From nail biter to nail care teacher - tips that work

I was a nail biter from a very young age. Now, I teach others how they can have beautiful nails, without spending a fortune. All you need is a little basic nail care. Soak your nails in oil for 10 minutes each day for one month. Whatever oil is in the kitchen pantry will do. Massage each nail in a circular motion (not back and forth) with the ball of the thumb. After the first month, this treatment is only needed once a month .

The next step is to treat nails weekly for the next six weeks . Cleanse them with a nail polish remover, again starting at the end of the nail bed and working down the nail to the tip. From here on, apply a simple protective barrier nail polish every day. In the beginning, the nail polish builds up as you are learning - do not worry or be concerned about that - just only do the nails once a week. Every week also file and buff the nails. Only do this once per week, as one can over process the nails (just as you can do with skin and so on).

I have ended up teaching nails care for 20 years and all of my clients who have followed handling correctly as well as the process are the proud owners of beautiful nails and hands!

Different name, different attitude to saving!

A simple change of tactic can make the world of difference when it comes to getting the family on board with saving! Our family recently did a $21 Challenge. To begin with, I was talking with my daughter, when the children started carrying on about the challenge, (the eldest child in that household in 21!). The other adult in the house said nothing, but his expression said everything. What was I going to do to get them on board? I had a lightbulb moment and told them that I was playing SURVIVOR, with help from my fridge, my freezer and my garden. Did I get any more criticism? No way. What I got was discussions on which family member would be able to survive with what is available at home, and for how long. This discussion went on for a week or more. I heard no more complaints and we spent just $2.99 over a fortnight! Next goal is a $41.00 challenge for a whole month. I just need to set a date, and get my support team going again!

'E-money jar' perfect for cashless society

I have saved $50 in virtual coins in just a few weeks, since I started using my online money jar! I like the idea of emptying out my purse at the end of every day and placing loose change into a money jar to help me to save. The trouble is, I don't really carry any cash on me any more! Whenever I need to buy something I transfer the exact amount onto my debit card then go out and buy it. This ensures I never have excess cash to spend but it makes it difficult to save loose change. So I came up with this idea. Every time I log on to Internet banking I check all my savings accounts and transfer all the cents into a separate savings account called my 'e-Money Jar'. It's working perfectly and is amazing how quickly those few cents soon mount up!

Wise decisions enriched our lives

We have saved $500 a WEEK and I've got my life back again! My husband lost his job in October last year, just weeks after I had gone back to work part time to 'supplement' our household. At the time, we had over a dozen payments going out every week, and I really thought the solution was to work more in order to get more money. However, after 6 months of missing my two small children, and working 70-90 hours per WEEK, we made some wise, life-changing decisions. Firstly, we moved house, which automatically saved us $150 per week in rent. the house is further from town but, unbelievably, we now spend LESS per fortnight on fuel than we used to because instead of just jumping in the car now, we plan our trips. This alone gives us a $75 weekly saving. We finally finished paying off our car (another $100 per week), I took our children out of daycare to be the mum I wanted to be (another $50 per week), I on-sold our gym memberships ($26 per week), and we cleared up four other outstanding debts that had been hanging over our heads (totalling $2000) simply through recognising that I had to make the little money we had work for US, not vice versa, and that NEEDING LESS was more important than caramel lattes, trips to Mcdonalds and new clothes. (Oh, and now we have 3 weekly payments, rent, power and insurance- magic!)

My husband is still job searching, and I work 25 hours a week which is what we comfortably live on. I reduced our WEEKLY expenses by nearly $500, which is almost 50 odd hours per week that I no longer have to work. It is SO empowering, and even though we 'have' less, as a family, what we have gained is immeasurable.