Things that Made me Think...

The thing I hate most about blog-rolling is that travelling around the blogdom encourages my lack of direction and my inability to focus on what I am supposed to be doing!

Here are some posts (and sites) that have inspired me this week:

1. Unschooling after Death; even for a non-unschooling family this post raises some pertinent questions around the need to Life Insurance and which LI is appropriate to your needs. How much would your family's lifestyle be affected if the main breadwinner was suddenly lost? What about if the main home maker was lost? The financial implications may be lesser but what about the lifestyle implications?
2. Sandra Dodd's site was one that I constantly referred to whilst we were homeschooling our two older children. Unfortunately my own health issues ended that part of our lives, it is however something I'm definitely considering returning to with our youngest (and every time the older children have a negative school experience!) Kim reminded me of this through her lovely interview with Sandra this week.
3. Western Sydney Institute of TAFE, course search; well, this one actually has the mind boggling, it will help me make a final decision as to what course of study to take though.
4. I wish I could be more like Super Organiser Mum; what I love about this blog more so than other organiser blogs I've seen to date is that so many of Jade's ideas seem to be either multi-purpose or very easily re-purposed. I really should spend more time utilising Jade's ideas and less time reading about them!
5. DIY Kids: Making Beanbags at Childhood 101; Christie is an Early Childhood teacher and Mum who has a lot of ideas for great tactile, fun learning experiences.
6. The Art Eater; what a fabulous way to display children's artworks!
7. Budget Friendly Mod-Chandelier; I could make this!
8. Paper "Capiz Shell" Chandelier; or I could make this, or even...
9. this: Straw Cluster Chandelier.
10. Making all those lovely things will come right after I get the housework under control which will be much easier with the help of Kelly of Be a Fun Mum who once shared her To Do Lists for each room of the home.

This list was inspired by the interwebs.

Kindest Wishes,
AJ

The never ending quest...

It seems that it doesn't matter what people have everyone always wants more. More money, more time, more chocolate... You get the idea.

Every so often my husband and I go through cycles of running off ideas of how we could make money working for ourselves, we then go right on ahead and keep doing whatever it is we had been doing before, no matter how ineffective that may be at providing the work life balance everyone craves.

I've been reading a fab blog where the writer has challenged herself to amass a net worth of $1M by the year 2015 and came across a list of 1001 Ways to Make Money. I'm only up to 400-and-some so far but it's been really great for getting the old cobwebs cleared from the think tank. I can't wait to share it with my husband when he gets home (from spending money of course!)

Here are some of the ideas that could work for us:


459: DIY or handy man/woman for hire. Someone who can be hired for all the odd jobs, such as replacing doors, tidying the garden, cleaning gutters, all the little things that need to be done, but many people can't do.
We wouldn't be great at DIY to be honest, but we could lend our hands to help with cleaning cobwebs, weeding and pruning in gardens, cleaning gutters, taking down and packing up Christmas lights, packing in preparation for storage or moving, garden clean outs, and probably many more fiddly little jobs.

290: Garage Sale Organiser. Organise garage sales for other people, advertising, pricing, set up, and removal of unsold/unwanted goods.
I think this is one of "those" jobs that people HATE doing, seriously, doesn't everyone have things they could sell at a garage sale? Why aren't there more garage sales than there are every weekend? My guess is because people just plain couldn't be bothered to organise/display all their things EARLY in the morning, let alone pack away the things that don't get sold! I even hate having garage sales myself, so I leave the organisation of our sales to my lovely slave/husband. However if we were able to have a set of tables, table covers, money holders, etc to display and sell items it would be like setting up a new shop every weekend. Each of us having a retail background I can see this becoming something enjoyable. What do you do with the things that don't get sold at a garage sale? Put them back in boxes in your garage? Begrudgingly drag them back into your house? Wouldn't it be great is someone else took them away?! Really, you didn't want them, or you wouldn't have offered them up for sale, would you?

There is a whole section in the 1001 Things list entitled "You Have to Do It Anyway" detailing jobs that need to be done in many houses, like dog walking, ironing, washing, baby sitting, etc. Some of those jobs that you traditionally think of as "kids jobs" but why should they have all the fun? Dog walking is a great way to get to know your local area, enjoy the sunshine, etc (pity I can't walk at the moment but that's only temporary.) Ironing is as boring as watching paint dry sure, but you can do it watching tv, listening to the radio or even watching a movie. Washing clothes is mostly easy too and if you don't have to leave your house to do your job, all the better, note to self, if taking this path don't forget to claim the cost of the extra water, electricity, home presentation, etc when it comes to tax time.

Money is everywhere; we just need to find a way to make it come to us!

50 Things...

Every so often something appeals to me and I think "ooh, that would be a GREAT blog theme" but I know I don't have time to contribute to my one blog regularly let alone more than one. Even the thought of an other blog theme distracts me and leads me to wonder if I should drop the current blog and just start a new one... Oh dear; how can one not be inspired by a theme such as that of Challenge #50 at Blog This "50 Things..." I am a lover of lists, shopping lists, reading lists, wish lists, Christmas lists, things to do lists, I could so easily write a weekly (or at least monthly) entry with a list of 50 Things... and come back to it to update what had happened to the items within those lists. I just know I couldn't commit to it long term though!

Without further ado...

50 Things I Wish to Have Learned by the Time I'm 50...

1. To be vocal in my appreciation of good things, and
2. To send thank you cards, every time.
3. To be an electrician.
4. That it was NOT my fault.
5. To crochet more than a granny square, and
6. To knit more than a scarf.
7. To cook a Roast Dinner and not ruin any of it.
8. To define goals and achieve them.
9. To save money rather than just having a "savings" account.
10. To love freely and give fully
11. To accept that I may never really know or understand my mother.
12. To believe in my dreams
13. To do the things that I write on my to do list, and
14. To buy only the things that are on my shopping list.
15. To learn enough about one thing to gain a university qualification.
16. To learn a little about a lot of things.
17. To be more assertive, speak up and defend myself, as I already do for others.
18. To learn that no matter how much stuff I have, none of it will fill the void within me.
19. To write, well enough to be publishable.
20. To dance.
21. To find joy in the little things.
22. To conquer my chronic depression
23. To cook and decorate a children's birthday cake
24. To sew something wearable.
25. To say "No".
26. To fly a small aircraft
27. To maintain regular sleep patterns
28. To sing karaoke and not care what the audience thinks
29. To listen to my instincts
30. To kayak, well enough to go on an expedition
31. To turn one of my creative avenues into a money making venture.
32. To do the things that I write on my "To Do Lists"
33. To overcome my anxieties such that they no longer control my life.
34. To grow enough fruit and vegetables to sustain my family.
35. To find faith and a spiritual "home"
36. To host a dinner party
37. To appreciate fashion, and
38. To be able to dress myself stylishly.
39. To maintain my home; not so it looks like a display house, just neat
40. To stop using "collections" as an excuse for hoarding
41. To do things as they need to be done, stop procrastinating
42. To always take advantage of opportunities to try new things.
43. To shop and buy only things I really like and need (rather than collecting clothes with tags on them)
44. To buy only what is on my grocery list.
45. To put down a book which is uninteresting.
46. To take a great photo, using manual settings, and
47. To develop my own photos.
48. To appreciate wine, rather than taking the lead of others.
49. To breastfeed, 'til self-weaning
50. To believe in myself and know that I am worth it.