children

The ability to drive in one direction for at least an hour or two, to then find yourself in a fabulous new place, teeming with great food, amazing wine and lazy, sunny days without end is right here. All you have to do is hitch a caravan to your car and go for broke! Caravanning around Australia has so much to offer you and your family. It’s a perfect way to unwind and spend quality time with your loved ones. There’s no fussing about where you’re going to stay, how you’re going to get there – it’s all taken care of! Here are 6 tips for caravanning around Australia.

1. Be prepared

I know it seems like such a Girl Guides cliché, but you have to be prepared. If you are travelling around Australia, you have to keep in mind that you might be 375km between fuel stops (up to 800km in some areas) so you’ll have to carry your own spare fuel, food to last and your own water. Water is non-negotiable: especially in dry desert areas.

Make sure to carry your own fuel in case of emergency on a long run

2. Use Highway One

Also known as the M1, Highway One circles the rim of the country. It’s the only road that reaches right up North. It’s also the one most populated with rest stops, toilet facilities and overnight areas. These overnight areas are usually safe, as you’ll rarely be alone in one of them! Remember, caravanning can be a great social activity, too! Remember – sticking tonorth-south/east-west drives is safer than travelling on diagonals.

3. Stress less and go during off-season

You’ve been to the beach in summer, right? It’s crowded, hot and sticky. Fighting for a spot on the beach is no fun at all. So avoid going during summer, Easter and during school holidays. It’s definitely worth exploring places off the beaten track for some great spots unspoiled by an influx tourists.

4. Shack up in one spot as a “base”

If you love one aspect of Australia, it makes sense to explore it all. If you love wine, you can take your caravan to the Barossa Valley, unhitch the caravan and start exploring the region as a series of day trips! It’s a fantastic way to experience life in a different part of Australia without having to pick up sticks!

5. Always take the weather (report) with you

Just remember, Australia is a huge place with lots of weird weather (and no, I’m not just talking about a typical Melbourne day.) You might have to contest with 45-degree days, cyclones and big wets in the Top End. Know what you’re up for before you head there.

6. Embrace the caravanning spirit

Throw your itineraries and schedules away – caravanning is an adventurous way to unwind! You’re literally as free as the roads take you. No flights to catch, no timetables to follow; it’s as relaxing as you make it. Make new friends, explore new places and have more fun than ever before!
All images via Pixabay under Creative Commons CC0

Bill Tsouvalas

Bill Tsouvalas is founder and managing director at Savvy Caravan Loans – a part of the Savvy Finance group. Bill has been working in the vehicle and leisure finance business for more than eight years. He also writes car reviews and articles on car finance, chattel mortgage, insurance, consumer protection and insurance related topics.

It’s a common sentiment that most people want to ‘get their finances sorted’ before they have kids. The questions is, how do you know when your finances are actually ready and what should you be doing to prepare?

1. Take stock

Look at where you are at right now. If you haven’t already got a budget, then this is the first step you need to take. What debt do you have? Do you have any savings or do you live pay to pay? If so, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a baby, but now is the time to get a bit of structure and have a better understanding as to where your money is going.

If you are currently spending everything you earn, how do you expect to pay for the extras that come with being a parent?

2. Create the post-baby budget

Once you know where you are now, you then need to start mapping what your post baby budget would look like. This needs to include any reduced income due to maternity leave, and the added expenses such as nappies, formula, and child care.

Setting a realistic budget will let you know if you have enough money for all of these things, and should highlight how long you can take off for maternity leave if that is what you are currently considering.

If you are currently spending everything you earn, how do you expect to pay for the extras that come with being a parent?

3. Do you have an emergency fund?

This is an important feature in any well managed personal budget, but this is even more important if you are expanding the family. Firstly, if you don’t have one of these then you need to consider it. My general rule is to aim for 3 months’ worth of household expenses to be set aside for an ‘in case of emergency’ situation. Think about medical expenses, white goods breaking, freak weather events that mean you have to pay for an insurance excess. It’s hard to plan for all of these, so having an emergency fund is super important.

4. Do you have stable income?

Everyone’s jobs are different, but you need to consider how stable your income is. It may be slightly different from month to month depending on overtime etc, but do you feel confident that your job isn’t going anywhere? Think about the industry you are in, are there a lot of redundancies going around at the moment? Are you getting regular, consistent hours or is it all over the place?

It is likely the case that you will need to rely on one income for a period of time. Ensuring that income is as reliable as possible is important. This could mean getting a full time, permanent job or trying to position yourself in a large company that has great employee benefits.

An interesting trend to consider is that most employers are putting 6 month probationary periods into new contracts now, so if you are after a new role that is something to be mindful of.

5. Do you have all of your life insurances sorted?

Life insurance (including disability and income protection) are so much more important when you have dependents. Having enough life insurance to look after your children for the long term if something were to happen to you, should be priority number one. Depending on your personal situation, you can fund this via your superannuation account or your everyday budget.

It’s not all about the money, but putting yourself in the best position in advance will mean that when you get there, you will know exactly what your money is doing and how much you have to spend on your new family.

We love to spend money on cute outfits and overpriced gifts but the best gift you can give your future children is a stable and loving home, one that is not overflowing with debt, money stress and late bill notices.

Featured image via Pixabay under Creative Commons CC0

The reality of being a work at home mum (WAHM) or mum in business is quite different to what I imagined it to be.

I always knew I’d like to work from home after I had children. “Do my own thing, work around my baby!” I used to say confidently before I became a mother. Boy was I deluded!

What does a WAHM really do? Well between a dozen trips to the toilet each day, requests for food, videos and playgrounds I try to maintain a part time income along with my self confidence and self esteem!

These are 7 common scenarios that have happened to me over and over in the last three years, and some tips to hopefully help other parents prepare for the journey of working from home:

1. People won’t understand what you do

When I tell people I run two businesses from home, everyone is immediately interested to know exactly “what do I do” when working from home. I get a couple of blank looks when I share that I’m a freelance writer and feel compelled to explain that I “work for newspapers and magazines” which is still a vague idea for a lot of people. My other business as the founder of Project Mum is a lot easier to understand it seems.

Tip: Practice your ‘elevator pitch’ so you can explain what you do when the question arises.

2. It’s not as easy as people think

Wow! Aren’t you lucky to be able to work from home? Yes. Yes, I am. But before you imagine it to be a cushy gig with lots of productivity happening – stop right there! My day is made up of attending playgroups, trips to the grocery store, to the park, coming home and thinking up different foods to serve for lunch then dinner. I usually run my businesses with Playschool and Thomas the Tank blaring in the background with various commentary and interruptions thrown in by my three-year-old.

There isn’t a quiet space in the house to think while I work or a time when my son didn’t insist on sitting on my lap wanting to thump away at the keyboard, or cuddle, or need to go to the toilet right when inspiration struck me.

Tip: Don’t expect everything will go to plan, roll with it and work out the best times you can be productive (like, nap time).

3. Work hours are.. flexible

Before I know it, the day has rushed past me and it’s already time to think about dinner. Sometimes when I’m really organised I know what I’ll be cooking three days of the week and have already shopped for it. It’s another few hours before there’s peace and quiet when no-one is demanding the pleasure of my company and I can work – usually past 11pm.

I have stayed up all hours of the night to meet deadlines because of a sick child during the day or simply because I am sleep deprived and couldn’t function during daylight hours.

Tip: Set yourself some weekly tasks to complete but be flexible. Distractions will happen.

4. You will become obsessed with outside communication

I have become surgically attached to my phone and apps and most times I resent it. The fact is I do 50% of my work using my phone and I’ve built a habit of checking my email every half hour which is not at all productive. Something in my brain is now conditioned to do this and I cannot switch this impulse off!

Tip: Try sticking to one task at a time and set times to check your emails so you aren’t constantly checking.

5. You may go stir-crazy

Working from home can get monotonous; getting together with another WAHM for a playdate while hoping our offspring will be happy to play with each other enough for you to get some work done usually results in the same gig repeated in someone else’s house too. Maybe it’s the terrible threes but it’s simply too noisy to talk or think. Our conversations usually centre around how much we are doing (which we are, I assure you I’m not imagining it!), how many ideas we have and how much time we have in comparison to do it all.

Tips: Playdates can help break the monotony but be prepared for a different kind of chaos. Try using this time to vent or brainstorm new ideas or strategies that will work with your business rather than getting peace and quiet.

6. It can get lonely

I won’t lie, the isolation of working from home sometimes erodes your self confidence and motivation to achieve things. It feels like you’re fighting against a tidal wave which is threatening to drown you any time. Because there’s no quiet time or reflection, sometimes these feelings tend to build up and then, at least in my case, will literally explode with even the most minor thing setting me off. I’ve learnt that I need to hit rock bottom in order to come back up. The more I avoid this part the worse I feel.

Tip: Don’t let these feelings build up. Talk to your partner and friends, join a working group (online communities are great for this!) and vent away. You may meet great people this way and find new ways to work better.

7. Partners don’t always understand

The ‘other half’ in the relationship doesn’t always understand the overwhelming nature of what we do. They do one job and come home too ‘physically exhausted’ to do much more, while I’m doing the equivalent of three work shifts every day non-stop, still going from morning until midnight. Plus they seem to think we have all this ‘free time’ in which to make phone calls – to organise insurance, airlines, hospitals for quotes, take the car in for a service – all with a child in tow.

Tip: If you want to vent and need sympathy, find a good friend on the side to talk to. They should be encouraging, sympathetic and will know exactly what to say to make you feel better.

The reality of a work-at-home mum is far from glamorous and a lot more hard work compared to the perception. Yes, while we are in charge of our own hours, we are not always in full control or working when we are most productive. Our family and running the house often takes precedence because, well, there’s no one else to do the hard yards and that’s the reality of a work from home mum.

Rashida Tayabali is the founder of Project Mum, a project matching service that connects growing businesses to skilled mums for short and long term projects. She helps solo business owners gain clarity and focus in their business through one-on-one coaching sessions. If you’re a small business owner seeking focus and clarity in your business, or need help in making the leap to self employed and not sure how to begin, register for her brand new coaching sessions by emailing contact@projectmum.com.au.

Article edited by Sian Edwards

When 5pm strikes, it can be mayhem if there isn’t a meal ready to rock and roll by 6pm! Preparation is the key ingredient in a successful meal planning strategy. To be ahead of the game, aim to plan ahead by at least a week, if not two. If that’s not possible, or plans change, you can fall back on these quick and easy recipes using ingredients you may already have on hand!

You can be ready to whip up a meal on the fly by simply assembling the following ingredients:

Legumes (eg: chick peas, beans etc..) that have been soaked and boiled for 10-15 minutes
Marinated chicken tenderloins in zip lock bags (stored in the fridge, frozen) with either honey soy, tarragon & lemon or sweet chilli
Washed and pre-sliced salad or vegetables that can be stored in plastic containers

Now you’re ready to go when the “What the heck is for dinner?” moments hit you!

Everything you can do in advance can help ease your stress and increase your productivity in the kitchen. Those pre-sliced veggies, chopped salad, and legumes? Add a basic on-the-spot salad dressing (a drizzle of olive oil, crushed garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some salt & pepper) and you’ve just created a tasty tossed salad! The marinated chicken tenderloins can be seared in your grill pan, cooled slightly, and chopped to create the perfect topping for your salad.

Pre-planned grilled chicken & salad

Time: 15 minutes

Cost: $16.49 (Chicken $10, Dressing $3, 1 Cucumber $1.49, 1 Mixed Salad 200g $2)

Keeping a few “Pantry Essentials” on hand can also help inspire delicious dinners on a moment’s notice:

Ready cooked brown rice packs (or legumes)
spring water tuna
sundried (or fresh) tomatoes
olives
parsley
lemon juice
olive oil

Add salt & pepper to taste, and voila! You’ll have dished up an amazing tuna and rice recipe that took 90 seconds to cook in the microwave!

Pantry meal

Time: 5 minutes

$18.50 (Rice $1.50, Large Tuna can $6, Olives $4, Sundried Tomatoes $4, Cucumber $2, Parsley $1)

For more daily inspo and info on how I manage to keep fit and healthy, come check out my IG page @1danistevens or visit DaniStevens.com and grab some affordable healthy recipes and ideas.

Featured photo credit: Panama Supermarkets 2 via photopin (license)

Dani Stevens

Motivated to share her lifestyle transformation with the world, Dani loves to help others reach their personal goals for healthy living! You can find her offering words of wisdom, great recipes and other health and fitness inspo on her website, gorgeous pics on Instagram, and sharing the love however she can!

She is also the First Australian Food Blogger to join Jamie Oliver’s Food Tube network!

As busy women, it can sometimes seem that as we get older, we take on more commitments, which leads to more responsibilities, which then leads to less time in the day. Prioritising our necessities looks like the logical, and really, only, way to get through everything we need to do, from spending time with our spouses, ensuring we care properly for our children, allowing our careers to develop, etc. Fitting in the time for ourselves, as well as our friends and family tends to be one of the first things to drop straight to the bottom of our list, yet it is one very important aspect of your life that can help with the drawbacks of being busy – stress!

There are a number guilt-free, easy to manage ways in which we can incorporate our friends and family into a busy schedule. Here are 5 ways busy women can spend time with their friends and family:

1. Find common ground

Any form of common ground that you can find with your family or friends, which should be an easy task with your close circle, should be used to your advantage. Maybe you both have kids that can play whilst you catch up, or pets that can go for a walk or even add on an extra 15 minutes to your grocery shop and do it together. Being able to coordinate the similar activities you together is kind of a nice way of “hitting two birds with one stone”.

2. Take away any pressure or expectation

Hanging out with family or friends doesn’t need to be a special occasion or a fully fledged social ordeal. It can be just as fun and relaxing to sit at home with a glass of wine and watch an episode of trashy TV with the company you’re in, and just unwind. Don’t put any pressure on what fun and exciting activity you could be doing. Realise that people want to be in your life and spend time with you, because of you, so focus on being just that.

3. Conquer together

Set some new goals and see them through together. Not only will having someone there to ensure you’re committed, but you also create new memories and experiences to celebrate jointly. Whether it’s to get fit and healthy and you go to the gym to work out, or if it is to learn a new language or skill and you go to classes together, you can design your goals and objectives to contain more than just success, but also fun and togetherness.

4. A girl’s gotta eat.

Coordinating meals seems to be the luxurious way ladies of leisure spend their time together as “ladies who lunch”. It doesn’t need to have that stigma. Synchronising lunch schedules or even family dinner nights can be a low-key, easygoing way to spend time with your family or friends whilst doing the normal things. It’s being able to open your mind and see the opportunity where you can do things together with ease.

5. Schedule and prioritise

It’s easy to say “Let’s catch up soon” or “I will give you a call when I get a free minute”, but it too often gets lost in the weekly chaos. Prioritise your friends and family, even if it means putting a reminder in your calendar to call them. As a busy woman, having a strict calendar is essential, so you have no excuse not to schedule them in alongside your other commitments. The more you do this, the more normal it becomes, and the more you will enjoy it for what it is worth.

In saying all of that, it is equally important to make time for yourself. They are like you and your best friend; they go hand in hand! With good people in your life and enjoying time spent with your family and friends, your happiness and joys in life are magnified and any troubles or sadness is shared.

Featured photo credit: `James Wheeler via photopin cc

Samantha Krajina
Samantha, a Relationship Specialist, devotes her heart and soul to E&S Relationship Specialists, which spans across the areas of personal, business and education, running programs in all facets of individual and group relations. Crafting the groundbreaking technique of Relationshipology, Samantha is transforming relationships all over Australia with the aim to have social and emotional education taught in school along side the academic education. Whilst business is a huge part of Samantha’s life, her most favorite role is being an amazing wife and an awesome mum to her beautiful son and baby on the way.

Arianna Huffington said, “The difference between failure and success is perseverance”.

Whilst Huffington’s humble beginnings are now well known, there are others, who, even here in Australia, have overcome adversity to finally make it in the chosen career, and have not just survived, but thrived.

Meet Eleni Zaphir, who, at just 15 years old, found herself pregnant and scared for her future. She now runs her own fashion boutique, Vigari Fashion, in Brisbane. “I have been designing, and now manufacturing my own line of clothing and jewellery”, Eleni says. “I am selling to the Australian market and will soon be hitting the USA”.

Eleni talks about how she felt, how she rose above her fear and what other women can do conquer persevere in their business, careers and lives.

I was a 15-year-old girl with a 15-year-old mindset

Finding out I was pregnant at 15 was the most terrifying emotion I had ever come across. Not sure what to do or who to talk to, I decided it be best if I left home with my then boyfriend. I felt it would be the ultimate humiliation to my family to have a child at my age, and a boyfriend alone who was 4 years older than me. I was a 15-year-old girl with a 15-year-old mindset.

Dark days came

It came soon after settling to our new home that I experienced physical and emotional abuse from my child’s father. It was such a horrific time in my life, but I was raised with the mindset of marrying once and having children with that one man.

Get resources and educate yourself

I delved into pregnancy books at a local library, learning everything I could about my baby at every stage she was developing to keep myself busy. At that point in my life, becoming a mother was all dreamed of. Because I was in an abusive relationship, the only thing that kept my hopes up and bringing any kind of happiness was having a child that I could love and adore, and she too would love me.

Surround yourself with good people

I didn’t have much of a support system when I first left home. But after several occasions of dealing with the physical abuse, the hospital advised I seek assistance from a homeless woman’s shelter. It was so terrifying to not only encounter being a runaway with a false identity, but missing my family so, so much, to then be dealing with the abuse most days. I stayed at the shelter several times to then always go back to my child’s father, believing he had sought help for his temper. And of course, this was never the case.

Recognise your worth

I decided to open my own store at the age of 27. I was over building up other people’s businesses and not being recognised for my hard work. I decided fashion was something I admired. I knew a few people in the wholesale fashion industry so I had the right contacts for the right products. I decided to invest in what little I had in my bank account at the time, and just went for gold. And I have been happily in business for over 8 years now.

Invest time in yourself and your growth

As I wanted to start well with my first retail store, I had to invest a lot of time to find the most ideal position to set up shop in. As well as doing all the regular background research, I would actually go to the area and sit there for hours, just observing everyone and every thing. Just some things I remember thinking were:

Are these people my customers?
Will people come to my store?
If I have the right products, can I make this store a destination boutique?

Thanks to my research, I was really able have a jump start. VIGARI was something Brisbane needed, not only for its exceptional service and styling advice but having the products women wanted – at a fraction of the price. The VIGARI brand has been continuing successfully ever since.

Rewards come through great perseverance

There was literally no time to think about my busy schedule. I had a routine I wanted to follow: preparation with meals at home, and making sure I made room for family time. I remember being so tired. I didn’t hire staff until 11 months into my business, even if my store was open 7 days. By some miracle, however, it worked out, and I now have a fantastic business and an even more fantastic relationship with my kids.

I look back at it all sometimes and think, “Wow, how did I do it?”

Preparation and being organised are key to juggling career and family life

It doesn’t take much to sit down on a Sunday for 15 minutes and plan what foods to cook that week – this helps with what groceries to then buy. Planning your calendar with weekend events and/or play dates with family & friends is a must, too, and I personally like effortless events. Just pack some rolls for a sausage sizzle at your local park and let the kids run wild. I loved things that tired the kids out so they were in bed early!

Think good thoughts, speak good words and take good actions

My children know how much I value good, positive behaviours. When you have the mind to be focused and positive, anything and everything you want can prevail. Being lazy is my pet hate. But it all starts with the mindset.

Our motto is, “Think good thoughts, speak good words and take good actions.” When you have all 3, you can conquer the world. My daughter has a sensational job in dentistry, and my son has developed an amazing career is producing music.

Featured image courtesy of Eleni Zaphir

Erica Enriquez
Erica is a Sydney-based writer and digital marketer, and can often be found pounding away on a keyboard, writing about everything from travel, lifestyle, well-being and anything in between. When she is not writing, she is STILL writing, developing copy and content for websites and marketing collateral. Erica is passionate about film, literature and culture (high brow and low brow), as well as pro-social causes supporting cultural engagement (counting travelling as one of them). In her spare time, she loves nothing more than to curl up with a good book, go for a nice dinner with friends or spend time with her partner.