Frugality is fun!

Well, I finally took the plunge and quit my stressful job. Problem is, it was also high paid! My new job is fantastic - interesting, not too much responsibility, nice people. The only catch is the pay! It's not terrible, but it has made me and my partner re-assess our finances. I'm pleased to report that so far watching the budget is going well. As my partner commented last week, when I was getting excited about a family trip to a suburban Savers store, "who knew frugality could be so much fun!?".

The internet is fabulous if you plan to start being dollars savvy. From budgeting, to tips on saving money, to meal planning to savings plans - you'll find a website or blog to inspire and guide you on you money saving journey.

The first thing I started researching was meal planning and feeding the family on a budget. I have never planned meals and I'm a self-confessed supermarket junkie. I live 5 minutes from a shopping centre and end up at there most days. I go for one or two things I 'need' for dinner, then return home with a pram-basket full of goodies - many of which end up at the back of the cupboard, fridge or freezer, slowly going out of date.

So step 1 was meal planning - and consequently only buying what you need. It's been 5 weeks now and it's going well, but I still struggle to limit myself to the shopping list at the supermarket. I was inspired by the website/blog Planning with Kids, which has great child-friendly recipes as well as tips on meal planning. I don't use her planning tools, but designed my own to suit our lifestyle, incorporating a shopping list into a life and meal planner. (I only have one kid; she has five!) I list what we are doing each night, who is dropping off/picking up Lewis from childcare each day, who is cooking dinner and what is being cooked. I then note what needs to be bought for each meal in the shopping list section, where I have staple items pre-populated to save time.  The meal planning is very useful for weeks like this, where I'm out for dinner twice and my partner is out once - so on those nights we can do simple dinners with Lewis, rather than our usual 'proper' dinners. I'm having eggs on toast with Lewis on Friday; Adrian is doing sausages (I don't let him cook meat when I'm home!).

Closely intertwined with step 1 is step 2: inventory of what you already have. I was amazed by what I found in the cupboards, fridge, and more recently the freezer! (I've been tackling one area per week.) The Simple Savings website and its $21 challenge was the inspiration for this one. The $21 challenge is where you try to survive for one week only spending $21 on food, and using up what you have in the pantry/fridge/freezer.

So for the last week we have been trying to not buy more food (after spending up relatively big for a family dinner party earlier in the week), and to make do with what we have. We've consequently had some really nice meals we wouldn't have thought of having otherwise:

• Pumpkin and lentil stew
• Pasta shells with peas, olives and some leftover marinated fetta
• When we ran out of bread I discovered a few more slices in the freezer. When that ran out I discovered avocado on crackers for breakfast. Just as nice!
• Flourless orange cake - I found some almond meal in the freezer, we had oranges from a weekend away, and eggs and sugar pantry. So delicious!
• Stewed rhubarb from the garden.
• Tacos to use up the leftover cheese and tomatoes we had.

 I also made homemade pasta for the family meal on Monday (time consuming but works out a lot cheaper than buying fresh pasta).

We now meal plan around what we have in the fridge/cupboard that needs using up, as well as adding a few new recipes each week so as not to eat too boringly!

Oh, and we have started shopping for pantry and fridge staples at Aldi. It really is so much cheaper than Coles. Although their fruit and veg is a bit average, so I just get the super specials from there and head to the local fruit market for the rest.

I've already noticed the money in our joint account seems to be lasting longer. Yay!

Now I just need to cut down my personal spending... but that's another story.

Coffee snob

I'm a self-confessed coffee snob and most days venture out with Lewis to grab one. I usually walk, so thought I would compile my list of favourite cafes within walking distance, with comments on how baby friendly they are!

Not all of us are "Mumpreneurs"

I used to get sick of reading about "Yummy-Mummies". The weekend papers were always full of articles about mothers who looked good, went for lattes and managed their households with ease. Since becoming a mother I've found that Yummy-Mummies don't seem to exist, at least not in my suburb, or in the parenting magazines that I read (and I read all of them!).

Losing that weight post-baby

I thought I was one of the lucky ones as I didn't put on too much weight while pregnant. Maybe 10kg but most of that was baby. I exercised throughout the pregnancy and didn't eat too much junk. After Lewis was born and I started breastfeeding (with great difficulty, but that's another story) the weight just dropped off me. I remember thinking "this is easy" and wondering why my Mum had so much trouble with her weight after having us.

Not bored, just...

Lewis is nearly 10 months old and I have exactly 4 weeks left of maternity leave. I'm half dreading, half looking forward to returning to work. It's only part-time so I'm sure it'll be fine. It will be nice to use my brain again. I'm just not looking forward to the stress factor.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my 11 months off so far and feel incredibly lucky to have been able to spend so much quality time with Lewis, and get paid for it (my work has excellent maternity pay). My lifestyle is incredibly lazy at the moment and has been for the last 4-5 months.

Ditch the gym membership!

Pre-baby I was a total aerobics junky. I always had a membership to a gym, and went to a minimum of three aerobics classes a week. I only went to gyms that offered Les Mills classes, and usually went to Body Attack or Body Step. If you don't know about Les Mills,  classes are always structured the same, so no matter where you are in the world the class will be the same or similar. Which can get a touch boring after a while.

However, post-baby I didn't want to fork out for an expensive gym membership that I might have to quit if I get pregnant again. So now I am a bit of a gym floozy...

Ethical shopping guide

I recently discovered the Ethical Shopping Guide 2011. I picked up the pocket guide at an environmental store in Brunswick, and think it's great! The website is a lot more detailed than the pocket guide, giving you information on why the product has a particular rating, but the pocket guide is handy to have in your handbag in the supermarket.

Travelling tips - road trip!

Lewis was 5 months old when we embarked on a 2 week road trip, from Melbourne up to Sydney, then on to Yamba in northern NSW. The excuse for the trip was a wedding in Sydney, then we figured we were half way so we should keep going further north to visit the boyfriend's brother and family! Yes, it was a bit exhausting, and yes, Australia is a very big place. But a bit of planning can make a car trip with a baby totally do-able... even fun!Packing the car was a challenge in itself. With the pram taking up most of the boot, some culling and creative arranging was needed. It encouraged me to reduce the amount of clothes, shoes etc that I took, and I looked at it as very good practice for going overseas in May (when our bub will be 8 months old), when we will have to carry everything from airports and onto trains.

A day off

I am lucky enough to have a boyfriend with a flexible schedule who wants some quality time with our boy! So for the last two months Thursdays have been "Dad day" and I have been given the day off! I count myself extremely lucky and am the envy of all my friends.