When I first discovered what I am about to share with you, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t thought of it myself!

I was reading the RACV Royalauto magazine and it included an article about an elderly couple who had won a holiday to Thailand just by buying gift vouchers at their local RACV store.

Each month the husband would go into the RACV store and buy a number of Woolworths WISH Gift Cards – using his RACV membership he obtained a 5% discount and then he and his wife used the cards for groceries, fuel and other purchases from within the Woolworths group.

What a fabulous budgeting idea?

Buy a $100 gift card for $95, buy grocery items on sale and then use your fuel discount voucher and fill the car with the balance of the gift card (obviously I know $100 is unlikely to be enough for many households, but the maths was easy to calculate in my head!)

If I can get myself organised then I think I might try this (here’s the link to the website if you want to check it out), there’s also a heap of other savings that you can make – I’m now a ‘Gold’ member of RACV (feeling old), so I might as well make use of my membership!

Let me know how you go.

Regards

Many of you reading this will remember the events in Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall on Friday 20th January, 2017 .

Tragedy struck in broad daylight and lives were lost, and far many more lives were impacted.

I implore any of you who witnessed or were implicated in any way to seek assistance and support, the images may stay with you for a long time and I want you to know you don’t have to cope on your own.

The Victorian Government set up a fund for the families affected by the incident and on 17th February, 2017, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Bourke Street Fund) Bill 2017 was passed by both Houses of Parliament.  This ensures that donations made by the public are tax deductible.

If you wish to make a donation, please read the information at http://www.vic.gov.au/bourkestreet.html to see the instructions and to find out exactly what the funds will be used for.

Regards

In collaboration with Business in Heels – South West Victoria, I am pleased to announce our next event will be held on Thursday 16th March, 2017.

This event coincides with the launch of the 2017 Inspiration Series where each event will feature an amazing woman who will share her story – you will be inspired and motivated – precisely the aim of our network!

The colour orange, as featured in our series logo, is vibrant and flamboyant, and means optimism, self-confidence and sociability.  Orange vitalises, inspires and creates enthusiasm and stimulates social conversation.

Our first inspiring woman is Karen Foster, the CEO of o2Media – we’re looking forward to having Karen join us.

Plus, as part of our commitment to supporting non-profit organisations, we will hear from Aime Sandri on the work the m.a.d woman foundation does.

And, as an added bonus, each attendee with receive a 2017 Goals Diary courtesy of MiGoals.

There’ll be the usual champagne and shoe fun, so pop it in your diary now and to secure your ticket simply follow this link.

Wednesday 8th March, 2017 is International Women’s Day and the theme this year is #BeBoldForChange.

Across the globe, women will put their best foot forward to encourage equality and support one another in our endeavours.

If we’re lucky, we’ll also be joined by the men in our lives who support women to be their best and recognise the contributions, many and varied, we make to society.

As far as this theme goes, I personally love it – I’ve been making lot of changes in my life over the past few years, and can confirm it does take commitment and a certain amount of courage.  But we must remember that if nothing changes then nothing changes, so if you want ‘more’ in your life and/or career (whatever that means to you), change is necessary.

I’d be really interested to hear what changes you’re implementing to be your best, I love hearing your stories, so please share…

PS there’s loads of events happening, in person and online over the month of March, all with an International Women’s Day flavour, so get out there and enjoy!

Regards