My uni studies STOPPED me biting my nails!

I've been enjoying long, beautiful nails for 30 years, thanks to a method called behaviour modification! I was required to do it as part of a psychology unit at university. It is a method which rewards good behaviour and punishes bad behaviour. This is the method:

1. You determine what you want to change: I want to stop biting my fingernails.
2. You determine what would be a good reward. I will give myself $1.00 coin.
3. You determine what would be a good punishment. I will give $2.00 to charity. Note: It is best that the punishment is worse than the reward, so you can obviously achieve your positive goal ASAP. The simpler your rewards and punishments are, the better. I used the money to purchase a scarf but you could do it for anything.
4. You work out what you need to motivate yourself to achieve that positive outcome. I used hand cream daily, I used oil to massage the cuticles daily, I painted my nails with nail hardener and once the nails grew past my fingers, I got manicures regularly.
5. Draw up a table as shown below, to keep track of your progress daily to get to your eventual goal:

Day 1 – Outcome: I put my fingers in my mouth So you put a cross in the negative box and take the punishment. Negative Positive Punishment Reward x $2.00 paid to charity

Day 2 – Outcome: I didn’t put my fingers in my mouth So you put a cross in the positive box and take the reward Negative Positive Punishment Reward x $1.00 paid to myself

From memory I stopped biting my nails after the second week and kept going until I grew my nails to the length I wanted them. I found that it took about 10 weeks to achieve the outcome I wanted. I didn’t think I would get long fingernails, but I did and continue to do so!

Keep the straws from unwanted drink bottles

If you have a drink bottle with an internal straw, when the bottle cracks, leaks or dies, don't throw the straw out! Remove it from the bottle and keep it in your cutlery drawer for whenever you need a straw, or keep a couple in your bag for use when you're out. I keep three in a little cotton bag in my handbag for when we order a drink that would normally come with a disposable straw (milkshakes, iced coffees, spiders, soft drinks). After use, I just give the straw a quick rinse in the restroom sink, or wrap in a serviette, and give a good wash when I get home. A simple way to reduce waste and help the planet!

120 bickies for $4!

Make over 120 bickies for just $4.00! This fantastic basic bickie recipe is terrific value, makes loads and has lots of room for variations:

500g margarine
1 tin condensed milk
1 cup sugar
5 cups self-raising flour

Cream sugar and margarine. Add condensed milk and flour. Roll into teaspoon sized balls and press down with a fork. Place on greased trays and bake in moderate oven until golden brown (approximately 10-15 minutes).

Before baking I divide the mixture into five and add the following ingredients for different flavoured bickies:
1. Chocolate chips and glace cherries (chopped)
2. Cornflakes and sultanas
3. Hundreds and Thousands
4. Jam drops
5. Milo and coconut

You could add any number of other things like Rice Bubbles, Smarties, nuts, cinnamon and other spices and so on. The raw mixture can be frozen in balls, just thaw slightly before baking.

From this one batch we made 123 bickies and by my calculations using the cheapest possible ingredients, the whole batch cost just over $4.00 to make!

Hubby accepts money troubles after wife resigns

Swapping roles with my husband forced him to start budgeting and to learn to take control of our finances!

My husband and I are happily married and are about to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, but there was a stage in our lives when we were raising three children and our finances were incredibly stretched, yet he refused to accept it.

One day there was no bacon for his breakfast (he likes bacon every day) and he lost his temper. Rather than get angry back, I wrote him a letter resigning as housekeeper, mother and wife and gave it to his secretary.

He finally agreed to talk and I got him to agree that for one month he would take responsibility for running the house on the budget I had been working on. It wasn't long before he asked 'How on earth do you manage? We need to reassess our finances'.

Since then we have always cooperated when it comes to getting through a tough period.