“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” –Henry David Thoreau

There are hundreds of self-help resources that espouse the value of having clear and specific goals, and this site is no exception.  Ideally goals should be incremental and have clear “stages” or “way-points” where one can assess their progress and results.

By virtue of the numerical nature of personal finance, it is generally pretty easy to see where you are and define where you want to go.

The level of complexity/ simplicity that you decide to use when setting your goal is up to you, but the underlying core equations are:

Income – Expenses = Surplus/(Deficit)

Current Financial Position +/- Surplus/(Deficit) = Future Position

From these core equations comes the the following two basic methods of defining your goal and measuring your progress:

Absolute Surplus – State a specific amount that you want to save or accrue per week or fortnight. E.g.  I want to save $200 a week. Is  for salary and wage earners with regular and reliable cashflows.

Relative Surplus – Nominate a percentage allocation of your total income for expenses and saving. E.g.  I will save 40% of any income that comes through my hands. Is perfect for students or people with irregular income who want to save and get in good financial habits.

Absolute surpluses  are conducive of financial position or net-worth final goals.

Relative surpluses encourage good financial habits and discipline.

The type of goal you set will depend on your current life circumstances.

Choose a method and write your goal, being as specific as possible.

If your goal is a absolute surplus based goal, write down what your current financial position is by taking the total of your assets (savings accounts, shares etc.) and subtracting your liabilities (debts and loans). Then using your surplus amount work out how many surpluses it will take to get there. Make sure your first goal is no more then three months away. You’ll set bigger and longer term goals in the future but for now it’s important for the goal to remain in the forefront of your mind.

For example, if you worked out you can save $100 a week. Your goal might be to save a thousand dollars, which will take you 10 weeks.  You would write:

I will have a networth of $1,000 in 70 days.

Then make a couple of intermediary checkpoints.

• I will have a networth of $300 in 21 days.
• I will have a networth of $600 in 42 days.

If it’s a relative surplus based goal, write down the allocation of savings you would ideally like to achieve and then some intermediary allocations. This is important as relative surplus goals are about behavior change and it is extraordinarily hard to just self-initiate a change in your own habits.

For example if you were aiming for 30% savings of income, you might choose.

• In January, I will save 10% of all income I receive.
• In February, I will save 20% of all income I receive.
• In March, I will save 30% of all income I receive.

Both types of goals require you to track your progress. An absolute surplus goal can be tracked with a savings account that you deposit your surplus into each time period. A relative surplus goal also uses a savings account, but will require to keep track of your total income for the time period. You’d check your progress by dividing the total deposits for a period by the total income for a period.

Note: For readers who are in debt or have home loans, in the vast majority of cases it is better to put your surplus towards reducing your debt or putting it into an offset account for your home loan. Therefore you should measure your goal by tracking movement in your net-worth.

Don’t make goals or set targets based on what you think others are doing, set them for yourself no matter how small, embarrassing or impossible they seem. With time your financial way-points will merge into habit and you will achieve your goals effortlessly, as you will have integrated the goal into your life style. The other pages in the Personal Finance section have practical ways you can increase your nominal or relative surpluses and smash your goals.

I hope you are having a wonderful 2017 so far! I fell in love with emojis during 2016, so I wanted to make something emoji themed. I had an extra box of cake mix in my pantry and a whole bunch of chewy candies I’ve been “saving” from Halloween. So BAMM and this idea was created!

The first thing we have to do is tint vanilla frosting with 5 drops of yellow and one drop of red. This will make a yellowish-orange color, perfect for the face of an emoji!

Then using your chewy candies, pop them in the microwave for no less than 5 seconds to soften them. Using your hands shape the candies into whatever shape you want. With all the colors of the rainbow on hand, the possibilities of emojis are endless.

For the eyes, eyebrows and mouth I used Tootsie Rolls and rolled them out to thin cylinders and cut them and shaped them to my liking. I also used Starbursts as the tongue, blush, and hearts for the emojis. Then for the white parts, I used the vanilla flavored Tootsie Rolls for them. For the crying/laughing emoji, I cut circular blue hard candies to the shape of teardrops.

For the poop emoji, which is my favorite and (I think it is) cutest emoji EVER, I popped on a Hershey’s kiss chocolate on top of the cupcake. (OK, in my case this was just after the holidays, so the candy cane kisses were going to do.) Then I rolled the Tootsie Roll to a thicker width than the other emojis. I wrapped that around the kiss and then shaped the vanilla Tootsie Roll in the shape of the eyes and another one the shape of it’s mouth.

Then your Poopsie will look like the picture above. Oh, yes and roll another Tootsie candy for the pupils. Yay, I was so happy with these results (especially the poop) and I hope you try it out for yourself!

Love you, Cassidy!

The first job fair I ever went to was awful. It was embarrassing (someone literally looked down my shirt and told me to ‘keep that coming!’… creepy.), it was awkward, and at the end of the day, I was depressed because of my lack of networking prowess. But to be honest, I didn’t take it very seriously, and it was a school event which meant that 40 of my classmates were in attendance–it was far more tempting to talk to them than to schmooze with the unknowns.

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a recruiting fair for work in Australia (because if you didn’t know, I’m moving there!), and decided to put aside my humility and be the shining star I knew I could be with potential employers. It may not have paid off as much as I’d wanted (I had high expectations), but I walked away feeling accomplished and like I took the reins. And honestly, that’s all I can ask.The thing about job fairs, especially recruiting fairs, is that you’re not just a resume in a pile. You’ve got a chance to make an interview-worthy impression without having to get the call-back first. Even better, your interest in the company and your attitude can make up for any holes in your resume that might cause you to be overlooked had you just applied online. So in light of my most recent experience, here are my top 3 career fair tips for success for the next time you find yourself feeling uncomfortable, afraid, or just generally clueless when it comes to booth-hopping 101.

Bring an up-to-date-resume- I’m not just talking about your standard, plain-text resume. Remember that there may be hundreds of other very personable candidates in attendance. Find something that can be your distinguishing factor with your resume (for me, it’s accent colours of red for titles and section separators), something that’s not too over-the-top or overdone. That way, when the recruiter asks for your CV, it’s memorable and they’ll look at it later and think “ah, I remember this red CV! That was Erica Wodzak, she was a very friendly and intelligent lady”. A+ for standing out.

Go alone- when you attend career fairs with people you know, it’s too easy to stick together and fall into the crowd. I’m not fully comfortable myself being ‘professional Erica’ in front of my friends, so I keep the two personae separate for now. I find it easier to talk to new people when I’m alone, so if you must go with a friend, agree to rendezvous after 30 minutes of mingling. This gives you an opportunity to share knowledge with each other, but to keep out of each others’ peripherals while you’re networking.

Speak up- be polite, but do your best to make your way to the front of the booth if it’s busy. Have your questions ready, or listen into other conversations and develop questions from what you hear. Make sure to smile and be friendly, and never open with “here is my resume”. My general tip is not to offer your CV, but wait for them to ask for it. This way it makes them want it, and all the more likely to look at it (and remember you) later. Do your best to be intelligent and inquisitive, and remember to thank them for their time when you leave.

It’s not always possible to prepare ahead of time for career fairs, as the company attendance list isn’t always available (which was the case for me last week). In this case, try to develop general questions that still sound prepared–mine was “I was wondering if you were looking to take on any recent graduates in the near future”. When in doubt, grab a brochure and develop a question from there. You’ve got absolutely nothing to lose, and for every new employer booth there is it’s another opportunity to try, try again. Most importantly, be yourself, because you’re kind of really amazing at it!

Among all other home appliances, ceiling fans are most probably the easiest to clean. It needs cleaning every once in a while. Cleaning your fans at a regular interval keeps you away from health problems. The dirt and dust accumulated on the blades will spread all across the room leaving the floor and furniture unclean. Thankfully, it is not a robot science to clean up your ceiling fan and we have covered it all in this article.

Protect Your Floor from a Muddle
Before you even start, cover the surrounding furniture and floor area slightly more than the radius of the fan. This way you will save your other furniture from the unwanted dust coating.

Solution
You may have been doing the chore using plain dusters. Use a cleaner for an effective result. Either buy a mild solution for cleaning the blades or prepare a homemade cleaner. Add 2 tablespoon of white vinegar in 200 ml water, shake it and it is ready to use. Pour the solution in a sprayer and spray it well on the duster.

If the blades have accumulated sticky dirt, in that case, add baking soda which will clean the dirt from the fan blades.

Duster
Yu can get some handy microfiber dusters which are good to use. There are varieties of dusters you can buy, it can be in the form of gloves or sticks. Alternatively, you can use an old, torn, ragged piece of cloth. Using a pillow cover or a plastic bag can be a good idea. But if you are going to reuse the pillow cover you have to wash it. Our suggestion is you can use a used and old pillow cover, because the dirt may leave stains on it in some cases.

Vacuum Cleaner
For existing vacuum cleaner users, the job can be much easier. If it comes with a dusting attachment for cleaning the fan blades is good; you can also buy one as well. If you want to buy an attachment, go for something that covers the maximum surface and is flat. Vacuum cleaners save you the extra trouble from scattering the dust all over the room.

Ladder
If your vacuum cleaner or the dusting mop cannot reach the blade, you have to take help from a ladder. Place it safely, it should be sturdy to stand alone. We recommend that you ask someone to be present to hold the ladder for you. Now, balance and climb up. Reach the step when you are comfortable to do the business. You must avoid if you have joint problems or balance problems.

Cover Yourself
By now everything is in place and you have determined how you are going to clean up the ceiling fan. It is time for your own protection. Wear a cap or cover your head with a cotton scarf. Wear gloves in your hands, cover your mouth, nose. To protect your eyes you may wear clear spectacles.

Steps for Cleaning Fan Blades

• Spread the ladder on the floor and climb up to reach the fan.
• As you reach a comfortable position, hold the fan and gently wipe the blades with the wet duster or vacuum cleaner.
• Be careful as you take it off the blade, you should not drop the dust below.
• Carefully come down and take the wiper/mop outside the room for cleaning.
• Wash your face, hands, and eyes to avoid contamination.

Replace the old ceiling fans, check this blog to find guide and information.

For more on cleaning, consider:

Bob Vila’s Blogs
Wikihow

Earlier when I was thinking of where to get breakfast, I thought about how to get there as well. That kind of thought hasnt come up with me for awhile and perhaps it’s just my body asking for it to be my priority from time to time. Every morning me and oftentimes with the wife and kid would go the bakery or the local grocery. We do this as soon as all of us are awake. This morning I woke up a few ticks before 5:30 am and realizing the rest of the family members are still at least half an hour away from waking up, I decided to jog the 200 meters of distance from our house to where we buy the pastries for breakfast. Normally we would take a ride on the bike so it would only take about a minute to get there.

Making that decision earlier made me realize how I’ve so much strayed away from physical activities and how much my body needs it. The simple jog alone for a measly 200 meters did nothing but highlight how much I failed my own body and how weak I’ve become because of this. Upon getting back home after spending a few minutes of some needed run I felt my breathing cleared right away. I’ve forgotten how before I was able to sleep that I was having some trouble breathing. Last night, I kept sneezing for a good hour before I was able to take my rest. The morning jog earlier, no matter how insignificant it might seem, forced my respiratory system to get rid of some mucus that’s blocking my breathing. I have definitely felt the relief brought by that 200 meters jog.

Getting back to my computer for work after breakfast, I opened another tab and typed the phrase “run Santa run”. I have heard that on the coming months before Christmas, there would be running events named after Santa. The results I found are about online games which are so much popular nowadays. It’s a fun game made of flash, I can’t help but to mess around it for a few minutes. It’s not surprising that games like these are not only popular on web browsers but it’s already gaining ground as a mobile app as well. The game was about Santa dodging many hazards so he could get back to his job delivering presents to kids which he somehow has forgotten and that is why he is on such a hurried pace on the game (Fun intended I know).

After playing with that game for a few minutes, I finally found the page where it says that there would indeed be a 5k/10k running event which will not be held for another month. I would just have to take note of that. For now, one thing is for sure, every morning I’ll jog starting tomorrow. I know I’m not alone at this scenario wherein as our careers progress it becomes harder for us to find time for ourselves. After reading this, I hope you; my reader would find that patch of time for yourself as well because no matter how insignificant it might be, a 200 meter jog made a believer out of me.

Once in a while every single parent needs it!

I’m a single mom and my days are packed. My weekdays go a bit like this:

Wake up at dawn to prepare a healthy breakfast and lunchboxes. An hour later, all is prepared, packed and ready for the day’s activities. I go to gently stir my five-year-old daughter, who sweetly smiles and snuggles a few moments more.

After the morning ritual of dressing, eating breakfast and brushing teeth we head off to preschool. Here we greet friends, admire climbing technique, trip over blocks, discuss details with teachers and make clay sculptures or drawings. Once we have said our goodbyes, I head towards the door, where I am usually stopped by another child who wishes to share the intimate details of their latest drawing or booboo or plushy. I clear the maze eventually and head off to work.

I work at the barn in the mornings, which I love. It is a pleasure to be out in the fresh air surrounded by nature and my favorite horses. There is plenty to do around the farm and work never ends; it merely moves with the seasons.
My morning can include any number of tasks from training horses, teaching, moving heavy loads, gardening, feeding, caring, meeting vets or whatever the day requires.

Just after noon, I head back off to pick up my daughter from preschool. By the time I arrive to get her, she is usually hungry being a pretty active little one. Thanks to my morning ritual I have an arsenal of healthy snacks prepared! She is pleased and ready for action after the nutritious treats and

I work on a freelance basis from home, which involves hours in front of my computer.d off to the next adventure. Today it was active play and swimming which left her happy, hungry and exhausted! Mommy, carry me! While I don’t have to carry her far, she is getting heavier by the day, and the heavy lifting is a strain on my back.

Once we arrive home, she is off like a bullet to her toys, giving me some time to prepare dinner. With full tummies, we head off for bath time and bed time. A bedtime story or three is standard procedure followed by a discussion of things we are grateful for today and what we learned.

When she finally drifts off to sleep I have time to clean up, get the laundry done and get to my desk. Yup, once the lights are out my work begins anew. I spend nights doing freelance writing and editing. After my long day, the desk time is a killer for my back. Perhaps it is time for an inversion table[Inspirational Bodies]. The thought of being suspended by my ankles upside down and decompressing my spine sound like heaven at this stage… time to just hang so to speak.

When I wake in the morning, I will do it all again with a smile. What a precious opportunity we have, to sow the seeds for the future. I am so grateful and will continue to do my best joyfully.