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.

I’ve included the PDF of the Senior Maths curriculum below (or you can look at it on the website) but here is a brief overview of what money maths they intend to teach:

Essential Maths: Finance 1

• Wages and Income
• Income Support and Benefits
• Taxes and Deductions
• Buying and Paying for Goods and Services

Essential Maths: Finance 2

• Consumer Credit
• Budgeting
• Payment Plans
• Investments

General Maths: Price Index Numbers

• Price Index Foundations
• A Price Index in Practice
• Use of the CPI to discount the general effect of price inflation over time

General Maths: Financial Modelling

• Reviewing and Extending Simple Compound Interest Computations
• Valuing Assets Over Time
• Simple Annuities and Perpetuities
• Adding to an Investment

That’s pretty comprehensive stuff. I didn’t learn much at all about finances when I was at school. I took Commerce in years 9 and 10, I guess I learned some financial stuff there. A lot of the above I had to learn when I studied accounting after school.

If you’re interested in looking at the specifics of the finance programme, you can look at the Essentials Maths PDF and the General Maths PDF, or just log on and check out the website and don’t forget to have your say on the National Curriculum.

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“Waste neither time nor money, but make the best use of both. Without industry and frugality, nothing will do, and with them everything.” Benjamin Franklin

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?

Essential skills

1. Planning and organisation

Planning and organisation are the most important skills underpinning a frugal life. It is impossible to be frugal without the ability to plan ahead and be organised. Even financial management relies on the ability to plan ahead, set goals, organise your finances, monitor your progress. Budgeting, saving money, shopping around for a bargain, menu planning, frugal cooking, household maintenance all rely on your ability to plan and be organised.

I was reminded of this the other day when I wrote a post about convenience foods. Readers shared their convenience foods for days that they didn’t feel like cooking and some of the suggestions included frozen homemade lasagne, homemade sausage rolls and pizza and stews and casseroles, all of which require planning ahead and being organised. 

2. Financial management

Frugality is all about saving money, so it comes as no surprise that financial management is an essential frugal skill. What does financial management involve? Budgeting, saving money, prioritising expenses, debt management, financial goal setting, retirement planning and investing. This seems to be an undervalued skill these days.

3. Creative Thinking

It’s easy to go out and buy something to fill a need or solve a problem. It’s less easy to create a frugal alternative. A frugal alternative to buying something new might be to reuse and recycle available materials like my peg basket or it might be to find an alternative to a problem like making a table extension rather than buying a bigger table. Creative thinking is useful for frugal entertainment ideas or for how to feed the family on a bag of carrots and a pork chop.

4. Cooking

Groceries are one of the major household expenses and so if you’re looking to reduce expenditure, then focusing on the groceries is a good place to start. Convenience foods and takeaway all cost more than fresh, healthy produce, so learning how to prepare and cook fresh food will go a long way to saving money.

5. Smart shopping

Knowing how to bag a bargain is just as important as knowing how to say no to impulse buying. I don’t think shopping is evil, but it pays to be smart about parting with your hard earned cash.

Less essential but useful frugal skills

6. DIY

Do it yourself covers a range of things from making your own cleaners and soap to doing your own home renovations. Depending on your experience, sometimes it’s smart doing jobs around the house yourself, sometimes it’s better to get in the professionals (which is where smart shopping comes into play). The more skills that you learn and practice, the less you have to rely on others to do these tasks.

7. Sewing and crafting

Even if you’re not a sewer, knowing how to darn a sock, sew on a button and take up a hem are good skills to have. The more sewing skills that you have, the more money you can save on clothing and household linen. Sewing isn’t the only craft that is useful. My husband likes to do woodwork and has made furniture for our house at a fraction of the cost of buying ready made furniture. Other useful crafts may be knitting and crocheting, painting, card making, jewellery making to name a few.

8. Gardening

I believe that you can be frugal without ever doing a jot of gardening. But being able to grow your own vegetables, even if it’s only a few herbs on the windowsill, will save you money on the groceries.

9. Maintenance

Maintenance covers a lot of ground. I’ve listed a few maintenance skills but the list is not exhaustive by any means nor am I suggesting that you need to have all of these skills, it just gives a few ideas. I’ve added self to maintenance, after all you need to be healthy and ‘maintained’ just like any inanimate possessions.

Around the home

• Change tap washes
• Clear drains
• Clear gutters
• Weeding, pruning, mowing
• Pest control
• Clean carpet and upholstery
• Repair appliances, toys, furniture and other household goods.
• Pet grooming

Car

• Change oil and oil filter
• Change spark plugs
• Change tires
• Wash and wax
• Change wiper blades

Self

• Cut hair
• Facials, manicures, waxing etc
• Exercise
• Eat healthy
• Mend clothing

10. Bartering

Skill swapping or good old fashioned bartering can fill a skill deficit without having to fork out a heap of money for a service. I haven’t tried bartering, but I remember reading about an elderly lady who advertised to wash and iron clothes in exchange for electrical and plumbing work. There will be skills that you have that others don’t that you can use as currency. If you have bartered in the past, why not leave a comment explaining how it worked and how it went.

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Creating Hours: Time Management For Busy Parents

Creating hours isn’t the usual time management strategy of calendars and schedules. Instead it provides tips and tricks that help you gain control over your time so that those extra minutes here and there add up to extra spare hours over the week, spare hours to read, relax, do hobbies or whatever you please. More than that, this downloadable eBook is tailored to parents who have to deal with the everyday ‘unscheduled’ little emergencies that happen when raising children. For more information click here.

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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.

Accommodation

The cheapest option is to stay at home. Mum’s still there to cook your dinner and wash your clothes. If home not an option, the next best thing is college. I lived in a college for four years. College is a good half way house between home and your own home. The upfront cost can put people off but consider what this amount covers:

• Accommodation
• Furniture, household goods like kitchen ware
• Meals
• Electricity etc
• Cleaning
• Reduces the need for transport
• Social life – reduces the need to go out – you’re living with friends and colleges often put on social events
• Easy way to make friends if you’re new

When you consider the additional costs that a college covers, you end up saving money. There are a variety of college options now to suit your preferences, from fully catered to on-campus share accommodation.

If college just isn’t your thing, then share accommodation will mean that you’re sharing the cost of housing, utilities, furniture and household goods.

Food

Learning to cook can mean the difference between an inexpensive meal and endless nights of 2 minute noodles. Avoid the takeaway as much as possible. Brown bag your lunch and snacks to uni and when you do buy takeaway food or coffee, buy it on campus and make sure you use your student card to get student discount rates.

Textbooks

Textbooks can be a huge expense at uni. If you can, buy second hand. You can usually find second hand books on university notice boards or here at the textbook exchange, where you can also sell your books. Selling books that you will no longer need is a good way of supplementing your textbook budget.

Whether or not buying second hand books is an option will depend on your course. Some subjects like law or medicine require the latest release book to ensure that you’re getting up to date information. As an English literature student, I could buy my copy of Wuthering Heights for a few cents at the local Vinnies shop.

For new books, join the Co-op Book Shop to take advantage of their discounts. I joined 12 years ago, and can still get member’s discounts (and they sell ‘regular’ books for interested non-students). For me, the $20 membership cost (I think it was around $10 back then) has well and truly been covered in discounts.

The other source for textbooks is the university library. This is the best source of “recommended reading” material, not so good for the set text. Usually the set text is in reserve, so you can’t take it home, and if you’re in a big course, checking it out can be difficult. You may plan to read the next chapter in your lunch hour, but you sometimes have to be pretty lucky to get the book first. Still, the library is a free source for books.

Printing and Stationery

Photocopying can add up to be quite an expense. Consider investing in a multipurpose printer so that you can scan material to read on screen, rather than photocopying. I avoided photocopying as much as possible by reading the articles I needed at the library and making copious, well referenced notes. The upside to this (besides reducing the cost of photocopying) is that what you’re reading sinks in better. If you’re note taking properly and adding your own commentary on what you’re reading, then you’re actually processing the information.

If you need to photocopy, take the time to be selective about the pages you need to copy rather than just copying the whole article / chapter / book (yes, I’ve seen people photocopy whole books – it can be cheaper than buying the textbook, though).

While some people might keep their uni notes for prosperity, 12 years on and I don’t have a single page. So buy the cheapest, nastiest stationery that does the job. Alternatively, type your notes straight into a laptop.

Transport

Public transport is usually (but not always) cheaper than buying, running and maintaining a car. Take advantage of student discounts and weekly / multi passes to reduce the cost. If you are driving, consider posting an ad on the notice boards to car pool to reduce costs.

Entertainment

At the end of the day, this is what university is all about, isn’t it? Despite the seriousness of getting good grades, at no other time in your life will you have so much freedom, so little responsibility and be spending time with others your same age in the same circumstances.

Save on entertainment by taking advantage of on-campus entertainment, which can often be much cheaper than “regular” entertainment. Universities often get pretty good bands and have great social events. I remember going to see the Whitlams (they were big back then), and always enjoyed Karaoke night, jug night (beer served in jugs), cross dressing night, retro night…

When it comes to grog, again, the on campus bar will be much cheaper than the pubs and clubs around. And what university experience is complete without a goon party or heady nights of Passion Pop?

Part of the university fees that you pay each year covers the union, which provides all sorts of services. You have to pay your fees anyway, so take advantage of on campus services and clubs. My first year saw me join the Scottish Country Dancing club, daggy but fun.

HELP

HELP / HECS is a wonderful way to defer the cost of university. Be warned though, as soon as you’re earning above the tax office set threshold, HELP debt repayments come out of your pay automatically.

My DH worked full time for a couple of years before starting university and paid his HELP (HECS) up front. I on the other hand have a $24,000 HECS debt. Sigh. At least it’s interest free (although it is indexed every year to match the inflation rate).

Currently, if you make up-front payments of $500 or more each semester, you get a 20% discount (ie, $100 discount on a $500 payment). Voluntary loan repayments (not upfront) get a 10% discount (this includes voluntary payments whilst in the workforce). Choose the right courses, and you will also get a discount on your HELP fee.

Apart from the Government’s HELP/HECS scheme, you may also be eligible for Youth Allowance and/ or rent assistance and/ or a health care card. 

As far as help with compulsory fees go, see if your university offer scholarships or incentive programmes, which will also help with textbook costs. At the very least, universities will offer payment plan options to spread the cost of fees over the course of a semester.

And finally, maximise your student discounts. Not only will you get on campus discounts, you may also get discounts on transport, entertainment, magazine subscriptions, software, electronics… You won’t know if you don’t ask.

Have you read these articles?:

1. creating a savings plan and reaching your savings goals
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