A sticky end to nail biting

We found a low cost and easy solution to helping our daughter stop her nail biting habit. We used good quality sticking plasters and stuck them to the ends of each finger, cutting to fit where needed. It's best to use a 'good' brand like Band Aid, which will stay on for a while. These days, Kinesiology tape would probably be my go-to, as I think it sticks best (when heat activated). Sometimes I would paint the bitter tasting polish over the top of the sticking plaster as a reminder if her fingers got to her mouth. She was motivated to stop, and we promised she could have nice nail polish on when her nails grew out, so there was a carrot as well!

A bitter end for bitten nails

To stop biting nails for once and for all, try bitter nail polish. There are a few brands that can easily be purchased in Australia. I’m not a nail biter myself but I worked with someone who used it. The polish tasted so awful so she simply stopped putting them in her mouth and eventually the habit was broken! Check out these links for more information on available products:

https://mavala.com.au/all-products/mavala-stop https://www.priceline.com.au/manicare-bite-no-more-12-ml https://www.google.com.au/search?q=nail+polosh+for+bikint+nails&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-au&client=safari#imgrc=kVOEVCjLBbc5eM:

$21 Challenge keeps the 'budget nag' at bay

School holidays are more affordable with the help of the $21 Challenge! Money seems to slip away so effortlessly while out having fun with my teenage kids. Budgeting is something I am trying to teach them about but it is hard to make it relevant sometimes. Then I had a great idea that would make them pro-active with the weekly budget over the holidays, without me being a 'budget nag'.

It is the $21 Challenge week, with a twist. THEY have to go and log all the food in the freezer and pantry, and make up the meal plan for the week. Then all the money THEY save us for the week can go towards some guilt-free fun. It's a great incentive and my kids are learning important household skills.

Cheap pasta sauce recipe

I make this vegetable pasta sauce for three reasons - it's cheap and healthy and it uses up leftover vegies (cooked and uncooked) so I save three times!

Whenever I serve up a dish of vegies for dinner (usually broccoli, carrots, beans and zucchini in my house) and it isn't all eaten, I put the leftovers in a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer. Then, when my fresh vegies are starting to get to that 'oh dear' stage, I start cooking!

In a big pot, with a bit of olive oil, I fry onion and garlic and add all the 'oh dear' vegies - sometimes there is a fiddly bit of broccoli that is too small to use in a meal or carrots that are starting to wilt. Other vegies I have added include celery, cauliflower, broad beans, spinach, cabbage and capsicum. I chop and cook all of this - in summer I add fresh tomatoes, in winter I throw in a couple of cans of Home Brand tinned tomatoes. To this I add the frozen leftover vegies, a squeezie stock concentrate or stock cube and some water.

I cook the whole lot until everything is soft, and then I blitz it in a food processor or with a Bamix until it looks like pasta sauce. I then freeze this in meal-size portions and use it for everything - I add it to mince for bolognese, or just use it neat. My kids don't know it's full of vegies - they just think it's another jar of commercial pasta sauce!