Help create a better future for some of Australia's poorest kids - donate to the Smith Family today. Help kids purchase school items.
Have you purchased all the items your kids need to start school soon? I did and boy was it expensive, and also stressful shopping with two very energetic kids (not to mention the baby as well).
Making sure you can have all the items that the school desires you to have for your kids to start school is great if you have the money, but give a thought for families that might not. They might be struggling and some purchases might not be able to be made. Therefore these kids miss out and start out the school year behind the other kids. This disadvantage can really impact a child’s learning, confidence and much more.
Did You Know?
“There are 638,000 Australian children whose families are experiencing financial hardship and life is a daily struggle.” The Smith Family.
I would hate to think what I would do if I could not afford to get the girls their books, pens, pencils, highlighters, textas, other markers, new school shoes and much more. I of course would be grateful for the help and like the fact that my kids would not be the odd ones at their school.
Children like to be like all the others and not having things the other kids do is a real blow. It makes them different from others straight from the start.
It is sad that many families are experiencing financial hardship.
I know how tough it can get, although when we struggled we did not have kids.
We had just gotten married, come home from our honeymoon to find out that hubby was let go of his job. That left me in a job that did not pay enough to pay for everything. We were super lucky that our house payments were manageable but everything else got left due to not having funds to do anything.
Hubby and I cancelled the extras that cost us money, we bought in bulk and mainly mince and frozen vegetables. Kind relatives sent us care packages and gift cards so we could shop at Coles or Woolies At times we went without dinner and struggled to put petrol in the car. It was tough and we are able to say we survived. We were lucky. We had help from friends and family.
Help create a better future for some of Australia’s poorest kids – donate to the Smith Family today. Help kids purchase school essentials so they can be their best.
I can’t imagine how much tougher it would have been with kids as well. We did have a cat and made sure he ate well, but I do know kids and their needs are different. They would need clothes, school items, and all sorts of things. Being in dire straights due to circumstance is tough and hard.
I agree with the Smith Family when they say that, “It is absolutely crucial that we give them the support they need”. Without help families go backwards and situations can get worse.
Education and opportunity can open so many doors for kids. It can change your whole life. Change someones life today by donating to the Smith Family so they can help a family get school supplies and other educational support for their kids.
I have given today, why don’t you! Donate to the Smith Family today. See the nice thank you I received after I gave.
My donation to help families in need. I hope this helps get some school supplies and help for kids at school this year.
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I feel very strongly about all kids having a fair go and being equal. Kids need to feel supported and so do families so that they can provide the very best education for their children. Kids who are given opportunities and have the right equipment to learn with do well. Doing well at school leads to a good job and life. It helps everyone. I was also touched by the advertisements due to just purchasing all the twins school items for grade three this year. It was super expensive and I cannot imagine how it would be with little to no income to do it.
Make sure you help someone that is going through a tough time.
Give them support, help, maybe money or time or just a helping hand.
If you don’t know anyone that needs assistance I’m sure the Smith Family can help. If you donate to the Smith Family they will give the funds to the families that need it the most.
Thanks so much Joe Hockey for letting us know how to buy a house or to upgrade to a bigger one. The answer is a better paying job. It is that simple. Are you excited? I know many of you feel a weight has lifted with now knowing how to break into the Sydney property market or just the property market at all regardless of where you are based in Australia.
If only getting a higher paying or better job was that easy. It is not like these roles are falling from trees where I am. What about you?
Some people might not be able to get a higher paying job due to skills. Some are still studying to transition to a better role. Some are already earning a lot of money and are struggling to make ends meet with a mortgage, expenses and if they have kids this can add to the expense.
New house. Hopefully it is not too expensive to buy!
Maybe one person is at home taking care of a child or they have to pay for child care. Whatever the situation there is a cost to both decisions. Loss in wages while being a home carer to your child or high childcare fees to allow you to work.
You could be in a regional area where higher paying jobs are few or hardly available. Travelling to the city to commute for a job might take more than a day in travel and not be convenient for you due to other commitments, kids, family and study. Telecommuting is not offered so often and therefore skilled workers lose out on high paying jobs due to employers not being flexible on working remotely.
This is not the first stupid thing that Joe Hockey has said. Last year he announced that “poor people don’t drive cars“. Wow, what a thing to say. Now he wants everyone to go out and get a higher paying job to allow them to afford a house. Hockey has no idea how the average person lives and these comments show that he clearly has no idea!
Wages have not doubled or come close, although houses in Sydney have doubled in cost and for most they are unaffordable.
“How silly to go for a job such as teaching or nursing. All you school-leavers take note of Joe Hockey’s advice – go for a good-paying job. It’s no use being altruistic; it doesn’t pay. We don’t need caring people here.”
If everyone had high paying jobs there would be no one to work on other jobs that don’t pay a lot of money. For example if all the nurses, teachers and the like decided to work in higher paying positions how would schools and hospitals function? They would not.
Building your new house or the second one. Hopefully it will not break the bank.
Or maybe our thinking here is flawed. We should just pay everyone more money! Thats it! Increase everyone’s salary across the board and then all is good.
Once your salary has been increased then you can buy the Sydney house and all is good in the world. Right? You can all thank Joe Hockey if this happens. Maybe we need to have a vote in parliament to make this actually happen. I would vote for it, would you?
I must admit that hubby and I were lucky when we purchased our house. However we did not buy in the city due to the costs then. Now they are just extreme to shocking! We purchased our house in the Blue Mountains in 2002. We sacrificed a cheaper cost of house for travel into the city for work. On a train it takes 2 hours to just get to central and that is only one way. So over 4 hours of travel and very early mornings (I had to get up at 5am to be at work for 8.30-9.00am) was what I did, and hubby still does. We were happy to do this to get started on the property ladder.
We have some equity in our house and plan to eventually build a bigger house for our family. However we don’t want to spend a fortune on the house and due to this we are limited on what we can do. The new house will have to be done in stages although I hate that idea as I would like it all done at one time.
For us we sacrificed living away from the city to get our chance to own our own home. I know this is not for everyone but it helped us. However Joe Hockey would be in for a rude shock, there are many people here that are not rich and drive cars. Being in the Blue Mountains having your own transport is essential.
Here is a list of how you can get into your first home sooner. It is not a serious list it is a funny look at ways according to Joe Hockey we can all be in our North Shore mansion.
Are you saving to get your first house or apartment? Or are you upgrading for family reasons? Are you finding it difficult to get what you due to cost?
What are your thoughts of Joe Hockey’s great idea to just get a higher paying job? Do you think it is that easy? I don’t, not really for everyone.
Send in your comments and let us know how you feel.
Did you know that many cancers and disease can be prevented. Keeping yourself healthy, well and in a good weight range can help minimise your chance of some types of cancers. Yes wouldn’t this be wonderful.
Pink Hope is a charity that is urging you to Make Your Own Pinky Promise with your BFF (Best Friend Forever or just good mate) to help improve your health and your mates health as well.
What is Pink Hope about?
Pink Hope is about taking control of your health and empowering you to learn about the facts, and the myths of prevention and detection of cancer. Explore the Pink Hope website and read about the myths. It is an interesting read. I learnt that Ovarian Cancer does give you symptoms and it is not silent as first thought. Many believed it was a silent killer and only presented at the late stage of the disease.
Did you know?
“Doing at least 1.25 hours of exercise per week has a benefit; every little bit counts. The more you exercise the more benefit you get.”
What do you do to keep yourself healthy and well?
I am including more movement into my day. Most days I do close to 10,000 steps or way over.
I make sure that I add a lot of bright coloured vegetables to meals. I have heard it is good to eat a rainbow so we do in this house, well I do try!
I have cut back on alcohol. I have limited wine to weekends and have a glass with dinner.
I make sure to have a yearly check up at the doctors to make sure that all is well with me. I get bloods done, breasts checked, skin looked and of course a pap smear. I try and do it around my birthday so that I remember. So I am due one now as my birthday was yesterday.
Bright coloured vegetables in our pasta sauce
What would your Pinky Promise be?
You have the chance to win a trip to New York City for 2. Yep that is right. You can take your bestie with you. Now that would be a fab way to relax and recharge. I would say that this is a good way to be happy and healthy!
This is what you can win!
Return flights for 2 to New York City
5 nights and a fine dining experience at the luxurious Soho Grand hotel
$5,000 shopping spree at the new Emma & Roe by Michael Hill NYC store!
Don’t fret if you are not the grand prize winner. There are 5 runner up prizes to be won. These are prize packs from KoraOrganics by Miranda Kerr worth $500 each!
So the action plan now is!
Find your bestie and make a Pinky Promise Now. Not only will you be healthier for doing so, you could also win a trip to New York City.
I have made a Pinky Promise and will maintain my healthy eating and making sure I do more exercise. I’m now accountable to my bestie for my promise. My bestie is my hubby. So hope that inspires him as well as it does me.
#BFFPINKPINKYPROMISE
Pink Hope would like more than 10,000 people to register their pledge before the end of May. I hope that we can help to get them to that number.
Disclaimer: I was approached to post about this campaign. I believe in being healthy for you and the family. I have young children and my main aim is to be around a long time so that I can be with them and see them grow up. I love anything that helps others and therefore have shared this wonderful campaign. I hope it inspires you and of course there is a chance to win a fab trip overseas as well.
On the last weekend of the spring school holidays I took the family for a sleepover. A sleepover with a twist; we went glamping on Cockatoo Island.
Hubby and the girls at the accommodation office on Cockatoo IslandView of the tents on Cockatoo Island. Our tent was near the water. What a wonderful view!
I was so excited and so were the kids. I was looking forward to exploring what the island had to offer, relaxing at a cafe and later at our tent with a glass of wine watching the sun set and the boats go by. Some of this happened but not the way I had envisioned.
Getting to Cockatoo Island
As the name suggests it is an island and the only way there is by boat or ferry. We were lucky to park the car where hubby works so that saved with money for parking for the weekend, and then walked around the corner to the ferry. We had to take the ferry to one stop due to low tide and then get a bus to the next place to get the ferry all the way to Cockatoo Island. This was great for the girls as they loved the fact that we took a car, ferry, bus and then finally ferry again. A big adventure just to get there.
Cockatoo Island Wharf, Cockatoo Island. Sydney Harbour.The girls on the wharf waiting for our ferry back to the city.
What did we pack?
If you are staying on the island you need to make sure you bring everything you need with you. This is why I decided on glamping as it means we are not carrying too much with us.
We took the following with us:
Change of clothes for everyone. Basically just a shirt, shorts and other essentials
We all had one pair of shoes, however since it was 34 degrees for nearly both days we were there a pair of thongs could have come in handy
Food for dinner, we had a BBQ that we organised ourselves
Plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons and so on.
Weet-Bix for the twins and 5ooml of milk that was in a cool bag (kids are fussy and having breakfast for them was essential. Hubby and I waited till the cafe was open and had a bacon and egg roll)
View of the buildings and cranes on Cockatoo Island
What can you do on Cockatoo Island?
Explore the island
Get a tour by a guide or do a self guided tour
Learn about the buildings and the history
Kids can collect clues and colour in a book that you can get from the vistors centre
Relax with a nice drink and watch the stunning harbour view
Have a lovely BBQ
Camp and stay over on the island
What did we do?
After we arrived we organised our ice for our esky and then made sure we had wine for the evening. Silly to have to race to do this but the place to purchase wine closes at 4pm and we had a 2pm check-in. Once this was organised we relaxed a bit in our wonderful tent.
The tent and amenities that were provided were wonderful. The glamping tent came with camp beds, linen, towels, toiletries – soap, shampoo, conditioner and the like. It was a huge tent and I am glad I did not have to carry it or put it up. It was good to have it there and ready for us when we arrived.
After we sorted ourselves out we then went off to explore the island. We did get the self-guided tour (headphones that when you enter a number it tells you about a certain area or building), we just explored and had some fun. It was a hot day and the kids had fun running around and looking at the wonderful view.
The beautiful sunset that we saw on Sunday the 5th of October while on Cockatoo Island.
I wore my Fitbit Flex and I did the following steps:
17,480 Steps on Sunday (this was the hottest day and of course we did the most walking! The twins met a friend in the tent next to ours and ran around so they must have done well over 20,000 steps as they were running around like mad people)
9,987 Steps on Monday
So as you can see you do a lot of walking! So make sure to wear comfortable shoes.
What did we eat?
I went shopping and got some sausages, chops (otherwise known as roast beef on the bone), and some nice bits of steak for a BBQ. We also purchased some fresh bread rolls, salad and and drinks to take with us. I froze the drinks so that they would stay colder longer. This was a good help especially with a very hot day that I did not expect. The island has a wonderful kitchen facility for all that stay and we used this area to cook and eat our BBQ feast. Since we made friends with our neighbours we ended up having dinner with them as well. It was a nice evening.
BBQ, Kitchen and eating area for those who camp on Cockatoo Island.
Before I went to Cockatoo Island, I did some research and realised that the pizza place on the island closed at 3pm to families…YES silly really. The weekend we visited, it was the October long weekend, the start of daylight savings and also still school holidays. So why close a place where families can eat and enjoy the island from your cafe/restaurant. I was told when I emailed before our visit that the owner has it as an adults only area after 3pm and if we wanted to come back during the weekday, not school holidays or the weekends it will be fine. I did mention that we were visiting on the weekend and due to school holidays that being there on a weekday would not be possible. I also explained that we were there for a family outing so having children with us was a given.
This is why we chose to take food for a BBQ for our dinner on the Sunday evening.
Other areas that offered food were all closing at about 3pm or 4pm… weird? Why did they not stay open to at least 7pm or 8pm or later… it was of course an island, people were staying there and they in turn could make more money. Strange if you ask me. You are stuck on an island where businesses could earn more if they stayed open and catered more for their customers.
Not sure if there is a reason for this but we could not understand it.
If you are thinking of staying on Cockatoo Island it is a wise idea to bring your own food if you have kids. Most likely places will not be open or if they are your child might not like what is on the menu. It is not like you can go down the shops to get what you need when you are in the middle of Sydney Harbour.
There is a fire pit and the ranger on the island lit it for the evening.
Things that need improvement
More family friendly businesses. Families with kids go to Cockatoo Island for something to do and they are prepared to spend when they are there, even more if you are staying on the Island. To not have venues happy to accept families was a major disappointment. I was so looking forward to sipping a cocktail while having dinner and looking at the harbour. This was not to be due to the fact the only place to do this did not cater for families. I spoke to other families and they said the same thing. Families with kids are being discriminated against and this is a big negative for a fantastic venue like Cockatoo Island.
Open longer and provide places for kids to be while parents are allowed to eat.
We tried to rent a boat to go around the island but when hubby tried to do this he was told to call a number to organise. He said that if he had known this we would have done it before we arrived. However the website said it can all be arranged from the island. We did call the person on the number we were given and the person called back and then found us to discuss renting a boat for all four of us. He took one look at the twins and realised they were tiny. He asked how old and we told him they were six. He said that it depends on life jackets for the kids as we all had to be safe. He came back with the smallest life jacket he had and tried it on one of the girls. It was too big and that meant we could not go on the boat. We understood this and don’t want to not be safe. However if we were able to organise this before we got to Cockatoo Island maybe we might have been able to rent the boat and have this experience. This also means that the money for the boat hire, about $100 was not earnt and this person lost out on the money. Better organisation would mean a better experience and more money in the businesses pockets. A win, win really.
Staff argued with us when we questioned why they took the lids off our bottles of wine when we purchased them (Having staff that don’t argue might be a good idea). You are not allowed to take alcohol on the island and we did not. You are only allowed to purchase it there and drink it in certain areas. The cafe/bar where you buy it, or say your tent or BBQ/Kitchen area. We made sure to purchase ice for our esky that was provided and not having any lids on bottles of wine made it hard to fit everything back into the esky. We were told that not having any lids on the wine is for our safety. Really why is not having a lid something that makes it safe?
Not having a lid makes it more easily spilt, or drunken by other people that are not supposed to have it. Having a lid on a bottle of wine is from my understanding safer than not having a lid on it.
Cockatoo Island Promo Shot from their website. It shows a lid on a wine bottle although this is not allowed for your safety of course.
Seagulls are everywhere, and they are feral! I don’t know what can be done but they need to try and remove them or at least make it easier for the vistors to the island. When we were doing the clue finding with the kids we had to leave many areas as the seagulls were nesting and had eggs that they were protecting. They were getting rather upset and some were looking like they might attack. All they need is a kid to be attacked or something bad to happen and then there might be a major issue. We were fine and left them well alone, however the kids did point out that the island should be renamed, Seagull Island rather than Cockatoo Island.
As you will see the promo image from the Cockatoo Island website shows that you can sit at your tent with a nice glass of wine with a lid on the bottle no less. However when you get there for the same experience, lids were confiscated and the top of the bottle was stuffed with kitchen paper to make up for the missing lid.
Looking at the fire while the sun sets on Cockatoo Island
What to pack if you wish to stay on Cockatoo Island
Food if you wish to have a BBQ or if you have kids with you
Lids for wine or anything that might have lids taken away from you
Cups, plates, knifes, forks, spoons, bowls,cups, glasses, and so on if you are bringing food
Change of clothes, change of shoes if it becomes cool. We just brought walking shoes and as it was hot did not have thongs or sandals
Hat
Suncream
Toilet paper. The ladies toilets were fine and always had adequate paper but hubby said the mens did not. So we were lucky to have some with us.
Note: there is no power for electrical items so make sure you charge your phone and devices ahead of time. My iPhone 4s died early into our first day there so that was not good but to be expected. It is an old phone that has a battery that is on its way out. I am hanging for the new iPhone.
Games for the kids. Card game, a ball or maybe a board game for something to do after you are back at your tent
Enjoying the fire and outdoors on Cockatoo Island
Did we enjoy Cockatoo Island?
We had a great time but some of the things that we expected made the trip for hubby and I not as great as we hoped. Just a little more work on what they offer from hours and accessibility for families to services, and customer service side would have made it fabulous. From my perspective, Cockatoo Island needs to think about who visits their island. It is most likely families who come for a day or stay over, that said they are there to have fun and spend money. It is hard to do this when you cannot due to businesses not catering for families who are prepared to spend when they are there. Think about returns that they have lost due to such silly decisions to close a venue off to families at 3pm.
I loved camping, being somewhere different and it was great as it was a holiday without having to go to far from home.
Relaxing at our tent on Cockatoo Island
The kids loved it and enjoyed racing around and exploring everything. It was the first time for the kids to go camping or really glamping. I did tell the kids that normally we would be camping in a sleeping bag not a bed setup with all the bed made for us.
We would definitely go back. Now we know what we need to do for our next stay or we could just do a day trip. Hubby would like to learn more about the buildings and one day we will go back to learn more.
Have you been to Cockatoo Island? Did you stay over? What did you think? Did you have fun?
