Great tips!! With four kids and hubby the sole income provider we always seem to be behind but we somehow still manage so I’m tgankful for that!!

It is getting harder and harder to cope with rising costs today. I am shocked to hear of power bills regularly $800-$1000 :0 Ours is never over $300

Some great tips.
Woudl love to see some budget friendly meal ideas posted
It would be really helpful for other mums to share in our community at Mouth Of Mums!

great tips! they have been well thought out
thank you for this post

Glad I click on this some great tips Thank you

Definitely true, always save and save where possible as life can hit the wrong turn at any point in life. So having extra cash for a rainy day is a big big bonus. So good luck and don’t worry about money as money really can’t buy love xoxo

I find paying a small bit ahead for bills helps

Great tips, thanks. I’d have to add the rule “Never pay full price for toilet paper”. It seems to be on special every second week or so. Stock up then. When there’s an extra big discount on the brand I like, I buy even more of it and store it in the laundry.

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  • • mom57522 replied
    • 11 Jan 2015 , 8:09 am

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  You sound a bit like me. I have loads of it to.

Absolutely love your story! So true the points you’ve mentioned and often so easy to apply. Thanks.

thank you for sharing your tips. I need to tighten the family budget so it is really going to help

Local fruit and veg places are great for saving money local butchers also (not in shopping complexes!)

Great tips ! Once I go off work to have bubs, we’ll be down roughly 1/3 of our earnings.. Will definitely be keeping these tips in mind.

thank you for the tips – we are needing to tighten our budget at the moment and I am sure these will help.

I am finding it very hard now as I no longer get Child Support (since Feb) and I am not game to use the heater so we rug up and use extra blankets. I just wish I could use all these luxuries but the thought of the high Power bills really scare me. I buy alot of mince to make different meals. I turn off the power points of a night time, and yet I still struggle to pay my bills, and it is so stressful, I can’t even take my kids anywhere as it costs so much these days Heartbreaking at times.

Sums it up perfectly and I have done all this recently as we save for our first home. Gumtree is a favorite now and we also swapped to coles and do a meal plan every week.

What a great read. We all need to save money money money

Thank you for your lovely story. Sometimes we wonder what on earth we did in a past life to cop it so hard. I have worked labourously most of my life, many building construction sites, scrubbing floors, cupboards, wall, on my hands and knees just to make a living. We could never afford a holiday, last year my hubby and I took a holiday for the first time on our own in 28 years to see and meet our grandkids interstate.
As you say, money does get in the way of doing so much. I am not a disabled pensioner, I won a holiday to the USA and Mexico for a total of 21 days. We have until June 2016 to take it, but we need to pay for airfares and spending money. Included is a cruise to the Bahamas, and 3 days in Las Vegas. It is for 4 people so we are taking some dear friends. The problem is we need at least $10,000, we want to go in August next year for hubby’s 69th birthday, but the money tree is never flowering. On a pension it is so hard to save money, especially with the medical bills increasing, the vet bills aren’t cheap. I feel like we are being punished. I started an online discount shopping website called http://www.allbargainsanddiscounts.com. I thought if I could do something to raise money, then I have to be proactive.

It doesn’t look as though anyone is buying as yet, but they are great sites. I need to advertise the business, but that costs money. I have now been told there are grants available from the government and state’s.

I remember there was one christmas many years ago, the kids were little, and I couldn’t afford to buy them anything, so christmas was just another day, It broke my heart. I don’t ever want to go through that again. You can be pro-active when it comes to putting money away. Start using the Christmas Club bank accounts, make sure you put 10% of your income in there. Also Chrisco, or the various Hamper Clubs are good ways to order food for christmas, pay off a small amount each fortnight, you can even get presents from there. Also buy gifts during the year when something is on special. My website has some fantastic products of all kinds at great prices. I have already bought Doona covers, undies, won a DVD here on Mouth of Mum’s and as we are having our son and his family for christmas, I ordered a hamper through Chrisco, so I don’t need to worry about food, I went online and bought new decorations when they were on sale. I don’t have to worry about christmas now, all will be paid for and bought months in advance.
Well worth thinking about. xxx Dee

We love christmas. We use to get christmas presents at the last minute. Today we layby way ahead of time. Getting one off at a time. Then we look on clearance tables for markdowns. Ive got three boxes of christmas presents so far

thanks for the tips I already do most of this and am still finding it hard to budget

Budgets are great people need to stop wasting on crap op shops are the best.