Marcia Francois's Blog, page 50

So I did a social media fast

I’ve only done a social media fast once before, about 3 years ago.

I can’t remember exactly what my restrictions were then, but I do remember not blogging or reading blogs was one of the big things.

This time I just had a sense that I needed to stop the noise for a bit and use that time to pray.

And then our church just finished a celebration week called #nationscalledtoprayer which inspired me to get going.

I chatted to a friend who agreed to do it with me but I would have gone the distance...

What’s making me happier? Organising my Kindle

I was sorting out my Kindle the other day and realised this might make me a bit weird but it’s a weirdness that makes me very happy.

I have folders to organise my downloaded Kindle books.

I have the obvious ones like Books read, and then the unread books go into either Fiction or Non-Fiction so depending what I’m in the mood for, I go directly to that section to find a book.

I also have a folder for Children’s books.

I leave sample books out of folders so that they’ll “bother” me and I’ll re...

Questions from the paying off your house posts – food, savings and utilities

I promised I’d address some questions I had from the paying off your bond posts.

From MamaCat

What about ensuring you have available cash already saved? For emergency situations?

The way we do it is to have a set amount that you automate to go into normal savings, in addition to the increased amount to pay off your house quicker.

The trick with savings is to do it first. For me, it’s the second thing I pay – first, my tithe and then my savings. I tried for a month or two in 1998 when I got se...

The adult colouring business…. and the 5 love languages

So the adult colouring craze is still going strong here.

And by strong I mean about 2 – 3 times a month, I pull out “my” colouring book and I colour with one of the children, never alone.

I eventually bought myself a book – it’s a kids’ book actually pitched at age 8 – 12 – so it has big things to colour

Andddddd….. October goals

October is the point where people definitely think, “what’s the point?”

There is a point. Trust me.

If you get just one thing done every month, that’s 3 things this year.

3 things more than you would have got done!

Now if you’re even the slightest bit more ambitious than that, you can end 2016 well.

So forget about the first 9 months in the past and look forward to the rest of the year.

Answer this question:

What would have to happen this month for October to feel like a good month?

a date...

What I learned during September

Happy October, blog readers. Hope it’s a good one.

Today is freezing cold in Jhb, my absolutely favourite weather, and so I’ve been smiling the entire morning.

I did my Goals Night yesterday morning before anyone else was awake and here are the top 3 things I learned during September:

It’s always better to talk something out rather than to assume things

You all know our house has been on the market for 6 months now and I’ve been stressing about it. I finally made a meeting with the estate ag...

How I paid off my bond in 5 years and how you can too – part 4

Here’s part 1 which lays the foundation and mindset stuff, here’s part 2 which is the start of all the practical steps, and here’s part 3 with some more steps and one which may be too woo-woo for you

10 favourite fiction authors

It’s no secret that I love reading and it’s even less of a secret that I adore Irish fiction.

I sometimes get emails asking about my favourite authors so I thought I’d put it here on the blog for everyone to see.

Maeve Binchy * – try Quentins or Tara Road Joanna Trollope – try Brother and Sister, or Daughters-in-Law Dorothy Koomson – any of them are good. Start at the beginning or with Marshmallows for Breakfast Sinead Moriarty * – In my sister’s shoes was my second, and favourite. Liane Mo...

How I paid off my bond in 5 years and how you can too – part 3

Are you enjoying this series so far? Remember to let me know if you have any questions in the comments and if they require long answers, I will write a separate post at the end of the series.

Here’s part 1 which lays the foundation and mindset stuff, and here’s part 2 which is the start of all the practical steps.

Let’s move onto the next couple of steps:

Don’t subscribe to “I deserve it” thinking

I hear this so often – I work hard and I deserve to have a nice car, or whatever.

Let’s be h...

What’s no longer serving you, and what’s really going on?

I wrote another article with this same title a few years ago.

The focus then was mostlyon organising spaces.

This time I want to talk about time.

One of the podcasts I listen to is Elise gets crafty and one of the more recent episodes was an episode on time.

During that episode she mentioned that since she’d stopped writing her own blog about 9 months ago, she’d also stopped reading a lot of blogs, but then she became aware that actually reading blogs wasn’t really adding to her happiness so...