Life Stages

Don’t let the winter season bog you and your family down! Though it may be cold, and rainy… get your family together and have fun (without spending heaps of money). If you are in need of some inspirational ideas to get you going, read on for fun activities to do when the weather is nice, or not so nice.

Oh What a Lovely Day!

Take advantage of the days when the sun is shining, and the clouds are nowhere to be seen. Put on your coat, and get outside for some fresh air! Take your family hiking, and check out the beautiful landscapes while you explore. Walk around town, stop by the shops and visit your local museums. Take a bike ride, or a car trip all over the place! There are many (low cost) things to do and see all over New Zealand. Not to mention countless free ways to have fun; toss a Frisbee around, play catch, walk the dog, etc.

What a Great Day to Stay Home!

When the weather is not so lovely, and you would much rather stay in; consider these fun idea’s for family activities! Depending on the age of your family, some of these activities will work better than others. I’ll try to provide enough inspiring idea’s that you could work with. Families with young children could enjoy building a fort in the living room, playing twister, creating art, or cooking goodies. If your children are a bit older; you might enjoy card games, sharing stories, watching movies, put together a puzzle, or playing the Wii. We all know that kids eventually grow out of the stage where they think family time is fun, try to get ideas from them on what they would like to do. Or, allow them to help plan the next family vacation.

Ask Your Friends and Family

If you are having troubles pleasing the members of your family, create an “idea bowl.” Have the members of your family write 3 to 5 ideas on a bit of paper, put them all in the bowl and draw one out. Working together is a great way to keep the peace! Ask your friends and relatives what they do to keep themselves entertained during the winter. Sharing your ideas and listening to others is perfect for coming up with new and exciting activities.

Get a babysitter! Take a night out, just you and your mate. Enjoy a quiet dinner and a movie while the kids play with their friends. Or, send the kids to a friends and enjoy a quiet evening at home. Everyone deserves a break!

Take control this winter and have fun! What winter family ideas do you have for families with young children or teens? What has been the most successful way to keep everyone entertained?

No Kids? No Problem!

If your family consists of you and your mate, here are some exciting winter activities for you! If the weather permits, be sure to get outside and take a walk through a nearby park. Take a hiking adventure or consider taking a weekend getaway; take in the views, experience some winter snow sports, or enjoy the nightlife and dining. If you are staying in, try cooking a romantic dinner or having a movie night. Have fun playing games with close friends and family, consider setting up a weekly dinner with friends. (Everyone can save money when everyone pitches in a little to support the fun!)

What ideas do you have for families without children? What is the best way you have found to enjoy your winter without spending heaps of cash?

Up-cycling is basically recycling, except you end up with a really cool product at the end. By using your creativity you can convert old materials or ‘useless’ products into something you will enjoy and benefit from. Not only does this help the environment, it gives you cool new stuff without spending much, if any, money! Awesome!

You can up-cycle anything! Think about it; your clothes, furniture, art, and electronics can all be transformed from trash to something fun and new.

Who Up-Cycles?

New Dress A Day

“365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. And the blogging begins…”

Marisa decided to quit shopping the traditional way, and challenged herself to create her own wardrobe (for an entire year!). She also decided to limit her spending to $1 a day for clothing items. Marisa has been blogging her activity, and providing photos of the transformations she is making.

Marisa’s journey shortly after being laid off from a job that was over-working her. She found herself in a creative crisis, but decided to take matters into her own hands. Her inspiration came from watching Julie & Julia; she wasn’t interested in creating french cuisine rather, she wanted to do something that would get her creative juices flowing everyday.

Marisa shares her experience on her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Her money saving fashion and ideas are inspirational to many people. What kind of radical things have you done in order to save money, or just to boost your creativity?

How do I Up-Cycle?

If you are feeling creative but need a bit of inspiration, there are heaps of up-cycling ideas online. Keep an open mind and make adjustments to personalize your projects. You don’t have to be an artist to up-cycle, just have fun and try new things.

A great up-cycling idea that I found online was to use your old scarfs to create vintage decorative pillows. Make your pillows whatever shape or size you like, use different patterns on either side, add a zipper to create a more finished look. If you don’t have any scarfs of your own laying around, check out second hand shops, and garage sales. Got any other creative tips? Share them here!

Make it an event: The big Shwop

Join other ethically-minded shoppers in Wellington on Sunday 25th of July. The Big Shwop is a place where you can bring your unwanted, barely worn, quality, fashionable clothes, and exchange them for any of the other lovely threads on offer.

Simply put – bring along up to twenty pieces from your wardrobe that are barely worn quality clothes and exchange them for vouchers. When the shwop begins, you can ‘cash in’ your vouchers for any of the other lovely threads on offer. Guilt free shopping straight ahead!

So spend a day out with a bunch of your best friends, your mum, your daughter. Go home at the end of the day, with flash new threads completely guilt free, knowing that your fashion sense hasn’t been sacrificed for the environment, and the environment hasn’t been sacrificed for fashion either. For more information about The Big Shwop, check it out online!

It is nice to have a bit of money, isn’t it? Talk about obvious. But take a look at all the problems that money causes. Divorces occur due to financial issues, family problems regarding the inheritance of relatives and Getting into heaps of debt due to credit cards that were not needed in the first place.

Not to Worry

I don’t mean to be so depressing, this is just a little chance for me to rant. Some (most definitely not all) of the reason of the international crisis we are in right now is due to personal debt. The cost of borrowing money is high no doubt, and it seems that people don’t have much of a problem blowing it away on stuff that they will have not much use for.

I am not anyone to judge how others spend their finances. I like to call it a bit of aggressive advice. If someone wants to spend their money on something they find worthwhile, then of course they have all the right to do so. I myself have put a lot on my credit card recently so I can explore the South Island (mostly Christchurch and Queenstown), and will have to scourge into my bank account to pay off the credit card debts eventually.

In regards to family problems due to finances, much of it can be very avoidable. Satisfaction may not be met among couples solely due to the lack of a material life available at home. Children are bombarded with advertisements almost forcing parents to buy them countless items that they could have otherwise avoided. After the death of a loved one, there are feuds over who inherits what.

Sprinkle of Inspiration

I recently came upon a very inspirational blog by Patrenia about The Trouble Tree. I do recommend you all to read it for it is heart warming. If we can, for at least a short amount of time, forget all our finances, debts, mortgages, spending plans, bills, loans and the like, and give a hug to your child, husband or wife, mother or father, friend, anyone, and appreciate what you have thus far, I assure you that both you and the person will feel a bit better for that moment.

Catch 22 yes, easier said than done. What kind of personal finance blog would tell you to forget your personal finances? But it is only for a short amount of time. Everyone needs a break, even machines need breaks. So it is perfectly ok to forget anything related to money for some time.

After all, what would be the joy in life if you can’t enjoy it with someone else. And what is the point of worrying anyway? It might not be a bad idea to talk just a little less about money. What do you think of such a proposition?

Millennial Money

The millennial generation has more access to technology than all previous generations, more than likely to have an email address, a facebook/bebo/friendster page and would rather use text messaging rather than make a phone call. What also makes generation Y different is that they are now less likely to buy a house and more likely to end up high in debt at a much earlier age.

Financial literacy rates are not nearly as high as they should be. instead of needing the cash to go forth with a purchase, they are able to just put it on credit and supposedly not have to worry about it for a while. Students at a young age should be exposed to their personal finances and learn how to make spending plans and track expenses before leaving secondary school.

Financial Responsibility and Independence

More debt is only a result of less financial responsibility of course. Students are now able to apply for credit cards, taking out a mortgage no longer has to be the traditional 30 year no longer requires a 20% down payment as well as a 30 year pay off rate. Now there is a greater variety of mortgages that people can take out.

Considering how we are now a credit card world, people are now able to purchase more than they earn. And unfortunately, education and housing prices have increased at a much faster rate than income. It is now harder than ever to purchase a house and to fund for an education.

Unfortunately, due to the high cost of living and sky rocketing education expenses, more young adults entering the ‘real world’ are still financially dependent on their parents. Newly graduated students still need help in paying off debts, purchasing provisions and the like.

Credit Card Convenience

I myself use a credit card for most of my purchases, from food and clothes to books and flights. This is mostly because using a credit card is so convenient. There is no need to haul around cash and to worry about whether or not you have enough in your wallet. The worst part is probably that you don’t actually see money leaving your wallet, leaving you to forget how much you have spent across the day, week, or month.

So what we can do for the future of our children is raise them differently. Financial responsibility is priceless and can not be disposed of. Purchasing goods on cash rather than credit is an excellent practice. This even goes with mortgages. Putting down 2% for a down payment calls for much higher interest rates.

Have you been exposed to any type of financial literacy education? How do you feel about how students are taught financial responsibility? And will conditions only be worse for future generations or is there some hope out there for our children to get out and remain out of debt?

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I Couldn’t Handle It

The responsibility of a stay at home mum is greater than anything I could ever handle and I often wonder how countless mothers (including my own mother) have been able to go through such a role. Women like Talia Tuhakaraina (whose video you see below about how her family manages to budget) have the responsibility of raising and taking care of their children, look after their homes, worry about groceries, doctor/dentist appointments, school work, playtime, and the list goes on.

Divide and Conquer

As daunting as it may be, mums’ responsibilities can be split, a ‘divide and conquer’ tactic if you will. Having a clear picture of household finances is very important so bills and groceries can be paid more efficiently and with casualness. A certain budget and a practice of tracking expenses can eliminate any mystery in spendings.

My own mother would take careful practice of how much she would spend on everything – food, clothes, coffee, petrol, you name it. And she would do this on a daily basis (every other day at the least). This has been a practice that my mother adopted rather recently and she exclaims that it does make things a lot easier for her in a sense that she knows where money is flowing to.

Family Involved Spending Plan

Making a spending plan is perhaps most important for families that do include stay at home mums because there is typically only one salary coming in. Having a plan eliminates the fear of not having enough money for a certain necessity in the future.

One practice that has worked is to deposit cash into separate labelled envelopes (petrol, food, clothes and the like) and to try to only use that amount. Make sure there is still income going into savings for emergencies, and debts are being paid for.

Keep Options Open

So besides the well-being of the children, the upkeep of the house, and all the other responsibilities that comes with being a stay at home mum, there are the financial responsibilities as well. And always remember that you can keep options open. Would it be worth-while financially and time-wise to have a part time job? Or would it not be worth hiring a babysitter to take care of the children? My own mother has had a couple part-time jobs in the past years (albeit only after my siblings and I were old enough to take care of ourselves).

Are there ways in which you stick to spending plans in your particular family? Are spending plans something shared with the entire family or the responsibility generally given to one person only?

Besides the usual cost of going to school which includes courses, books, school supplies and student loans, people tend to not include the cost of entertainment when talking about budgets for students. Due to this dis-inclusion, students do not plan their budget accordingly and it seems as if money is disappearing from their pockets.

Why isn’t entertainment normally included? Call it stereotyping, but students do spend quite a lot of money on some form of entertainment. After all, your college years are supposedly one of the best years of one’s life, if not the best. Planning how much you choose to spend on entertainment can actually help you save quite a lot of money. This way you are not as likely to go splurge on something on impulse.

Sacrifice a little bit

One thing to do would be to prioritise your spending. What is more important to you, entertainment, food, clothes or books? If you are anything like me you would probably say books, but that of course depends on the individual. How much are you willing to sacrifice one item so that you may spend more on the other? For myself, it was quite difficult to limit spending on clothes when I started university. Everyone I’m sure has their weak spot, and for me it was trying not to upgrade my wardrobe very often.

So what you have to do is limit yourself to how much you can spend on that particular category. If you are the type who loves going out to movies, think about how much you are willing to limit yourself every month. Maybe you are able to replace going to the theatre one night with renting a DVD and enjoying it at home with your friends. It will probably end up being even more fun because you can be louder than in the theatre, eat whatever you want, and just be yourselves. Not to mention that you will probably feel better about yourselves since you were able to achieve this night without wasting your pingas. Not only have you saved money from theatre tickets, but on food as well.

The video is of Kyle who talks about how heaps! has helped him save money by telling him where he spends his money (like alcohol) and being able to avoid over-splurging.

Although this post is not like many other posts which concentrate on how to split your budget for education, books, and how to deal with loans, I personally find that talking about entertainment for students is nearly as important. The reality is that students are not very likely to give up any kind of social life. So why must we always assume that students will be able to split their budget while not including the vast cost of enjoying themselves?

Books, Parties, Alcohol

I don’t mean to stereotype, because I am sure there are students who are more responsible with how they spend their money, as they won’t have the same urge to splurge. But for the majority, it is no doubt the case. Sometimes when you think of being a university student, you think of parties, going out to bars and theatres and buying lots of alcohol.

Which then leads me to my next point. The cost of alcohol can be quite hefty on the wallet. I have not started drinking until relatively recently, and I have found that I spend more on drinks in one night, than I spend on food for a week. Being careful of how you spend your money on alcohol is crucial to budgeting, this is important to everyone, not just students. Although it is probably more fun to go out to bars with all your friends, it is no doubt more economically reasonable to buy beer or wine in bulk at your local supermarket and spend the night indoors.

Not Too Many Discounts

Another thing to be wary about are student discounts. Although it seems that going out specifically because you receive discounts in drinks and dining out due to you being a student, it will probably only hurt you in your wallet. How is this possible? Well when you go out in search of deals that you would not necessarily buy otherwise, then you are actually giving your money away rather than saving. For example: if you find that there is a bar that is giving 2 for 1 drinks on a Wednesday night ‘student night’, then you are wasting money on something that you never really planned for in the first place. So only if you are looking for something specifically, without knowledge of what specials there are out there, should you be in search of places that actually do give discounts.

A little confusing perhaps, I realise, but let me reiterate. If you are someone who does not necessarily eat out Thursday nights, and you happen to come across a restaurant that has a $3 discount for students, you will probably be prone to go into that restaurant because it seems as if you would save money. The reality is that you are wasting money because you probably eat at home on a Thursday night, not out.

On the contrary, if you and your friends want to go out anyway, and have a plan to dine out or go to a bar (I want to emphasise plan), then it would be wise to do a little research on discounts at various places.

I promise to stop rambling. If you came this far in reading I thank you so much. I hope you also took the time in watching the video we have on this post as it is of a real student, who talks about how he budgets his money on heaps! and how it helps him save money.

Let us know if you have good ideas on how to have a little fun while saving money. Do you plan on your nights out and getaways or is it almost always spontaneous?

Cheers,

-the heaps! team

Fun Winter Family Activities

Oh What a Lovely Day!

What a Great Day to Stay Home!

Ask Your Friends and Family

No Kids? No Problem!

Creativity on a Budget: Up-Cycling

A Bit of a Problem