You may have seen the TV ads about the community consultation for the National Curriculum. Basically, the government is asking for your feedback on the proposed National Curriculum.

Personally, I’m not in support for a national curriculum. I know this is not a popular opinion. If you get the curriculum ‘wrong’, then everyone is wrong. Nor do I believe in a lemming society. National curriculum can lead to national brainwashing. Just some of the quotes from the introductory video makes me raise an eyebrow: “…teachers now know what to teach – it’s really quite explicit…” and “…there should be less in it…”

On the other hand, I teach computers at an Adult Education centre where the main classes are for adult literacy and numeracy. The centre manager noted that most of the students in these classes nowadays are 18 year olds straight out of high school. So in our state at least, something needs to change.

Anyway, rant aside, if we are going to have a national curriculum, then it is a good idea to go online, check it out and have your say as to what you feel should be included.

Even though I originally studied to be an English teacher, it was the Maths curriculum that I was most interested in today. Particularly, I wanted to look at whether they intend to teach money skills. I have to say that I thought the proposed curriculum looked pretty impressive.

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Adopting a frugal life, becoming more independent and relying less on others to provide for you every need results in an industrious life and the need to develop a broad skill set.

To some this may seem tiresome, after all why learn to cook when you can buy ready-made, why learn to mend clothes when it’s so cheap to buy new ones, why clean your own home when you can hire someone to do it for you.

To others like myself, a life of independence is not only something to work towards, but something to take joy in and something to be proud of. We reject to some degree the modern lifestyle of convenience, specialisation and cheap, readily available commodities and yet embrace the modern notion that life is all about continuous learning.

Below is a list of skills, some of which I would consider essential, others less essential for a frugal life. What frugal skills would you add?

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For many of us, the first day of university coincides with the first day of freedom, but with that freedom comes financial responsibility. All of a sudden we have to house, feed, and clothe ourselves, not to mention pay for textbooks and transport and beer…

I worked part-time (sometimes several part-time jobs at once) to pay for uni. I think this is much more common these days. Tutoring is always a popular option for uni students. Most of my friends at uni didn’t work, so sometimes it was a drag having to go to work when they went off to the beach or the movies, but you do what you have to do.

They say these are the best days of your life (and they’re not far off) but the life of a student can often be a poor one, so here are some tips on saving at uni.

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