I bought these photo frames just because I loved the colour but when I saw them on my desk I immediately thought of another way I could use them.

To contain itsy-bitsy crafts.

We were doing a craft with lots of little buttons. Lots of little things make me a bit nervous (mess!) so this was just perfect so the kids could see everything they had without losing any of the smaller ones.

Do you have any other ways to contain small crafts?

I received a beautiful bouquet from my new team at work welcoming me to the team.

At the end of the first week, I decided to take it home to see what I could do with it.

I threw away some of the obviously wilted and sad-looking flowers but about 90% of them were still well enough to delight me in another round of awesomeness.

I split them up by colour/ type and dotted the various vases around my home.

Have a look:

In the last pic, the vase is on my cot turned coffee table.

I ended up getting 6 separate containers of flowers (one for the nanny) from that one bouquet. I’ll say that’s leveraging your money!

How do you make your flowers last longer?

There are two types of people in the world – those who just talk about things… and those who make things happen.

I like to think I’m in the second bunch.

Thing is, I hear lots of people say they want to live without credit, travel more, pay off their bond, etc, etc. but not many of those people will get there if they don’t have these 5 things in place:

Clarity of vision

You can’t be fuzzy about your financial goals. Your vision should be as clear as if it is already reality.

Many years ago my husband and I decided to buy our first property. We looked around and realised that we needed a 10% deposit as well as the transfer and attorneys’ fees. These were the days before they decided to make it easy for first-time buyers. It was far more than we had in savings so we put our dream on hold for a bit. However, our vision was very clear and over that next year we saved like crazy and bought our first property “on time”, exactly a year later.

Perseverance

Once you know where you want to be, you don’t let go of that vision and the work to get there…ever. It’s hard when all around you people are “living it up” even if sometimes living it up just means eating out occasionally. That’s the ideal time to remind yourself of your dream.

Impatience is good

I think this is the one place where it’s good to be impatient. I’m an impatient person but I get SUPER impatient when I’m close to achieving a financial goal. It’s almost like the end is so close I just can’t wait anymore and so I work super hard and usually do it in just a month or two.

I’ve paid off my last two cars like this when the end was in sight (another 6 months to go).

Flexibility

I talk a lot about this in the goals pack but you need to be nimble to navigate obstacles and… let me warn you, obstacles always come.

You’re this close to paying off an account when suddenly you need new tyres on your car or some extra x-rays not covered by the medical aid.

Don’t let these unexpected expected expenses (!) derail you – it’s just life, not a lesson to teach you you’ll never be debt-free.

Keep focussed and work your plan.

Relentless pursuit

This point might sound a bit like perseverance but it’s not. Perseverance is keeping on while relentless pursuit means to actually chase after something with single-minded focus.

That could mean selling one car and sharing a car with your husband so you can pay off your debt faster.

It could mean maintaining your standard of living even while getting salary increases and bonuses.

The beauty of a financial dream is that the harder you work at all of these things, the shorter the time you have to do it.

If you dibble dabble, however, you may be stretching towards your goal forever.

 How long (realistically) have you set to work towards your financial goals?

PS Our next financial goal is to take an overseas holiday with the kids next year when they’re 5. I’m leaning towards Thailand…

PPS Do you have your copy of the Financial Freedom course yet?

I found this recipe for a cinnamon roll cake in a mug on Pinterest.

This is usually the place where I would insert the Pinterest pic but I wasn’t able to do it in my usual manner.

You see, clearly I haven’t embedded a pinned pic for awhile. I’m using the same embedded code as before but the pics are not appearing as they should. Anyone know why?

Nevertheless, I had to cook it for about 30 seconds more than the recipe called for before the toothpick came out clean.

It was just lovely but not as delicious as I’d expected

I love all the cakes in a mug because it’s the right amount for just two people especially in winter when I crave some baked goodness.

Do you have a favourite, tried and tested cake in a mug recipe for me to try?

PS it’s time for me to declutter my recipes again. A friend recently returned one of my recipe flipfiles….. after nearly three years… and I hadn’t even realised it was gone

Thanks again for telling me your definitions of financial freedom.

I used random.org to select the winning commenter and that person is…. baglady!

Maida, please let me know which email address you would like to use to receive your course. You’re going to love it!

10 steps to your financial freedom is still only $10, 73% discounted, so grab your copy now.

Look out on Wed for part 2 in the money management series.

Have a great week!

I may have bought my Kindle quite impulsively just over two years ago after much to and fro about whether an e-reader was right for me.

At the time I also justified that the cost of getting one would be offset, book by book, because Kindle books are cheaper (even sometimes half the price, especially here in South Africa) than physical books.

Well, Amazon makes the buying process so easy and slick

I get the emails that say they recommend I have a look at these 5 books and lo and behold, those 5 books are actually books I’d read (the clever marketing people are doing their jobs very well) so off I click and another one or two are “wirelessly delivered to my device”

And then I read a few blogs and people talk about the books they’ve been reading so click, click and I’m on Amazon. With just one click, another couple are delivered to my device.

So as you can imagine, for the first couple of months (probably for the first year if I’m to be 100% honest) I bought about 8 – 10 books a MONTH. Much more than I’d normally buy if I were paying for physical books.

Simply because the process is so easy.

Of late, I’ve forced myself to first get the sample and then see if it’s any good before buying and that has worked a treat. To give you an idea, I’ve “only” bought 22 Kindle books this year.

I also love giving Kindle books as gifts. And I’ve found it very useful to quickly buy missing books in a series if I’m impatient to start reading.

Some stats on my Kindle behaviour…

• 115 bought (plus gifts which I see don’t appear in the manage your account list)
• 83 read (I know this because I have a folder)

But over to you!

Do you have a Kindle?

How many books have you bought on it and more importantly, how many have you read?

Would you like an update on my 3 goals for April?

1. Well, I read Grace for the Good Girl – it wasn’t as amazing as I thought but I did get some great insights.
2. My blog designer’s gone quiet on me… I think she’s just had a baby I have sent her my specifications on what I want though.
3. And I did the one product completely but I’m only about 10% done with the second.

Now, here’s the thing.

• I could beat myself up about not getting those two things totally done or I can look at what was in my control.
• I have communicated my needs about the blog and followed up.
• I started that new job which has kicked my butt – I’m still trying to adjust to new work, new working hours, new team, new new new. I’ve even had to turn down a really fantastic business opportunity but it’s just too much for my mental energy at the moment
• I did another big project instead – the baby book project.

How did you do in April?

And what are your top 3 goals for May?

Mine…

1. finish that second product
2. get the blog sorted
3. relook at Organise your Business

Personal

1. Get to gym at least 10 times
2. Schedule two lunch dates
3. Read Nice Girls don’t get rich

First of all, thank you for telling me about your definitions for financial freedom. Remember to comment on the linked post if you want to be in the running for the giveaway (winner will be announced on the weekend).

The beauty of this exercise means it will all look different for each of us.

Patty said that to her it meant being able to buy the “date” car they’ve always wanted.

A couple of you mentioned an emergency fund, some mentioned spending freely, still others talked about being able to pay in cash for all living expenses.

If you haven’t given my question much thought yet, I urge you to do so now.

Grab a few minutes over a cup of tea and with pen and paper in hand, write down a few key points.

To me financial freedom means no debt, having a nice fat emergency fund so that lack of money won’t be the reason I stay in a job and being able to go on holidays and make large (reasonable) purchases without very much thought.

What does financial freedom mean to you?

PS today Dion and I celebrate 18 years of marriage

One of my goals for this year was to look over all my products and either revamp/ update them or retire them for good.

I was this close to retiring my financial freedom e-course when I read over the material and realised it’s actually good stuff. I’ve even put some 1:1 coaching clients through this course in addition to our time spent together.

So I decided to have a 73% off sale and offer 10 steps to your financial freedom to you for only $10, $1 a step The sale will also help me to inch closer to my April financial goals.

But first, I’m also giving away one e-course to a commenter who tells me what financial freedom means to you.

I’ll leave the giveaway open til next Friday. In the meanwhile, the course is just $10.

Also, I’m thinking of starting a money management series on the blog. Just personal finance, not investments and such.

How keen would you be to read that kind of thing on a scale of 1 – 10?

(I won’t be offended if you all say 1)