The other day, our electricity went out, and I was a little surprised about how dependent on it we’ve become. Even though I’ve written about that before. Aside from the alarm not going off, the central heating didn’t kick in, the hot water tank didn’t stay hot, and even worse – the coffee machine wasn’t…
Your Role as a Purchasing Agent
Have you ever thought about your role as a Purchasing Agent? Or are you like most people who just buy stuff? You might find it interesting to know that you need formal qualifications to buy things for a living. In Australia, the Diploma of Purchasing “qualifies you to apply integrated technical and theoretical concepts in a…
How to Eat Well and Save Money on Food
As I mentioned for my 2016 Transplantiversary, I’m hoping to make some significant lifestyle changes to get down to the hospital recommended weight (and I’ve set up a monitoring page to track it publicly). I’ve ordered new cookbooks to help! During my cookbook shopping, I found a review of Jamie Oliver’s Everyday Super Food (affiliate link), which dismissed…
Wealth Management for a Happy Retirement
Katy recently told me that her company had completed a tender for new cleaning services. She was working late the other day, and she met them. The tender “winners” are an older couple in their sixties who can’t afford to retire, so they have started an office cleaning business. Instead of the happy retirement life…
Deliberations on Luxury
With the research for my new book Holistic Personal Finance progressing nicely, I’ve been thinking about luxury. Partly inspired by the old guy who just paid $55 for a packet of cigarettes (I believe they were about $15 when I quit), but more particularly luxury in food. DB recently came home with a chocolate bar, and…
A Short History of Attitudes Towards Household Expenditure
I’ve started researching my next book, which is about Holistic Personal Finance. Like Build Your Signature Wardrobe, it draws on the wisdom our ancestors developed through Two World Wars and The Great Depression. I am intrigued in particular about how the attitudes towards household expenditure that I have been reading about have changed. I think they…
2015 Signature Wardrobe Summer Plan part 3
I have to say that I am really loving these Second World War summer uniform pictures – so stylish. In part one, I gave myself a budget of $500 to build a signature summer wardrobe of fitted yet loose pretty clothes in natural fibres, coloured scarlet, blue, cerise, black or white to match my existing wardrobe: 2 house…
2015 Signature Wardrobe Summer Plan part 2
Last time, I gave myself a budget of $500 ($334 for Cinderella [house] clothes and $166 for Princess [good] clothes) to build a signature summer wardrobe consisting of: 2 house outfits 1 street outfit summer coat pretty street shoes My preference is for nice clothes that are fitted, yet loose enough to permit air flow, and…
2015 Signature Wardrobe Summer Plan part 1
After four years of unemployment, I have recently acknowledged to myself, that I probably won’t be leaving the house to go out to work in a nice air-conditioned office any time soon, so I must do what I advise others to do and buy clothes for the life that I am currently living. It’s time…
A Critique of Glamour’s “24 Fashion Essentials You’ll Need in 2015”
Stradbroke Day 1935 at Ascot (Brisbane, Australia) race day fashion essentials. By Contributor(s): The Queenslander (6 June 1935) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons In a large nutshell, this is my problem with “fashion essentials”. An essential is something that you just can’t do without; the air that you breathe for example. Fashion is a customary or conventional way…
Wardrobe Planning 1935 style
Today’s advice about wardrobe planning 1935 style comes from a college textbook I discovered during my book research [1]. It offers advice on designing and fitting clothing, gaining the most satisfaction from your clothes and handily, a four step wardrobe plan. 1. Understand What Makes a Good Outfit Your outfit (or as they say, costume) starts with your…
How to Protect Yourself from Counterfeiters
Recently I had the misfortune to purchase counterfeit goods online. Owning counterfeit goods in Australia is illegal, let alone selling them. I found it very shocking – I thought I had been really careful, but once you click the buy button it’s too late to do anything about it. And when you realise you could be in…