and can replicate a restaurant style dish without too much stress.
Anyway, I digress 🙂
In my never ending quest to become a princess and be wined and dined by my prince I decided that , as I work from home every Friday, I would look through a few menus and have a “fancy dinner” on Friday nights. I will not shop specifically for this meal, but rather use the menu as inspiration to use what I have in the fridge, freezer and pantry.
This weeks menu came from a lovely restaurant not far from us. See Restaraunt in Mooloolaba
I have actually only been there once, and it was with a group of girlfriends for a special lunch.
It is on my list of places to go with hubby, but is is a stretch on the budget.
(A couple would do well to walk out spending under $100 after meals and a couple of drinks)
Scrolling through their menu, this dish caught my eye….
Confit Duck, Spec and Green Pea Medley, Honey Carrot Puree
Yummmmmm, but I don’t normally have duck or spec residing in my well stocked fridge/freezer, but I most certainly do have chicken and bacon!! This sounded like a winner.
This is what I ended up with ….
Slow Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken, Bacon and Green Pea Medley, Honey Carrot Puree.
I found this recipe on Taste for the Chicken and made it with a small half bird from the freezer.
The “bacon and green pea medley” is a side dish I often make for guests.. (a similar recipe is here)
In my dish I used frozen peas, green shallots and snow peas and fresh beans all cut into small pieces about the same size as the peas.
For the honey carrot puree, I sauteed a small chopped onion in a drizzle of olive oil until soft but not coloured. to that I added two medium carrots chopped into rounds, and covered with water, a tablespoon of honey and a teaspoon of chicken stock. Simmer this until the water is mostly gone. Be careful, you don’t want it to boil dry.
To serve, mash or puree the carrots ( I used a stick blender) and spread onto a plate in an attractive pool. Nestle the chicken in the puree and surround with the peas. Gently spoon over the sauce from the chicken being careful not to “drown” it
As I am a TERRIBLE food blogger, I forgot to take pictures 🙁
Hubby declared the meal a success, and I felt I had boosted my “relationship score” a point or so – at least for the night 🙂
I wonder what I will find next Friday??
Not my picture of chicken 🙂

80 Days until Christmas
?Does that number strike a feeling of panic and dread, or are you ready for the holiday season?
I have to admit, I am one of “those” annoying people who does not stress about Christmas or the cost of giving gifts. And, yes, I have just about finished my Christmas Gift shopping ?
Why?? Well because I buy all throughout the year 🙂
I am fairly lucky in the fact that we do not have a huge family so I only need to buy around 20 gifts.
My husband know that I cannot pass by a sale table or dump bin 🙂 Invariably I see something and think “Oh! S would like that” or “Wow! That would be great for M”
I have one shelf in a cupboard that we call the “present cupboard” On the inside of the cupboard door is a small whiteboard with all the names written down one side in permanent marker. Then I fill in the gifts as I buy them in whiteboard marker. That way it is a simple matter to erase the gifts as they get given.
I also know that some of the best gifts can be bought at a bargain price at certain times of the year.
- Anything “Christmas-y” can be bought for a tiny fraction of the price just after Christmas. I always buy Christmas paper and cards in the last week of December, often at up to 90% off. Look for such items as paper, cards, decorations for the tree, themed tableware like plates, bowls, glasses etc. I like to have a supply of Christmas themes plates, cups or glasses that I can use as part of a gift. Make a cake or batch of cookies and display on a Christmas plate, or simply place chocolates into a Christmas mug and wrap with cellophane.
- The lead up to New Years Eve often brings up good specials on Champagne, Wine and other Alcohol. It can be a good time to buy for birthdays early in the year.
- January is the best time to buy stationary, school supplies and office equipment in the “back to school” sales. This is a good time to buy plain coloured kids clothing and running shoes.
- February is the time to buy chocolates in the after Valentines Day sales.
- March -April is Easter, and again after Easter is the time for chocolate and “Easter-y” decorations.
- May is Mother’s Day. This is a good time to pick up perfumes, bath sets, soaps, and kitchen appliances.
- June – July is a time to keep an eye for End of Financial Year Sales. This is often the best time to buy big appliance or cars. Any big ticket items often have sales targets to reach and you can very often drive a hard bargain the closer it gets to June 30. Also at this time of year the Christmas Toy Sales start with the option to purchase on a 6 month lay-by.
- August is usually quiet with no major sales happening.
- September is Fathers Day and Football grand finals. Fathers Day is time to pick up gift sets of male toiletries, hardware, BBQ accessories and food sets ( think BBQ sauces and rubs etc), tools, car related things and the ubiquitous alcohol.
The last weeks of September are another time to stock up on alcohol as the stores prepare for football grand final parties. - October is the Bathurst Car Race weekend, so again there are car related accessories on sale.
- November- December brings sales in the lead up to Christmas.
I find that by purchasing gifts throughout the year, the strain on the budget is minimal. Our family has a dollar figure to work to for gift giving, so I can regularly spend the recommended amount but give a much higher value gift – eg a $50 gift budget, can result in a $100 value when that gift is bought at 50% off.
How to you plan for gift giving? ??

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Getting $#!T Done – A 5 Day Challenge.
I posted recently that my friend had commented on how I manage to always
“Get $#!T Done”
I promised to put together a 5 day challenge that will help you set goals,
break them into tasks and achieve your ideal life
and here it is 🙂
Buy my short 5 Day “Getting $#!t Done” Workshop and I will guide you step by step to being a more productive you 🙂

A Spring “High Tea” Picnic
This weekend was a family birthday, so we packed up the car and ventured out to have a special picnic.
The spring weather here is just lovely, and it is always a great time for a picnic.
I designed a “high tea” type spread with pikletes with jam and cream, finger sandwiches, chicken and vegetables, bruschetta, mini prawn cocktails, cupcakes, brownies and fruit salad cups.
None of the elements to this are difficult. The appeal comes in the presentation.
I arranged most of the food on a large platter around a central upturned lunchbox, upon which I placed the
pikelets. This replicated the “high tea” look I was after.
I also manged to do this for under $36 to serve 3 people. Even if I include the cost of the items I already had in the pantry or fridge, it would still have come in at under $50.
This was our main meal for the day, and we were all satisfied without being “stuffed”
I am happy with how it all turned out. The family felt they had been thoroughly spoilt 🙂
This is what I made ( with recipes where applicable)

Stretching Bread Rolls.
I picked up a packet of Soy and Linseed rolls at the supermarket the other day.
They were on special and they looked really yummy.
When I got home and looked at them again, I thought they were quite large. I am not gluten free, but I do try to keep my bread down as I find I do get a little bloated with too much.
I was going to cut them in half like this…
Then I saw an ad on the TV for ( of all things) a MacDonald’s Big Mac.
I came up with the clever idea to split my bread rolls into 3!!
Now I have 6 rolls and 6 slices of yummy Soy & Linseed bread for toast under my eggs in the morning.
What a great way to stretch those more expensive “artisan” rolls.

Fitting it all in and getting $H!T done.
A friend recently commented that they have no idea how I fit everything in to my days, and stay sane 🙂
Yes it is true that I always have a heap of things going on at one time, and also a number of plans that are ready to burst toward fruition in the future. Between my husband and I we run 3 business, I also try and keep up with this blog and keep the house clean and tidy.
Like many women, I am pretty good at juggling life and getting things done. But I am going to let you in a little secret. I do have a system. I have had a diary/planner since highschool. I have all appointments diarised so I know exactly where I should be on any given day.
I also have defined goals that I write down every year, month and week. Science has PROVEN that you need to write down your goals. I have a vision board that details my long term goals and them a physical planner that outlines exactly what I want my life to look like in one year. I do this around my birthday. It is like giving myself the present of and elite life.
I look at every area of my life and set a goal to achieve within that year. Once I have set my (often big stretch) goals, it is easy to chunk them done to monthly goals and then further to weekly and sometimes even daily tasks. The old adage of “how to eat an elephant – one bite at a time” is fitting.
I am about to launch a 5 day challenge that will help you set goals, break them into tasks and achieve your ideal life. Stay tuned it is coming real soon. 🙂
Yay!!! It is here. Please check out my 5 Day Challenge for Getting $#!T done.
You can sign up here.

The Best Laid Plans 🙁
While I do like to add to my blog reasonably consistently, I am not one of “those” bloggers You know the type – they post almost everyday and are super active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
I have been writing and adding posts every few days -or so I thought!! I get comments that people like my blog and I have been blindly carrying on as usual. One day recently a friend asked why I was not blogging anymore?? She then mentioned to me that there have not been any new posts for ages 🙁
From the dashboard of the blog, I could see all my posts as normal, but they were not appearing as published posts to the world 🙁
A quick Google of the problem showed that others had previously experienced a similar issue. After some time resetting and updating various “bits” of the blog it FINALLY seemed to make the posts magically appear. There was just one problem…It dumped them all into the one day..Not ideal.
For the time being I have LOADS of posts sitting in the back-end of the blog as “draft” posts. I will gradually go through them again and update any relevant information and make them show the proper date.
The lesson I have learnt from this, is to double check that each post is publishing correctly from a computer other than my own.

No Fuss – Stress Free meals
A couple of months of crazy days has seen us eating some “creative” meals of late.
My main focus has been to feed us reasonably healthy meals that do not require too much in the way of preparation or fuss. Some days there may have been time to do things like cook a roast for a couple of hours. Other days were “we need to eat in the next 30 minutes” type days.
We very rarely eat takeaway, as mostly we find we can do better at home, cheaper, faster and healthier. We do however look to fast food for concepts. I have seen some blog/facebook groups that term this as “Fake-away” or “Takeaway at Home”.
Often our version of fast food turns into a “clean out the fridge special”. Some “recipes” for Clean out the Fridge specials are…
- A packet of mince ( which we buy in bulk and freeze in 250g pieces, whatever veges are in the fridge simply chopped and fried together with a bit of beef stock made from powder and a dollop of tomato paste get a tin of tomatoes added and simmered for 15 minutes or so while some pasta cooks sees a satisfying meal on the table in well under 30 minutes and reduces wasted food.
- A similar dish can be done with veges and a cheese sauce added to a tin of tuna and pasta or rice,
- Veges sauted with a bit of butter or oil and add some chunks of beef, lamb or chicken. Pour over 2 cups of water with a tablespoon of gravy powder, add any herbs you like and simmer until the meat is pull-apart tender. This one might take about 50 minutes to an hour.
Other ideas for “Fake-away” meals include..
- Make your own pizzas. This is great for using up leftover deli meats. You don’t even need a “proper” pizza base for these. Put two pices of bread in the toaster together so just one side the bread gets toasted. Spread some tomato paste or sauce onto the untaosted side. Pile the taost nice and high with yummy toppings and sprinkle over some tasty cheese. Pop them under a hot grill until the cheese is melted and brown. Cut each slice of “pizza” into 2 and serve.
- Fish and Chips are a good standby to have in the freezer. Frozen crumbed fish fillets and frozen chips are simply put in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes and “voila” dinner in half the time it would take to drive to the takeaway, wait for the order and drive home.
- Burgers are easy to make with either rolls or bread. Serve with chips from the oven
While all of these ideas are fast and affordable, the easist way to have superfast meals ready to go in to always cook far more than you need and have meals ready to go in the freezer. We have always got something for those days when we really just could not bothered.
What are your favourite “Fast, Fuss Free” meals??

How we live on the “pension”
Did you read my recent post on what “they” say is the amount of money needed to retire? (it is here)
When this was originally reported, I said to my husband, “I am sure we could live on the pension as well as Mum & Dad.”
So, we decided to try it. Before making any sort of budget, I tracked our spending for 3 months to see exactly what we were spending, it was surprisingly low ?
For our “live on the pension plan” we have not taken into consideration our mortgage or my husband’s car. We are working on the assumption that, like our parents, our home will be fully paid off and we will have just one car, which we will have no debt on, but will need funds to update it regularly.
Every week I allocate the correct amount for cash for our budget needs within the confines of only having the amount for the current aged pension for a couple to live on. Bills are direct deposited to their relevant accounts (eg: I send $50 per week to our council for Rates, $50 a week to the Power company etc)
We have lived this way for the past 3 years or so and have not felt we have missed out on much at all. By not spending, we have seen a huge reduction in our debts. (BONUS)
This has spurred us on further to keep going with “living on the pension” for the next few years. We are aiming to be completely debt free in the next 2 years and then sell our businesses and be able to retire early. This of course will require a fairly decent amount of money in the bank, as we are both quite a way off being able to receive the actual pension.
My life of living a “Champagne Life on a (lite) Beer Budget” has been heavily worked with this way of living. Both my husband and I have our own businesses and they both do very well. From the outside, it appears we might splash cash around quite readily, but in reality, we live within our “pension” budget.
I drive a new BMW which my business provides the funds for, there is money put aside in the “pension” budget to upgrade the car. Hubby’s business has work utes that we do not spend a lot on, as they are – well – work utes ?
We plan on updating the BMW as often as we can well into retirement. We have found that the price of updating while the car has low mileage and is reasonably “new” is quite affordable and within our budget, especially when spread out over 3 years or so.
I love to travel, but our businesses are such that we can really only get away for the odd weekend, Easter and Christmas. I often find great deals for weekends away on daily deals sites that allow us to get away at a reasonable price. I also keep an eye on the airline deals and have been able to snag great deals on flights.
We both enjoy eating out and have a subscription to the Entertainment book each year. Using the vouchers, we can eat at more expensive restaurants than we would normally for half price. We also enjoy cooking, looking at restaurant menus and cooking similar meals at home for a fraction of the cost makes for an afternoon of culinary fun at home. A well stocked pantry and a good bulk butcher nearby, keeps our grocery budget to a manageable level. It is the “grocery” section of the budget that I often find has a built-up surplus. This surplus gets either transferred to savings or put aside for meals out.
Like our parents, we do not “need” anything, so when asked what we want for a gift at birthday and Christmas, I often ask for experience type gifts. Vouchers for cafes, spa treatments etc are happily accepted.
The lessons we have learned from living within the pension amount, is that, for us, it is achievable without any huge sacrifices. Our budget does not include any pension discounts from expenses such as utilities, registration, rates etc, so those will be bonuses if we receive them. We are blessed with good health and are conscious that chronic illness which requires long periods of expensive medications would be a burden on the budget.
Why not look at your own budget and decide if you could live on the pension.

Stroganoff Meatballs
Cheats “sort of” Strog.
We are in the process of running down our freezer in preparation for 3 weeks away. (while we are away, I will unplug the freezer and let it completely defrost, then give it a good clean out in the new year)
I have been trying to mix the contents of the freezer around a little, so we don’t end up with sausages for 7 days straight 🙂 We had a fair bit of mince left in the freezer and I was looking something a bit “different” to do.
I came up with the idea of a Beef Stroganoff type dish with little meatballs – but not a “Swedish Meatball – Ikea” dish.
Obviously, by the look of this plate, it was a hit ?
So without further ado.. here is my recipe for
“Stoganoff Meatballs”

How much money do you need to retire?
Quite some time ago I read a news report debating whether or not the Australian aged pension is “enough” to live on in today’s economy.
As expected, the comments were mixed with a lot of people saying they can NOT live on the amount received from the government.
(I must admit, I do find it amazing when I see these types of reports where we see a woman complaining that she does not have enough money for electricity to keep warm, but she is being interviewed in a thin cotton top. – Put a jumper on!!)
Both my parents and my in-laws are retired, and I have seen them live a happy and activity filled retirement over the last 15-20 years. They are not having any trouble at all living successfully on the pension. My parents are in between the “modest” and “comfortable” category and just simply cannot spend it all. In-laws are on the aged pension only and live as well as we do, if not more socially. My Father recently passed away and Mum is now on a single pension with a small superannuation top up, and still, the bank account keeps rising.
The number one thing I have noticed that has led to living comfortably on the pension is to own the roof over your head. Most reports show that housing is the number one cost of retirees. Retiring with no debt, a small nest egg and a low maintenance home has shown itself to be a huge benefit to both sets of parents.
Also, retirement is not all about how much money you have. How many of us “young’uns” just wish for time to do what we want. Retirees will often say, they don’t know how they had time to work. Gardening, craft, reading a good book or magazine are things that often get somewhat neglected in the hustle and bustle of a busy working life.
This table proposes the amounts supposedly needed for varying levels of retirement.
http://www.superguru.com.au/retiring/how-much-super-will-i-need
One thing that the “gurus” neglect to think of is peer groups.
If retirees are surrounded by other high income retirees who travel overseas often then yes, they may need a much higher figure.
My parents were in a caravan club so they travelled quite extensively. They are not interested in international travel (apart from NZ where we have some family – does NZ even count as international???)
The in-laws love train travel and have done the Spirit of the Outback few times We looked at doing the Outback with them one trip but without the pensioner discount it is REALLY expensive.
Both parents eat out ALL THE TIME. We regularly get answering machine because they are out to dinner. Usually clubs , but certainly not restricted to the “seniors specials” , because that is what they like to eat. None of them are into “towers of no food” as my Dad called “better” restaurants.
Both Mothers have overflowing pantries that we joke will feed us for years when we eventually have to clean out the houses. Regular catch ups with friends over a new cake or biscuit recipe and a cuppa are commonplace.
Both parents have always had late model cars that are regularly maintained. Because of the van, Dad had a fairly new 4×4 since his passing this has been sold, Mum does not drive so that vehicle expense is now partly taken up with community bus fares. The in-laws have not long upgraded their car to a late model small 4cyl Toyota.
All drink bottled wine, bought beer, spirits, sherry and port.
Clothes, the men are men and don’t really care . The Mums just buy clothes and they wear them. The Mothers are both well dressed from Rockmans, Millers, Noni B etc so Reasonable clothes. (Although neither woman was a “designer clothes” wearer)
All get their hair cut at local hairdressers and look neat and tidy at all times.
As mentioned previously, they have active social lives filled with leisure activities. Cinema outings, meals with friends and craft group outings feature regularly on the calendar.
Houses are both fully owned, modern homes that are standard 4/2/2 and are in good condition. Neither house will need new kitchens or bathrooms in their lifetime.
Neither have health insurance and have not needed it. There has been some serious illness (1 cancer, 2 diabetics, 1 aortic aneurism op) and of course all have glasses. The public system has been FANTASTIC and none of us can complain about the quality or timeliness of treatment. In the last year of Dad’s life, he had multiple trips to hospital and weekly visits to his GP, all in the public system. Nothing could have been done any differently in the Private system to make his last year any different.
Watching our parents age has been a wonderful learning experience for my husband and I. We are not worried about our level of comfort in retirement at all. We are working on setting ourselves up now, and look forward to our golden years.

A Different Advent Calendar.
My daughter-in-law does enjoy a nice cup of tea 🙂
I came up with the idea of making an Advent Calendar with various types of teabag for her this year.
I had done a tea wrapper for my Mum for Mother’s Day a couple of years ago, so I had a template for teabag envelopes on my computer.
It took me a while to play around with Photoshop and create 25 different envelopes, but I got there in the end
You can download the instructions here
Freebies are HERE
Here is how I made the board
Step 1:
Print the 25 teabag envelopes and cut them out carefully. Each little envelope has the date (1-25) and a cute “Tea Quote”
Step 2:
Cut out the matching tags that will be stapled to the teabag. I stapled on one side only so the type of tea is able to be read.
Step 3:
Fold the envelopes and secure with a little craft peg. For my calendar, I will be displaying the large number to the outside, so each day the quote is revealed.
Here is the step by step pictures of how I did this.
Step 4:
Make a pretty board to display the envelopes. I bought a corkboard from the discount store and decided to cover it with Christmas-y foil. I chose foil as I thought it would stand up to craft glue better than thin paper.
Trimming the foil proved to be a little tricky, as it had a tendency to want to rip rather than cut. I had a nice fresh blade in my knife, but perhaps a craft scalpel might have worked better. To cover the few tears, I edged the board with glittery silver tape. I am pleased with the result.
Step 5:
Lay out the envelopes to get a rough idea of spacing. Once you are happy with where each envelope goes, glue the pegs to the board with a good glue. ( I used super glue)
And there you have it.. 🙂 One cute Advent Calendar with a variety of teas and a different quote each day in the lead up to Christmas Day on the 25th.
You can download the envelopes and tags from my free resources page

Saving Money AND the Planet.
I must admit I like to read but I rarely make myself enough time to get lost in a novel 🙁
I do, however, enjoy a magazine regularly.
Over the course of the years, family members have gifted me subscriptions to magazines, such as Better Homes and Gardens, Gourmet Traveller, Women’s Weekly and a few recipe/food magazines. Once the subscription was over, sometimes I continued it myself, or just bought the magazine from the supermarket.
One day it dawned on me that magazines are EXPENSIVE!! and are probably not very environmentally friendly with all that gloss paper, toxic inks and disposal after a very short time.
I found that our library had a good range of magazines, but they were often months behind, even the digital versions were sometimes 2 or 3 months behind the current issue 🙁
I did subscribe to some of my favourites with iSubscribe. For a while this was a good option that saw current editions land on my iPad regularly. While there are good savings to be made, it is still a luxury.
Toady my reading prayers have been answered!! Groupon have a fantastic deal that will see me with as many digital magazines as I can possibly digest in one year for just $29.99
I had not heard of this company, Magzter, before but I am super impressed with the range of titles, there are 1000’s of them.
I have signed up, downloaded the app to my ipad and might spend the rest of the weekend, “flipping” through magazines.

How much Tax do you REALLY pay??
“Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.”
– Benjamin Franklin 1789
In many business forums and groups I am a part of, the topic of paying tax often comes up.
Our account told me a loooong time ago that, as a business owner, tax is a good thing, it means you have made a profit. 🙂
Now, I don’t know about you, but while I do arrange our business finances so that we legally minimise our income tax as well a we can, I seriously do not object to paying my fair share of tax.
While I can most certainly object to some of the ways our politicians spend our taxes, I do accept the fact that our tax helps to fund schools, hospitals and aged pensions (among other things)
I know that our tax amount comes nowhere near close to even paying for my mother’s pension!!
I got into a “discussion” with a lady one day who swore that her husband paid over 50% of EVERY dollar he earned. When I pointed out that the top tax rate in Australia is only 45%. Still she was adamant. Many others pointed out that her effective tax rate would be much less than even 45% as we have a sliding tax scale and the 45% is only on amounts over $180,000.
On further discussion, it turns out this lady is a stay at home mum of two toddlers and is being paid the maximum in Family Tax Benefits. She could not understand that a large portion her husband’s tax was in fact coming back to her directly in the form of Family Tax Benefits., and that her husband’s effective tax rate would be quite low. ( some guessed at less that 15%)
My husband also complains occasionally about the apparent high tax rates, so I created an excel spreadsheet to show him what his actual tax percentage is.
We don’t have Family Tax Benefits anymore but I have added it in so you might get a better idea as to what your effective tax rate is.
I hope you find this interesting.
Download the Effective Tax Rate sheet in my Information Vault.
Sign in to the Information Vault. (lots of awesome goodies) Freebies are HERE

The Problem with Passion.
In today’s busy world I see so much written about passion and having to find your passion or purpose in life to get ahead and be successful.
Sadly, we see this “requirement” as early as high school when 13-year-olds are expected to know exactly what courses they are going to do to set themselves up for the rest of their lives.
How many of you are in jobs professions or businesses that align with your 13-year-old self? .. my guess is not many ☹
My 13-year-old self had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up and to be perfectly honest I still don’t.
With the help of teachers and my parents my high school education was quite broad with a number of different subjects that would cover most jobs that were available for an 18-year-old girl that didn’t want to go to university.
In my last year of high school I was sent to a large photographic lab on work experience. While there I met people that would become longtime friends and eventually business associates, but it was not really a passion.
A few years later, I was offered the opportunity to purchase my own store and so my business ownership career began.
When I sold my stores in the early 2000’s I spent a lot of time and even more money trying to decide what I really wanted to do with my life.
In the early 2000’s the internet was most certainly not what it is today and there was not a lot of easily accessible information. The library had a number of books that I greedily read hoping to find the answer.
Over and over I read the the “Secret to Success” is to carve out a niche. I became more and more frustrated with this concept. What is my niche?, What is my purpose? I would start blogs, facebook groups and even businesses based on what I thought was my “greatest passion”. Sadly, I quickly became bored or distracted and moved on to find the next “greatest passion”
After reading and reading and reading and even more reading I finally determined that I do not have just one passion, and you know what…
THAT IS OK !!!
I have many things that interest me and fire my determination to do more.
Often these things seem to be at odds with each other.
For example –
- I love helping business owners expand their business to create more profitable outcomes. I have a knack for being able to spot lost opportunities and can create a solid plan to implement these opportunities within the business with the least amount of cost and upset to current operations
So, it would appear that my passion in that regard is to create more money for spending BUT
- One of my other passions is almost making a game of how far I can stretch my money.
This does NOT mean being a scrooge or miserly. Money is meant to be circulated, it does not serve anybody by being trapped in a savings account.
- Another great passion is food after all who doesn’t love the satisfaction gained from the deliciousness of a perfectly cooked and presented meal. I love gleaning inspiration from café and restaurant menus and creating equally gorgeous meals for my own table and enjoyment.
Sadly though, I do NOT have a passion for exercise, so I do need to keep my food passion in check somewhat ?
Perhaps my greatest passion is learning about myself. How do I really think and how can I make myself better?
I truly believe that our greatest gift to ourselves must be a positive mindset, without that positivity nothing else can come to pass.
Whether you call it the “Power of Positive thinking”, “The Secret”, Mindset or just Blind Faith you must believe that you CAN. (no matter what your niche or passion)
I hope I can share each of my passions with you. In my Free Resource Library, I have a growing list of freebies relating to each niche.
Please keep checking back regularly..

🙂 It really is the little things.
My husband suspects I might be just every so slightly totally bonkers. (In the nicest possible way of course). After 20 years, he is used to my sometimes crazy purchases.
One of “secrets” to living my perfect life, is to visualise what that life looks like in minute details. Then I choose an area that is less than perfect and upgrade it closer to my vision. Of course, some things are not possible to jump from a level 1 straight up to a level 10, but for the many little things in life that we “make do,” it can be an easy low-cost upgrade.
One of my upgrades this months has been to buy matching coat hangers for our wardrobe.
This was my side of our wardrobe before….
And this is the after…
It just makes me smile with joy every time I look into the wardrobe now. My wardrobe looks “10/10 ” to me, and it was not a huge expense.
I got these coathangers off eBay I chose the one with clips on them so they are useable for any type of clothing.

Light Healthy Breakfast.
I have (again) decided I need to lose a few kg’s.
I really do not bother too much about my weight, and do stick to a fairly healthy diet, but I know I have been a bit slack lately. Tripping up and back 400kms to see my Mum has seen me not eating the best.
Yesterday I thought I did not want my regular eggs on toast, but still wanted eggs. I came up with this yummy little omelette on salad.
It is a simple dish that is made by gently beating just one egg with a fork until just fluffy add some chopped onion and a bit of grated cheese. I then lightly greased two egg rings and cooked until the egg was cooked through and golden brown.
I then placed them on a bed of store bought salad leaves with a bot of chopped tomato, onion and capsicum. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and breakfast was ready ?
Who says dieting has to be boring? 🙂
Ps. Balsamic Vinegar is a fabulous addition to your pantry. A quick drizzle elevates any dish to “restaraunt” quality.

Dry Aged Beef. A sublime meal experience.
Have you ever had Dry Aged Meat?? Hubby and I were aware that some high-end butchers dry aged meat, but we had never seen it let alone eaten it.
What is Dry Aged Meat? According to Wikipedia
“Dry-aged beef is beef that has been hung or placed on a rack to dry for several weeks. After the animal is slaughtered and cleaned, it is hung as a full or half carcass. Primal (large distinct sections) or sub primal cuts, such as strip loins, rib eyes, and sirloin, are placed in a refrigerator unit, also known as a “hot box”. This process involves considerable expense, as the beef must be stored near freezing temperatures. Subprimal cuts can be dry aged on racks either in specially climate-controlled coolers or within a moisture-permeable drybag. Moreover, only the higher grades of meat can be dry aged, as the process requires meat with a large, evenly distributed fat content. Because of this, dry-aged beef is seldom available outside of steak restaurants and upscale butcher shops or groceries. The key effect of dry aging is the concentration and saturation of the natural flavour, as well as the tenderization of the meat texture.” |
I noticed on Facebook recently that Cotton Tree Meats not far up the road from as had installed a dry aging cabinet. The reviews were that the meat was something that had to be tasted to be believed.
When my birthday rolled around in August, hubby asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and where would I like to go out for dinner. I suggested a “2 for 1” present and said why not buy a piece of dry aged beef?
A short trip later and we were the proud owners of the most beautiful looking piece of 28-day dry aged Black Angus Rib-eye on the bone.
We like to think we are pretty capable cooks, but we thought we had better find out how to do this lovely steak true justice. The answer turned out to be a cooking technique we had not tried before. “Reverse Searing”
Reverse Searing is a method that involves slow cooking the steak in a super low oven until the internal temperature reaches the desired doneness, then finishing in a screaming hot pan to give a lovely seared crust.
This method works best with a thick piece of steak so have your butcher cut a nice piece of Sirloin, Rib, Rump or T-bone into at least a 50mm thick (this will feed 2-3 people).
This is the step by step method.
Step 1:
Pre-heat your oven to 135º C
Step 2:
Pat your piece of steak dry with paper towel. (the drier you can get the
steak the better the crust you will get)
Season well with salt and pepper. (there is no need to oil the meat)
Step 3:
Place the meat on a grill over a baking pan lined with foil or baking
paper to catch any drips.
Step 4:
Bake in the oven until the internal temperature of the meat reaches your
required doneness. Do NOT guess this, invest in a meat thermometer.
Remove from the oven and rest under foil for at least 10 minutes.
Step 5:
Get a heavy frying pan (cast iron is good) or BBQ screaming hot and add
a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan. Carefully place the steak in the pan and sear well for 1- 2 minutes on each side, don’t forget the edges until a lovely golden crust form.
Step 6:
Place your steak on a board and cut into pieces on the diagonal across the grain. Serve simply with a bit of herbed butter or your favourite sauce.
Next time you get a piece of steak, do try this method of cooking. It might
just change your life 🙂

Raining Money
The whole concept of “Sunshine Cash” is the total opposite to “Saving for a Rainy Day” It is, of course, important to save an emergency fund for unforeseen events, but (in my opinion) to have money in the bank for money’s sake is just not necessary. In no way would I EVER advocate spending more than you have, but cash is there to be spent. ALWAYS pay your bills first, then allow funds for savings and general “adulting” then allow some “Sunshine Cash” for just having fun.
Some call it “Fun Money” or “Splash Cash” or”Splurge Money”
We all work very hard for our money, and yes!! you DO deserve to enjoy some of it. I am sure you have relished the joy of a fun purchase bought with no guilt.
Spending is not greedy or wasteful, money is meant to be circulated. Your purchase means the cashier has a job, the store owner makes a profit and the whole circle of cash continues. In accounting terms it is even called cash FLOW…cash needs to flow or everything stops.
My greatest ability to having money seemingly rain down is a positive attitude and a good eye for a bargain. The Power of Positive Thinking, The Secret, The Law of Attraction, Manifesting, Mind Powers and a heap of other “brand names” for a positive mindset are not “Woo Woo” rubbish. Our minds ability to manifest what it truly wants has been shown over and over again throughout centuries of Human existence. A simple example of the power of the Law of Attraction is the example that almost everybody has had when are looking for a new car. You decide to buy a red VW Beetle and all of a sudden it seems that every second car on the street is a red Beetle.
The Universe will rarely give you money for the sake of money. Money in itself is just random pieces of paper and metal. What you CAN manifest is the ability to be able to buy the things you desire. You might get a pay rise or promotion that gives you the amount needed to fund the monthly payment on your red VW Beetle, or the local dealer might be having a great runout sale and you snap up your Beetle at a fraction of the price you originally budgeted for. This happens so often to me and many of my friends, cannot be simply LUCK.
The other side of keeping a positive mindset to your money are the inevitable blocks we all have around wealth and money in general. How often have you heard terms like..
- Filthy Rich
- Dirt Poor
- Rich Bitch
- Greedy Capitalist
- Gold Digger
- Sugar Daddy
Many people have a real block around attracting wealth for fear that their friends will not like them anymore, or worse, that their friends will resent them.
I have spent quite a bit of time over the years practising my money language. Instead of saying “I can’t afford that” I will say “I have different priorities right now” or Instead of “OMG That is SOOOO expensive” I might think “Hmmm I wonder how I can achieve that”
Let’s get into action and manifest more Sunshine Cash!!
Let me know how you go.

Why that “Bargain” might be costing as much as 40 times what you thought you paid.
Who hasn’t been in this scenario?
It is the day after payday, you have a party to go to on the weekend, you really need a new dress. (shoes, bag, coat etc)
You go to the mall and “BARGAIN” you find the perfect top for just $20. YAY!!!! At the same shop you find a cute skirt, a shirt for work and a funky belt.
You walk out of the store feeling really good that you got some great deals. All that for just $99.00
Still on a high, you get home, check the mail, and UH-OH the credit bill is in 🙁 (bummer) A quick glance at it and you see that you are only slightly overdrawn, but you are pretty happy that the balance is only $2100.00, and the bill is only $140.00.
Before you get too comfortable in thinking all is good in your “debt world”…What if I was to tell you that your $99.oo “bargains” might be actually costing you over $2000??? HOW CAN THIS BE???
It is because of the power of compounding interest. The same super power that makes rich people richer, also works in reverse to help keep you drowning in debt.
Consider this….
Do you just pay the minimum payment on your credit card? Have you had that same card for YEARS and still owe the same amount? Do you have ANY idea when you will pay it out? Let me let you in on a secret….The bank does NOT want you to pay it out!!! You are a veritable cash cow for them. Have a look over your statement, somewhere you should find a panel that shows how long it will take to clear your debt if you just paid the minimum payment.
In our example above, we can see that paying just the minimum payment, it will take 19 years to clear this $2100, and you will pay $4600 in interest as well. Are you feeling a little sick right now? Are you wishing you hadn’t spent that $99.00?
What if I was to make you feel better by giving you a handy tool that shows you how much you could save by paying any amount off your credit card, mortgage, personal loan or car loan?
I have created a super easy to use excel spreadsheet that calculates the value of paying extra toward your debt. As long as you know the amount owing, the interest rate and the time left on your loan, you can have an accurate gauge as to the real cost of any “bargain” you are considering buying.
This method has been one of the cornerstone ways we have been able to create our Champagne Lifestyle. By really deciding if a purchase was worthy enough to buy or have that same amount clearing the most expensive debts we were able to be debt free in a few short years.
Sign in now to access the FREE basic Loan Calculator HERE as well as other free resources..
(the download will be a .zip file, you will need to unzip it to find the excel file inside)
In this screen shot, you can see on the left, we have entered the Loan Amount (the balance of our credit card -$2100), the Interest Rate ( also found on the credit card bill) and the Loan Period ( the time to pay out if we just paid the minimum required) Over on the right you will see two areas to calculate the difference if you were to pay a regular amount with each payment or a Lump Sum- one off payment. You can see, I have entered the $99.00 “bargain” shopping spree. If you would have paid that $99.00 off the credit card along with the regular bill, would would have saved over $2000 in interest.
Want a reminder tool?
Purchase the PLUS version of the calculator and it will provide you with a reference table showing how much you could save by not spending. Based on the details placed in the first table, this next sheet calculates the amount of often purchased items. Also included are handy pocket sized printable tables to remind you of the power of paying your debt down rather than spending. When I needed to pay off a large credit card debt, I wrapped the table around my card, so everytime I went to use the card I was reminded. It really does work to rethink your purchases.
Have a look in the shop for other handy products
*Disclaimer. This calculator is for general use only, I am not an accountant or financial planner. Please check with your own bank to determine the exact figures.

Change one habit and save.
One really simple way to save money and create your champagne lifestyle is to look at your spending habits make some quality changes.
Some ideas might be:
Coffee.
Nearly every savings blog or site you see always puts coffee at the top of the list. Certainly your daily (or three) cafe coffee can leave a huge dent in your wallet, but life is way to short for bad coffee. in keeping with the champagne lifestyle, I am not going to suggest you drink instant 🙂 Look for alternatives.
Have a coffee machine installed at work. If you work in a large-ish office, there are many businesses that will supply a coffee machine free to your workplace at the business just pays for the coffee used. The price per cup is usually less than $1.00.
If a “proper” coffee machine is deemed too much hard work, what about a pod machine? You can buy any number of coffee flavours as well as hot chocolate. Again the cost per cup is far less than cafe coffee.
Don’t have the capacity for a machine at all? Have a look at single cup options like the good old French Press
Once you have your coffee making apparatus, ask at your favourite coffee if they sell beans to take home.
Gym:
Look for cheaper options for fitness. Many local councils run free fitness classes. Check out the MeetUp site. Search for Sport and Fitness groups near you. Who knows you might even find some new friends and get fit at the same time.
Entertainment: Borrow books, magazines and DVD’s from the library. If you have not seen the inside of your local library since high school, you might be in for a surprise. Far from the boring stuffy places of your youth, modern libraries have a great range books, magazines, DVD’s and music. Many libraries have collections ready to download onto tablet devices and you don’t even need to go to the library. My library offers a huge range of magazines that I download to my iPad. Most months I cannot read all that I subscribe to. All these magazines are ones i used to actually pay money for and still did not read them all. If I see a particular recipe or article i really want to keep, I just screen grab the page and either email it to myself to store in my Google drive print it out.
Dining out with friends. Have a My Kitchen Rules month with your friends. Take it in turns to create your own “pop up restaurants” at each others homes. Add the extra challenge of setting a budget per person. $20- $25 per person is actually easily do-able if you think about your menu carefully.
Embrace the “Pot Luck Dinner” – task each diner to bring a course .
Rotate the course each time you hold the event. eg:
Event 1: Tom & Jan bring starter, Jack & Tracey bring main, Rick and Ash bring dessert, James & Fiona bring wine
Event 2: Tom & Jan bring main, Jack & Tracey bring dessert, Rick and Ash bring wine, James & Fiona bring starter
Event 3: Tom & Jan bring dessert, Jack & Tracey bring wine, Rick and Ash bring starter, James & Fiona bring main
Event 4: Tom & Jan bring wine, Jack & Tracey bring starter, Rick and Ash bring main, James & Fiona bring dessert
Alcohol: Have a cocktail party at home. Grab some cocktail recipes and try some of those $15 cocktails you can never afford when you are out 🙂 (Dan Murphys have heaps here)
Spending: Lock up your credit card for a month. Pay everything by cash. It might surprise you have it feel to actually hand over cold hard cash.
Give the gift of TIME: Rather than forking out big dollars for gifts, give yourself. If you have a hectic, busy life you no doubt rarely spend quality time with your family or friends.
Set aside time to visit with your family member or friend for a full morning (or day), it will cost you a few hours, but it will be priceless to your recipient.
Check your bank statements: Internet banking makes it super easy to check purchases online. Make note of any “unknown” purchases. Do you need to do a claim through your credit card provider? One other nifty little saving trick is to “save your cents”. While in your online banking have a look at your debt balance, top up the balance to the next $1.00 ( or $5 or $10) eg if your balance is $xxx,x23.68, you might add 32c to bring up to the next $, or add $1.32 to bring to $xxx,x25.00 or even $76.32 bring it up to the next $100.
What are your simple methods for saving?

Declutter your way to Rich
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year or so, you will have heard about the KonMari method of decluttering. Through her best selling book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying: A Simple, Effective Way To Banish Clutter Forever, Japanese author, Marie Kondo promises to transform your life one empty closet at a time.
Like many people, I took all this with a grain of salt. The book and I admit, a bit of peer group pressure 🙂 did spur me on to do a decent declutter of our home. Given that we live in a fairly small one bedroom apartment, i really did not think I would have much to “declutter”. Well I was WRONG!!!
Fairly ruthlessly, I decluttered wardrobes, shoe rack, book cases, kitchen cupboards and the pantry.
The KonMari book recommends you get rid of anything that “no longer brings joy to your life” That box of “one day I will fit into them” clothes most certainly did NOT bring joy, so listed on eBay they went. Clothes, shoes, books and heaps of tupperware that we have not used in ages all got listed on eBay. Over the course of about 8 weeks or so, my total “declutter wage” was just over $500!!!
The pantry declutter, left two groups…One small one of out of date foodstuffs that went in the bin 🙁 and a larger group of “stuff” we had bought for a long forgotten recipe, or had been given as gifts (jams, sauces, biscuits and relishes etc from hampers). These were all still perfectly fine and useable and a lot of them quite Gourmet (White Truffle infused oil ). I really did NOT want to waste these and have to throw out some substantial value. Looking at each product, I decided to roughly menu plan some uses for them.
We had some “interesting” dishes over the course of the few weeks until they were gone. Who knew that Mediterranean Tomato Chutney would make a truly delicious pizza sauce in place of regular tomato paste? or that Almond Butter in place of Peanut Butter is really good in satay sauce on chicken.
I do find, now that I have decluttered, the apartment is a lot easier to stay tidy. The bookcase/wall unit especially looks much more open without every shelf stuffed full of books. I have even managed to dig out some ornaments for display.
There are loads of stories on the internet of people who have found all sorts of “hidden treasure” through the act of decluttering. I did not find much actual cash ( no more than a few coins in the bottom of an old handbag) but people have found cash in pockets, old purses, and of course in the couch.
So get to it…start decluttering now. Just start with one place and do it well. List what you can on eBay, Gumtree, Facebook or Craigslist and let me know in the comments how much your “declutter wage” comes to.

Not Zero Days
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 acheive 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. 🙁
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?

Back from a mini break.
Did you see my post a while back about having a weekend away?
(if you didn’t…it is here )
Hubby and I had a great break, one that was most needed.
We have been crazy busy for the last 3 months ( with not much end in sight) so while we really could not afford (time-wise) to be away from our business, we did enjoy it, and recognised that the relaxation was more important.
As I posted earlier, we had a 50% off voucher from Groupon for 3 nights in a fully self-contained Ocean View Apartment. The apartment was huge. It was actually a 3 bedroom apartment that they had just locked off two bedrooms to be able to sell as a one bedroom apartment. The kitchen was a full size kitchen with all the crockery, cutlery, pots and pans that a family of 6 would need. We had a wonderful view looking right up Main Beach and kangaroos came and visited each afternoon. We also spotted a koala having a sleep in a nearby park.
Usually, I do try to stay in apartments with a kitchen. I find it saves us a bucket load of cash while still having a good break. Before going away I do up a rough meal plan and then look at the budget and work out how many meals we might like to eat out.
We like to have a Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner out. (Not all on the one day 🙂 )
I will then hit Google and look at restaurant and cafe menus to get a good idea of how much the local cuisine will cost. I also look at Groupon to see if there are meal deals in the area we are going. ( sadly there were none for this trip)
For this trip we took from home:
Milk, Coffee,Tea,
Bacon and eggs,
Some bread,butter, cheese and ham from the fridge,
The last of the week’s veges and a pack of beef mince (it all became a savoury mince type dish)
Cheese and crackers and a couple of bottles of wine 🙂
We ate out for one breakfast, had pizza for one lunch, and had the most superb meal at a resort restaurant.
We also bought a “meal” of fresh prawns and crab fresh from the trawlers to go with the wine.
Overall we kept well in budget and came back recharged and ready for another few months hard work.
Here are some photos from our time away. Click on any photo to see it larger.

Getting away from it all – at 50% off
One of my favourite things to do with my sunshine cash is to spend it on travel.
Now, while my businesses do generate a good liveable income, we cannot just have unlimited time away. Even the richest men and women are still found in their offices more often than not. I make a point of getting away for long weekends every 2-3 months plus and extended week or two once or twice a year.
One of the best ways I have found to have these breaks, is by making good use of daily deals sites. Sites like Groupon, Living Social, Luxury Getaways provide great deals on travel destinations that we may not have otherwise considered.
For us 3 nights away works well, as we can have Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights away and have at least some time at home on Sunday afternoon before getting back to work on Monday.
I am preparing to go away next weekend. I bought a Groupon Deal quite some time ago for 3 nights at Whale Watch Ocean Resort on North Stradbroke Island at 50% off the regular price. This short break is about a 90 minute drive from home.
I have already Googled some great places to eat. We will pack the car with the bulk of our food and drinks and maybe eat out for 2 lunches and 1 dinner.
We have both been working really hard the last couple of months , so are really looking forward to this break. I can foresee quite a few liquid beverages on the balcony overlooking the ocean and watching for humpback whales as they make their migration up the Queensland coast.
Where do you like to travel to, and how often?

How I use vision boards to create my perfect life.
Do you live your perfect life?
How can I invite abundance if I don’t know EXACTLY what I want.??
Today’s post comes about from a discussion with my husband about abundance.
When I asked him what Abundance meant to him he answered “Winning Lotto”
This is how the conversation went…..
Me: Great why?
Him: Because I would have a million dollars.
Me: What for?
Him: For whatever I want. (getting cranky now)
Me: What do you want?
Him: I don’t know….a million dollars
Me: But what would you do with it- what would you do
– what would you buy?
Him: Whatever I want.
Shortly after this…I gave up 🙂
LOTS of people do this…have the wish for “something more” but don’t know what that “something” is. Why?? I truly think you need to believe you deserve abundance. My Husband doesn’t actually believe he will ever win Lotto because “People like him don’t win Lotto” so of course he doesn’t.
I KNOW what my abundance looks like. (Made real by my vision boards)
I have decided that I am going to create many vision boards –one for the big things and kind of like a “sub-boards” off the main board. For example…on my main board is a wish to redecorate our apartment.
I am creating a separate board with the things I see for our apartment…the furniture, the appliances, the linen on the bed.
This will help further manifest the abundance I want. It also makes me aware of what I want so that is a great bargain presents itself, I can grab it.
Do you use vision boards? Please post a picture of your board or tell me about how you have manifested “stuff”.

Why every one of my dollars is a “blazing sunbeam”
“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 girlfiriends 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 sho 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 ight 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 ot even any postage cost. 5% on 200 grocery bill is $10..
How do you maximise your dollars?

25 Solutions to “not enough” money.
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?)
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.
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 visions 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”.

How much “should” your food budget be??
Here is something to think about. We all have different ideas as to what constitutes a good food budget. It, of course is dependent on the type and amount of food we buy.
While browsing the net for nutrition guidelines, I came cross the Australian Government’s ” Eat for Health” website. The site has the (current) official dietary guidelines. It lists some sample menu plans for Men, Women and Children, as well as a really good guide to what makes a “serve” of various foods.
As an exercise, I decided to take the sample meal plan for women and price it up to see what the Government suggest we spend on a healthy diet. Here is what I came up with… ( to download a pdf of this table click here )
This sample meal plan is for women aged 19-50 years of average height, healthy weight and light activity. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Meal / Food | Weight / portion size | Food group and number of serves | Costing | Explanation of costs |
Breakfast | ||||
Wholegrain breakfast cereal, with reduced fat milk | 60g cereal | 2 grain serves | $0.09 | Home Brand Oats (900g pkt @$1.39) |
1 cup (250ml) reduced fat milk | 1 milk/yoghurt/cheese serve | $0.25 | $1 per litre milk | |
Reduced fat yoghurt | 100g yoghurt | ½ milk/yoghurt/cheese serve | $0.36 | Coles Brand Yoghurt (1 kg@ $3.60) |
Morning break | ||||
Coffee with milk | 200ml (small coffee) | ¼ milk/yoghurt/cheese serve | $0.10 | Home Brand powdered coffee + milk |
Lunch | ||||
Sandwich with salad and chicken | 2 slices bread | 2 grain serves | $0.15 | Home Brand Whoelmeal Bread @ $1.50 |
40g chicken | ½ meat and/or alternatives serve | $0.40 | Chicken fillet meat @$10.00/kg | |
1 teaspoon margarine | 5g unsaturated spread (½ serve) | $0.01 | Home Brand Spread @$1.60/kg | |
1 cup salad vegetables | 1 vegetable serve | $0.30 | Based on an iceberg lettuce @ 2.00 each | |
Apple | 1 medium | 1 fruit serve | $0.30 | Banana @36c or 1/2 Orange @ 53c |
Afternoon break | ||||
Unsalted nuts | 30g | 1 meat and/or alternatives serve | $0.80 | scoop’n’pack Almonds @$23.75/kg |
Coffee with milk | 200ml (small coffee) | ¼ milk/yoghurt/cheese serve | $0.10 | as above |
Evening meal | ||||
Pasta with beef mince and red kidney beans, tomato and green salad with olive oil and vinegar dressing | 1 cup of cooked pasta | 2 grain serves | $0.15 | Home Brand Pasta (1kg pkt @$0.72) |
65g cooked mince | 1 meat and/or alternative serve | $0.60 | Mince @ $8.00/kg | |
¼ cup kidney beans | ½ vegetable serve | $0.19 | 1/4 can Coles Kidney Beans @ 75c | |
1½ medium tomato | 1½ vegetable serve | $0.50 | Tomatos @ 35c each | |
½ onion | ½ vegetable serve | $0.25 | Onions @ 50c each | |
2 cups green leafy salad | 2 vegetable serves | $0.60 | as above | |
2 teaspoon unsaturated oil | 14g unsaturated oil (2 serves) | $0.03 | Home Brand Vegetable Oil 2L @$4.80 | |
Evening snack | ||||
Plums and reduced fat yoghurt | 1 cup stewed plums | 1 fruit serve | $0.80 | Plums @ 38c each |
100g yoghurt | ½ milk/yogurt/cheese serve | $0.36 | as above | |
TOTAL $$ | $6.34 | |||
x7 days | ||||
WEEKLY TOTAL | $44.38 | |||

A sweet treat (or two ) to add to a cup of tea or coffee.
A few of you asked for something sweet when I did these menus in the past. I admit I do not eat a lot of sweet things, So for me to not have biscuits, cakes and chocolate is not a big deal. I have, however, acknowledged that many of you do crave a bit of sugar in your lives 🙂 so I came up with this 2-in-1 recipe that does not sacrifice all your eggs and butter as sweet treats.
I made this recipe by combining two basic recipes and diving the batter to create 8 little cornflake cookies and 6 fruit salad cupcakes. They are just enough to satisfy that 11:00am craving for “something” with that morning tea cuppa.
“Sweet Treats – 2 in 1 “
Makes 6 cupcakes & 8 Biscuits
Ingredients:
1 egg
¼ cup (62g) Butter
⅓ cup (74g) Sugar
¾ cup plus one tablespoon (120g) Self Raising Flour
Plus
½ cup Cornflakes
¼ cup canned fruit salad well drained
Milk
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced oven. Line muffin pan with papers
Place baking paper on a small baking pan - Place the ¼ cup of fruit salad in a strainer over a bowl and allow to drain well.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg and beat until well combined.
- Add the flour and mix well.
- Divide the batter into 2 bowls at this point.
- In one bowl, add ½ cup cornflakes. Mix gently and divide into 8 small teaspoonful’s. (they should be about the size of a 50c piece, they will spread a bit in the oven)
- Place on the baking sheet, press down slightly to flatten and sprinkle with a little bit of sugar. (the sugar will add a sweet crunch to the top of the biscuit)
- In the second bowl, lightly stir together the remaining batter, adding the fruit and a little bit of milk if it needs it. (maybe at most 2 tablespoons)
- Spoon into muffin cases.
- Place both pans into the oven. Check after 15minutes. The biscuits should be ready, while the cupcakes may be needing another few minutes.
- Remove biscuits from oven and allow to cool. When the cupcakes are ready, remove from oven, leaving them in the muffin pans for 2 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool

$50 Shopping list and Menus for Feb 14-27th
Here is the shopping list and menus for a $50 fortnight.
(Click here to see a large version of the Coles Shopping List )
- 1 Loaf Multigrain Bread
- 1 doz eggs
- 250g Butter
- 3 litres milk
- 6pack Frozen crumbed fish
- 1kg Frozen Mixed Vege
- 200g pack 4 leaf salad mix
- 2 Brown onions
- 2 Carrots
- 3 large ( 170g each) Potatoes
- 200g Green Beans
- 2 Tomatoes
- 1 Fresh Corn
- 500g Beef Mince
- 500g Boneless Pork Pieces
- 1.25kg Chicken Drumsticks
- 250g Bacon
- 200g Cheddar Cheese
- 420g Can Baked Beans
- 500g pack Corn Flakes
- 400g Can Tinned Tomatoes
- 825g Can Fruit Salad
- 500g Spiral Pasta
- 1kg Self Raising Flour
- 1kg White Sugar
TOTAL $50.35
Click here to see the menu full size and download it.
Calorie King calculated it as being a little too low in calories, 🙁 with week one averaging 1498 a day and week two averaging 1522. I know from past experience though that I will not be hungry on this.
The “sweet treats” are yet to be baked, but I am planning on Cornflake cookies and a basic cupcake with a bit of fruit inside.

The $25 menu ..I’m back..:)
After a long time away pondering on the best course of action for the $25 a week menu, I have decided to relaunch the site as “Frugal Foodie”
This will be the home for delicious Foodie menus created at a rock bottom price.
I will stick to a roughly $50 per fortnight shopping list and will post the list from major supermarket’s online shopping sites.
$50 per fortnight has been suggested as a more realistic figure as benefits are paid fortnightly.
I will continue to post suggested $50 menus, but will also be posting some low priced meals that I make for our actual table, just to show that you can eat restaurant looking meals at a super low cost.
I hope you will be inspired my some of my suggestions and create some “Frugal Foodie” meals from your own kitchen.
Stay tuned for the next menu plan 🙂
$50 Fortnight Weeks 3-4
As planned, I have a bit of a food stash left over from the last fortnight’s shopping. We can add some fruit and sweet things this fortnight. 🙂
I have bought sugar and flour!! So there will be some baking happening this week 🙂
I know a lot of you will be missing something sweet.
|
2 large Potatoes
|
1/2 bag of Pasta
|
1/2 tin of diced Tomato
|
3 cups of Rice
|
Curry Powder
|
Loaf of bread (minus 2 slices)
|
3 rashers of Bacon
|
200g Tuna (1/2 Tin)
|
6 carrots
|
250g Cheese
|
3 small onions
|
Item
|
Budget
|
For 1 person
|
For 1 person
|
pasta
|
$ 0.65
|
Chicken Thighs 1kg
|
$ 4.99
|
Mince 500g
|
$ 4.00
|
Fetta 250g
|
$ 2.95
|
Butter x 2
|
$ 2.78
|
Chickpeas
|
$ 0.75
|
Broccoli/Cauliflower
|
$ 2.15
|
Salad
|
$ 3.00
|
Mixed Vege
|
$ 1.59
|
Pumpkin 600g
|
$ 2.38
|
Potato 1kg
|
$ 2.95
|
Sugar 1kg
|
$ 1.00
|
SR Flour 1kg
|
$ 0.75
|
Tea
|
$ 2.50
|
Eggs
|
$ 2.79
|
Milk 3 Litre
|
$ 2.70
|
Oats
|
$ 0.99
|
Custard 1L
|
$ 1.89
|
Dates
|
$ 1.79
|
Odd Bunch Tomato 1kg
|
$ 1.77
|
Odd Bunch Apple 1kg
|
$ 2.98
|
Tinned Apricots 850g
|
$ 3.30
|
$ 50.00
|

$50 fortnight menu Week 2 – Days 3,4 & 5
Hi all,
Firstly I apologise again for the late post. 🙁
Work does tend to get in the way.
I have 3 days, meals here for you today…. so let’s jump straight into it.
Day 3
Breakfast
Omelette.
My omelette today had a bit of chopped onion and a bit of grated cheese.
Lunch
Leftover Pumpkin Curry.
As with most curries, the flavours of this had mellowed and just got better the next day.
Dinner
Chicken, Pasta with Bacon and Tomato
I cut the meat off 2 large thighs (and kept the bones for my pumpkin soup later in the week)
Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and fry off in some butter with some chopped onion and 1/2 rasher of bacon.
Meanwhile boil the 1 /2 cups pasta until al dente.
When the pasta is cooked, add it to the pan with the chicken/bacon and gently stir in about 1/2 can of tinned tomatoes.
Heat through and serve.
(This made enough for 3 good sized servings.)
Day 4
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Leftover Chicken Pasta from last night
Dinner
Fried Rice.
(I actually cooked the rice for this last night. I find fried rice is always better with cold cooked rice to start)
Boil 1 cup of rice . Once cooked, spread out on a try and leave to go cold. Overnight in the fridge is good.
In a pan, melt a tablespoon of butter ( you actually need a fair bit of butter, because you do want to actually “fry” the rice) Sautee off some chopped onion,diced carrot and bacon. Add in the cold rice and stir until everything is coated in melted butter. I also added in a cube of frozen spinach that I defrosted and roughly chopped.
Day 5
A simple day today with minimal cooking required 🙂
Breakfast
Poached egg on Toast
Lunch
Fried Rice Leftovers

Bulk meat buying at Meat City.
I promised here a little while back that I would post our bulk meat shop from Meat City. We venture down the highway for the 50km drive because of the consistently low prices and great quality.
We do a big stock up once every 3 or 4 months. If you are reasonably local, do have a look at Meat City’s website and sign up to receive their weekly specials. (I am in no way affiliated with Meat City other than being a regular customer)
This trip’s buy produced the following. All of which goes straight in the freezer.
We will not go back until we have eaten all this batch.
Click on the picture to see it full size

The number of a meals is a minimum estimate. I have estimated a minimum of 4-6 serves from each lamb roast ( not including leftover sandwich meat). There is also 500g of “lamb scraps”in the freezer which will be turned into curries.
The chicken wings have been made into 20 serves of soup/stew for lunches.
We buy whole loins and have the butcher cut them into chops. One of the loins had a really thick layer of fat, so we got the butcher to cut the skin off and score it ready to be made into delicious crackling (YUMMMM) As you can see, we paid $7.99/kg. I was in Woolworth’s recently and they had pork loin chops on “sale” for $15.99 kg
The T-Bones are quite big, so we only need one between the 2 of us.
Mince gets frozen in 250g portions.
The Eye Fillet was a “buy one – get one free” so averaged out at ~$18.00/kg and has yielded 8 meals.
The beef cheeks are also being made into soup/stew lunches
The price of supermarket meat has been the biggest surprise to me while doing this challenge. The cheapest red meat I can find in Woolies is mince at $8 or $9 a kilo.
price | kg | meals | |
Lamb | |||
Half Side | $ 27.17 | 3.022 | 10 |
Half Side | $ 29.06 | 3.232 | |
Whole Leg | $ 33.27 | 4.164 | 6 |
Chicken | |||
Drumsticks | $ 6.75 | 2.258 | 13 |
Drumsticks | $ 7.58 | 2.536 | |
Wings | $ 3.46 | 1.740 | 20 |
Wings | $ 2.47 | 1.240 | |
Pork | |||
Pickled Pork | $ 10.65 | 2.668 | 6 |
Loin Chops | $ 21.17 | 2.650 | 10 |
Loin Chops | $ 20.31 | 2.542 | |
Leg Chops | $ 8.12 | 1.628 | 4 |
Beef | |||
Mince | $ 9.92 | 1.988 | 12 |
Mince | $ 10.09 | 2.022 | |
T-Bone | $ 46.75 | 3.342 | 8 |
Eye Fillet | $ 34.99 | 1.984 | 8 |
Beef Cheek | $ 7.59 | 0.584 | 10 |
Total | $ 279.35 | 37.600 | 107 |
Average price per kilo | |||
=$279.35/37.6kg | $ 7.43 | ||
Average price per meal ( 2 people) | |||
=$279.35/107 | $ 2.61 |

$50 Fortnight Week 2 Days – 1&2
Two days menus here in this post.
I am getting through the food basket I have put aside for these challenges. I am more than confident that there is plenty of food to last the week.
I am working on the next fortnight’s shopping list and menu plan as well. I am hoping to get these posted in the next day or so.
So, on the last couple of days meals.
Day 1
Breakfast.
Scrambled eggs today. ( You know I love my eggs )
Lunch
Pasta with Bacon, Tinned Tomato and the last remnants of the packet of mixed vege.
Dinner
Potato Frittata.
I always think that “Frittata” is such a fancy name for what is basically eggy potato bake 🙂
Most traditional recipes make frittata in a pan and then finish under a hot grill. While I have made them this way, I invariably end up breaking the frittata trying to turn it out. I prefer to make the dish in a small casserole dish an oven.
Slice a large potato as finely as possible.
In a jug or bowl, mix together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk and 1 cup of grated cheese.
Butter the bottom of a small oven proof dish and place a layer of potato.
Pour over a little of the egg/cheese mixture. Add another layer of potato.
Repeat. Make the layers thin, you want lots of layers with a little egg/cheese mix between each layer.
When you have used up all your ingredients ( try to finish with a potato layer.) Dab over a bit of butter and place in a 180 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the potato is tender.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool a it before running a knife around the edge of the dish and turn out onto a plate.
Day 2
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Leftover Frittata
Dinner
A new recipe that I found online and adapted to what I had.
I made this for both the Man of the House and myself and allowed enough left over for a lunch the next day as well.
This is my Roasted Pumpkin and Chickpea Curry on Rice. (serves 2-3)
Cut pumpkin into approximately 2cm cubes ( you want about 3 cups of pumpkin cubes) and place into a hot oven for about 15 minutes or until tender and just starting to brown
Meanwhile, in a pan melt a tablespoon of butter and sautee off a diced onion and a level tablespoon of curry powder. Add a tin of undrained chickpeas.
Stir until the liquid comes to the boil, then lower the heat until the liquid reduces to a “saucy” consistency.
Add in the roasted pumpkin, stirring gently so as to not break up the pieces.
Serve on rice.
This is going to be a very versatile recipe. For those not on as strict budget as $25 per week, add chicken, meatballs or even sausages cut into pieces the same size as the pumpkin. Some baby spinach leaves would be good added and allowed to wilt down just before you add the pumpkin.
Top with a good dollop of sour cream or yogurt

Weekly Wrap Up
We have come to the end of another week.
I won’t attempt to do two weeks together again, I totally messed up a lot of that and mixed some days and ingredients 🙁
At the end of the first part of the $50 fortnight, if you followed the actual menu.

We should have….
1/2 bag of pasta
1/2 bag of rice
1/2 of our block of cheese ( 250 g)
Most of a loaf of bread
1/2 box of frozen spinach
Curry Powder
1/2 packet of Taco Seasoning
A couple of carrots
A couple of onions
Please follow along next week and see how we go 🙂
Comments I have had recently have asked for recipes for some dishes.
I will start to compile a cookbook that I will put into the downloads section.
I am very much a “throw it all in and hope for the best” cook, but I will do my best to write out some legible instructions. 🙂
Quite a few times over the past couple of weeks I have served the budget menu dishes to the “Man of the House” as well as myself. He has often said “That is not your $25 menu” when it actually has been. Some of tricks to making a dish not so “budget” are (I think) ; in no particular order.
- Presentation.. We do eat with our eyes first, so a clean plate and food arranged nicely makes a good start. A pop of colour even in the form of a few grated carrot strips or a couple of salad leaves can lift an otherwise boring looking meal into something that resembles a more expensive dish.
- Size. Now on a budget we are watching portion sizes purely from the fact that a large serve costs more. Some sneaky size stretching can be spreading a layer of mashed potato out over the plate instead of serving a small compact mound. Grate or finely slice vegetables rather than large chunks. Try to add air.. My souffle omelette for instance uses just ONE egg but fills the plate ( and the belly) possibly even more than 2 eggs on toast.
- Heat. Have ever noticed how a hot meal fills you more than a cold one? That is one reason why I will often toast a sandwich or have a hot lunch rather than meat a salad.
Same ingredients, just add heat.

$50 fortnight Week 1- Days 6&7 $25 menu Week 3 Days 6&7
Hello to all my lovely followers.
This is another catch up post to bring us up to the end of last week.
$50 menu Day 6
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Left Over Tex Mex Rice Slice
Dinner
Chicken , vege and pasta
$50 Menu – Day 7
Breakfast
Poached Eggs on Toast
Lunch
Cheese Salad Sandwich
Dinner
Tuna Filled Spud

25 menu Day 6
Breakfast
Porridge
Lunch
Cheesy Pasta Bake.
This turned out really yummy.
In a pot I boiled 1/2 cup of pasta and 1/2 cup of mixed vege until not
quite cooked ( about 6 minutes)
In a separate pan I sauteed a bit of onion in some butter and
then added about a 1/4 of a cup of milk and the last of the cheese sauce sachet.
Stir until a thick sauce is made.
Pour the cheese over the drained pasta and vege.
I then placed a few slices of tomato into the bottom of a buttered dish
and loaded the cheesy pasta mix over. Press down firmly and bake in a
180 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes.
Allow to cool a little before running knife around the outside and turning out
onto a plate. Serve with salad if desired.
Dinner
Filled Spud
This spud just had vege cheese and bacon.
$25 menu Day 7
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Tuna, vege and pasta in soup/sauce
Boil up the pasta and veges until al dente.
Drain and add the tuna and a cup-a-soup made up
in less water so it forms a sauce.
Dinner
Bacon and Cheese Burger

By admin 2 Comments
$50 fortnight Week1 – Day 5 and Week 3 – Day 5
$50 Fortnight Week 1 – Day 5
Breakfast
Souffle Omelette
I really enjoy souffle omelettes. The fluffiness of the eggy mixture coupled with a bit of cheese and veges is just a joy to start the day with 🙂 It just seems so much more than 1 egg.
Lunch
Quiche.
If I had given this day’s meal plan more thought, I would not have quiche after having eggs for breakfast.
Dinner
“Tex Mex Rice Slice”
I invented this combination a week or so ago when I discovered the range of rice and pasta sachets in Woolworths. One of the rice varieties is Mexican Rice. I loved the idea of having beef with it, but Mince is expensive from the supermarket so I did not think I was going to be able to do this until I could build up a stockpile. Then I found the Meat Sauce. 🙂 So my Tex Mex Rice Slice was born.
Recipe (using the Mexican Rice sachet)
In a pot, make up the rice as per the instructions.
Once the rice has finished cooking, allow to cool slightly.
Microwave or boil a cup of mixed veges. Add to the cooked rice along with
1/2 cup or so of meat sauce.
Add in 2 eggs which have been lightly beaten.
Mix well and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.
or until well set.
Allow to cool a little before cutting and serving with salad.
OR
Recipe ( using plain white rice and a sachet of Taco Seasoning)
In a pot, melt 2 teaspoons of butter, add rice and stir until the rice is well coated in butter.
Add 1/2 packet of Taco Seasoning mix stir well to combine all.
Add 300ml of water and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer until the rice is cooked.
Once the rice has finished cooking, allow to cool slightly.
Microwave or boil a cup of mixed veges. Add to the cooked rice along with
1/2 cup or so of meat sauce.
Add in 2 eggs which have been lightly beaten.
Mix well and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes.
or until well set.
Allow to cool a little before cutting and serving with salad.
I am going to make this again with brown rice and minced beef. It would be really lovely served with avocado and a good dollop of sour cream.
$25 Menu Week 3 – Day 5
Breakfast
Porridge ( Again i don’t cook this)
Lunch
“Pizza”
Bread spread with a bit of the tomato sauce from
the tin of baked beans then topped with chopped bacon, onion and cheese.
Grill until the cheese is melted and everything is hot.
Dinner
Tuna Rissoles withe Vege and Salad.


$50 fortnight Week1 – Day 4 and Week 3 – Day 4
I am posting twice today as I seem to have lost a day and am getting myself confused 🙁
I am having meals from both meal plans and getting myself in an all mighty mess. I twill be easier when I go back to just one menu plan 🙂
$50 menu Week 1 – Day 4
Breakfast
Poached Eggs on Toast
Lunch
Mince and Vege on toast.
This was a few tablespoons of the delicious Campbells Meat Sauce and a cup of mixed vege.
Heat until nice and hot and serve on hot buttered toast.
Dinner
Quiche

Cup-a-soup sachets are a great idea as a meal base or simple sauce. Simply use less water to get the consistency you require

$50 fortnight Week1 – Day 3 and Week 3 – Day 3
$50 fortnight Week 1 – Day 3
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Toasted Cheese Sandwich
Dinner
Stuffed Spud.
Today I had my spud stuffed with mixed vege and a couple of tablespoons of
Campbells Spaghetti Sauce with Beef.
OMG it was tasty. When I was making it,
I had thought that if I wasn’t sticking to the budget, I would have added cheese, but on tasting it, I am glad I didn’t add the cheese, I did not need it at all. Maybe a shave of Parmesan, but cheddar would have done nothing to greatly enhance the flavour.
Recipe:
Stand your potato up in a collar of foil to stop it rolling around. I use half a large-ish potato because I like the ease of getting the baked flesh out.
Cut some slices into the raw potato and dab over a bit of butter. The cuts help the butter to permeate through the cooking spud.
Once the potato is tender, remove from the oven and allow to cool enough to handle.
Scoop the flesh out with a spoon and gently mash, add in some cooked vege and a couple of spoonfuls of meat sauce.
Pile everything back into the shell and pop back in the oven until heated through.
Serve on a bed of salad.

$25 Menu Week 3 – Day 3
Breakfast
Beans
Lunch
Cheese and salad Sandwich
Dinner
Roasted Chicken Piece with Vege and cheese sauce.
I am really liking this packet cheese sauce. I probably would bother to make a regular cheese sauce normally. I would go with gravy. But this packet is cheesy enough and is just as easy to make as packet gravy. I think it might just find a regular place in my pantry.
To make this dish, I used a chicken thigh and put some butter directly under the skin. I do this with whole chickens when I roast them, makes the chicken nice and moist and the skin all lovely and crispy. My roast chicken was served on a bed of steamed mixed vege and the cheese sauce drizzled around. (Do you like how I got all “Master Chef” with my plating up here. 🙂 )

$50 fortnight Week1 – Day 2 and Week 3 – Day 2
I will diarise both meal plans into one post each day. Otherwise you will all get mightily sick of multiple posts. 🙂
$50 fortnight Week 1 – Day 2
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs on Toast
Cup of Tea
Lunch
Leftover Chicken Carbonara from last night
Dinner
Tuna Rissoles with Vegetables Served with Salad
These were super tasty.
In a pot boil a small potato and a 1/2 cup of mixed vege.
When tender, remove for the heat and mash well with nothing added ( no butter or milk)
You want quite a dry mixture. When the mash has cooled down enough to handle, add a 100g of tuna and mix gently ( you don’t want to break up the tuna too much.
Form into patties and refrigerate until firm.
Cook over a medium heat in butter until golden and heted through.
Serve on a bed of salad
.
Week 3 – Day 2
I realised too late that there are two Pasta dished here. 🙁
I don’t like that lack of variety.
Breakfast
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch
Leftover Bacon Carbonara from last night
Dinner
Chicken, Veges and Pasta in Soup
Snack
Cake and Lemonade

$50 fortnight Week1 – Day 1
Day 1
Breakfast:
Baked Beans and Toast
Lunch:
Quiche
Dinner:
Chicken Carbonara
In a pan sautee some chicken and onion in butter
Add 1/2 cup of milk (or cream if you have it)
Bring the milk to the boil, then add a cup of cooked pasta.
While the pasta is still warm, crack an egg into the pan
and stir gently until it makes a thick sauce.
Serve.

Week 3 – Day 1
I am doing 2 menus this week. The Week 3 $25 menu plan and also the 1st week of the $50 fortnight. All meals that are photographed, I did actually cook. Sometimes there will be repeat photos of dishes that repeat (Beans on toast, Poached eggs leftovers for lunch etc)
$25 per week Stand Alone Menu 3 – Day 1
Breakfast
Porridge (disclaimer I did NOT cook this.. Honestly porridge is just something I just cannot eat, but I know a lot of people do and it is a very budget friendly product.)
Lunch
Soup and Toast
Dinner
Bacon Carbonara
In a pan saute some bacon and onion in some butter. mix up a heaped dessertspoon of cheese sauce mix in 1/4 cup of milk. Ad to the pan and stir until thickened. Add in a cup of boiled pasta and mix until the sauce coats the pasta well. Serve.
And now for something COMPLETELY different. Cupcakes make with packet cake mix and lemonade. I came across this idea on Pinterest. Just 2 ingredients… Cake Mix and soft drink. (I used Vanilla Cake Mix and Lemonade)
Well I just had to try it. Homebrand Cake Mix is 80c and soft drink just 75c.
In mixer, mix the cake mix and 350ml of softdrink.
Mix for 3-5 minutes and bake in cupcake liners for 15-18 minutes at 180 degrees.
I didn’t think it was going to work as it made a very wet batter. It did rise, but I think next time I will turn the fan off in my oven as they got blown around a bit as they rose.
They taste like a normal cupcake. I am pleasantly surprised with the result of these.

A Whole New Challenge
Well the $25 a week challenge has morphed into a $50 per person a fortnight challenge.
I have had quite a few comments saying that people would prefer a fortnightly shopping list as that is how Centrelink is paid.
I do think this will be slightly easier as we can now take advantage of some bulk buying. Hopefully we can start building a bit of a pantry stockpile. Once again, for this first week, I have started from scratch.. Any carry over food items will be noted in next fortnight’s budget.
I am looking forward to this next couple of weeks. I hope you will like what I have come up with.
The shopping list and menu plans are in the Resources section on the right hand side of your page.


Week 2- Weekly Wrap Up.
Wow what a week… Than you so much for all your comments and encouragement.
This week saw a lot more variety and some red meat. Looking deeper into the supermarkets, I can see it is difficult to incorporate red meat into a stand alone $25 per week budget 🙁
I know I am particularly blessed to live in an area where we have lots of quality bulk butchers around us. Consequently we eat lots of red meat at a budget price… we are most definitely carnivores here 🙂
For those of you following who may be near the Sunshine Coast, we actually travel down to Morayfield once every 3 months or so to Meat City and stock our freezer.
We are due to go possibly next weekend, so I will do a post showing what we buy.
I have had some questions that I will answer..
I can’t buy the items at my supermarket for the prices you list. How can I stick to $25?
I have priced all items from Woolworths Currimundi on the Sunshine Coast in Qld.
I realise that some items will be priced differently in other areas. In many cases you may be able to get items (especially fresh items) even cheaper that I have done from Woolworths.
Even if your area is more expensive, the shopping list should still be a budget shop. Don’t be to concerned if my $25 basket costs you even $30. These plans are not meant to be followed religiously. If you get the basics from my plans and can now afford add some ice-cream, chocolate and luxury items,,GREAT!!!!
You have not listed snacks or drinks, what are you having?
I am a tea drinker and have 5 or 6 cups of tea with milk but no sugar everyday.
This amount of tea means I go through a full 2 litres of milk every week. I also drink 2 liters of water most days. I have an old 2L cordial bottle on my desk at work and do try to get through it each day.
I am not normally a snacker, but I have bought the 57c packet of wafer biscuits each week and have had one or two with a cup of tea after dinner. There are 14 in the pack and I can recommend them as a really nice little snack.
Are you really having that many eggs?
Eggs have been my “go to” breakfast since I was a child. I really don’t like cereal and find if I do not have a protein breakfast, I will feel headachy and hungry by 10:00 or so.
I do often have baked beans as well and will often make a pot of beans and add chopped onion and bacon to the beans. Eggs to me are breakfast though and I don’t usually have them as a quick dinner like a lot of people do. Generally the only time eggs show up outside of breakfast is in a burger or maybe a caesar salad.
You don’t have any fruit.
I am not normally a fruit eater. I do not have much of a sweet tooth. We do eat a lot of vegetables and rarely have dessert. I was quite surprised to see the prices of fruit while shopping and realise that fruit is a luxury item for many 🙁
So what is next??
I have devised 3 more stand alone $25 per week menus that will be in the resources section on the right hand side of this blog.
I may do some more stand alone menus in time, but now I will concentrate on fortnightly menus at under $50. Why? It has mentioned by many that Centrelink pays fortnightly so it makes sense to have a fortnightly shopping list. This will allow for a stockpile of ingredients to begin as well.
These $50 menus will be in 6-8 week blocks which should allow for ingredients to be used up.
I think this style of shopping is closer to real life, while still aiming for my goal of proving that you CAN feed yourself on just $25 per week.
So, please, keep following me and we will see how we go 🙂

Week 2 – Friday
YAY!!! Friday….
Easier day today meal wise as a lot of the prep has been done earlier in the week.
Breakfast
Poached Eggs on Toast
Lunch
Leftover Chicken and Rice from earlier in the week.
I had this in the freezer and just took to work and microwaved until hot

Dinner
Meat Pie
Back on Wednesday, I cooked up the last of the mince.
That night I made the rissoles for dinner, the meat patty for Thursday’s Burger and
the mince mixture for my pie for tonight.
I figured it was easier to just chop the last of my onion and use up the tomato and have everything ready to go.
It proved a good thing as I had tonight’s pie on the table in about 15 minutes.
I had originally planned on doing some chips, but decided to mash all the potato last night and used half under the chicken casserole yesterday and topped my pie with the other half today.
Here is the pie step by step.
Make the mice mixture. Lay a piece of buttered bread in a pie dish, fill, top with mashed potato, top with a bit of butter, bake until the mash is golden and the pie is hot through.
Serve with gravy. Enjoy!! Yummm

Week 2 – Thursday.
Sorry people… Life and work got in the way.
Anyway…some new posts coming up for you.. 🙂
Breakfast:
Baked Beans on Toast and Tea
Lunch:
Burger
Meat patty on toast spread with a tablespoon of tomato from
your tinned tomato, add grated carrot, salad leaves and an egg.
Dinner:
Chicken Casserole.
In a pan seal some chicken pieces in butter along with carrot and onion
Add in 1/4 can of tinned tomato and simmer until the chicken is cooked
through and the carrot tender. In the last few minutes, add in some broccoli
pieces. You don’t want them to go to mush 🙂
Serve on a bed of mashed potato.


Week 2 – Wednesday
Check back tomorrow for next week’s meal plan.
Menu Plan for the day…
Breakfast
Scrambled Eggs on Toast
Lunch
Cheese Salad Sandwich
Dinner
Beef Rissoles with Vege with Gravy
I have used the last of the mince today. (I also cooked up the mince for my pie for later in the week, but more about that in the coming days)
After adding a chopped onion and a tablespoon of tinned tomato to the mince, I formed 3 rissoles.
Two of the rissoles I had for dinner and I flattened the 3rd one to make a hamburger patty for my lunch tomorrow. I put the small potato in the bottom of my steamer, and in the steamer basket went broccoli and carrot. Serve the meal up with a drizzle of gravy.


Week 2 – Tuesday
Nice meals today 🙂 I am liking this way of eating. Simple, clean food without too much fuss. Cooking is a breeze, with any meal taking no more than 15- 20 minutes to serve up. Creative thinking has seen me have more variety that I thought I would. I have a couple of good ideas to come in the coming weeks, so stay tuned 🙂
Today saw me feasting on:
Breakfast
Baked beans on buttered toast
Cup of tea and milk
Lunch
Egg and Salad sandwich
Cup of tea and milk
Dinner
Diced chicken and onion browned off in butter, before adding a packet of “Chicken and Vege Rice” and cooking as per instructions. I also added some diced carrot and some broccoli florets as the rice was cooking.
I was, again, impressed with the taste of these packets. I am looking forward to having the leftover half of this meal for lunch in a few days.


Week 2 – Monday
Arrrgh!!! Disaster.. Well no not really.
I went to look for the picture of the really delicious filled potato that I had for dinner last night and my phone has eaten it. sigh..the price of technology.
Menu today..
Breakfast
Poached eggs on toast
Lunch
Leftover Stroganoff
Dinner
Baked Spud
Cut a large potato in half and bake or microwave it until tender.
While the potato is cooking, fry off mince and diced onion in a pan over medium heat.
When the mince is cooked, add a good tablespoon of baked beans and a few shredded spinach leaves.
allow the spinach to wilt .
Hollow out the potato with a spoon ad add the inner potato flesh to the mince mixture. Mix everything together gently so the beans don’t break up. Spoon the mince mixture back into the potato shell. I use a ring of alfoil to hold the shell steady.
Top with cheese ( I used a 1/2 slice) and return to the oven until the cheese melts. Serve with a salad and a spoon of tinned tomato as a dressing/sauce


Week 2 – Sunday
I have a confession to make today. It is Fathers Day and we are going to visit the family for lunch today. I had baked beans for breakfast, then baked the quiche with dinner and will have the quiche for breakfast tomorrow. I will show the menu plan as having quiche for lunch though. Does that make sense? 🙂
Breakfast:
Baked Beans on Toast
Lunch:
Vegetable Quiche
In a single serve pie dish, place one piece of bread buttered on both sides.
Dice onion, carrot and broccoli into very small pieces and either steam. boil or microwave until just tender.
Break one egg into a cup and add enough milk to bring the volume to 1/2 cup, mix well.
In a jug, stir well to combine the vegetables, egg mix and 1 slice of cheese ( crumbled ).
Pour over the bread and bake in a 180 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until set.
Dinner:
Roast Chicken Dinner
Who would have guessed a roast dinner on just $25.00 food budget?
Chicken pieces roast well and are cheap so why not.
In a small ovenproof dish place a piece of chicken (I have a thigh) on top of a quartered carrot,
add a small potato which has been cut in half ( or quarters if you have a larger potato) Place a few dobs of butter on the chicken and potatoes. Roast in a 180 degree oven for around 30 mins until the chicken is cooked through and the potato tender.
While the chicken is roasting, dice 1/4 of an onion and fry off in a bit of butter, when the onions start changing colour and go translucent, add a dessert spoon of gravy powder and enough water to make a gravy to whatever constituency you fancy.
Serve up your roast chicken, carrot and potato along with a couple of steamed broccoli florets and spoon over the gravy. Enjoy!!

Week 2 – Saturday
Here we are again for a new week. I do appreciate the positive feedback I am receiving for this challenge. It is certainly making me look at the supermarket shelves in a whole new way. Some of the aisles are ones I have not really ventured up for years.
One comment I received was the the packet pasta and rice was a very expensive way to buy a cheap item. I agreed, but then thought about it for a while and priced out stroganoff made form scratch vs the packet mix.
Pasta 1 cup (1/5 65c packet) 13c
Onion I small 10c ( if buying at $1 kg)
Mushroom. 30c. ($10kg)
Butter, garlic, parsley, cornflour. Approx 30c
400g of milk 40c
Total $1.13
So all up the $1.49 (which was actually only $1 as they were 3 for $3 this week ) plus 25c for a cup of milk plus 3/4 cup of water to make it up is not too bad.
It is even cheaper than my usual way which uses half milk and half cream
When husband and I looked at this we have decided to look at these sachets more often when we travel. It was very tasty BTW
On the menu today we have…
Breakfast:
A souffle omelette made with 2 eggs, about a tablespoon of chopped onion and 1/2 slice of cheese. Once cooked up in a bit of butter, I served it up with a couple of tablespoons of tinned tomato and a few salad leaves. A very satisfying start to a weekend 🙂
Lunch:
“Pizza”
A piece of toast spread with tinned tomato, about 50g of mince and onion fried up in butter and topped with 1/2 slice of cheese. Note that I have had to “crumble” the cheese slice rather than having grated cheese. Under the grill to melt the cheese and heat it through.
Dinner:
Meatball Stroganoff
100g of mince was mixed with a tablespoon of onion and a tablespoon of tinned tomato (try not to get too much juice, you really want pulp only) and worked into tiny little meatballs about the size of a marble (roughly 10-15mm across).
These were fried off in butter. Once cooked, remove them from the pan and set aside to rest. In the same pan make up the pasta mix as instructed. As the sachet I have is Chicken, Mushroom and Garlic, I added a good heaped teaspoon of gravy mix to make it a bit “beefier” Stirring until the sauce thickens, add back the meatballs and continue to simmer until the meatballs are heated through. Serve with a few salad leaves. Note this makes 2 full serves, so keep half for lunch in a few days.
I have also bought another packet of the wafer biscuits for a snack with a cup of tea at either afternoon tea or after dinner.


Week 2 – Shopping
Imagine for a moment you have nothing in the kitchen,
no pantry staples, no extras…nothing. Could you feed
yourself a varied and healthy(ish) diet for one week with
just $25.00 ? Follow my trials to see how I do.
The shopping list for this weeks menu plan came in at $24.98
There is no plain dried pasta this week!! I have managed to buy some fresh vegetables. I took advantage of the “odd bunch” of carrots and bought a full kilogram of carrots for just 98c. Sadly, though iceberg lettuce had jumped in price from $1.50 last week to $2.00 this week 🙁 so instead of being able to have a full lettuce, I was again only able to buy a handful of mixed leaves. A couple of potatoes, onions and a head of broccoli will see me eating fresh vegetables this week. I have also bought a tin of tomatoes that is basically being used as a sauce this week.
In the rice and pasta aisle, I spotted these meal bases and thought they would be a nice change from plain pasta and will provide some tasty herb/spice flavours. I have a Chicken Rice and a Mushroom and Garlic Pasta. As these serve 4 as a side dish , I am anticipating dinners and lunch leftovers. A 99c sachet of gravy mix will also help to add some extra flavouring.
I was determined to include some beef mince this week. Woolworths has their regular mince for $5.99 per kilo, I was able to buy a tray for $2.59. I have been creative and will use this mince in a number of ways to create different dishes.
A tin of baked beans will mean an alternative to eggs every morning, and will also be used as an ingredient in my Baked Potato later in the week.
To trim the budget by a few cents, I have chosen UHT milk at 95c a litre. When the budget is this slim, those 10c make a difference 🙂 I could have trimmed the budget even further by choosing 85c white bread over the $1.50 multi grain, but I think the nutritional value of the multigrain is worth the extra. I have also chosen to buy just 3 slices of “real” cheese rather than the processed cheese from last week. This was expensive at $15.99/kg, but I think the flavour will be worth it.

Tea | $ 1.99 |
Eggs | $ 2.79 |
Milk | $ 1.90 |
Bread | $ 1.50 |
Baked Beans | $ 0.65 |
Potato | $ 1.34 |
Carrot | $ 0.98 |
Onion | $ 0.47 |
Lettuce Mix | $ 1.05 |
Broccoli | $ 0.96 |
Mince | $ 2.59 |
Chicken Thighs | $ 1.39 |
Wafer Biscuits | $ 0.57 |
Rice/Pasta | $ 2.98 |
Cheese | $ 0.85 |
Gravy | $ 0.99 |
Tinned Tomato | $ 0.59 |
Butter | $ 1.39 |
Total | $ 24.98 |
This blog is not intended to be a serious food plan. It is for entertainment purposes. No responsibility is taken for any issues caused if you choose to follow the listed meal plans.

Weekly Wrap-Up Week 1
Well what a week. !!
I proved to myself that it IS actually possible to feed yourself on just $25.00 per week.
I must admit though that I need a bit more variety in meal choices than pasta every day.
I have not starved, in fact I have food left over. I have 9 teabags left , a full bag of pasta, 1/2 bag of mixed vege and 2 slices of cheese. Now that is not necessarily a good thing. It probably means I had too much pasta and not enough vege for each meal.
Each of the meals was 1 cup of each. The Kj count must be ok though as I have not lost any significant weight so I am happy that this week’s meal plan is reasonably healthy and most definitely filling.
Being on such a tight budget is definitely a challenge and you do have to be creative. For the second week I have tried to incorporate some fresh vegetables and some red meat, even if it is only mince. the other challenge is to bring in some spice & herb flavours. By investigating the sachets in the spice aisle of the supermarket, I have come up with some interesting ideas to use in coming weeks menus.
I have been asked to do a number of variations on this $25 per week theme. More than a few people have suggested a 2 week plan of under $50, as centrelink pensions and benefits are paid fortnightly.
I have made a decision to expand this to include a number of stand alone $25.00 menus for one, which I will price out for 2 people as well. I will also be creating some under $50 a fortnight stand alone menus, also priced out for 2.
These stand alone menus plans are meant to be just that..Stand Alone.. They do not require any pantry items or bulk pricing. Just the amount of money allotted.
These menu plans might be useful for people starting from scratch, or even when on holiday and staying in a self contained apartment.
As well as these stand alone menus, I will create some 10-12 week “blocks”. These plans will include some bulk buying, where ingredients will be carried over for use in a following menu.
Thank you to all those who have given me feedback this week. I look forward to where this journey will take me next 🙂


Friday – Day 7
Here we are the end of the first week.


Week 2.. Starting again 🙂
I am enjoying this challenge.
Here is my shopping list and menu plan for Week 2. There is a bit more variety this week.
I hope you will follow along with me again next week. Stay tuned for the update after I shop when I will update the list with the actual amount spent.



Thursday – Day 6
On the menu today…
Breakfast
2 eggs scrambled with a cup of mixed vege that I heated through in the microwave before adding to the pan. Served on hot buttered toast and a cup of tea.
Lunch
A cheese and salad ( spinach, carrot and cucumber)
This was a busy lunch at my desk today 🙁 Not sure I even managed a cup of tea until later in the day.
I keep a bottle of water on my desk so am always sipping away.
Dinner
Pasta with 1 cup of mixed vege and the last of the tin of tomatoes (although I have kept a couple of tablespoons aside for my Bacon sandwich for Friday night’s dinner) I topped the whole lot with most of the bacon I have left, again keeping a few pieces for dinner on Friday,
Wednesday – Day 5
On the menu today we have:
Breakfast;
Bacon and Egg on toast ( the same as Monday hence the copied photo)
and the ever present cup of tea 🙂
Lunch:
Tuna with pasta, beans and tomato
Dinner:
Chicken, pasta and vege in soup sauce
Today’s cooking prep was easy. While my breakfast was cooking I boiled up a cup of pasta ready for lunch at work. Once cooked, I put the pasta in a microwave container along with the second half of my tuna, the last 1/3 of can of bean mix and 1/3 can of tomatoes. It all got “nuked” at lunchtime.
For dinner
Start with a drumstick cut off the bone and cut into bite size pieces.
In a pan over medium heat, brown the meat off in a bit of butter.
Once browned,take the chicken pieces out of the ban and keep aside
Add 1.5 cups of water and a sachet of soup mix to the pan along with a cup of mixed vege and a cup of dried pasta.
Gently scrape up any chicken bits that are stuck to the pan.
Simmer gently until the pasta is cooked and the soup reduces to a nice thick sauce.
Add the chicken pieces back to the pan and heat through well.
Serve
People have been asking if I am hungry.
The answer is NO. If anything I feel a bit bloated. I put this down to the amount of bread and pasta. ( I am not going to be able to eat all the pasta)
The menu plan for next week (which I will post on Friday after I shop ) has a lot less pasta and more variety of meals.

Tuesday – Day 4
Another work day.
The menu today is:
Breakfast:
2 x poached eggs on hot buttered toast
and of course the ever present cup of Tea 🙂
( I am MOST impressed with myself that I managed to get my eggs onto the toast without breaking them. I was expecting to destroy them because I needed to take a picture 🙂
Lunch:
1 x Cheese sandwich (which I toasted)
Cup of Soup.
(I am actually pleasantly surprised with this home brand soup. I would not ordinarily buy this as they have been, in the past, far to salty and without flavour for me. I was planning on using some of my milk to add to the cup, but have not needed to. Don’t get me wrong they are still a sachet of artificial colours and flavouring, but they are adequate for a “sometimes” food and are quite satisfying.)
Snack
2 x Wafer biscuits
Cup of Tea with milk
Dinner
Pasta boiled with a cup of mixed vege, stir through 1/3 can of diced tomato, top with cheese and grill until the cheese is melted. Who doesn’t LOVE melty cheese mmmmm 🙂

Monday – Day 3
Back to work today 🙁
The fact that I remembered to take my lunch to work is a miracle in itself. We have a well stocked kitchen at work with a lot of leftover meals in the freezer. So lunch is usually “something” from the freezer heated through in the microwave.
On the menu today we had:
Breakfast
Bacon and eggs fried in a little butter. Serve on top of buttered toast
Sprinkle with a little bit of chopped spinach leaves to make it look pretty !!
Team with a cuppa and you have the perfect start to the day
Lunch:
1 x Salad sandwich
1 x Cheese sandwich (which I toasted)
Cup of Tea with milk
Snack
2 x Wafer biscuits
Cup of Tea with milk
Dinner
Chicken on a bed of beans and tomato

Chicken on a bed of beans and tomato
In a pan, heat some butter and gently fry a piece of chicken until cooked through and golden brown. ( I removed the bone from one of my drumsticks and made a “fillet”)
Remove chicken from the pan and keep warm
Pour 1/3 can of diced tomato into the pan the chicken was cooked in.
Stir well scraping up all the ” chickeny” bits off the bottom of the pan.
Add 1/3 can 3 bean mix and simmer until everything is hot and the sauce reduces slightly.
Slice the chicken into pieces and place on top of the tomato and bean mix.

Sunday – Day 2
Woke up to grey skies, so a lazy Sunday is in order today.
Breakfast is two eggs scrambled on top of hot buttered toast. ( I added a couple of spinach leaves just to “MasterChef” it up. 🙂 Along with a cup of tea, it is a good start to the day.
Simple lunch of “Pizza” and a cup-a-soup.
“Pizza” is a piece of bread toasted on one side only to create crisp base. If your toaster cannot take a double piece of toast, you can toast the bread on one side in a frying pan.
A smear of tomato from my tinned tomatoes for a sauce base add some diced bacon, top with cheese and grill to brown, bubbly deliciousness. A cup-a-soup sachet created a nice warm drink to round out this meal.
We were actually out for the afternoon, so no afternoon tea today.
Dinner was a quick mix of pasta and mixed veges (cook the mixed veges in with the pasta for a one pot meal) When the pasta and veges are cooked, add 1/2 tin of tuna and 1/3 can of diced tomato. Stir through and serve.

Saturday.. Day 1
I have made a couple of decisions to aid me in making sure everything lasts the week.
I will measure out out 300ml of milk to use each day. Now, my math tells me that 7 x 300ml is 2.1L and of course I only have 2L, so the sneaky plan is to take out 100ml of milk from the carton, top it back up with 100ml of water. Voila!! 2.Ll of milk that you cannot taste any difference with.
I have put 7 teabags out near the kettle and will keep track of how many cups of tea I have.
I have put my block of butter in a separate tub and my husband is under instructions that it is MINE!!! I chose to use salted butter over margarine for a couple of reasons. Firstly margarine is just a horrid chemical filled concoction that I cannot justify putting into my body if I have a choice. Secondly, I can use butter to cook with as well as using as just a sandwich spread. Thirdly, I chose to use salted butter as I do not have any added salt to add to my meals, so this will help add a little more flavour. (not that I use a lot of salt anyway)
Here is the outcome of today’s meals…
On the menu today is..
Breakfast
2 egg omelette with bacon
Cup of tea with milk
Lunch
Cheese and Salad sandwich on multi grain bread
Cup of tea with milk
Snack
2 Wafer biscuits
Cup of tea with milk.
Dinner
Pasta with Tomato, beans and cheese.
Cup of tea with milk
- 2 Eggs (Separated)
- Small Rasher of Bacon Diced
- Butter for frying.
Fry gently in butter to each side until golden brown and the egg it set.
Lunch time saw me portioning out my salad veges in preparation for salad sandwiches through the week. I thought to get the most from the little cucumber and carrot, I made strips of cucumber with a potato peeler and grate the carrot. Mixed with the spinach leaves it certainly did provide a more than adequate filling for my sandwich.

through with a 1/3 tin of my diced tomato. A slice of cheese on top and under the grill until the cheese was all nice and bubbly . I am most certainly not hungry, and am now more excited to keep going.
Week 1 shop…Under Budget 🙂
Here is the update of my shop.
You may notice the column labeled “Actual (Deemed)” If a price is in RED, that indicates an item that I have not actually bought because I have the same product already at home.
There was no Lettuce mix left so I have had to substitute baby spinach leaves to get some fresh green leafy vege into to meals. I will have to get creative with some vege next week.

Week 1 shop…Under Budget 🙂
Here is the update of my shop.
You may notice the column labeled “Actual (Deemed)” If a price is in RED, that indicates an item that I have not actually bought because I have the same product already at home.
There was no Lettuce mix left so I have had to substitute baby spinach leaves to get some fresh green leafy vege into to meals. I will have to get creative with some vege next week.

Week 1 … Shopping List and Menu Plan
Week 1….Shopping List and Menu Plan
After spending the morning on the Woolworth’s Online site to gather pricing information, I have come up with this shopping list and Menu Plan.
I will update this with actual prices and photos of purchases tomorrow after I have actually done the shop.
Stay tuned for the next installment 🙂

Feeding myself on $25.00 per week… Possible??
A post popped up on LifeHacker this week regarding a journo who had pondered the question back in 2010 if he could feed himself for the price of a cup of coffee per day.
The figure he came up with was $25.00 for the week. (Read the original 2010 article here.)
He revisited this idea as to whether or not he could still do it in 2015. (read the follow up here. his conclusion was he could not buy his original basket of food for the $25.00.
That got me thinking…..
Is it possible to feed myself on just $25.00 per week? At first thought.. I thought not. My husband and I tend to not buy much food from the supermarket as the prices are much higher than the green grocer and bulk butcher we use. The staples that we do buy from Woolworths tend to be Home Brand or “Select” brand anyway so the idea of using these cheaper items does not phase me.
After reading the original meal plan, I decided to tweak it see how I got on.
This blog will follow my journey for one month of $25.00 meal plans.
Firstly…The Rules
- As per the original article, I will stick to the closest supermarket to our home, making the assumption that someone spending just $25.00 for food would not have a car. Our local Woolworths centre does not have a green grocers in it, so I will have to buy F&V from Woolies as well. Our centre does have a butcher, bread shop and a chicken shop, so I may use them as an option.
- No bulk pricing (read the original article as to why)
- Existing supplies…. I am going to be a little elastic here. I am going to make a firm menu plan with a detailed shopping list that will be priced out. BUT I am not going to buy food that I already have in the house. It would be silly on my part to “double buy” goods that I already have. I will photograph everything I buy and use.
- I am aiming for a kJ count of 7238 per day which is the figure that Calorie King came up with for a woman of my age, weight and lifestyle. I will average this out over the week, meaning my total food consumption needs to be around 50666 kJ.


By admin 2 Comments
Week 1….Shopping List and Menu Plan
Week 1….Shopping List and Menu Plan
After spending the morning on the Woolworth’s Online site to gather pricing information, I have come up with this shopping list and Menu Plan.
I will update this with actual prices and photos of purchases tomorrow after I have actually done the shop.
Stay tuned for the next installment 🙂
By admin 3 Comments
Feeding myself on $25.00 per week… Possible??
A post popped up on LifeHacker this week regarding a journo who had pondered the question back in 2010 if he could feed himself for the price of a cup of coffee per day.
The figure he came up with was $25.00 for the week. (Read the original 2010 article here.)
He revisited this idea as to whether or not he could still do it in 2015. (read the follow up here. his conclusion was he could not buy his original basket of food for the $25.00.
That got me thinking…..
Is it possible to feed myself on just $25.00 per week? At first thought.. I thought not. My husband and I tend to not buy much food from the supermarket as the prices are much higher than the green grocer and bulk butcher we use. The staples that we do buy from Woolworths tend to be Home Brand or “Select” brand anyway so the idea of using these cheaper items does not phase me.
After reading the original meal plan, I decided to tweak it see how I got on.
This blog series will follow my journey for one month of $25.00 meal plans.
Firstly…The Rules
- As per the original article, I will stick to the closest supermarket to our home, making the assumption that someone spending just $25.00 for food would not have a car. Our local Woolworths centre does not have a green grocers in it, so I will have to buy F&V from Woolies as well. Our centre does have a butcher, bread shop and a chicken shop, so I may use them as an option.
- No bulk pricing (read the original article as to why)
- Existing supplies…. I am going to be a little elastic here. I am going to make a firm menu plan with a detailed shopping list that will be priced out. BUT I am not going to buy food that I already have in the house. It would be silly on my part to “double buy” goods that I already have. I will photograph everything I buy and use.
- I am aiming for a kJ count of 7238 per day which is the figure that Calorie King came up with for a woman of my age, weight and lifestyle. I will average this out over the week, meaning my total food consumption needs to be around 50666 kJ.
Mind Movies
humble vision board a step higher.
you create a moving visualisation of your desires
and project them to the universe.
wealth, joy and abundance will surely manifest itself.
Daily Affirmations
I have found a great app for my phone that gives me positive affirmations everyday.
Today’s is…
What does that mean to me? It means I can and will be whatever I desire. I need to stop limiting my thoughts based on others. eg: I thought I would not be able to travel as much as I desired, because DH is not a great fan of airplanes. Then I looked up the cost of first class tickets…and guess what, they were not as scary as I had imagined. When I showed him a first class Singapore Airlines suite. He admitted that would be a lovely way to travel 🙂
I am learning to release my limits by finding out the “How to make it happen” for all my desires.
More ACTION
I have slowed down…. Rather than running around frantically, I have been making a list each day of what needs doing and just got on with doing it!! My NOT multi=tasking I am finding that much more is getting done, and , as I cross things off my task list I feel more motivated to keep going.
– W. Clement Stone –
Action !!!
Focus on your vision…what actions do you need to put in place to allow the abundance to enter your life. Take action now.
Some of my actions have been to create my vision boards and place them where I can see them each and every day..I have even made the wallpaper of my phone my vision board. Sure it is a little hard to make out all the details, but just a glance and I know what it is and what is on it in detail.
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Reality Check
This week the universe made me realize that I am truly blessed with
a life at all.
After returning from a memorial service for a young friend of ours who
sadly passed away at just 29, I turned on the TV and was “channel surfing”
when I landed on Oprah . She was talking to an ex-model who said…
I will nurture friendships and family and the love I give out returns to me multiplied
Love, Laughter and Abundance
Knowing what my Abundance looks like…In detail
When I asked him what Abundance meant to him he answered “Winning Lotto”
This is how the conversation went…..
Him: Because I would have a million dollars.
Me: What for?
Him: For whatever I want. (getting cranky now)
Me: What do you want?
Him: I don’t know….a million dollars
Me: But what would you do with it- what would you do
– what would you buy?
Him: Whatever I want.
LOTS of people do this…have the wish for “something more” but don’t know what that “something” is. Why?? I think it is the point I made earlier about believing you deserve abundance. My Husband doesn’t actually believe he will ever win Lotto because “People like him don’t win Lotto” so of course he doesn’t.
I KNOW what my abundance looks like. (Made real by my vision board)
I have decided that I am going to create many vision boards –one for the big things and kind of like a “sub-boards” off the main board. For example…on my board is a wish to redecorate our unit. I am creating a separate board with the things I see for our unit…the furniture, the appliances the linen on the bed.
Today’s mantra….I can have my abundance in detail. I can see, taste and feel it all around me.
Making the vision real.
Following on from yesterday’s post about belief, I find that a vision board helps me focus on how I imagine my abundance and helps me truly believe in what I am inviting.
I have been making “vision boards” in some form for years before i knew what they were. My school diaries were littered with pictures of things I dreamt about. Whether it was a cute new top or my first little bomb of a car.
My current vision board has not been updated in quite some time and to my surprise I have found that pretty well acheived everything on that board. This may explain why I have been flat and feeling without purpose for the past 6 months or so….. I have not invited anything new into my abundance. of course I know i should not be surprised…because that is what vision boards do, they are a concrete, focused way of inviting your dreams.
I deserve abundance and believe I will be abundant.
Today’s mantra is BELIEF I read an article recently that said…
“In order to receive we have to feel that we deserve to receive”
This got me thinking…do I really believe that I deserve true abundance??
I ( like a lot of people) have had friends and famiky that have tried to squash
my dreams and aspirations. After a few decades this is bound to sink in and
affect the psyche.
How to break the cycle of limiting one’s own dreams??
To affect lasting change in our feelings of worthiness we must allow ourselves to connect with our essential self, that knows beyond all and every doubt that we are deserving of the very best at all times. We must also be ruthlessly honest with ourselves recognising and admitting when we are behaving against our better judgement to seek approval from others or when we are betraying ourselves by giving too much credence to the limiting voices of self judgement in our heads.
My mission today is to re-affirm to myself that I trully deserve the abundance I
am inviting.
I AM worthy and I believe that abundance will come. “The thing always happens that you really believe in and the belief in a thing makes it happen” – Frank Lloyd Wright

What is “Abundance”
That is the loaded question 🙂 According to the dictionary…
.–noun
1. an extremely plentiful or oversufficient quantity or supply: an abundance of grain.
2. overflowing fullness: abundance of the heart.
3. affluence; wealth: the enjoyment of abundance.
For the purposes of this blog, my “abundance” is to have an abundant life. I am inviting an abundance of love ,wealth and happiness.
I am starting by giving thanks for the abundance i already have.
Thank You for great friends and wonderful family
Thank You for a business which is growing and will provide the abundance i am inviting.
Thank You for a perfect location to live and be abundant in.
Today I invite abundance…..
