Loving Mondays, Monarch Butterflies, an Adoptiversary and being Financially Chic!

 

Do you love Mondays as much as I do? They feel bright, early and a fresh start for a new week. I love Mondays so much! They are like a mini new year every week.

On a Monday first thing you will find me with my big cup of tea on my desk, candles lit, and soft music playing. And I am almost finished with my next book, so exciting. It's a '100 Ways' book on self-care and it's been so calming to write.

It has been fun really exploring this topic from the perspectives of wellbeing and body image. I think you'll enjoy it once it's out!

 

We have a number of swan plants in our garden, all self seeded, and it’s so lovely to see all the Monarch butterflies around them. They lay eggs on the leaves, and it’s also wonderful to see caterpillars eating the leaves. They are so beautiful!

You can see there are big round seed pods too, ready to produce even more swan plants in the future.

Isn't nature is grand?

 

 

 

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It was five years ago yesterday that we adopted Daphne and Chloe from the Napier SPCA.

From terrified, unsocialised little doggies who hid in our closet for months to the confident happy girls we have today, it’s been a delight to watch them blossom and grow to enjoy life.

They still have their moments; they are unsure about people they don’t know, and prefer to be at home, but they’ve come a long way. They are well loved members of our household and love that their white fluffy cousin Micky dog lives here now too. He gives them more confidence because he is such an easygoing boy.

 

 

Happy adoptiversary Daphne and Chloe!

From left to right: Daphne (7), Chloe (9), Micky (11)

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I was watching a few YouTube videos the other day - two of Robert Kiyosaki and one of Warren Buffett. It was interesting to hear them talk about global financial aspects that are above my level (economics type discussions) but also fascinating to learn about.

Both had different views on 2023 but watching those videos brought back to me how important keeping our own 'backyard' tidy is. With rising interest rates, inflation etc, now is the perfect time to make it a fun game to live a good life without spending a lot of money.

And that's what my books are all about too, in particular ‘Financially Chic’, where I go through everything I do to make being financially savvy enjoyable, plus how we paid off our former home in less than five years. I still can't believe myself we did it.

 

Back in the day when I studied money books more, I loved 'The Automatic Millionaire' by David Bach. He was the one that talked about latte money, how if you took that $5 a day and invested it you could have a good amount in retirement. He was panned for this, people said 'I love my latte! Don't take it away from me!' But I think the broader message was to look at regular outgoing expenses and see if you're getting value from them.

Every so often I download six months of transactions from our bank's website, and sort it into categories to see what we've spent our money on. It is a quick project to see if there are things I can delete and won't really miss.

Another book I loved was 'Stop Acting Rich' by the same authors of 'The Millionaire Next Door'. These books said most millionaires don't actually 'look' like millionaires, and that they get financially settled before they start spending on fancy luxury goods. Sort of 'stop acting rich and BE rich instead'.

I get that many don't find it fun to read money books so that's why I wrote Financially Chic. It's a different kind of money book: more lifestyle, pretty, fun, inspirational etc. than spreadsheets and figures.

You can turn things around at any age to ensure you are heading in the right direction. Make it fun. Make it easy. Let’s all do money well together in 2023! Are you with me?

xx Fiona

PS. If you have always wonder if it’s possible for you to write a book, spoiler alert, it is. Take a look at my book ‘The Chic Author’ on Amazon here. Read the free sample and see if you like what I have to say. I promise you, it’s simple, easy, fun, enjoyable, satisfying and hugely gratifying. You can do it!

 

My Amazon links are affiliate, and via Amazon Smile which donates money to the ASPCA. The price you pay isn't any different, so thank you if you choose to use my links!