Living contrary to my values has been a source of discontent lately. I have a utopian vision of the ‘good life’, which if I squint, I can see somewhere off in the distance. But there are days when I examine my life that I can only see the discord between the vision and the reality.

What does it mean to live an authentic life? Living authentically is being true to yourself and your values, whatever those values may be. It is when your actions reflect your thoughts and your words. It is when you stand up for what you stand for. It is when your inner self and your outward world are in harmony.

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…or why burnout can cost you money

The last two weeks off has given me the chance to catch up on a few trashy novels, picnic in the park with the little fella and nap in the afternoon. I’ve been a little bit lazy and it has been wonderful. I have found that it is healthy (for everyone in the family) if I take some time out every day to be lazy.

Whether you are working or you stay at home, life is busy in the 21st century, despite all our modern conveniences that are meant to make life easier. I teach computers to adults and even the retirees tell me that they are too busy to practice at home.

Are we busy for busyness sake? Do we feel compelled to fill every waking moment with activity? There is a paradox to the Australian cultural identity when it comes to work. On one hand we would describe ourselves as ‘laid back’, on the other we harp on about ‘work ethic’. And for a laid back nation, we are amongst the hardest or longest workers in the world. Part of our need for busyness comes, I think, from our underlying cultural identity.

And all of this busyness leads to burnout.

Taking time out to be ‘lazy’ has multiple benefits for our health, our emotional wellbeing, our relationships and yes, even our finances. It is hard to be frugal when you don’t have the energy to be proactive about your finances. ‘Laziness’ also allows a space for creativity to flourish: without time to sit and stare, it is hard to have those flashes of creative insight that are also integral to a frugal existence.

I started to list some of the reasons why being busy all the time can hinder frugality. At some point the list turned into a (fictional) diary entry and I just went with it. I’m no Helen Fielding but I’m sure you will forgive that.

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If I had a dollar every time someone warned me about ‘throwing good money after bad’, I would be able to afford a new car. No, two new cars. I get the feeling that we tend to use clichés like this without really thinking them through.

Is it really better to replace something instead of repairing it?

Let’s face it: we live in a culture that has a throw away mentality. Many of us believe that it is better to replace than repair. What do I think? Well, I think it depends.

Let’s do some analysis. While the repair v replace debate could be had for a number of consumer goods, here I want to examine cars, specifically our car.

I’ve compared three cars. Two Hyundai accents, one new, one second hand and our current bomb car, a Ford Laser. (Why Hyundai? No idea – it was the first car that came to mind. The ones I looked at were both small cars, 4 door sedan).

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Do you consider yourself affluent? What does it mean to be affluent?

I came across this definition of affluent at Free Money Finance:

Simply stated, your net worth [augmented -- assets minus liabilities] should equal 10 percent of your age times your annual realized household income (0.10 x age x income = expected net worth.) If your actual net worth is above this expected figure, I consider you affluent, given your age and income characteristics.

Try this exercise for yourself. You can find out how to work out your net worth here. I’m assuming that the annual realised income is your net income for the household and that it is a combined household income.

For example, Joe is 28 years old and earns $38,000 after tax. His “affluence factor” would be 0.10 x 28 x $38,000, which would equal $106,400. If his net worth was more than this, he would be considered affluent by the above definition.

Now, despite the fact that I like formulas and numbers, there is a big problem with this kind of definition of affluent. In the very least, it assumes that you can define affluence with a dollar amount.

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"I get my fitness inside" from Break.com

Life in the 21st Century. Full of the blessings of modern conveniences. Cars, dishwashers, remote controls, SMS, microwave meals. Live life with more time, more energy. Get things done with less effort. Or at least that’s the promise. And yet all these conveniences represent the paradox of modern times.

Modern conveniences are meant to save time. Yet we have less leisure time than ever before.

Modern conveniences are meant to save us energy, yet result in us consuming more energy from the environment. And we are more tired than ever.

The standard of living in the western world has never been higher. Yet we have never been less happy that we are today.

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Looking for frugal tips? “Frugal tips” is a search term that brings many people to this site. While tips are good (and I hope you find many here) frugality is more than just tidbits of advice and gestures towards saving money.

I’ve been thinking about what aspect of frugality I could write about today.

I could write about 101 ways to reuse dryer sheets, how to save money by feeding your family beans and lentils, I could calculate the savings of squeezing that extra morsel of toothpaste out of the tube.

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Winter time was always heralded in with a family ritual when I was a kid. Every year, when the first southerly blew, we would close the windows for the season. We had those windows that wind in and out, and after years of shifting, swelling and warping, the windows no longer closed with ease, so one person stood outside, rugged up against the chill and pushed on the window, while the other wound it in. Around the house, each window in turn closed for the winter.

What are your fond memories of childhood?

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It is not unusual in a marriage or relationship for one person to take on the responsibility of the household finances. The job of ensuring that the bills are paid on time, that the savings account grows and debt is paid off more often than not falls on the shoulders of one person, while the other is blissfully unaware. While this can be convenient it can also be problematic as I have recently discovered.

Despite the fact that I take care of all aspects of our household budget, I assumed that DH also knew about the important aspects of our finances. I was wrong.

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You’ve seen the ad. The one where the woman wipes the kitchen surfaces (including a baby high chair – feel guilty mothers of the world) with a raw chicken leg. And of course we can’t actually see the germs, so there is the ubiquitous dramatisation of radio-active green, wriggly little evils spread all around the house.

If just the thought of all those nasty germs is making you reach for the spray and wipe, then the advertisers have done their job well.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for cleanliness and health, but we seem to have reached an extreme bordering on obsessive compulsive when it comes to cleaning, no thanks to advertising.

And the irony is, I have seen the same people who will religiously spray their benches with these well advertised chemical concoctions, wipe grot off the floor with the dishcloth.

A few kitchen hygiene tips

Following a few basic kitchen hygiene tips means that you are protecting yourself and your family from illness without needing to resort to anti-bacterial soaps and sprays.

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I was watching Gardening Australia the other night when they mentioned their online vegetable planting guide. I popped on over to have a look, and it’s pretty good, so I thought I would share. You can find the guide here at the Gardening Australia website.

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