the cost of living
I’ve spent the past few weeks worrying about pondering the ever-increasing cost of living. Our simple life is becoming expensive and it’s rather shocking to see the bills go up while our (rather humble) income stays the same.
I realise the “grocery bill” issue is a ubiquitous one but me oh my, the cost! My big fortnightly shop has risen by a good $50 and my sneaky “top-up” shops are far more frequent, disappointingly so (what happened to the memo about the insatiable hunger of five-year-olds?). To keep up with our fresh food intake I’m ordering a bigger box from our organic home delivery service, raiding Popa’s vegie patch and encouraging my own seedlings to grow, grow! Popa is also helping me establish a Bush Turkey-proof raised garden-bed so we can eat more from the garden and buy a little less.
But still, food is only one part of the equation and even though Daniel managed to knock $30 off our monthly telstra bill last week (he spent over an hour on the phone, he’s good like that) there’s still a long list of outgoings.
So, this week I’m doing the classic magazine feature where the journo writes down every single thing she buys. But let’s be realistic, there’s not going to be any “taxi fares” or “drinks with friends” or “must-have leather handbag”. There will be a whole lot of “2 litre milk,” “take-away coffee”* and “pre-school fees.” Boring but insightful.
Budgeting is absolutely necessary but I’m wondering, what is the best way to realistically budget so everything is covered and there’s enough money for all the little everyday things?
*I already know that cafes are costly…but gosh I do enjoy them.
Photo: Popa’s abundant garden..inspiration for my own
It's so hard being self-employed and trying to live as simply as possible. It seems a constant challenge. We budget for the neccessities only (Scott's earnings) and anything I earn is a bonus. I recently cut the electricty bill by half by cutting down on hot water usuage and have been upcycling and recycling clothes too. I like a challenge!
Daniel and I are both self-employed so there are times where we don't get paid till months after the work has been done. It can be challenging but I'll admit that the pros of self-employment far outweigh the negatives x
These growing bills are world wide it seems. It is how to eat the way that you really want to eat and where the compromises come. Can be healthier – less wine gets drunk these days!
We did the write everything down exercise before we bought our house – 10 years ago. At the time our incomes were meagre and we managed to buy a house on what we were earning. It seemed very risky but we bought what the kids called the "povo" house, as in poverty house, and we've made it work. My partner and I have both had increases in our income over the years but it's come at a cost to family life and I think our health. Sure the kids are grown but there's so little enjoyment in our days and what was once enjoyable work has changed too. So, we've come full circle. Budgeting and wondering what's possible?
I actually think I appreciate everything much more when I'm earning less (working less)…perhaps you do too? x
I'm with Andrea and Karen. I haven't spent a thing on fun items for months. All my outgoings goes on food, diesel, and bills. It's so dull! I am doing a little reinvention of my wardrobe, by buying 2 pairs of thick tights in charcoal and lighter grey and wearing summer dresses over them. No need for winter clothes.. just same all round! Finding charity shop 'vintage'necklaces to update outfits helps. I am starting to worry a little about christmas though.. 6 year old boys wont be happy with upcycled toys I'm afraid. It's all about the LEGO here. *sigh* x
Mine is starting to be into Lego too, and they are so much more expensive than they seem like they should be!
I have bought heaps of Lego from the local markets, get there fairly early and keep your eyes open, garage sales are also a good place to find cheap lego.It is worth every cent, no matter what you pay, as the play lasts for hours and is a different toy every time……imagination, creativity, problem solving, fractions, Lego is awesome. Kids right up to 8 or 10 will still play with DUPLO, but kids as young as 3 can start to make patterns and shapes or farmyard pens on a base board with the usual small blocks.
Most 6 year olds would love a pirate costume, they are not hard to make at home, you could also make a paper mache treasure chest, with treasure jewels from the op shop.
Good luck with the Lego hunt, maybe a wanted sign on a community notice board ?
what excellent ideas Margaret 🙂 Sometimes when you think of op shopping you just think of second hand but using them as a place to find resources for a project or gift is an excellent idea!
We are struggling with the same issues over here. Groceries are going up, up, up! along with everything else. My husband needs new clothes, my child always needs new things (they grow so fast!), and things inevitably break or wear out. Good like toilet paper and shampoo seem to really stretch my budget these days, especially when we run out of everything at once. We want to buy a house and increase our savings, but it is so hard to do.
I have been working on this as well. Frankly, the biggest money saver for me has been making EVERYTHING from scratch. For instance, we go through two good cruncy whole-wheat bread boules a week. Bought at the store, that's 4.50 each. At home, with bulk bought flour, yeast, and salt, that's 45 cents worth of ingredients, saving me about $30 a month. Milk becomes yoghurt and yoghurt cheese. Fruit we pick from abandoned lots and friends' trees (and if we're being honest anything that hangs over a sidewalk) becomes jam and pie filling and goes in our morning oatmeal. I cook meat probably once a week, and it's usually a whole chicken that becomes soup, sandwiches, and so much more. I spend much more time than the average university student in the kitchen, and with my busy schedule it takes some planning, but when it's all said and done it feels GOOD. I like going to the store and only needing some coffee filters, a bit of chocolate, and some milk, because everything else was bought in bulk or comes from our garden.
we could be twins 🙂
I'm thinking of going freelance at the moment and one of things I find hard to get straight in my mind is the lack of predictability when it comes to income. I will have to do exactly what you're doing and put together a proper budget. I agree it's a good way to properly appreciate what you choose to spend your money on though, and I will be quite interested to see how it changes our spending habits.
Beautiful photograph, by the way.
We finally have a budgeting system that works for us. We wrote down ALL outgoings for a Month and then plugged that into a very detailed excel spreadsheet for a 12 month period (adding in the quarterly bills as well) … We now track our incomings/outgoings weekly. It's really helped us to see what parts of the year cost more for groceries or nights out or presents. Life is definitely costing more … We've brought our outgoings down but have had to bump up our incomings to make it al work. It was tedious but we stopped the cycle of spending more than we earnt!!!
Timely post for me Jodi!
We find ourselves constantly having to re-jig our budget as the cost of living increases.
I find meal planning helps me stay on track of the food budget. But the bills seem never ending. I swear we just pay an electricity bill before another one arrives.
It's incredibly hard to get ahead.
I'd love to start growing more and more of our own produce. I think that's the way forward. xx
I pay my electricity bill by direct debit – a fixed amount every fortnight. It definitely works with my budget and there's never any surprise bill. However, that fortnightly amount recently increased by $40 (the heaters in winter were to blame)…sheesh!
We've just started buying predominately organic groceries, fruit and vegetables and I can't help but wince at the checkout each week…but I know it is for the best. I'd love nothing more than to just grow half the things I buy but our yard just doesn't provide the most ideal conditions. Thankfully I have a lovely friend who brings me a big bag full of kale, herbs and other assorted things from her flourishing patch – I think it saves me roughly $20 per week! Plus how much nicer is it from someone's garden?
Dadabulous recently switched our hot water heater to offpeak. He says it could save us over $1000 per year – which is handy. I probably should be more thoughtful about my grocery shopping – it would be nice to come out of a weekly shop for under $300. I'm donating more than my fair share to the local cafes and as for sushi train – forget about it.
When we were saving for our house many years ago, we had to stick to a very strict budget and I found the best way was the look at our income and divide it into three. 1. Bills 2. Spending money 3. Savings
The Bills included a weekly supermarket shop and the Spending money was top-up shops during the week, lattes, magazines, travel tickets, petrol, etc…
In the end I found the only way I could stay on Spending Money budget was to take that money out at the beginning of the week and pay cash for everything. If I didn't have the cash, I didn't get it. Worked a treat!
Although I don't know how it would go for feeding a ravenous kid – just wait until he's a teenager! I've been told they'll eat you out of house and home.
I really love this 'cash for spendings' idea – it's much easier to spend the money if you're using your card and you can't actually SEE the cash. Thanks for the advice! x
Yes! We only use cash too. If we don't have the cash we don't get it either. We give ourselves $50 a week pocket money, for things that don't fall under normal expenses, like take away coffee or balls of yarn. Also works a treat. 🙂
For the past 2 years our rent was only $270 a week. We moved 6 weeks ago to be closer to hubby's work as the petrol and driving were getting a bit ridiculous. Now our rent has gone up by $80 a week, but once we take out petrol, it's only around $30. The upside is we now have a huge home with a huge yard, right across the road from his work. The car is collecting leaves! We can walk to the park or cafe. Our grocery has always been small, as I try and make everthing from scratch. I also crochet, knit and sew. It's a big money saver. I taught myself to do all these things (using youtube) in the last 6 years. I think people underestimate how being a bit old fashioned can save you so much! My friends think its a bit strange that when my kids need new pyjamas, I'll find some fabric/sheet from the op shop and make them some. In the end we all do what we have to to make it work for our families!
Here where I live the cost of living is so much higher than anything I am used to! We pay 855 USD a month for a small studio apartment, but we've made everything work out by *mostly* pertaining to the 'If we do not need it, we will not buy it.' adage. I also haven't bought a *new* piece of clothing in over two years, op shops and resale stores are where I go. I grew up very poor on a farm as a child (as in no electricity poor) and we made almost everything ourselves, bread, pasta, dinners. It's very hard to want to buy convenience these days and thankfully growing up that way makes it easier for me to just make more food at home. I think the best way to cut out a ton of money is to 1. only buy what you need 2. only buy nonprocessed/boxed foods (no prepackaged mixes, etc.) and no cafes. That last one was the hardest for me, especially living in Seattle!
our grocery bill is huge,, my partner is gluten /lactose intolerent so there is a lot of added cost there. I always try and shop the specials but it doesnt seem to help some weeks.
It's definately a challenge. After re-assessing our budget after a new house, reno's & new baby, which meant loss of one income, I hav rediscovered the joy, (allbeit more time consuming) process of bargain grocery gathering! I walk the farmers markets with the kids for our fresh fruit, veg & meat. Not always organic, but locally produced food that supports local farmers, tastes as it should & lasts from each market to the next. With ivy the ever keen product tester sampling fresh fruit from one stall to the next! Combined with the mundane pantry-laundry items from aldi. I hav been saving hundreds/ wk. Also my love of daily cafe coffee has been substituted with my favorite cafe grinding me some take-home beans so the never used coffee machine is now humming away each morning. With the occasional cafe stop still a weekly occurrence! And as with your telstra savings, try your insurance company too. Lee managed to knock $160 off our combined insuranes/month with a lengthy phone conversation with our provider. I guess its all part & parcel of the family juggle! Lotto would always be nice!! X
After the roof over our head, our most pertinent expense is our nourishment. We shop at a natural food co-op and buy bulk flours to make our breads and other treats. We limit our meat intake because non-hormone and antibiotic, free-range, and local make buying even a little very expensive. We buy our produce from the local farmer's market through late October and at the moment we have a balcony full of lettuces, spinach, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower and a covered section of herbs. Growing our own food year-round helps quite a bit. My husband and I try to not feel overwhelmed by the cost of our food and look at it as an investment in good health, but it can be quite discouraging. Prices have gone up so much and we find that we cannot make it out for under $125 USD a week… we do eat all of our meals at home to save on outside expenses but I cannot give up my coffees and espresso drinks. We keep a calendar of each bit that we spend and where it is delegated to, a bar chart of sorts, and it helps loads.
While I can stomach higher expenses on real food, simply because I know that it is so necessary and we are working to become more self sufficient, I find a hard time dealing with the rising costs of energy. It's our dream to live in a little solar-powered home and we work closer to it bit by bit as we finish college… we are literally piecing together an eco-home. As for now I watch a bill grow over $50 from what it was last year–and we don't use lights during the day! We try to use candles in the evening and we don't leave the television or computers on when not necessary. It's so frustrating and I try to be patient as the world transitions oh so slowly into more sustainable energy sources to reduce costs.
Thankfully, we've not got any tiny mouths to feed yet. I really enjoyed this post. Though we are not quite struggling, we are certainly not flourishing financially and it is comforting to know that others make concessions, count pennies and feel a bit discouraged when the grocery bill increases but the yield brought home does not.
My best,
Jo Farmer
We are so good at budgeting. We managed to save for our wedding and honeymoon on one very humble wage. I find the key is to be realistic, so many people say 'I'll cut down my cafe outings a spend only $20 a fortnight' and then you allocate the money elsewhere and you're left over budget and you just give up. It's better to give yourself $50, spend say $30 and pop the rest in a savings account. Every cent counts!
We're big on spending money on experiences instead of 'things' (she says from her iPad 3) but you have to spoil yourself sometimes. What's the point of money if you can't enjoy it?
I'm not expert, we don't have hundreds of thousands in the bank but I am realistic I don't set crazy goals I'm just responsible and smart. I even found myself giving my accountant sister budgeting advice, but as I said you can't be obsessed with material things because that is most people's failing. Luckily we're not.
Good luck, I can't wait to read the article!
The price of groceries is insane right now. We only have two of us to feed and every time we say well only spend X amount of monies, and each time we go over that. We buy less and less processed stuff, which is good. And more fruit and veg, but those costs don't seem to be going down. We'd love to be more sustainable and I think when our summer holidays come along we'll have more time to actually start doing that in some small ways, but hopefully it will make some difference in our weekly food budget.
oh yes the dreaded cost of living and i too see the bills going up and even the quality of what we are getting going down….we prefer to spend money of the quality but have less, but food is essential and i try to make and bake a lot, eating out is a treat and so are entertainment costs. we have spend-free weekends like this one just gone….we went for walks and i took the kids to the library to borrow a stack of books…all fun no expense. next year we are moving our land in the country and building on 13 acres. we plan to grow pretty much all that we need and buy local meat and dairy. we are self employed like you and your hubby so that value to earning resonates with us and of course teaching our children the value of gratitude.
We are semi in the same boat. Except we are in New Zealand and I do have full time employment while my husband stays home with the kids. Budgeting saved our butts.
My advice would be to make a spreadsheet that covers all your normal everyday expenses and make sure you give each other spending money for coffees etc. Set up an account for long term bills and figure out how much needs to go into this weekly (or monthly depending on when you generally get paid) to pay these bills (car rego etc) and a rainy day savings account. Even chucking $10 a month into this will eventually add up.
I follow a blog called "Down to Earth" Rhonda has lots of good advice and WONDERFUL recipes for making things yourself…. laundry liquid $2 for TEN litres, homemade personal bar soap, that can be used as shampoo, both of which I have been using for 3 months, with good results.There is a forum to participate in if you have questions and lots of really great information.
Please take a look, I find lots of advice and inspiration, the first week of productivity at home was a batch of laundry liquid, a batch of bar soap, 2 loaves of bread,3 jars of relish, big batch of pasta sauce and 4 jars of strawberry jam
Rhonda used to have a column in the Womens Weekly and has just published a book called "Simple Living" which you can probably find at your local library.
it seems everyone, including myself are pondering about this lately. i'm a relief/supply teacher (not by choice!) and sometimes i miss the pay cycle by one day so have to wait a fortnight for the work i've done. young, married, broke…and happy 🙂
xo
ps. i went to the nursery in noosa on the weekend and loved hearing you share about tim's sessions with your family via video!
Melynda….sometimes I have to wait FOUR months to get paid for writing work (paid on publication). Hence my pay differs greatly from week to week….it makes budgeting difficult x
Budgeting must be an absolute nightmare for you. At least we have a (mostly) regular amount to count on. I guess you would have to forward plan like woah? Do you know that a pay is coming in four months later or is it more of a case of 'it will come in when it comes in?'
I do get a regular income from one of my writing jobs – that comes in every fortnight but the amount varies greatly. I'll discuss more in my next 'budgeting' post but yes, it can be a bit of a nightmare x
that is tough! Anita Bell wrote one of her books about budgeting for unstable incomes. I found her advice really helpful. You can still buy the book online at Fishpond very cheaply
I think you have hit on what is consuming all of us at the moment Jodi! We live in a city, but hubby and I are both off the land, with 3 boys under 5… food and planning meals is our key… I have found doing my shop on line the best saver, as it tallies as I go, ireview it, I check the pantry and double check the fridge and somehow I think I use our money more effectively and come away with meals and proper healthy food… without buying stuff thats not needed or a doubled up! And then, I dont go into a supermarket…just a grocer or butcher if needed. And buy bulk long life items!
So timely, this post 🙂
I recently resigned from a senior management position in nursing, because I didn't think I had it in me to nurse any more, & I wanted to be a better Mother to Max than my night shift working life allowed.
So I went from grossing $900 per week to $100 per week, & I am happy.
Broke, … but happy.
My advice? Where to start, budgets SUCK, & you could write an entire post on one!
We go to dinners at our in laws a lot, we had our brother in law move in with us (Max LOVES Uncle Troy living here, & we save by splitting bills etc.), we couldn't care less what car we drive but instead decide to splurge on what inspires us, which is dinners out now & then as a family. Farmer's markets are incredible, & I make all of Max's meals.
Oh, & Max's 'big boy room', all 'vintage', because it's my style anyway, but it's also low cost, & a lot of DIY 🙂
Jodi, I think you NAIL the work/life balance.
There are times when I wish I had 1k in the bank just to completely BLOW on everything I've added to my wishlist over the last year, but resigning from night shift put everything into perspective for me.
Because we are struggling to make ends meet, but we ALWAYS seem to make them meet, & my gosh … I am just so happy with my new work/balance, happy beyond description actually 🙂
x
Ah, perspective x
We are on one wage, as I am a stay at home Mum, with two little ones. I grow as many veggies as I can and have really noticed a massive savings in our bills. I use cloth nappies, op-shop, make my own laundry liquid and cook as much from scratch as I can. I have a budget of $150 a week for groceries and at first I found it difficult, but now with meal planning and making double batches of things and freezing half, I find we are able to have a few luxuries each week, like salmon steaks, and still come in under budget.
When we did our budget we wrote down every expense we could think of, from mortgage repayments to car insurance. We also budgeted for expenses like birthdays and clothes. We added it all up and worked out exactly how much it costs us to live for twelve months, then divided it by 52. That was the amount we needed each week to live and pay our bills and expenses. Anything left over we put in to savings. We have four bank accounts all linked – mortgage, bills, savings and kids – so we can see exactly how everything is going. After living off our budget a few months we had money in our bills account ready every time a bill came in. We keep $1000 tucked away in our mortgage in case of emergencies or the unexpected – like when our dear old dog got sick and eventually had to be put down. Vet bills quickly add up!
It takes a bit of effort, but it means we are able to live the kind of life we want with me at home with the children, and still be able to continue renovating our house, go on holidays etc. We have also just had solar panels installed and are in the process of having a water tank installed, both of which will save us a lot of money in the long term. 🙂
I hear you!!! Groceries are ridiculously expensive even when you do grow most of it yourself!! We recently went on a 8 week camping holiday. I got an app on my iPhone where I could recorded EVERYTHING I/we spent. It was fascinating to see where all the money really goes Food is a big part of it but for us, those incidental few items/coffees/morning tea/lunch on the go items were gobsmacking. Lost money. Good luck with your money awareness!!
I hear you loud and clear. We have three kids and have been skint for years. I read Scott Pape's Barefoot inviestor web site and it changed my life. We haev ebven saved money this year. Unheard of!I don't like budgets becuase tehy make me splurge like diets make me binge.
Everything is getting so expensive. On the island it is even more expensive than the mainland states (except real estate). Lets move to Europe wher food is dirt cheap and diesel cars take you for ever on one tank.
I live in Europe and I can safely say that food here is far from dirt cheap!
Soory about the typos. I think I was excited in my empathy.
Hi Jodi,
I just wanted to add a note of sympathy for the brush turkey issue. We're in Brisbane and we have a little harem that we share our yard with. I've spent months researching the many methods to keep them away from precious veggie beds and exclusion does seem to be the only option. We're using something called 'vege net' from Green Harvest (based in Maleny). The hope is it will keep possums, brush turkeys, bandicoots AND fruit fly. Best of luck and let us know how you go.
Ally
Hmm something for me to think about in the near future. We will drop from two full time wages to 1.5. Whilst that may not sound a lot of difference we are still supporting Rob's daughter and will have two of our own.
We have gone through crunch periods before when we've had to save. Clothes and wine for the first things to disappear. DIning out. We'd have the occasional meal out, and that made us feel a bit better. We don't travel. We don't really like to anyway but I suspect we'll be even more homebodies than before. Luckily our little hut is complete, our car is ok.
But there are some things we can't seem to bring down, like power bills and petrol. Hmm. we love our food too, but try to visit our butcher only once a week (and only buy enough meat for a few days) and try to eat more vegetarian meals. This is increasingly become easier with our veggie patch coming online, but it will be a long time before we are truly self sufficient.
I guess every little bit helps though.
I am constantly worrying about our budget.
I would love, love, love to somehow get to the point where I didn't have to think about money…where every time I went to the cafe I didn't get that niggle of guilt that says I shouldn't spend four dollars on a flat white.
I don't need to be rolling in money but I would like to not hold my breath as my items get scanned at Woolies.
But short of winning the lotto, I don't see how this is possible for us.
What kills us is May…we have home and contents insurance, health insurance, car insurance, rego….you name it and we have to pay it in May.
So we build up this little bit of savings and I think that we are doing all right.
And then bam. It is all gone. And it takes us the entire next year to get on top of things again!
I recently have the chance to drive a Honda Hybird for two weeks and I was stunned at how little petrol we used. If I were to buy a new car I would seriously look at a hybrid as based on my extended test drive I think we would save at least $200.00 a month on petrol.
I had this same problem with big bills coming in at the same time, I organised to pay some for 6 months and then yearly after that, it spreads them out better,rego and car insurance and house & contents are able to be changed in this way I think.
how hard
it is the same here in Madrid
I buy organic but many months I can´t do the sneaky shopping all organic at the end of the month
And living on the city centre surrounded by amazing restaurants and not going to any of them… yikes. It is tough but of course we want the best for our little ones.
But I am meeting a friend on wednesday and we are going to the cinema, low fares on wednesday and perfect plan with my best friend before baby number 2 arrives. Teas at home all week then.
I usually shop for food in 3-4 different places, because I know some products are better priced. Here in AZ the food prices are high, specially in this city. We used to travel a lot and lately I only see myself traveling to shop for food. My kids are growing and they are pretty starving. They eat lots! When I think we'll have left overs, here I go again. I would love a green house to grow some vegetables in our tiny backyard. We eat lots of vegetables. The Winters are harsh here and our planting season is very short.
Thank you for saying that little ps about the cafes! I so need them to break up my days with a 15 month old. I know they are an indulgence, but they seem so vital to social health.
It's so interesting to read this from an Australian's perspective. Over the past several months my extended family and I who are Americans have been lamenting over the cost of simply living! Likewise, our groceries bills have risen significantly and the cost of gas is right around $4 a gallon. I am also self employed as a wedding photographer, and my husband is a computer forensics analyst. Anyhow, I think it would be very interesting to do a compare and contrast from REAL people living around the world to compare and contrast these kinds of things. xoxo
Petrol where I am in aus works out to just over $6 a gallon!!
GOODNESS! Wow, that is rough. Please say your car gets good gas mileage at least?
you have my sympathy! we've been trying to cut costs for a couple of years, but even more so recently after a couple of massive bills we hadn't expected. we're just in the process of moving our washing line so it gets more sun in winter as using the dryer has massively increased our power bill, and have put in more, larger raised beds and are growing EVERYTHING from seed this year. Meal planning, using cash and homecooking all our food has made a huge difference for us previously. I also carry a wee card in my wallet, with has list of the reasons why we are cutting back on it, the most persuasive first, which i HAVE to read before any off-budget, even little splurge. it's working a treat and as it goes on the spending restraint is making me feel quite empowered!
Jodi I love the honesty and clarity of this post. You have put into words the many feelings I've had for a while now about spending/saving/getting ahead. I hear you on the freelance writing gig and difficulty budgeting but agree the benefits far outweigh the negatives. The wonderful thing about this post and all the comments is the sharing of tips and advice but also the feeling of community, that we are all in this together so to speak. I don't have magic answers but for what they're worth here are my tips: 1. start a 'gold coin donation' jar – donate money to yourself 🙂 I put my gold coins in a jar and save up for special things like a rare dinner out with the family or a trip to the hot springs. 2. have different accounts for different savings goals 3. rest but don't give up 4. when there is not much money to count, I count my blessings. twice. xx
One word: CASH. I stick to a budget so much better when I take out a set amount of cash for the week or two weeks (whatever is the interval between paychecks). Allocate cash to different categories. Once the cash is gone, that's it until the next cash withdrawal period.
Also, a lot of times, it's simply a matter of timing the cash flow. For instance, my children's school allows me to pay their tuition monthly instead of quarterly, so that I don't have to worry about saving or coming up with a lump sum of cash every three months. (For others who are good at saving, quarterly payments probably work better!) For bills, I contacted the various companies and changed my due dates so that they are spread out between our two paycheck periods, so that we weren't spending one whole paycheck at once on bills. I was also able to split my mortgage payment into two monthly payments. It doesn't add up to more money in the end but it does mean that we have more cash available week to week and we don't feel so crunched at the end of the month.
Yes, I'm fast realising that cash is key – it's so much harder to hand the cash over! x
Cash is most definitely the answer as you are far more aware of when you are over budget or getting close to it. We use the 'pencil case' method (that's what we call it anyway). We have a series of pencil cases (just old ones from the op-shop….I was meaning to make some nicer ones one day!) with stickers on the front for various things….FOOD, BILLS, FUEL, etc. Our spending money is kept separate in our wallets so it is not mixed up with the budgeted amounts. This is such a good way of keeping you in check! It doesn't mean we always manage to stay within our budget BUT we know when we are going over and are far more reluctant to, so think about our purchases far more. We also have a pencil case for CREDIT CARD….the spot you have to put your card receipts and if poss replace the $ from one of the other wallets/pencil cases…..it is such a good reminder that this $ has to be repaid from somewhere!
With 4 kids and the eldest a bit ahead of your 5-year old appetite all I can say is garden! Our garden provides so much, especially as the FOOD pencil case runs low….it is great actually as it forces me to good more creatively using only what we have. Good luck with the bush-turkey proofing! From various garden beds I have put in over the years I've found that the more preparation you do early on, the better the outcome, better to have one small, easy-to-manage, productive patch than half a yard of weeds some mid-summer!
I was really glad to read this post, Jodie, for a lot of the reasons people have mentioned but also because it helped me to see beyond the beautiful images of your posts to the real life behind them. I must admit to more than a touch of jealousy at seeing the gorgeous homewares and products that you often feature and am left wondering where I am going wrong in not being able to afford extras to add a touch of beauty to various corners of my home. Mortgage, bills, groceries, fees for the little one's activities … on only one income … it just leaves nothing spare. We have been cutting corners (we cut out our beloved cafe visits) and trying not to buy anything beyond the bare minimum and still … we can't figure it out – where does all the money go?? I am grateful for the handy tips people have been leaving and the knowledge that I am not alone.
I absolutely understand. The costs are just rising and rising aren't they? I too need to sit down and budget. Meanwhile we're concentrating on our vegie garden and (long term) fruit tree growing. I also find it hard to cut back on a coffee and cake splurge here and there and the occasional dinner out. (But I do so enjoy them!) I blogged about this issue a few weeks back and was surprised at the amount of comments (with a lot of great advice too). It seems many of us are in the same boat.
Budgeting is hard and there always seems to be another huge bill arriving just as the last lot are paid off. One great tip I read recently was to cut out big expenses wherever you can, rather than the little ones. The reason being that cutting out little luxuries such as a weekly bunch of flowers or daily cup of coffee out can start to eat away at the soul. Once I've had some expensive dental work done, I am going to ditch my PHI, and when I can get my little one into another day at family daycare, I will stop using a fortnightly nanny. That will save us around $500 a month…
A long, long time ago, back in the olden days, when we were young and poorish (i was studying, he was an apprentice), we had a little A5 folder in which to organise our budget. Everything had a sleeve, we divided up all our cash every week, even the $2.50 a week we would save for our once-a-month pizza night. I have kept that little folder to remind me that we can always live more simply, more trim, if we need to. Nowadays, lots of home-made, reusable choices. :)sarah
Oh Jodi, I can so relate to this post. My partner and I have been trying to save for a home deposit but the rising cost of living makes it incredibly hard. We make do and mend where ever possible, but life seems a bit grim when there is nothing left over for fun stuff. I don't know what the answer is, but it's somewhat comforting to know we aren't the only ones struggling. We're all in this together!
Katie x
I flipped over to this post mid budget creating (read:headache inducing) with another baby on the way, a slew of animals and a partner about to start his first year teaching (read: challenging salary) I am trying to work out how to make ends meet. We have a veggie patch and very generous laying chooks. Shop second hand. But still scrounge for treats of any kind. Nice to read these comments and realise that perhaps we are part of a majority. What a confusing time we live in, surrounded by beautiful things we 'need' yet most of us struggling to meet basic needs! Thanks for sharing and in turn allowing so many others to do the same. X ashley
I'm not in your position at all, having no dependents to care for.. however I'm financially independent from my parents and have been for 3 years now (a bit unusual when you're 24 and worked professionally for one year in between studying) .. I have enough to live off from a scholarship, just, and I do tutoring/teaching work to supplement that when I can. This semester I haven't taken on any students to focus on my own work and boy I've noticed that I don't have anything spare at all. But clothes last a long time, and the desire for a new wardrobe can be satisfied by swapping clothes with a friend/flatmate, you can make a good dinner from an onion and potatoes from the garden; my flatmate's parent's farm gets raided quite a bit (hello fresh eggs and a whole range of greens). We manage to pay for our food and power/internet by spending $60 a week each – and that's buying organic. We are lucky because our local organic store subsidises basic items like flour and canned tomatoes. I prefer living this way in many ways.. although I do occasionally wish I could plan an overseas holiday or buy a dslr ..but instead I work on paying off my overdraft and remember the many people I met in India living on much, much less, and I'm thankful that what I do have is enough to get by even if it does mean eating all the beans and lentils out of our jars and organising the bills to get paid as soon as I do. but also that I have not enough so I appreciate I have to make sacrifices and carefully plan to purchase only the things that are important to me. And then I also donate to our local food bank, after seeing a rather heartbreaking segment on a local news show where the presenters visited two schools in the Auckland (NZ) region unannounced- one a decile 10 (high socio-economic area), the other a decile 1 (low socioeconomic area). Only just half of the decile 1 kids had any kind of lunch; those who did barely had any food and certainly nothing healthy. All of the decile 10 kids had good balanced lunches that included fruit. It was so shocking and so sad.
ps.. to all those saying "nothing left over for fun stuff" there's also there's lots of "fun stuff" that you can do for no/very little money, you just have to be a little inventive/imaginative!
pps. but I also understand my financial worries are pretty small, comparatively, as they affect only me; and I know that I can survive for weeks on just baked potatoes (its not pleasant or good for your iron stores but it can be done).
I am hearing you Jodi – loud and clear. We, in all our wisdom, thought 'bugger this, we're out of here!' and hence the road trip honeymoon for the past (almost) 12 months. Why yes, we are a little bit mad. But for the three years since leaving uni and becoming 'grown ups' we had the mentality to be all head down bum up, work work work whilst we are 'double income no kids' before we are down to one income when I have a baby and want to buy a house or property. Then it all turned to shit (basically). It was a lightbulb. What the hell are we doing? We're 25, about to get married, absolutely bloody miserable in our current situation and will forever regret not following our dream of jackarooing on stations up north. So we left, packed up everything, quit our jobs and here we are – homeless, jobless, happy. Life on the road is expensive though, and as we go we are planning what our next step is, where is 'home'? We are farmers, or at least try to eek out a meagre living as custodians of land. No way can we afford our own land. And there's the ridiculous part – to buy our own land, something of a size to sustain a family, we would need AT LEAST a million dollars, two probably. That is just not in our future at the moment. And it breaks our hearts. We have a deep love of the land. We are not in farming for the money (obviously) but we have such a sense that this is the right thing to do with our lives and how to raise our children. Land values are ridiculous in farming, farmers these days might as well sell up and sit on the interest, there is just no way to make the money the land is worth FROM the actual land. Madness. And so sad. Unless you are from a farming family or a millionaire who doesn't like making money there is no way you can get into farming – unless it is the way we have and manage other peoples (mainly 'Collins Street farmers' and corporate entities) land for them. Not ideal. I could go on and on for hours on the madness of the cost of living versus what we are paid, especially in the agricultural industry we work in! Rant over.