Christmas is all about family, friends and over-indulging, but this can lead to over-spending.

There are ways to make sure you don’t over-spend however, which are both simple and effective.

Set a (realistic) budget

The first thing you should do is to think about how much you want, or can afford, to spend over the Christmas period. And this should include everything from gifts, to the food you are planning on consuming.

Make a list of everything you need…

Bills are expensive.

And they seem to get worse each month. Personally, they account for about 20% of my total income. That’s one dollar in every five which goes towards a bill. That’s too much!

Your say: What percentage of your income goes on bills? Let us know in the comments below.

So, trying to reduce or eliminate as many bills as possible can be a smart way to lower your costs and have more money for yourself.

The goal then is to look through all your bills and decide which ones you will eliminate or which ones you will lower.

How?

First,…

I am always looking for ways to generate some extra money and, while researching vending machines for the lunch room at work, I decided to see if it would be a profitable venture. Here is what I found out.

The great thing about vending machines is they fall into that area known as passive income. That is, income you earn while doing something else.

The machine

I purchased a second-hand machine that holds soft drink cans, chocolates…

This article is by staff writer Amanda.

So my eldest child went to camp for the first time today.

He has been away from home before, but he has only ever been in the care of family – except for the odd sleep over at a friend’s place – and what I found amazing was how quickly I transitioned back into ‘that mother’.

You know the one – the ‘I forgot to pack tissues’, ‘I should have bought him a new suitcase’ (the Powers Bitter bag is 20 years old, was free and is perhaps a tad inappropriate for an 11 year old to be carrying around), ‘I want to wave him off but I’ve…

Owning a car is seen as an Australian dream – a rite of passage that every teenager experiences. But does it need to be that way? Do young people in Australia need to own a car?

There are a lot of reasons some people need to own a car, but for those who are living in the city or nearby, having a car could be an expense they could do without.

Before we look at the advantages of not owning a car, we need to look at how you would get around without one.

How do you get around with a car?

Catch public transport

For your day-to-day…