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2018 Christmas Gift Guide

Posted on December 14, 2018

Christmas is fast approaching with only 13 days to go so in case you have left it to the last minute and are panicking about what to buy your loved ones, and how to do so intentionally -this gift guide was written with you in mind! This includes some of my own favourite things or things that are on my own wish-list 😉

Here is my 2018 Christmas Gift Guide so you can gift more intentionally this year and find the perfect gift for your loved one!

Gift a zero-waste friendly Safety Razor for a great shave and help reduce disposal alternatives ending up in land fill!
Candles are always on my wishlist! My favourite being Glass House. Anything Caramel, Vanilla or fruit scented and I am hooked. (Let me know if you have any other recommendations in the comments! :))
A set of travel bags are perfect gift for any loved one who values travel. I bought this exact set about a year ago and have used it every trip since. These will staying organised when travelling a breeze!
These Reusable Straws are a great addition to kitchen basics or to carry with you and say #notothestraw
A universal travel adaptor for your jet setter to save them storing 10 different adapters for their travels!
A Lush gift box. There are different price ranges from all budgets started as low as $15 dollars and going up from there. They come pre-wrapped in recyclable materials with beautiful designs. And would doesn’t just love Lush 🙂
Who can resist a gorgeous Essential Oil scent to create a peaceful home for your loved one. This pack is great for beginners to Essential Oils and come in a variety of scents with handy dandy Tea-Tree oil which with a quick Pinterest search you will realise does so many amazing things!
An experience! Gift a movie voucher, a meal, tickets to your loved ones favourite band, an upcoming musical, or tickets to the observatory.
Books are always a great thoughtful gift that can provide continued value to your loved one. Some of my favourite’s are Chris Hogan’s Retire Inspired, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and Affluenza. Check out my other favourite top 5 Finance Books that would make an intentional gift for anyone you know who wants a fresh financial start in 2019.
Consumables, consumables, consumables! As a minimalist I love to receive and gift consumable gifts. It’s great as it doesn’t clutter up your recipients home and it can really show them how much you know them. Great ideas are a bottle of their favourite wine or spirits, their favourite chocolates (especially those ones that only come out a Christmas!), their favourite beauty brand essentials or a new years planner for the busy guy or gal in your life.

Don’t forget to order your Christmas Gift List Printable to help keep your Christmas Budget on track!

This weeks comment question: What are your favourite intentional gifts to give at Christmas? Or has your family decided just to do a secret santa or forgo the gift side of things?

Budgeting

How to Plan a Debt Free Christmas

Posted on November 27, 2018

Check out these 8 Ways you can Plan a Debt Free Christmas this year!

Christmas is a time to be with loved ones and make memories together. But often before you know it, the end of the year has crept up again, and you are facing the stress of thinking about how you are going to afford to buy everyone gifts.

With pay options like After Pay and Zip Pay on the radar, it’s even more tempting to just ignore the impending budget hit and charge those gifts and leave the worrying about paying them later. Or not worrying at all and ignoring your growing credit card debt until it becomes a bigger problem.

According to a new forecast of Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) data analysed by finder, Aussies borrowed a combined $29 billion on credit cards in December 2017. That breaks down to an equivalent of $1,727 in purchases per card. This is up from the $1,666 the average cardholder owed in credit card debt after the Christmas period in 2017.

These are pretty worrying statistics with 5% of Australians admitting to taking more than 12 months to pay off their Christmas credit splurges! Think of the interest! An average $1727 spent per person at a 22% interest rate paid off over two years adds an additional $375 in interest payments.

Table above shows Total payable inclusive of interest on $1727 borrowed at 22% over 4 and 2 years, respectively.

Christmas shouldn’t and doesn’t need to be a time of financial stress or an excuse to go into more debt. With a little planning we can take the stress and financial sting out of Christmas and plan a Debt Free Christmas. And a little planning and effort can go a long way!

How You Can Plan a Debt Free Christmas

1. Make a promise to yourself that you won’t be going into debt for ANY gifts
Let’s all take a moment and think about this. If you don’t have the money in cash to buy gifts and are going into debt to buy them, you can’t afford it. This goes the same for if you don’t have an Emergency Fund of at least $2000 saved up. Until you acknowledge this you will continue in a debt cycle and never catch up.

Family may be upset at your lack of generosity, but it’s important to stop digging your financial hole more into the ground in order to keep others happy. And besides, family and friends should always want to support you in achieving your goals! And as Dave Ramsey says, Live like no one else, so you can live AND GIVE like no one else 🙂

It may take having a year off buying anyone gifts to get onto your feet and build up a small Emergency Fund and pay down some debt but it’s a necessary step in order to change your financial situation. And don’t fret I will give you some tips on how to still give gifts below 🙂

2. Save ahead of time with Sinking Funds
The number one thing you can do to have a debt free Christmas is to save ahead of time with Sinking Funds. This means saving up a little each month rather then trying to scrounge dollars at the 11th hour. The best time to start is January. This will give you 11 months to save and you will have your total budget by Dec 1st.

Every January I want you to set your Christmas budget. How many people do you have to buy for? What are you going to spend? What do you need for Christmas meals/entertainment? Divide that total number by 11 and put this away every month. Check out this Christmas Gift List to help you get started. When Christmas rolls around you will have the cash ready to go without any temptation to reach for that credit card.

3. Shop early
Don’t leave your Christmas shopping for a week or two out. Take advantage of earlier sales like Toy sales or Black Friday deals in late November. When you leave it to the last minute you don’t allow yourself time to shop around for the best deals, which can save you serious cash! Shopping early also gives you ample time to check reviews and ask around for other people’s recommendations to make sure you are buying a good quality item.

4. Shop second hand
Before buying brand new check for second hand items that can save you money. I just bought a second hand Wii game in very good condition for $26 and saved myself $20. Sometimes you can find second hand items for half the price or less that are brand new with tags attached or like new.

5. Have a Cris-Cringle
A great way to save money is to set up a Cris-Cringle and buy one gift rather than a gift for each person. Not only can this save you money, and allow you to buy a more quality gift but it will save you time shopping for multiple gifts. A friend of mine’s family has a $75 budget and each person makes a list of three items within the budget they would like which means that you can by a gift that will truly add value to your loved ones life!

6. Gift frugally

If you are really short on cash and considering going into debt to buy gifts STOP. Just because you don’t have much money doesn’t mean you have to resort to going into more debt. Get creative and think about what home-made gifts you can make or consider gifting your time!

Can you draw a portrait for your loved one?
Are you handy and can offer them some of your time to help with repairs?
Can you offer free babysitting?
Are you a good baker and can bake some cookies or put together a yummy hot chocolate pack?
Or make some DIY beauty products?

Think outside the box. Gifting a hand-made gift can be more appreciated than the store bought one.

7. Get Hustlin’
If you are short of cash spend the month leading up to Christmas hustling for some extra cash.
Here are some ideas to help you bring in some extra cash to put into your Christmas budget:
• Start dog walking
• Babysit for cash
• Check our Air Tasker for some odd jobs you can do
• Sell your unwanted clutter on eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. Read how I made $5000 selling mine here
• Rent out a room on Air BNB for the weekend
• Ask for extra hours at work for the holidays
• Cut your expenses: review your mobile phone plan, lower your grocery budget and start Meal Planning, find frugal ways to have fun to save on entertainment, check your mortgage rate and ask your bank for a better deal

8. Aim to save when it comes to food
Christmas isn’t just about the gifts, the food can add up especially if you are hosting. Here are some tips to plan a debt free Christmas and save money on food:

• Shop at Aldi. I’m a massive fan of a lot of Aldi’s range it’s a great way to save.
• Take advantage of specials. In the lead up to Christmas browse the supermarket catalogues and buy non-fresh items on special that you will need for Christmas.
• Ask everyone to bring one dish to help share the cost of food on the day. Make a list of what you need and ask around who can help make something. Every year I make a pavlova to bring along to Christmas lunch and dinner.
• Rotate Christmas with your family. Spread the cost of Christmas by rotating who hosts it each year. It also means instead of hosting Christmas every year you might only need to host it once every 3-4 years. Think of the reduction in stress levels 🙂
• Spend time estimating food as best as you can. Try not to go crazy and buy food for 50 when you are only having 30 guests. Take note each year or how much food was left verses what you bought for an indication of what you will need next time.
• These tips on How to Save on Your Grocery Budget will help your dollar go further too!

And there you have it Minimisers, 8 tips to Plan a Debt Free Christmas!

This weeks comment question:What are your tips to save money at Christmas and celebrate Christmas Debt Free? Let me know in the comments

[Photo: Tyler Delgado @ Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Budgeting

My Top 5 Personal Finance Books

Posted on November 6, 2018

Today I wanted to share with you my My Top 5 Personal Financie Books. I am a huge fan of reading and although I don’t get a lot of time to catch up on my wish list of books to read I do try and get around to reading one book every month. It’s not a huge number and nothing to brag about (I’ve seen some people on Insta do 12 a month… WHAAAAT) but I do make an effort to learn and grow and one of the best ways I have found to do that is to read a lot of different books.

Over the past handful of years and as I discovered new passions like Simple Living and the F.I.R.E movement, I have come across many amazingly educational and helpful books across many topics ares: Minimalism, Finance, Consumerism, Millionaires and Simple Living to name a few of my favourite subject areas. As an Accountant and CPA it wouldn’t come across all that strange for me to love reading about Personal Finance but I think there are so many amazing books out there now that anyone can learn from and enjoy and I promise you they will not put you to sleep. Far from it, I think they will do wonders to motivate you to pay down debt, develop new spending behaviours and learn about the big world of personal finance without having to take a three or more year degree.

And so here I will share My Top 5 Personal Finance Books with you in the hope that they will add value to your life and inspire new habits and help you on a path to financial freedom and building wealth!

**This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase of a product from the links in this post I will receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This allows me to keep my blog advertisement free and support the running costs of my blog. I only recommend products I believe will add value to others and that I love myself.**

My Top Five Personal Finance Books

5. I Will Teach You to Be Rich, Remit Sethi

I am a huge fan of Remit’s after a friend recommended me his material and loved his in your face attitude and unapologetic views on spending in his Book I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He goes as far as having a Stupid Mistakes Fund for unexpected expenses like fines and explains how you can prepare for big life expenses like weddings by thinking well ahead and saving up over the longer-term. He delves into his investment choices and why he believes index funds outperform their higher fee counterparts. And gives valuable advice on how to haggle on cars and other big purchases ‘like an Indian’ without wasting your time. If you’re someone who prefers a less prescriptive finance guru who doesn’t spout cut up your credit cards and count every last cent and someone who has a bigger picture approach to finances that won’t make you cut out your daily coffee, this book is for you.

4. The Millionaire Next Door, William D. Danko

Like most people, I am fairly fascinated by millionaires so when Mr J. Money at Budgetsaresexy.com recommended this one I had to satisfy my curiosity – How do Millionaire’s live (do they know things let’s find out – Bojack Horseman anyone ;))? Don’t we all want to know that?

This book was based around research conducted over 20 years about the spending habits of millionaires from their car buying habits, where they live, how they invest, what they wear and so on. It also delves into ‘entitlement syndrome’ and how to raise self-sufficient kids who don’t expect everything handed to them on a platter from the bank of Mum and Dad. Great for any Mum’s and Dad’s out there!

It also details the spending habits of PAWS and UAWs (Underaccumulators of Wealth) and the difference in their spending behaviour. If you are keen to achieve millionaire status, or just are a little curious about how your undercover millionaire lives their life check out The Millionaire Next Door.

3. Your Money Or Your Life: 9 Steps to Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence: Fully Revised and Updated for 2018, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez

This was the book I was looking for my whole life, and I only just finished listening to it THIS MORNING. I heard Mr Money Moustache mention it as a top recommendation a few years back but it took me this long to get a copy and read it. But it was well worth the wait.

Your Money or Your Life was originally published in 1992 but was re-released in 2008 and 2018 with the addition of a foreward by none other than Mr Money Moustache himself, to be more relevant to today’s financial climate. If you are a finance nerd who loves spread sheeting, tracking every dollar and aspire to F.I.R.E. (Financial Independence, Retire Early) this is a book that can give you a thorough plan.

It’s based around the 9 steps Vicki and Joe used to become financially independent and the concept of trading your life energy for money. And has some amazing crossover if you love topics on Minimalism, Side Hustling and Frugality. This book touches on everything you can think of: how to invest your money, aligning your values with career and investing, ways to save money and live a more meaningful life and earning more. It provides you with the tools to track your income vs expenditure and your passive income as well as calculating your Net Worth.

If you are keen to make your money work for you and get your time back and want to get even nerdier with your budgeting approach and learn about investing this book is a great place to start.

2. The Total Money Makeover, Dave Ramsey

I first heard of this book about three years ago now and was the first personal finance book I read on my finance book binge. As I read it something just clicked inside of me, as if Dave was saying the words I had been thinking all along – I hate debt and I want out! His reference to #gazelleintensity just described my attitude to debt in a matter of two words – RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.

The Total Money Make Over is based on the 7 Baby Steps and give a clear cut plan on how to get out of consumer and mortgage debt and build wealth. If you are sick of living week to week and can’t take the stress of another financial emergency this book could seriously change your life.

Dave has some amazing principles on spending and approaching debt that can unwind you from even the most stressful financial situations without the need for bankruptcy but definitely with a bit of sacrifice – on a rice and beans level. If you are sick of debt please read this book today, you won’t be able to put it down.

1. The Barefoot Investor, Scott Pape

As an Aussie lover of finance, there was no way I could look past our own homegrown finance guru Scott Pape with his recent book The Barefoot Investor The Only Money Guide You Will Ever Need. If you want a finance book which won’t bore you and that can get your partner involved in the conversation this is it! The Barefoot Investor is based around Date Nights with your partner where you tackle different financial areas from Health Insurance, Superannuation, your Mortgage, growing your Wealth and Retirement.

A great one for people who get the chills thinking about budgeting, Scott’s bucket system is simple and easily implemented by even the most novice people. If you are an Aussie as well you can’t go past a recent book that focuses on the Australian related finance space and there is not one 401k or Roth IRA section for you to skip over 😉

And there you have it guys My Top Five Personal Finance Books to get you started on your #debtfreejourney and path to building wealth!

What are your favourite Personal Finance Books? Let me know in the comments, I am always keen for new recommendations! 🙂

[Photo: Sharon Mccutcheon @ Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Budgeting

13 Realistic Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster

Posted on October 30, 2018

Paying off your mortgage doesn't have to be miserable. Check out these realistic saving tips to pay off your mortgage faster.

I’ve listened to hours upon hours of financial advice from finance gurus like Dave Ramsey, Scott Pape and Chris Hogan and the one thing that gets repeated again and again is the importance of paying off your debt so you can start building wealth. This is simply because when we don’t have any repayments we get to keep our pay cheques. Sure there are still bills to pay bills will always be there, but when you have no debt: no credit card repayments, no monthly car repayments and you own your home you have more of your pay to keep and to make your money work for you. And with the most recent rise in mortgage interest rates which are predicted to keep going up after a long stint of interest rate drops, it’s extremely important to try and pay off your mortgage faster whilst the times are good.

Let’s imagine this following scenario.

You buy your first home when you turn 30. With a 30 year mortgage term you are going to be putting a large chunk of your pay, often more than 25% of it towards towards paying off that mortgage until you are 60.

Imagine if instead of paying your mortgage off in 30 years you could bring it down to 15 years and own your own home by 45 instead of 60. And if you buy your home later in life, or through other circumstances you didn’t get to pay off as much of it as you would have liked, think of how great it would be to own your home before retirement. Future you is going to be super happy with you.

There are many financial and lifestyle opportunities that open up when you not longer have to pay off a mortgage. These include:

Being able to reduce your workload from full-time down to part time, or completely changing careers to something you love even if it doesn’t pay as much as your last job.
Being able to retire early
Eliminating a house or rent payment altogether from your budget
Being able to travel to your dream destinations
Having the extra cash to help your kids with college
The freedom to spend more on you

Who wouldn’t want those things!

But I want to have a life now!…

I often hear people say they’d rather enjoy their life whilst they are young then worry about debt later if at all, but this doesn’t have to be a one or the other scenario. Paying off your mortgage doesn’t mean having no life for the next ten to fifteen years. It’s certainly possible to find a balance between enjoying life and paying off your mortgage. It certainly won’t be without it’s sacrifices, but if you get a little creative and focus on some savings methods that don’t require you to miss out on anything such as making sure you are getting the best interest rates available you can get that mortgage paid off with much less pain than you think. Let me help you with how.

Check out 13 Proven Ways to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster so you can have a life and be debt free – house and all much sooner!

13 Realistic Tips to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster

Make extra weekly repayments

Unless you want to spend the next 30 years or so with a mortgage, and paying for your house three times over with interest added on top, don’t settle for paying the minimum repayment on your mortgage. It is as it indicates, only the minimum you should be paying. Every little bit extra you can throw on top adds up.

Even if you don’t have much to add to your minimum repayment minimise what you can in your budget and redirect that money to your mortgage. Check out these tips to save money and my eBook 101 Ways to save money for ideas on how you can free up some money in your budget to pay off your mortgage faster.

On a $400,000 mortgage at 4% with a 30 year term, and extra $20 a week shaves off $26,367 in interest and 2 years and four months. Throw $50 a week on top of the minimum and that increases to a saving of $57,555 and 5 years and 3 months! Those are some serious time and cash savings! You can calculate your own repayments with this awesome calculator here.

Don’t forget to pay your mortgage weekly, over monthly to save again on your monthly interest.

2. Utilitise all extra money
One of the best ways to pay off your mortgage faster is to utilise those lump sums. Instead of buying a new TV with your tax return, bonus or any other sums you come into, take that chunk of cash and use it to smash down your mortgage term. Tax returns, bonuses, inheritances, gifts and so on can go a long way to reducing your mortgage balance.

Again life doesn’t have to be miserable to get ahead, if putting all your bonus feels too torturous, that’s fine you can still treat yo’self a little, take 10% to spend on something you want or need and put the other 90% on the mortgage. Or work out a split that works for you and make it a habit. Keep in mind that it’s helpful if you can throw any lump sums you get onto your mortgage as early as you can. This will knock the interest bill down much faster.

Check out how the Debt Snowball can help you get debt free faster!

3. Avoid adding to your mortgage

It can be very easy to gradually increase your mortgage over time. You start with your first home, five years later and with a couple of kiddies you decide your humble abode isn’t big enough and you take on a bigger mortgage. Next you’ve refinanced your mortgage for a new car and a kitchen and bathroom reno. Before you know it your mortgage is more and more difficult to get on top of. Refinancing can be a slippery slope where it become too easy to just refinance every must have into your mortgage and make it that much harder to pay off.

Instead, save up cash to pay for repairs or upgrades to your home or at least make sure that your new mortgage repayment is still within the 25% of your after tax income range. With that threshold in mind you can avoid letting your payments get over your head.

4. Sell your unwanted stuff

If you are finding your home is getting a bit cluttered, make some space and some extra cash to pay off your mortgage faster by selling your unwanted stuff. You’d be amazed by what money you can bring in from treasures collecting dust in your home. Check out how I made $5,000 selling my unwanted clutter here.

5. Stick to a budget.

“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”
― Dave Ramsey

Wise words from Dave Ramsey. If you don’t know where your money is going you aren’t going to be able to spend it with intention. By sticking to a budget you can make sure you are spending money more efficiently which leaves more to throw onto your mortgage. You can then go even further once you’ve got the hang of a budget, and transfer any spare cash in your monthly budget that you didn’t end up spending such as unspent grocery money to put on your mortgage. Every dollar counts.

6. Get creative with fun

Having a goal to pay off your mortgage doesn’t mean that life has to be boring. Find free or affordable ways to have fun and stretch your dollar. Make a three course meal at home instead of going out. Look for vouchers and online deals for activities to get buy one get one free offers or other discounts. Go for a walk with a friend instead of getting a coffee. Ask family to buy your kids memberships to the museum or zoo in place of other gifts so you have free entertainment all year. Learn to appreciate things in life other than shopping and eating out. There is plenty of free fun out there to be had 🙂

7. Take advantage of Mortgage Offset Accounts

Offset accounts are a great way to reduce your mortgage interest bill without having to actually pay the money on your mortgage. When you are picking a home loan make sure to find one that has a 100% offset account to save you on your monthly interest bill.

The way it works is, any money you have in the offset account linked to your mortgage will offset the interest you pay on your mortgage. So if you had a $200,000 mortgage and you had $10,000 of savings in your offset account, the interest on your mortgage would only be applied to $190,000 of the mortgage not the full balance.

With saving accounts interest rates around the 2.8% mark versus mortgage rates around 4% it is a great way to get more bang for your buck. An added bonus, as the debt savings are not income it’s tax free savings.

So let’s say continuing from the example above, you had $10,000 saved for an Emergency Fund and your mortgage rate was 4%. By letting that money sit in your offset account, you would reduce your interest bill by $400 a year. If you had put it in a savings account paying interest at 2.8% you would have only made $280 in interest and would have to pay tax out of it.

If your current mortgage doesn’t come with an offset account shop around for a better home loan that does include it so you can tap into those amazing savings!

8. Review your interest rate regularly
There are huge savings to be had from your interest rate alone. If you aren’t checking yours against your banks competitors regularly you are potentially missing out on savings of thousands of dollars per year and tens of thousands over the life of the loan.

A $400,000 home loan with a 30 year term at 4% is $440 a week versus $467 at 4.5%. If you were paying the higher rate you would be missing out on a whopping $1404 a year in interest savings. And if you are paying a much higher rate then advertised you are losing out even more.

If you find your banks rate isn’t a competitive rate or they are offering new customers a better deal call up and ask them for a better interest rate. Do your research first. If they won’t budge, consider switching banks. Don’t reward banks that are doing their best to rip you off. Finding a mortgage that is a better rate let’s you pay off your mortgage faster without you having to cut back your budget to do so.

And if your bank charges you a monthly fee for your mortgage if might also be worth changing. A $10 monthly fee might not seem like a drop in the ocean but if that $10 monthly fee was invested at 8% over the same 30 year term you could have had $15003. Doesn’t sound so small now 😉

9. Get motivated

One of the most helpful things that will help you pay off your mortgage faster is to get motivated and in a mindset to smash that debt. Even if you don’t know anyone who can support you in person you can always find others who are tackling similar goals in trying to pay off their debt. These are just a few ways to get yourself motivated to tackle your mortgage and help you stay focused in your financial goals:

Take notice of the interest you are charged each month. Instead of feeling bad about how high it is, watch it decrease month to month.
Calculate how much of your original mortgage you have now paid off as a percentage. (Original Mortgage-Current Balance)/Original Mortgage = What % you have paid off.
Print off a Mortgage chart at Debt Free Charts to colour in each time you hit a new goal.
Look at how much interest offset you are receiving each month thanks to your offset account. This will also encourage you to save rather than spend your money so you can save on even more interest 😉
Check out Dave Ramsey’s #debtfreescreams segment on YouTube for inspiration and to see how other people just like you finally paid off their debt or mortgage.
Get some support behind you. Find a friend, family member or your partner so you can hold each other accountable and motivated each other.
Check out the #debtfreecommunity on Instagram for other people who are in the process of repaying their debt tips, advice and motivation to keep you on track.
Read books like Scott Pape’s The Barefoot Investor and Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey to help you with developing a plan to tackle your debt.

10. Increase your income
Find out what you need to do to increase your income outside of side hustling and doing overtime. If you complete a course can you get a promotion? Can you get a new position with further study? Can you smash your KPIs at work and get a good raise or make the EOY bonus? Maybe you could find a better paying job if yours doesn’t offer any salary increases or opportunities for a promotion and negotiate a much higher salary at the interview.

11. Get #Hustling.
If getting a raise from work isn’t on the table at this moment, get creative and find ways to bring in more income. Other than selling your unwanted stuff, there are many other options to bring in more money. Consider taking on more overtime when you can, or take on a second job, even if it is just temporarily. It doesn’t have to be something mind numbing, use your talents. If you are an artist or good at crafts sell your work on Etsy, if you are a teacher or can teach anything you can tutor or coach on the side. Pick up some work on sites like Airtasker if you have some spare time or rent out a spare room on Airbnb to bring in some extra cash. You can even get paid good money for walking dogs, talk about winning if you love the outdoors and dogs!

The more you earn the more you have left over after expenses and can inject that straight into your mortgage.

12. Stop lifestyle creep
Do you remember a time when you easily lived off a small wage in your early 20s? With each pay rise you grew accustomed to earning that higher amount in a matter of a few weeks. Before you knew it, it seemed like your pay rise had disappeared and you didn’t have any extra to save or pay onto debt.

Instead of allowing lifestyle creep to happen, give yourself a reasonable amount to spend each month and resist increasing it each year. You’d be surprised how quickly you get used to spending a limited amount once you develop the habit.

The next time you get a raise, instead of absorbing it into your lifestyle and increasing your spending allowance, I want you to take the exact amount or your new raise each pay period and add it to your mortgage repayment. By all means if your bills increase since them update your budget to reflect that but anything left over can go straight to the mortgage. With each year and each pay rise your repayment should continue to grow!

13. Determine if you can afford your mortgage
If your mortgage is more than 25-30% of your after tax salary you are inevitably going to have a limit on how much extra you can add to your mortgage to pay it off earlier. If you’ve tried all of the above tips and still are struggling to make ends meet or are worried about how you will meet future repayments or interest rate rises this might be the time to consider whether you can afford your current home.

If you do the math and realise that you are can’t afford your keep your home, selling it might be a blessing in disguise and a fresh start. You can use any left over cash from your home to pay off your mortgage and potentially other debts you have and rent an affordable place for a year or two. You can then use that time to save up for a house deposit and start again in a couple of years with a much more manageable mortgage.

Being stressed to the eyeballs day in day out to keep your home is no way to live. And in the mean time whilst you save up for a new home, you can work on getting your income up ready to help you tackle a new mortgage in the not too distant future.

This weeks comment question: What are you doing to pay off your mortgage faster? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

[Photo: Bethany Opler @ Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Minimalism

8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts

Posted on October 16, 2018

Have you experienced gift clutter? Check out 8 ways to help you minimise gift clutter and gift more intentionally

It’s Christmas Day and you’ve just been handed a gift from insert various relation to you here. You unwrap it carefully or maybe you rip it open quickly, whatever your gift unwrapping style is, to see that it is something you love. YAY! It immediately #sparksjoy and you feel completely content knowing that the gift giver knew exactly what you wanted or needed.

Unfortunately, the perfect gift isn’t always what’s inside. Sometimes it is just something you really don’t like. Other times you genuinely just don’t need anything. It might be extra towels when you already have an overflowing linen closet or it’s another vase you now need to find a shelf for to make sure your loved one can see you enjoying it when they visit. Maybe it’s not you, it’s your kids sitting in front of a mountain of new stuff, well meaning Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles got them that fills you with dread at the thought – Where on Earth is all this stuff going to be stored?

It’s no where near the end of the world by any means, but at times like Christmas, when you might be swapping gifts with large groups of family along with your partner and children, the stress and anxiety over the potential clutter and what to do with all that extra stuff can cause overwhelm. Not to mention that pang of guilt you feel when you truly appreciate the thought of your loved one going out of their way to buy you something but the reality is that you know you don’t have the space or will never use it.

Let’s face it, no one can read our minds and know exactly what we want or need -or don’t want or need – no matter how close they are to us. Sometimes we really are just taking a stab in the dark and hoping that what we have gotten our loved one is something they will love and find value in.

Surely there has to be a better way.

Over the past three years of minimising over 70% of our stuff (that’s an educated guess, I didn’t keep track dammit) I noticed a bit of a trend in some of the stuff I was letting go. Of course the majority of it was stuff we had bought that we no longer needed (possibly never did ;)). But, every now and then we were letting go of something that had been gifted to us.

Now don’t get me wrong, we of course always thoroughly appreciate the thought that goes into picking out a gift and for the most part we did try and use or display the gifts, but in the end, sometimes you do just want to pick out your own set of matching tea towels or bed sheets.

The reality is, that everyone gets to that point where you really don’t need more stuff. There is only so much space in our homes! And if you are anything like me, when you need something you more than likely will go out and buy it yourself (and research it like crazy ‘:)) and pick the set that you absolutely love.

I know I myself have always tried to put a lot of thought into gifts for others and always worry myself silly, thinking – did I buy the right thing? I’d feel terrible if I had bought someone something that they had no use for and had been holding onto indefinitely out of guilt that I might be upset if they didn’t keep it. I think that’s probably a guilt we’ve all felt at some point in our lives…

And so, I thought with a little bit of guidance from The Minimalists gift giving approach why not change the norms around gift giving.

There has to be a better way to gift with intention and minimise gift clutter entering our homes.

Here’s 8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts to help save you the worry, stress, and mystery of giving a gift that adds value.

8 Ways to Minimise Gift Clutter and Give More Intentional Gifts

Communicate your values

First and foremost bring up the conversation. Let your family and close circle of friends know your new values and that you are trying to declutter, minimise the excess and simplify. This will help them be aware, in a non-confronting manner that you are trying to minimise gift clutter amongst other forms from taking over your house. I dropped hints about getting rid of over half our stuff and how we preferred our new found space over all that excess stuff (plus it was pretty obvious from the blog ;)).

This planted the idea in our inner circle that we really didn’t need anything, rather than expecting loved ones to read our minds and saved being overwhelmed when more unexpected stuff came into our home. And it really can add up each birthday, Christmas per person in your household and so on.

If you are bothered by your kids getting a mountain of toys each Birthday and Christmas, and the ensuing free for all that happens from there, communicate your values to loved ones ahead of time. You might be able to encourage family to stop at one gift, rather than going overboard and help you keep your sanity. Or as i go into more detail below, suggest a consumable or experience gift instead.

2. Start the trend to Ask

Minimise gift clutter for yourself and others by asking friends and family what they want for their birthday or Christmas or whatever event it is. This takes away any guess work, and worry that you might buy something they’d hate or didn’t need and bonus – it’s saves you time spending hours looking for the perfect gift. If you hate shopping like me, any way to get in and out quicker is a winner!

Of course, at first it might seem a bit out of the ordinary and uncomfortable to directly ask someone what they want and they might not even know what to ask for, but it will feel great to give a gift that is truly needed rather than trying to guess. And it goes both ways, once you set the norms to ask people directly, people will feel more comfortable to ask you what you might need.

3. Have a Gift Wish List

To help you and your loved ones minimise gift clutter, it’s going to take a team effort. If you are really bad at thinking of things you want or need when that next event rolls around, a great way to help family and loved ones to give you and your family more intentional gifts and to minimise gift clutter entering your home is to keep a gift wish list.

As you think of things you or your kids might need or want coming up to a birthday or a special occasion take note of that item and keep them as suggestions for when people ask you what you or they might need. And don’t forget to note gift ideas down as you see them for others. So many times I have come across awesome gifts for someone in particular and then come the time to buy them, I’ve completely blanked.

I had a chat with my nephew last night about how he was bored of his current book collection and he mentioned he wanted more Harry Potter books to read. So I made a quick note today to remind myself to get that for him for Christmas. It’s something I know he will appreciate and love and it means a lot to us as we can gift him books that bought us so much joy reading. And come Christmas we won’t have to pull our hair out trying to pick out the perfect gift.

A gift wish list is a great way to keep track of things that would add value to you and your family and make it easier for a loved one to get you the right gift.

4. Gift consumables.

After decluttering my own seemingly endless crap, I wanted to resist adding to others clutter. The thought of buying stuff for other people like my parents, when I knew how much stuff they already had, didn’t sit with this minimalist. Instead of buying loved ones a new ornament for them to display and dust around for the next decade (unless you know that is what they’d really love), or another book to squeeze onto their over flowing bookshelf, consider gifting them something consumable that they can enjoy and let go once it is used up.

Consumable gifts are also a great opportunity to show someone you love how much you really know them. Some consumable gift ideas to help minimise gift clutter and gift more intentionally are:

a bottle of their favourite wine
subscriptions to their favourite services; Audible, Kindle, Netflix or Spotify are great examples.
their most adored chocolates
a high quality coffee
a gift pack of beauty supplies
home made hot chocolate
art and craft supplies and activities

Keep in mind that gifts don’t have to be something physical that are kept indefinitely. It’s not less of a gift or less special if it is used up. And don’t forget, it doesn’t have to be a boring box of chocolates (not that there is anything wrong with chocolates, unless they contain almonds – uck!).

One year my friend filled a jar with different lollies and took out all the ones she knew I didn’t like. It was just the best gift ever in my eyes, it was not only consumable but showed me that she knew me well enough to know what lollies I liked and hated and I have not forgotten that gift more than 10 years later 🙂 And as they say, it’s the little things that really count. Check out these 10 Minimalist Gift Ideas for more ideas.

5. Gift experiences.

Experiences make great gifts as they not only minimise gift clutter completely from entering your home, but are something that can be shared and remembered for a long time to come.

Think back to Christmas two years ago. Do you remember what you were given?

Most likely not, but you are more likely to recall the concert you were given tickets to. And aren’t memories the best gift of all? 🙂

There are now so many options available to gift experiences and a good range for all budgets. And it’s a great way to break away from gifting the same old gifts.

Some options for experience gifts are:

movie vouchers
a museum or zoo membership
tickets to a concert or musical
a cooking class
yoga lessons or PT lessons
a massage or float tank

You can even donate to someones upcoming holiday or offer to cover the cost of a tour they want to take. They are great gifts for all occasions.

The next time your anniversary rolls around skip the soft toy and new photo mug that’ll soon go in the back of your closet and take your partner out for dinner and buy some flowers. They’ll be just as appreciated and minimise that gift clutter that accumulates year after year.

6. Gift your time

Another gift that is often under-utilised is the gift of time. If you have a special talent or skill or just can offer a helping hand, gift your time to a loved one. And if you need a helping hand you can always ask for some time in place of a physical gift.

Some examples are:

Babysitting for a night
Help your parents minimise their clutter
Cook a few meals for a new mum
Clean the house for a friend who is stressed or recovering from an injury
Offer free lessons to someone e.g. guitar, baking, sport coaching
Help out with some house projects if you are handy

7. Gifting money thoughtfully.

I know there are some people who are not keen on receiving money in a card (and we do always make sure the card is extra awesome!) and if that is the case maybe skip this one, but for me, someone who struggles to ask for anything and likes to think about things for months before parting with my cash it has always been preferable.

For our wedding we asked guests to donate to our wishing well which allowed us to have some extra spending money for our Honeymoon in Europe. This meant much more to us than to have more kitchen appliances that we already had as we could keep those memories long past throwing out and old toaster.

For my 21st I asked family to donate to my trip to New Zealand rather than buying me other gifts as I didn’t need anything, but was really excited to spend my birthday overseas. That was all I wanted. Sure, I don’t have necklace to remind me that I turned 30, but again I have amazing memories of my two weeks in New Zealand with my husband and all those photos to look back at.

Maybe you are savings up for a new camera or something else really important to you and would appreciate a donation to your savings account over any other random trinket. I’ve genuinely found people are happy to help you save up for something as their gift when they know there is something you really want. And it’s great to do the same when it’s your turn to find the perfect gift so pay attention and keep thinking outside the box with your gifts.

8. Ask for no gifts.

I’ve never really felt that comfortable about receiving gifts. Especially if I know someone could have used the money more than I could have used the gift. If you feel similarly you can always let loved ones know that you appreciate the thought, but they don’t need to get you anything.

A comprise could be that they in place of a gift just come out and have a nice dinner or drink with you. Company is really the best gift! And if that special someone still insists on getting you something you can always ask them to donate to your favourite charity.

This weeks comment question: Do you do any of the above to minimise gift clutter and give gifts more intentionally? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

[Photo: Nynne Schroder on Unsplash.com]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

Minimalism

My Zero Waste Journey: A Beginner’s Guide to Zero Waste Living

Posted on July 29, 2018

Since discovering Minimalism and trying to lead a more intentional life, I become pretty interested in reducing my environmental footprint. Through my research I stumbled across a new lifestyle called Zero Waste Living. It’s something that over the past couple of years I have become quite passionate about learning as much as I can about it. I was extremely curious about what I could do to limit my impact on the environment.

After decluttering over half of our belongings I realised that our household had been contributing to unnecessary waste. I wanted to take steps to minimise this in the minimising process. And so whilst decluttering our home, I tried to thoughtfully dispose of everything. By either selling it to someone who would love it, donate it to someone in need or passing the items on to friends and family. I even went as far as keeping damaged items such as a large bag of old CDs and a broken microwave that I knew could be recycled at our local councils recycling collection event rather than letting them end up in land fill. If something could be recycled or passed on in some way, I was going to find it and do everything I could to keep it out of landfill. It just felt right. And hey, I brought all that unnecessary crap into my home, it was my responsibility to dispose of it in an intentional manner.

The passion to reduce my waste footprint grew from there after watching the first three episodes of ABC’s #waronwaste. I was amazed to see how much the families in the show had reduced their waste with a small amount of information and effort. I wanted to do the same, so I set myself a challenge to be more conscious of our waste management and recycling. After the first fortnight, we went from having a full waste bin to just a half full small shopping bag of house hold waste for the fortnight. I was amazed at how a small amount of education helped us to drastically reduce what we were sending to landfill and knew I wanted to do more.

I have since taken small steps to implement new, environmentally friendly consumption habits into my life. I’m in no way perfect, who is, but I feel like I have made some amazing progress in a small space of time. If you are as passionate about myself about doing your part for the environment and keen to learn more on ways that you can consume less, and live with more intention when it comes to your household waste habits check out this Beginners Guide to Going Zero Waste!

What is Zero Waste?
Zero Waste is all about reducing what waste we make in our household. This includes any food scraps, recyclables and general household waste. Going Zero Waste aims to recognises the environmental impact your consumption habits are having on the environment and eliminate as much of it as possible. It can be as extreme or relaxed as you want it, but every effort you make goes a long way!

Every bag you bin, unnecessary piece of paper you print, food you waste needs to be recycled in some way or disposed of in landfill. When you start to pay attention to what you are throwing out week after week it really is eye opening as to how much waste we are creating and throwing away.

How you can get started?
The best thing about going zero waste is there are so many amazing blogs and articles or videos about how you can reduce your environmental foot print. I started my ‘Zero Waste Journey’ by swapping out a few disposable items for reusable ones and getting a little crafty with how I used products in my home.

I started with just the easy stuff I could think of and recommend that for anyone wanting to adopt Zero Waste Living. You can always start with the easy stuff and add in more with trial and error as you go.

These are the things I did to begin my Zero Waste Living journey.

1. I replaced disposable beverages with a reusable alternative

We used to buy a 24 pack of water bottles once every fortnight. Just think, our bottled water use alone was contributing to 48 bottles of waste every month, not including our other drinks! We made the decision to stop buying these bottles an instead invested in a water filter jug to have at home. We got this one from Kmart and a stainless steel drink bottle which meant we no longer needed to buy those polluting bottles of water. Not only were we saving the environment but about $200 a year.

We didn’t stop there. I am not a coffee drinker so this wasn’t such a biggie for me but as soon as I discovered how many coffee cups ended up in landfill – all of them – I was shocked and alarmed. I had no idea that due to the waterproofing material in coffee cups that they were not recyclable. My husband is a two-a-day coffee kind of guy (I’m sure it’s actually more… XD) so as soon as Christmas rolled around I grabbed him a custom designed Keep Cup, a beautifully curated black and white design by yours truly. We ended up getting gifted another one from a friend (which I have adopted for my occasional white hot chocolate usage) and they are an amazing zero waste alternative. They are quality, dishwasher safe (you know you are old when that is exciting news!), keep your drink super warm (hot even!), come in a variety of shapes and sizes and stop those unrecyclable coffee cups from going into landfill. The next time you go for your morning coffee, bring yours along and give the environment one huge leg up!

2. Stopped buying single use straws
After learning what I could about the correct way to recycle, I couldn’t help but notice one of the things that we were binning still were disposable straws. According to StrawNoMore.org, 500 million straws are used every single day in the USA alone. That is a HUUUUGE number of straws for one country! The problem is they take so many resources to make, the plastic, energy, transport etc and only seconds to use, but never break down. Straws not only cause environmental disaster but are a huge problem for marine life. I once saw a straw being pulled out a turtle’s nose and that still bothers me to this day. No turtle or other animal should be harmed by our waste. Pledge to say #notothestraw today and swap your disposable ones out for one like these Ever Eco Reusable Straws which I have been using for the past year. They’re super easy to clean and don’t harm the environment. Or simply go without a straw, I promise – you will be fine 🙂

3. Switched to reusable make up pads
Another thing still in my red waste bin each week, even after recycling everything I could were my disposable make up remover pads. I’d had these on my wist list for ages and recently bought and tried my first set of Reusable Make Up Pads. I am definitely keen to keep these in my zero waste favourites list. I simply use them with moisturiser at night and soak them before throwing them in the wash. Easy! No more disposable make up pads in landfill and I have saved myself the cost of future make up remover pads!

4. Reusable pads
The hygiene line of zero waste products was something I didn’t jump on board with straight away but after a while I realised how unhealthy it was to buy chemical laden products for *ahem* ‘those areas’. Not to mention the cost month after month, year on year. I decided to give these Reusable Pads a go and found that they weren’t as bad as I had first thought.

Full warning, slight TMI coming; Despite thinking the cleaning process would be gross and unpleasant I didn’t really find it that bad at all. And periods are just something that happen, so the sooner we can get over any grossness, the sooner we can limit the chemicals near our bodies, start saving some serious cash and most importantly limit our environmental impact.

Being a finance blog I couldn’t resist mentioning the long-term cost savings of this switch. Let’s estimate the cost savings at $5 minimum a packet, this reusable option would be at least a $60 saving a year. That could be much better spent on a massage or high tea with friends (or straight to that debt – again, finance blog 😉 )!

5. I found alternatives to disposal food wrapping
Every time I was cooking I found myself extremely bothered by the waste that brought with it. Cling wrap, sandwich bags, paper towel, foil and baking paper were used once and binned, previously without a thought. But now I was much more conscious of what I was binning I couldn’t stand by and continue my unintentional waste of single-use items. Here I had a few methods to change my household waste.

– I used Bees Wax Wraps to wrap food instead of single use products. These are great for wrapping sandwiches or bread, cheese and fruit and are easily washed and reused. They also come in the cutest designs and different sizes so that was a bonus!
– I avoided using sandwich bags unless I really needed to. When it came to meat products in the freezer I was still stuck using a freezer bag (working to replace this), but where I could avoid it I would. I started to use containers as much as possible for food rather then storing them in bowls or plates with foil or cling wrap.
– A friend recommended I use and IKEA cooking mat for a baking paper replacement which has worked a treat so far. It’s sold as a preparation mat but seems to be effective for both uses.
– I started using microfibre cloths over paper towels where I could which was about 95% of the time. They can be washed and reused up to 500 times each vs a single use paper towel. The choice for me was an easy one!
– I started to implement some frugal methods to reuse what I could. I did my best at reusing sandwich bags by labelling them and using them again and again for like items. I have three in my freezer currently for spring onion, regular onions and red chillis. Rather then emptying the packet and binning them and getting a new one we can simply put them back in the freezer and reuse them when we are ready.

6. I started carrying a reusable bag with me everywhere
In Australia, there has been a growing campaign #saynotothebag and it seems to be really making it’s mark. From July 1st 2018 supermarkets have been phasing out single use plastic bags, so I have got into the habit of carrying at least one with me at all times. I cannot tell you the amount of times I have been able to turn down a plastic bag recently because I had my own with me. That alone has made a huge impact on achieving my zero waste goals. And I must admit, I am more than looking forward to not being swamped with bag after bag in my cupboards that seem to just multiply and never end.

What else can I do to achieve Zero Waste?

These were just a handful of things I have done on my Zero Waste Journey but there are many more that you can try. I recommend you start with the ones you feel most excited to try out and work your way to the others that will be a bigger transition!

Here’s another 25 Zero Waste Tips for you to try out for your home:

1. Take any soft plastics you have to the Red Cycle bins at the front of your local Coles or Woolies. They will be recycled and made into furniture and reduce your waste bin drastically. Just watch! 🙂

2. If you forget your reusable coffee cup when going out for a coffee, when possible opt to dine in instead and ask for a mug.

3. Bring your lunch to work to avoid buying food with disposable packaging.

4. Wash your kitchen sponge in the dishwasher to make them last longer. Or replace your disposable sponges with microfibre clothes that can be used 100s of times and throw them in the washing machine.

5. Bring a reusable water bottle rather than buying bottled water when you are out. This will save you lots too!

6. Shop intentionally. Don’t buy things just because you are bored. Ask these 7 questions before buying anything!

7. Start meal planning to reduce over shopping at the supermarket and only buy what you will need for the 1-2 weeks ahead. Check out this Weekly Meal Planner Printable to get you started!

9. Use paper towel sparingly for things like oil spills and icky stains and stick to reusable cloths like microfibre cloths for other spills.

10. Reuse your foil. If it is clean fold away and reuse for next time. You can also put these in the dishwasher! That blew my mind!

11. Same goes for your freezer bags. Mark them for uses e.g. Onions, Spring Onions, Chillies etc and reuse them for the same items. Of course never reuse any that are for meat.

12. Take your left overs home to eat rather then letting them go in the bin.

13. Get yourself a set of reusable bags to leave in your boot for when shopping. Do this every week and you are saving a lot of bags ending up in landfill.

14. Try to only buy what you need. If you are a household of two don’t buy plates and cups for a house of 12.

15. Don’t buy beauty products on impulse. Only replace what you need as you need it. They expire and can grow bacteria once they expire anyway 🙂

16. Consider borrowing or buying something second hand rather than replacing it with something new where possible.

17. Pay it forward if you don’t need something donate it or list it on a free cycle site. Keep it out of landfill if it is usable.

18. Repair rather than replace. Sew on a new button, take your clothing to a tailor to take it in rather than replacing it if it is still wearable.

19. Learn how to store your food correctly to extend it’s shelf life and limit what you are throwing in your bin.

20. Gift experiences over things where possible. Reduce the chances of giving someone a gift they don’t need that they will bin or clutter up their homes unnecessarily.

21. Gift consumables over things such as some home made cookies in a reusable jar.

22. Switch to eBooks and audiobooks. Reduce the clutter in your home and save the environment. Get a library card to borrow copies of books or DVDs or ask a friend if they have a copy you can borrow.

23. Watch streaming sites such as Netflix rather than buying DVDs and save buying DVDs for the really special movies you plan to watch over and over again.

24. Put no junk mail signs on your letter box to reduce junk mail build up. If more people do this less catalogues will be printed (I can only hope!).

25. Switch to emailed bills to save on unnecessary printing.

This weeks comment question: How have you adopted #zerowasteliving in your home? Let me know your favourite Zero Waste Tips in the comments below! 🙂

[Photo: Sylvie Tittel]

If you found value in this post I would be super appreciative if you could share it with others who might also find value in it 🙂

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