Budgeting – Frank on FIRE

Where to find TAFE or student provided services that save you money

A couple of days ago I posted an Instagram reel on utilising TAFE or student provided services as part of my frugal tips. I had a lot of comments from those who also knew about these services (and loved them), and I had a few comments from those who didn’t know about these services. So today I’m writing this article to list some of the student provided services that can save you money, and where to find them.

For this article I’ve completed a quite a bit of research on where you can access these services and have listed them below by category and state.

Hair and Beauty (Massage section further down below)

If like me you don’t want to sacrifice your hair and beauty on the way to building wealth then consider getting a student to cut your hair or do your treatment. TAFE and vocational education providers are always looking for customers for the students to train on. All students are typically supervised so don’t worry you will still end up with a good quality cut / treatment at an amazing price.

State	Information / Links
SA	TAFE SA – Location – Multiple see link – Hair and Beauty (Link Here) – They do hair, nail, tanning, waxing, massage and facial services. They offer 25% off of their prices to pensioners and students. Colour Cosmetica Academy – Adelaide – Link Here
NT	Charles Darwin University – Palmerston and Alice Springs – Hair and Beauty (Link Here) – They do hair, nail, tanning, waxing, massage and facial services. They offer an extra 25% off of prices to pensioners.
WA	TAFE WA – South Metro – Link Here
NSW	The Hair and Beauty Academy – Penrith – Link here Contour College – Tuggerah – Link Here
QLD	Katrinas School of Beauty – Morayfield – Link here Demi International – Multiple Locations – Link here
ACT	Australasian Beauty Therapy Academy (Beauty – no hair treatments) – Canberra – Link Here
VIC	Victoria University – Melbourne – Link Here
TAS	TasTAFE – Hobart, Alanvale, Devonport – Link Here

Table – Student Hair and Beauty Locations

Restaurants / Cafes

Many years ago I completed a short course at my local TAFE and discovered that they have student restaurants that offer high quality restaurant or café meals at a fraction of the price. After doing a bit of research it turns out there are numerous TAFE and Vocational institutes that do this across Australia.

State	Information / Links
VIC	Richards Restaurant – Broadmeadows – Link Here Wangaratta Campus Restaurant – Link Here Holmesglen Cilantro Restaurant – Link Here VenU Restaurant – Footscray – Link Here The Apprentice – Prahran – Link Here St Georges Restaurant – Preston – Link Here Prospects Training Restaurant – Ballarat – Link Here
WA	Bentley Pines Training Restaurant \| South Metropolitan Tafe – Link Here
SA	Graduates Restaurant – Regency Park – Link Here Tiros Restaurant – Regency Park – Link Here
NSW	Rubric Restaurant – Alexandria – Link Here
ACT	CIT Restaurant – Reid – Link Here
QLD	TAFE QLD offers a number of different restaurants across their campuses at Toowoomba, Southport, Warwick, South Bank, Ipswich, Cairns, Loganlea, Townsville, Whitsundays, Mooloolaba and Bundaberg. Link here
NT	Karawa Training Restaurant – Palmerston – Link here Desert Lantern Restaurant – Alice Springs – Link here

Table – Student Restaurant Locations

Massage

Who doesn’t love a massage. The prices in the below range start from as low as $25 an hour depending on your location and treatment. Most of the links below contain additional information on supervision, what you need to bring and hygiene regulations to ease your mind.

State	Information / Links
VIC	Evolve College – Docklands – Link here ALG Student Massage Clinic – Melbourne – Link here
QLD	ALG Student Massage Clinic – Brisbane – Link Here Q Academy Student Massage Clinic – Brisbane – Link Here Institute Massage Clinic – Brisbane – Link Here Academique Clinic – Southport – Link here Student Massage School – Brisbane – Link here
NSW	ALG Student Massage Clinic – Sydney – Link Here
ACT	Pivotal Therapies – Canberra – Link Here Australasian Beauty Therapy Academ – Canberra – Link Here
WA	South Metro TAFE – Murdoch Campus – Link here ACMM Student Massage Clinic – Perth – Link here
SA	TAFE SA – Massage – Adelaide Campus (Link Here) Colour Cosmetica Academy – Adelaide – Link Here

Table – Student Massage Locations

Veterinary Services

These services are not as well published online as other student clinics, however I was able to find some student vet services which offer discounts.

State	Information / Links
VIC	Adelaide University Small Animal Clinic – Link Here
WA	TAFE WA – Bentley Campus – Link Here

Table – Student Veterinary Locations

Psychologists

State	Information / Links
QLD	Wellness Centre – CQUniversity

Table – Student Psychology Locations

Physio / Exercise / Occupational Therapy

State	Information / Links
QLD	Wellness Centre – CQUniversity Brisbane Health Clinic – CQUniversity

Table – Student Physio / Exercise / OT Locations

Speech Pathology

State	Information / Links
QLD	Wellness Centre – CQUniversity

Table – Student Speech PathologyLocations

Podiatrist

State	Information / Links
NSW	Sydney Health Clinic – CQUniversity
QLD	Rockhampton Health Clinic – CQUniversity

Table – Student Podiatry Locations

Dentistry

During my research on student led clinics I found several dental clinics that offer services to the public. Some of these services do require you to be on a health card so make sure you check before you book.

State	Information / Links
NSW	Charles Sturt University – Multiple Locations – Link Here
WA	The University of WA – Nedlands – Link Here
VIC	University of Melbourne – Melbourne – Link Here Dental Health Services Victoria – Link Here
QLD	Rockhampton Health Clinic – CQUniversity

Table – Student Dentist Locations

Chiropractic

During my research on student led clinics I found a chiro clinic that offer services to the public. Feel free to contact me if you find others and I would be happy to add the links.

State	Information / Links
VIC	Chiropractic clinic – RMIT University
QLD	Mackay Health Clinic – CQUniversity Brisbane Health Clinic – CQUniversity
NSW	Sydney Health Clinic – CQUniversity

Table – Student Chiro Locations

Dermal and Cosmetic Therapies

During my research on student led clinics I found a several dermal and cosmetic procedure clinics that offer services to the public. Feel free to contact me if you find others and I would be happy to add the links.

State	Information / Links
VIC	Dermal Clinic \| Victoria University \| Melbourne Australia (vu.edu.au) Melbourne – Student clinic procedures Archives – Aspire (aspiretrainingclinics.com.au)
WA	Perth – Student clinic procedures Archives – Aspire (aspiretrainingclinics.com.au)
NSW	Sydney – Student clinic procedures Archives – Aspire (aspiretrainingclinics.com.au)
QLD	Student Medical Aesthetic and Laser Clinic – Grayclay

Table – Student Dermal and Cosmetic Procedure Locations

Please note this isn’t a comprehensive list of all student related services in Australia. There are likely many more out there and I would be keen to add more services to this article if you find any more. Feel free to contact me or add to the comments below.

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Side Hustle Series – Bottle and Metal Recycling

This is my second article in my side hustle series posts, and it’s a side hustle I’m quite passionate about….. recycling.

I’m a millennial so from birth its been hammered into my brain that we need to recycle and reuse as much as possible to minimise our impact on mother earth. So for me making a little cash whilst doing something that I love like recycling makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy inside.

How do I make money from recycling?

The ability to apply this side hustle to your own situation will depend on where you are located.

In Australia at the time of posting the following states offer $0.10 per bottle recycling.

Coming Soon

Victoria (coming 2023)
Tasmania (coming 2022)

Additionally metal and other paid recycling will again depend on your rules and regulations in your state. Check them out online or head on down to your local recycling plant to get the full story for yourself.

How does the bottle refund / recycling scheme work and what are the benefits?

The bottle refund / recycling scheme works by adding a small extra deposit on top of the price of a beverage. This extra deposit is then refunded when the purchaser returns the empty drink container for recycling.

The benefits of the recycling scheme for bottles are:

Reduce bottle / container related litter by encouraging litter to be picked up with the reward being the $0.10 per bottle/container.
Improved Recycling through more effective capture and sorting with reduced risk of contamination.

So how do I know what bottles or containers are part of the bottle refund / recycling scheme?

Bottles in your state or territory are marked with a stamp which indicates their ability to be recycled as part of the bottle refund / recycling scheme. Some bottle types are not able to be recycled and will not result in a refund being paid. More information on the types of bottles and containers that are recyclable under the scheme is available in the links provided above.

How much money do I make from recycling? and is it worth it?

We make about $50 bi-monthly on returning our bottles. Its not huge dollars, but it’s money for jam. Additionally due to the set up of the scheme you might as well do it as you are paying for the scheme through increased drink prices.

We additionally make money from recycling metal that my husband picks up from his side hustle business. This is infrequent but our last visit nabbed us $80 for recycling a heavy metal frame (it pays to know your recycling rates).

I track all my side hustle income in my Income and Expense Tracker.

What tips do you have for bottle recycling?

I separate my paid recycling items from my normal recyclables by placing these in a separate bin (similar to my garbage bin). I bought an additional bin for this purpose off of Gumtree for $10 many years ago. Having an additional bin is really handy as you can just load it in the car when it’s full, which makes dropping off and collecting the cash at the deposit centre a breeze.

Not everyone around you is going to want to take part in this scheme, and that’s okay. If those close to you don’t participate I recommend taking the opportunity to ask them if they would collect them for you, provide them a bin, and pick them up when full.

Also don’t be afraid to pick up a can / bottle off the side of the road. It’s helping yourself, and helping the environment.

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Photo by Vladislav Vasnetsov on Pexels.com

Introducing ‘The Frank Basics’ Etsy Store

Thank you for the support you’ve given me in creating and sharing my first personal finance tracker (Personal Finance Budget Spreadsheet and Automated Dashboard).

Since this time I’ve been busy continuing developing other products following requests I’ve received via social media and Etsy. This is a passion project rather than a desire to make money. I work in data and analytics and as part of my role develop solutions for visualising data in multiple platforms for large organisations. I get a lot of joy out of creating solutions for individuals, and working with people to build something to make a work process more efficient (eg through automation of tasks).

I’ve now formally created my Etsy Store aptly named ‘The Frank Basics’. My store now contains 12 digital products at the time of posting as listed below.

Personal Finance Tools

Business / Other Tools

I will continue to add to these products as I develop them so please check in regularly if you are interested (or if you have an idea you would like to see me bring to life get in touch).

Alternatively I also offer Microsoft Excel development (with advanced VBA/Macros) and customisation services to meet your individualised needs.

I’ve put a lot of work into each of my products and have priced accordingly, but for those that follow me on the blog/Instagram I’ve decided to provide you the following coupon code to save you 10% off all products (as a thank you for following along).

Coupon Code – FRANK10

Feel free to get in touch before hand if you have any questions or additional information you would like before making your commitment to purchase.

If you do end up purchasing it please let me know your thoughts and feedback.

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Personal Finance Budget Spreadsheet and Dashboard

I’ve been working on this baby for years. Initially it was as my own budget and dashboard and it developed into something I would like to share with others.

Update 25th January 2021 – Please note that since this article was posted I have created additional Personal Finance products to suit individual requirements. I recommend you taking a look at the following post (‘The Frank Basics’ Etsy Store) before purchasing to ensure you find the right product to meet your needs

The Personal Finance Budget Spreadsheet and Automated Dashboard has been a few months in the making since I first decided to share it more widely than my computer hard drive. I have always enjoyed using spreadsheets and it remains the one part of my job that I quite enjoy. As a result I decided to modify my tried and tested one into something that others might find helpful (not everyone likes spreadsheets and this one aims to do the work for you).

The Personal Finance Budget and Automated Dashboard (which includes inbuilt debt snowball / avalanche calculator for Microsoft Excel) contains 9 sheets (tabs) including:

Dashboard (Automated sheet)
Debts (Data entry sheet) – this sheet includes a debt snowball or avalanche calculator
Mortgage (Data entry sheet)
Emergency Fund (Data entry sheet)
Savings (Data entry sheet)
Sinking Funds (Data entry sheet)
Budget (Data entry sheet)
Review Sheet (Automated sheet)
Expense Review (Data entry sheet)

My goal with this workbook is to try to make using excel easy while letting you use all the best features it has to offer.

It also is formatted so you can print the sheets off for your fridge (or other area of your home) – eg the debt and savings trackers.

What does this Personal Finance and Budgeting Spreadsheet do?

For a full list of specifications I would recommend checking out the Etsy listing here.

Calculate the % paid off of your debts, and mortgages.
Calculates how close you are to reaching your savings goals (Emergency Fund, Sinking Funds, or other Savings Goals)
Calculate your income from multiple jobs
Calculate expenses you pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or yearly
The Dashboard shows you how much you have spent on each category (You decide the categories you want – completely customizable)
The Review sheet shows you how much money you have left
The Expense Review sheet is an optional sheet with a little quiz guiding you on where you could make changes to your budget to save money.

What you will receive:

One Microsoft Excel file template
One Quick Start Guide PDF

Notes:

Created on Microsoft Excel 2016 (only works with Microsoft Excel not Google Sheets)
Please note that this spreadsheet uses Macros so please ensure when you open this file you ‘enable macros’.
Please note that every sheet on this spreadsheet has built-in instruction buttons to assist you with completing each sheet.

I’ve put a lot of work into it and have priced it accordingly, but for those that follow me on the blog/Instagram I’ve decided to provide you the following coupon code to save you 10% off (as a big thank you for following along).

Coupon Code – FRANK10

Feel free to get in touch before hand if you have any questions or additional information you would like before making your purchase. I’m also happy to field questions to assist you to get the most out of it post sale.

If you do end up purchasing it please let me know your thoughts and feedback. I’m keen to create some more spreadsheet style items so let me know what other trackers or dashboards etc that you would like to see.

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The ‘Anti-Meal Plan’ for people who don’t like to Meal Plan

Like meal planning? Yep me neither, but I do like the benefits that come with meal planning such as keeping within a budget.

We keep a fairly tight food budget of under $150 a week for a family of 4 (two adults and two pre-teen boys at the time of writing this). In order to keep our costs low week after week I’ve developed a system which keeps us under budget without too much effort, and today I’m sharing it.

I call it the anti-meal plan because its a plan you only do once (you can do it more if you want to but I don’t), which really appeals to us.

So what is our Anti-Meal Plan? Well its really a bit of a throwback to simpler times with a modern twist. We simply have allocated a certain meal type to each day of the week. The idea around the Anti Meal Plan is that its a 7 Day Meal Plan for the year that is flexible enough to allow you to not be too bored, but allows you to still keep within your budget.

In order to stick to our budget I allocate 60% of our grocery budget to dinners, which works out to be $90 (your budget might be higher or lower than ours so adjust to your needs). Then I split this amount 7 ways. You can do this equally if you wish or you can do what we do which is have a mixture of low cost meals mixed in with higher cost meals. This way you still can enjoy what you love on occasion.

The Anti-Meal Plan

Step One – Allocate an amount for each day of the week dependant on your budget (I use a 60% total food budget rule for dinners).

Monday – $10 meal day
Tuesday – $15 meal day
Wednesday – $10 meal day
Thursday – $15 meal day
Friday – $5 meal day
Saturday – $15 meal day
Sunday – $20 meal day

Total Budget for Dinners – $90

Step Two – Come up with a flexible meal for each day of the week

I’m sure this will be the hardest step for most people, but my advice to you is to keep it as flexible as possible. This will allow you to still take advantage of reduced to clear items, weekly specials and seasonal produce. Below is a copy of my plan – it might sound boring, but it honestly isn’t as there are so many choices and flavour combos that we can have within each one. For example Saturday is sausage night, but that can mean any meal with sausages in it. There are a million and one different recipes with sausages in it. Our favourites are sausage pizza, hot dogs, sausage casserole, bangers and mash, curried sausages, homemade sausage rolls, and I even make meatloaf from good quality sausage filling on occasion.

Our Anti-Meal Plan for our dinners is as follows;

Monday – Pasta Night
Tuesday – Asian Night
Wednesday – Pasta Night
Thursday – Fake-away Night
Friday – Breakfast Dinner or Leftovers Night
Saturday – Sausage Night
Sunday – Roast Night

Step Three – Write your meal plan down and place a copy on the fridge / and in your wallet / phone

The more places you write this plan down and see it the more likely you are to stick to it. It’s vital to take your plan with you when you go shopping as this will help you stay within your budget (I carry around a screenshot of it on my phone and the amounts I’ve allocated with me).

The Most Important Step – Please remember that the great thing about the Anti-Meal Plan is that if you are feeling imaginative you can change it. If you are suddenly inspired then throw your anti-meal plan out for the week and change things up a bit.

The Anti-Meal plan is designed to be there as the ultimate back up system to ensure that even when you can’t be bothered meal planning in the traditional sense that you can still keep within your budget.

A copy of my Anti-Meal Plan is located below as well as a blank version that can be printed.

The Anti-Meal Plan – Example Download

The Anti-Meal Plan – Blank Version Download

I would love to see and share any versions of your Anti-meal plan on Instagram so please tag me @FrankOnFire_

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