MY TOP BUDGET TIPS

Now, I’m no financial wiz, nor am I super comfortable financially but in today’s economy we do manage to get by on one income. With a mortgage, toddler and a baby on the way we have to be smart with our money and get the most bang for our buck. So I thought I would share my top budgeting tips on how we make it work.

STUDY CATALOGUES/ SHOP AROUND - each week when the catalogues come out go through them all, write up shopping lists for each supermarket, buying your groceries at the lowest price. It can be a pain in the arse but you can save a lot of money just by going to different supermarkets, if you’re lucky enough you’ll live near a shopping centre with a Coles, Woolworths and Aldi so you can do all your shopping at the one place. Also keep note of fruit and vegetable prices, green grocers aren't always cheaper than the supermarket.

DO IT YOURSELF - whether it's baking a cake, or the odd job around the house. There are endless tutorials on youtube you can teach yourself to do just about anything!

GROW IT YOURSELF - if you have the space, utitilise it. Grow some herbs, start a veggie patch or plant some fruit tress. Every little bit helps, if you don’t have time to tend to a garden lemon trees are fairly low maintenance and you’ll eventually reap the rewards. I currently have an orange tree, 2 feijoa trees, and lemon tree and a passionfruit vine growing in my garden. I freeze my passionfruit pulp and that takes care of my pavlovas for the year (I would make more pavlovas than the average person haha). If you have friends and family that grow food you can also trade it between yourselves.

PAY YOUR BILLS FIRST - ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pay your bills first. As soon as the money arrives in your account go through and pay what needs to be paid, that way you’ll never be caught short. Then try put some extra money away into a savings account and try not to touch it for those quarterly and annual bills that come in, like car services and rego.

SHOP THE SALES - take advantage of end of season, end of financial year, Black Friday and Boxing Day sales. I buy clothes for my kids in the end of season sales for the size they’ll be next year so most of their clothes are half price. It’s never too early to be thinking about birthday and Christmas presents either. I buy presents and stocking stuffers throughout the year when things come on sale. Come Christmas time you’re already done with your shopping and aren’t scrambling to get through December strapped for cash.

COOK IN BULK - there are some things you can’t cook in bulk because let’s be honest they just don’t taste as nice reheated, but there are plenty of things you can. If you continue to follow my blog you’ll notice that majority of my dinner recipes are bulk quantities like my soup recipe. If you always have meals waiting in the freezer, when you’re exhausted after a long day you can quickly defrost your dinner rather than buying take away which will save you a small fortune. It also helps to invest in a second freezer.

BUY MEAT IN BULK - I go to Tasman Meats because there's one close to home but even going to the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne isn’t bad or just a local meat wholesaler. If you buy it in bulk then divide and freeze it, it works out cheaper. I also find the meat at Tasman to be much higher quality than what you get at the supermarket.

GO VEGGIE SOME NIGHTS - Meat is expensive, so if you can, some nights go meat free. Make a vegetable stir fry or pasta with a simple napoletana sauce.

DON’T BUY BRAND NAME EVERYTHING - Flour, sugar, butter, cereals, tinned tomatoes there are so many products that you can buy the supermarket brand, save yourself a fortune and not compromise on quality. Or shop at Aldi, I buy my gluten free flours (their gluten free products are great and don't cost an arm and a leg), laundry detergent, fabric softener, stain remover, puff pastry, pizza cheese, cream and if I don't make it to the local egg farm I get my eggs from Aldi too plus a heap of other stuff. Oh and nappies! We had so many problems with leakage once my daughter was out of the newborn huggies nappies. Apart from the odd poo explosion we've had no issues with the Aldi ones and they're about half the price!

SET ASIDE MONEY FOR SPECIALS - set aside $20 or so a week to stock up on something that keeps when it’s on special. I do this with things like shampoo, soap, toilet paper, paper towel, recipe bases, as I said, anything that keeps and won't go off.

TURN OFF YOUR LIGHTS - get in the habit of turning off lights if you’re not in the room. It’s a habit my husband got me into when we were dating and now it’s a massive pet peeve when family and friends come over and leave lights on. It's not hard to turn off some lights.

STAY IN - when you go out the costs quickly add up whether its just going to the shops to get out of the house or going out for dinner and a movie, you always spend more than you should. Because let’s be honest, who can resist Kmart? Try stay in for a change, find activities you can do with the kids at home that are cheap or walk to your local park. Make pizzas at home, two birds one stone, activity for the kids and a cheap meal. If you do go to the movies try go on tight arse Tuesday and smuggle in your own snacks, you'll be amazed by what you can fit in a decent handbag. If your friends want to go out for dinner offer to have a dinner party, and everyone can bring a plate, that way everyone saves some money.

BUY SECOND HAND - go to op shops or use sites like gumtree, Ebay and Facebook marketplace. I bought our massive teak wooden dinning table for $200 off gumtree which would easily be $1,000+ from a store. You can really find some treasures if you look hard enough and save yourself a small fortune. You can also sell anything you don’t need anymore and make some of your money back.

CHANGE BANKS - see if you can get a better deal on your mortgage or, savings accounts with higher interest rates, and banks with less fees.

SIGN UP FOR REWARDS PROGRAMS - you'd have to be crazy not to have signed up the Flybuys and Woolworths rewards. You can earn money off your shop or use points for gift cards, movies tickets, theme park passes etc. Bakers Delight you can get free bread after 5 purchases over $6.

COLLECT SPARE CHANGE - you'll be amazed how much money you can accumulate that would normally just go on trivial things.

CREATE REALISTIC SAVINGS GOALS - don't over stretch yourself, aim to put an achievable amount of money away each week or fortnight and stick to it. If you try to put away too much you'll always find yourself dipping into and feel like you're not achieving anything.

DON’T BE SO HARD ON YOURSELF IF YOU SLIP UP- shit happens. Things pop up unexpectedly or you forget about a payment and car service or there's a dress or pair of shoes you can't resist. It's okay to treat yourself every now and then. There's no point busting your guts to save if you're making yourself miserable in the process. I think its super important to have financial security and independence so it's all about finding the balance.

Thanks for reading and I hope you find these tips helpful!

With bubs due in the coming weeks there won't be too many blog posts, so make sure you're following me on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date!