Getting started in a career in aged care in Australia.

Hi,
     After my daughter started school, I decided that it was time to look around for a new career.
In Australia there are increasing  opportunities in aged care. This is  because the percentage of over 70's in the population is increasing.  The  "baby-boomers" born in the  the immediate post-war period 1945-1955 are now reaching retirement age.

I started out by looking around for a training provider to get an initial qualification in aged care. I found that Australasian-Lawrence Aged Care college was well suited to my needs.  They were based near my home  and had a flexible schedule that allowed me to finish the course quickly.  After completing the theory side of the course it was necessary to find a practical placement. This was a challenge but after ringing about 30 different aged care facilities I eventually found one willing to supervise me. My 80 hour unpaid traineeship was at Sambell Lodge in Clifton Hill they were friendly and helpful and gave me a great reference.  I completed my Certificate 3 in aged care in about 4 months in all.                                                          

After completing my studies.  I started looking for work. I searched online  at www.seek.com.au and also sent my resume to several agencies. Before too long I found some casual work.
This work involved visiting old folks to assist them in their home and sometimes assisting them with shopping and outings. At first, it was quite a challenge at learning to find my way around to different suburbs with the help of the GPS on my phone. After a while I got used to it.  I found that working with clients in their homes suited me better than working in a nursing home sector.

After around 6 months working with agencies as  a casual I decided to go in to business for myself as an independent carer.  I found that clients were happy to hire me directly based on my Certificate and references.  I found that it was possible to find regular age care clients through specialized websites like Find a carer and also by advertising on the notice boards of my local public library. By having my own business I found that I was  happier because I could choose the clients who were not so difficult. The clients are happy because they avoid the high fees charged by the agencies.
                                                               

Working in aged care can be challenging and may not suit everyone but there are certainly opportunities there to make a start working in Aged Care in Australia. After working in aged care for less than 12 months I had saved enough to buy a brand new car!

Thanks for reading, Please feel free to leave a comment or query.

Regards,
Joy

To declutter and make some quick cash sell some stuff online!

“Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing... ”

 Jerome K. Jerome (May 2, 1859 – June 14, 1927) was an English author, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.

        Recently we watched an interesting  documentary called  "My stuff "   The idea was to put all your stuff into a storage, and bring back only one item per day. Although we are not ready for such radical decluttering methods, watching the movie convinced us that it was time to make some quick cash by selling some of our unwanted stuff.

Click here to see our video about selling stuff.

In the past we have tried having garage sales and also sold things on ebay and found it profitable but a bit time consuming.

This time we decided to try listing our stuff on our towns community buy and sell page on facebook:

itemsforsaleNewmanWesternAustralia

We posted some photos of our stuff including some hand bags, china and other odds and ends. 

                                    Sold in 30 minutes!
                                  

Sold same day!

We were surprised how quickly the things were snapped up. Not only did we make some cash but we also met some friendly neighbours.  

       

Life in a mining town in the West Australian outback.

Hi,
     I am Joyce, I am currently living here with my family  in the mining town of Newman in the West Australian outback. My interests are family, travel, saving, investments, blogging and youtubing.

Newman has a population of around 5000 and is a comfortable place to live. The town has all the necessary facilities including excellent schools, churchs,  hospital, supermarket, library, hotels and sporting/recreational centres. Newman is a very multicultural community with residents from all over the world.

Here is a panoramic view of the town

We have found that the cost of living here for us is actually a lot less than in the city. Salaries are higher, there are some tax benefits and accomodation is often heavily subsidised by the employers.

Newman is a mining town and just outside of town is the Mt Whaleback mine which is one of the largest iron ore mines in the world, it is owned by BHP.

We recently toured the Mt Whaleback mine

 Some miners are employed on a fly in fly out basis and Newman has daily direct flights to Perth.
We have decided to invest some of the money we earn here in shares in BHP.

Although we are far from the distractions, excitement and bright lights of the city we are very happy to stay here for a while living the simple life.

Save Money? "Lentil as Anything" a most unusual Melbourne restaurant,

                                                                            

In Melbourne right now its winter time and the streets are windy and cold. However there is one restaurant that is guaranteed to warm even the coldest heart. The restaurant known as "Lentil as anything" invites all comers to eat there fill of fine vegetarian fare but there are no prices on the menu. Customers are invited to pay as much or as little as they want according to how they feel and there particular circumstances. A donation box is placed near the exit for those customers who feel like making a contribution. It is a remarkable fact that the restaurant continues to thrive and prosper after 12 years and now has 3 branches in the suburbs. The cuisine is multicultural and includes delicious dishes from Africa,India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and China. The restaurant is mainly staffed by enthusiastic volunteers. The clientele is a mainly youthful mixture of students and international backpackers seeing Australia on a shoestring types. The atmosphere is friendly and convivial. Live entertainment is provided by a variety of buskers. The philosophy behind this restaurant is wise. It offers charity to those in need whilst allowing them to keep there dignity intact. In this way it builds a stronger community. I certainly hope that this enterprise continues to thrive and that other folks consider emulating it around the world. You can read more about Lentil as anything by following this link: Lentilasanything

The Road out of Debt.

                                                         The Road Out of Debt!
                

“Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour. It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offences; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little.”

                                                                                 

Since the global financial crisis many folks in the blogosphere are relating there experiences with debt and how to escape from it. In the above quote Henry David Thoreau is speaking eloquently from his own experience. As an ambitious and thoughtful young writer he published his first book at his own expense only to find that it did not sell and he was left with a large debt and a pile of unsalable books in the attic. Many an enterprising person if not the whole world has been caught up in the irrational exuberance of the boom years and invested in a property or business enterprise with borrowed money only to find that suddenly the return is not there. It seems that the inevitable consequence if not out and out bankruptcy is a long period of struggle and most drastic austerity for everyone. At the moment some of the hottest words on google search are “thrift”, “frugality” “How to save money” and so on. It seems every one is watching every coin these days. It seems that the economic system has seized up and is just not capable of delivering even sufficient necessities for everyone anymore. Thoreau describes a similar situation in his time “The nation itself, with all its so called improvements, which by the way are all external and superficial is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment , cluttered with furniture and tripped by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the millions in the land, and the only cure for it,  as for them, is in a rigid economy  a stern and more Spartan simplicity of life and an elevation of purpose”  

                                                                            

Many people today are feeling crushed under a mountain of debt and are desperately seeking a way out. In “Walden” Thoreau describes how he lived for 2 years a life style of radical simplicity in a self-built cabin in the woods on squatted land. His cabin is described in loving detail was 15 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet high, about the size of a small shipping container. He baked his own bread, grew his own beans and minded his own business. From his experience he wrote his book “Walden” which although not recognized in his day is now seen as one of the greatest of American classics which continues to inspire millions of people to live a simpler life to this day. It is particularly useful to those of us trying to escape from debt. You can read more of Thoreau;, Walden at this link:

Walden, or life in the woods.

Thrifty Communications.

        

              Save money make free calls through Tango, Heytell and Viber video and free text.

                                                                           

How we make free calls on our new Smart Phone with Tango, Heytell and Viber. We just love our new Samsung Galaxy phone. We can make free calls with Tango, Heytell and Viber. These services make calls through the internet so we need to be at home to use our home Wifi internet or in in a Wifi hot spot the library or a cafe.   



We have told all our friends around the about Tango, Heytell and Viber too. We use our mobile numbers for user ID on these services so its easy to remember. Tango provides free voice and video calls to other phone users who have installed Tango, Viber provides free talk and text. Heytell is walkie Talkie style calls to other Heytell users. Sometimes if one service is busy so we use the other one.

Save Money for Luggage

                                                   Singapore Changi Airport.
                                           Playground area Lounge at Changi Airport.

               
The real secret of happy frugal travelling is to take the absolute minimum of luggage. It is even possible to manage with just 7-10 kg of cabin luggage if you are really thoughtful and disciplined. If you travel with a budget airline that charges extra for checked luggage you will save a lot of money and time if you don't have any checked luggage at all. Provided you are able to easily carry your own luggage and are willing to do a little homework it is often possible to save a lot of money on airport transfers by using public transport. You can research frugal airport transfer arrangements online .or by making a phone enquiry or at the enquiry counter at the railway station

 

For example, recently we discovered how to save a lot of money getting to and from the MelbourneAirport. Suppose for instance you have arrived by train from the country at the Southern Cross station in down town Melbourne and have a plane to catch. The options would seem to be. Catch a taxi for around $50 or catch the Skybus direct to the Airport. The Skybus costs about $15 per person so for a family of 3 thats $45. 
In fact under these circumstances it is possible to get to the Airport free of charge. This is because your V-line country rail ticket includes use of the suburban network for at least 1 hour after arriving in the city.

The trick is to catch a suburban train to Broadmeadows station and then catch the 701 public bus to the airport. The 701 bus will drop you just across the road from the Tiger Airlines terminal. You will need to walk a few steps from there to all the other terminals.
If you are travelling from Northern Victoria the country trains stop at Broadmeadows you will save both time and money by hopping off the train there. Your ticket to Broadmeadows will be up to $5 cheaper than if you travelled all the way in to the downtown station at Southern Cross. It is only about 20mins to the airport from Broadmeadows by bus.