Shopping Budget Challenge

  $50 Grocery Shopping Challenge

I'm Back! 

I know all of you will be just as happy about me jumping back into the bloggers world as I am to be here again  :-)

My little babies are no longer babies, my youngest is turning two in four weeks.  My reaction to this? Well I am torn between strapping a brick to his head so he stops growing up and jumping up and down with a glass of bubbly celebrating his independence and my extra free time.  It is thanks to this extra free time I am getting that is allowing me to bring yours truly back to Simply Beautiful. 

A few weeks back I was killing some time with a little web surfing and I came across an interesting blog.  Unfortunately I forgot to bookmark the blog and it has since taken to wearing Harry Potter's cloak of Invisibility and I can't find it anymore.  The little bit of the blog I did read was about how stretching your budgeting skills once a month and trying to keep your food budget to $50 can not only save you some big bucks but also teach you some good skills.  

I thought it sounded like a great idea and would also make a great first blog.  So if the writer of the mystery blog happens to come by this, please comment on this blog so I can add your blog address in.

                                                                  First Step 

Grab yourself a note pad and a pen and go through your freezer, fridge and pantry.  Make a list of every thing that you find, even that year old can of Baked Beans that is sitting right up the back corner of your pantry.

  After you have everything written down you can start making meal ideas on paper. For example - You find a bag of pasta and some tinned tomatoes, SPAG BOL! 

I quickly realised that I have quite a few staples.  Pastas, rice, baking ingredients ect ect...

Now go make yourself a big cup of coffee and start planning your weeks food around what your already have.  And if you feel like a little bit more of a challenge, try not to buy anything that you can make cheaper yourself.  Have you got butter, flour, an egg and sugar?  Well you have yourself the basic ingredients for biscuits, chuck in some raisins and oats and you have my boys favorite biscuits.

                                                                 Second Step

Hit the Super Market. Make sure you have something to snack on before you go to stop those impulse buys. 

Here is my haul

Total price was $55.56 so $5.56 over budget but still not half bad

      Here is my weekly menu so you can see how I will be using those groceries

Dinners

             - Potato and Leek soup  (enough for two night)

             - Spaghetti using onions, garlic and pasta from my staples.     

             - Spaghetti sauce leftovers will also be made into a Shepard's Pie 

                ( enough for two night) 

             - Mini roast chickens with the Marylands

             - Chicken Stir fry with rice noodles, chicken breast and some veg 

               from what I already had

             - Left over soup with homemade scones   

             - Spinach, chickpea and potato curry

Lunch

             - Ham salad Sandwiches 

             - Pick a plates ( big favorite with the boys ) basically just veggie sticks and fruit  

Breakfast

            - Cherios

            - Toast

            - Porridge from oats I already have

Snacks

            - Fruit

            - Canned peaches and yogurt

            - Biscuits made from staples

            - Pack of muesli bars for my fussy Hubby (haha!) 

So there you go a whole week of planned out meals for only $55.56.  

It can be done! Is that the faint sound of applause I hear? 

I spend roughly $100 a week on food for my family of four, two adults and 2 children.  If I did this once a month and saved the extra $50 in one year I will have saved $600.  

Go give it a shot and surprise yourself too. I know I sure surprised myself.

 Do you have a favorite budget meal? The more cheap meals you know the easier it is to create a budget meal plan.  

Happy shopping.

Tiffany                    

Penny Pinching Sunday

A Mummy and Daddy Tip

Today I have a little tip for all the Mummy and Daddy readers.

Children can be expensive. I find alot of the expenses a little unnecessary and avoidable but there are a few things that are rather handy.

Today’s Penny Pinching post is about one of those handy baby things, handmade baby food storage containers. You know the ones. The tiny little containers that cost around $12 for a set of 12. And if you are feeding your little one only homemade baby food then you will be making purees every couple of days. Or paying a fortune for a tonne of little containers that you have to find somewhere to store when they are not in use. 

I found these mini cupcake silicone trays in K-Mart for only $5 each, Bargin!

I spend an afternoon once a fortnight making up purees then freeze them in these. Once they are frozen they are really easy to get out because they are silicone and then I place the little blocks of frozen purees in labelled zip lock bags. When its meal time I just grab out a few blocks and zap them in the microwave. So easy!
And zip locked bags are much easier to store in your freezer then a tonne of little containers.
I got a small white plastic basket, also from K-Mart, for $2 and I stand them all up in the basket. It’s great to be able to just grab out the basket and also stops the zip lock bags from wandering around the deep freezer and becoming lost forever.

 I hope that this tip saves you money and time as well  :-)

Tiffany

I'm Back!

Sorry about the lack of activity lately but I promise it was for a good reason.  :-)

We put all of our penny pinching to good use and went on a lovely holiday to New Caledonia.

Check out the view from our apartment... Simply Beautiful

So I thought in light of my holiday I would do a review on New Caledonia as a holiday destination. Also I will give a few good tips on how to go on a holiday on the cheap.

New Caledonia is a fantastic family holiday destination. There are a few down sides to going there and if you don’t mind over looking them then you will have a fantastic time. 

The country does not rely on the tourists to get by financially. They get most of their money from mining. So the hospitality leaves a bit to be desired.  We are still waiting on a cot for our room (haha).   French is the spoken language here and most websites say that English is widely spoken and understood.  We didn’t find that the case at all. So if you enjoy the challenged of a language barrier and even learning a few words then New Caledonia would be perfect.  We loved the challenge. It definitely made for an interesting holiday and my 2 (nearly 3) year old even learnt a few words which was cute.

The City Centre is a little dirty so we kept away from there unless we were going to the Market which I strongly recommend. The fruit there is unlike anything you can get here. It’s so sweet and juicy.   Also if you enjoy your pastries as much as I do (my waist line is my proof) then once again this is the place for you.  They have all the French pastries you can ever want and there is a patisserie on every corner. It was amazing to walk just across the road and grab a freshly baked french stick for 10c AUD.    The only thing we found about eating here was there restaurants didn’t open till late for dinner, so eating out for dinner was out of the question with our kidlets in tow.

  Although you can go to the Supermache (super market) and pick up everything you need for next to nothing.  With loads of cheeses, breads and french wines to choose from you are never out of options of what to eat.

YUM!

I would have loved to travel the country more than we did and see the beautiful forests and islands but once again with a toddler and a baby that was hard.  But we found there are still a lot of things to do within the capital city, Noumea.  The aquarium is a must see and my sons favourite place. There was a great zoo were you can see Monkey and fruit bats.  They also have a fantastic bird avery which was amazing.  The Cultural Centre is another must see but mainly for the parents. The building and land is breath taking and they always have some interesting exhibits there.  And if you would prefer to just kick back and relax then do as the locals do. Take a nice pair of swimmers and hit any one of the beautiful beaches there.

To sum up. This is a beautiful Island and I strongly recommend it. The hospitatly is not the best but when you have such a fantastic view and yummy food you can forgive them. :-D

BUDGET

Now it is possible to go on a nice holiday fairly cheap.  We went for a week and the whole holiday including spending money cost us $6500. Pretty cheap considering it was an international holiday and that’s including passports for the 4 of us.

Here are a few of the things that I did to keep the holiday within budget.

1. Search around for accommodation. Don’t just settle on the first hotel that pops up. It doesn’t hurt to spend a little bit extra and get one with a kitchen or kitchenette. That way you can eat breakfast and a few lunches and dinner at the hotel and save some money. 

2. Book your flight tickets well in advance. The closer it gets to the date that the flights leave the more the price goes up. We booked out tickets 3 month in advance for $859 return for an adult. When I looked at the price the tickets were going for on that flight the week before we left the price return for an adult was $1780. That’s a saving of just over $900 on the adult tickets. 

3. Eat were the locals eat. It is nice to go out to a big fancy restaurant while you’re away but it does not have to be every night. Ask around and see where the locals like to eat. Are there any hidden little cafes?  You will be surprised at what you find and the cultural experience you get is priceless. 

4. Check out the list of markets. You can get lots of fresh local produce for next to nothing in most places. It will save you a pretty penny and once again the experience of just going to the market is worth it in itself. 

5. If possible try going on the holiday during the school term. Everything is cheaper when it’s not peak times.

So there you go. A nice international family holiday is not out of reach of the one income house hold. A little bit of penny pinching and planning and anything is possible.

I look forward to getting the blog back on track. I have lots of new ideas, sewing tutorials and learning curves that are Simply Beautiful coming your way, so stay tuned.

One more cute photo before I go (haha)

My big Monkey getting in the relaxful holiday mood :-D

Tiffany

Penny Pinching Sunday

Very Pinteresting

I love Pinterest. I am guilty of spending and entire night just looking at all the pins on more then one occasion.  I love it when I find the perfect ideas on there.  Unfortunately for my nearly 3 year old, they even have chore ideas on there (haha).

Today's post is about a Pin the I found the other night.  I think it is fantastic! 

One of the best ways to stick to a budget is take out the money that is meant for shopping.  If you have the money in cash and don't use the bank card there is no way that you can go over your budget. 

This fantastic Pin is about that and keeping it organised. There is nothing worse then taking out your grocery money and spending money and forgetting how much you set aside, then spending to much on that beautiful jacket that you just had to have.  I'm guilty of that one to.

Here is the pin link. 

How fantastic was that idea!!!

And I know what your thinking... Gee Tiffany just get a postage envelope and use that. 

And yes that would work but I just love the idea of making something.  And they are so cute!! 

Here is the link to the envelope print out pattern in case you couldn't find it.  

Go ahead, print some out and go cash envelope crazy.  I just made an envelope for every day that we will be on holiday. A great way to keep track of our holiday money.

 Tiffany.

Penny Pinching Sunday

Family Budget

A budget can be a hard thing to stick to and when you add more people to your family the expenses list gets even bigger. 

About a year ago my Husband and I were getting so sick of living week to week. Our savings account was decreasing while our debt was increasing.  One night while I was blubbering away like a baby my Other Half suggested we look at our budget again. So that night we put the little Monkey to bed a little earlier, cracked out a bottle of wine and sat down to have a look over the budget. Needless to say I did not like what I saw. 

First thing we noticed was that my budgeting skills were shocking!  In fact shocking is an understatement.  I had absolutely no budgeting skills and my Hubby was no better.  My budget plan was "worry about the bill when it gets here", and that was definitely getting us no where and it was not a good way to support a family on a single income.

So we got out a piece of paper and wrote down the amount of all our bills and then worked out how much they would cost weekly.  So obvious right?  Well apparently not to us :-D

What I found very helpful was the direct payment function on internet banking.  As far as I know most banks offer this option.  Once I set that up to pay all my bills for me and transfer the weekly bill fund installments into a separate account I didn't have to worry about a thing. And it goes to say that I don't have any blubbering nights anymore... Well not about money anyway :-p

This is the table that I made up so that I could track all our money. Having it all written down helps you figure out how much left over you have and makes it easier to see were you can cut down your expenses.   I have adjusted it a little to make it more versatile. Feel free to right click on it and 'save as' for personal use.

Tiffany.

Sunday Penny Pinching Ideas - Haggle Those Bills

This week my Sunday Penny Pinching post has turned into a Monday Penny Pinching Post thanks to my sick little Monkey, Poor little fella.  So I will have to double the awesomeness of this post and show you how to save some serious money.

Haggle Those Bills

We all know that you can shave some pretty serious cash off of those pesky bills by cutting down the electricity used and those phone calls, but did you know that you might be able to haggle a better deal?

About a year ago know we got our electricity bill in the mail and you will never guess how much that bill was... $1100!!   Yup, I nearly had a heart attack when I read it and I could not understand how it had gotten that high.  I picked up the bill and had a look at the rate we were paying and then looked around and realised that it was a little bit higher then most other electrical providers.
 Next I called another provider and told them the rate I was paying and asked if they would offer me a better rate.  And they agreed to better the rate.  I then called the provider I was with and let them know that I would be changing my provider. When they asked why I told them the rate I was offered and you wont believe it, they bettered that rate.  I was in shock but the thought occurred to me that if it worked with them it might work with the others, and sure enough it did.

Well that went on for another few calls and I ended up with a great rate and if I paid my bill on time I would get 15% off my bill.

That (and some electricity saving) lovely people is how I brought the $1100 per quarter bill down to $300 per quarter.  Huge saving!!

I have since gone on to do the same thing with my credit card with the fees as well.

So give them a call, all they can say is no and you may make some huge savings yourself.  Think of all the new clothes you could buy with that extra money or (more sensibility but not nearly as fun) all the savings.

Happy saving.

Tiffany.

Penny Pinching Sunday

Sunday is my new Penny Pinching day. So every Sunday I will post an idea, tips or even recipes on ways to Pinch those Pennies. 


My first Penny Pinching post is about the dreaded Supermarket.


I know as much as the next person that sticking to a budget at the grocery store can be very difficult.
Walking past all the specials and yummy food can be very tempting to stick in your trolley, especially when they are 'only $2'. But after the whole shop is done and your putting your groceries up on the conveyor belt and all your 'its only $2' shops start to add up do you realise that its not really 'only $2'.

A few months ago I was talking to my mum trying very hard to find out what I was doing wrong.  The amount of money going out far out weighed the amount that was coming in and we were far heading into trouble.  She asked me how much our bills were. All seemed fine there apart from out far to expensive car insurance.  So she asked how much I spent on food a week, my answer was any where from $250 to $300.  She nearly had a heart attack.  That's when I realised that not every one spent as much as we did on food.  So I was on a mission to bring down that amount by half.

And can you believe it, I did it!   I now spent roughly $100 a week on food, including baby formula, to feed a family of 4.


Here are some of the ways I learnt along the way to get and keep that amount down.

1. Never shop when your hungry.  It always pays to have something to eat at home before you go. It is a lot more easy to resist the yummy food when you have a full belly.

2. Make a shopping list.

3. Do a stock take of all the food in the house. You will be amazed at what is hiding at the back of your freezer or pantry and what meals you can make from it.

4. Shop for the sales. Grab all the Supermarket catalogue and have a look for the good sales. If you have a look in the Woolworths catalogue and they have chicken breasts for $6 a kilo stop in a grab some.

5. Don't over look the cheap grocery stores like Rite price and Aldi.  You can save yourself a fair bit of money by getting some of your things there. Of course be careful about what you buy, Rite price usually sells things that are past there used by date so make sure you give it a good look over. But for things like canned goods the are more then likely fine to eat.

6. Shop in bulk. One of the best investments towards culling the food bill I have made was my chest freezer.  Now when I see that $6 a kilo chicken at Woolworths and I can buy a few kilos and store them in the freezer.

7. Bring a snack for your kids. Grocery shopping can be a tedious task at the best of times and made worse by hungry kids.  When your 2 year old is screaming all over the place because he is seeing all the yummy foods instead of grabbing those crackers off the shelf for him, give him a bag of veggie sticks and cheese from your bag.

8.  Try to keep to one trip to the shops a week. If keep having to duck to the supermarket for more milk you will most likely walk out with more then just 1 litre of milk.  Less trips to the shop means less impulse buys.

9. Try to avoid buying the things you can make yourself cheaper. A few of favourite to make are, Bread, Jam, Yoghurt and treats like biscuits, cakes and muffins.  They will have to dedicate a few posts to those recipes. So simple and so yummy!

10. Reward yourself.  My favourite thing as a child was that all famous reward chart. You know the one, if your room is clean all week you get an ice-cream. It works wonders!  Keep all of your shopping dockets and at the end of the month have a look over them. If you have kept in your budget all month go treat yourself. It is alot easier to stick to the budget it you have something to look forward to. With all the saving I have made the last few months our family treat is an overseas holiday in June!

                                 Check it out!! That is a total cost I am very proud of.

 Tiffany.

Homemade Cleaning Products - Part 2

I have had quite a few e-mails from some lovely followers asking about what other cleaning products I can make from the ingredients listed on my first post, Homemade cleaning Products. 

Here are some more of my favorites.

If you have children or pets I'm sure you will use this one just as much as I do.
 
Carpet Deodoriser
Ingredients
1 cup Baking Soda
4/5 drops of Essential oil ( I use Orange )

Grab yourself a zip lock bag. Drop in your essential oil and then your baking soda.  Give it a good shake so that you don't see the oil smears on the base. Sprinkle the baking soda over freshly vacuumed carpet. Leave the baking soda on the carpet for a few hours then vacuum it up.  I like to store my carpet deodoriser in a jar. I drilled some holes into the jar and now I can sprinkle it on the carpet a little easier and store it like that.

Carpet Stain Remover
Ingredients
Equal parts vinegar and water

Combine the vinegar and water and spray on the stain. Let it sit for roughly 10 minutes then clean it up with some warm soapy water.

Hard Carpet Stains
Ingredients
1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup borax
1/4 cup vinegar

Combine the ingredients into a paste and rub into the stain. Let it sit for a few hours and then vacuum it up. Sometimes you need to then give it a clean with some soapy water and then blotch dry.

I have had a fair few e-mails asking how to get marks of the walls. With a toddler I use this one  often, and can say that it does a fantastic job at getting crayon off the walls.

Wall Scrub
Ingredients
Baking Soda
Water     

Grab a damp sponge and dip in some baking soda. Scrub the mark on the wall and then wipe over with another damp sponge.  It works wonders!

Toilet Cleaner
Ingredients
1/4 cup baking soda
1 cup vinegar

Combine the baking soda and vinegar. Vinegar and baking soda can make quite a bit of mess when combined so it is best to do that in the sink. Spray onto the toilet bowl and let it sit for a few minutes. Then scrub and rinse.

 Bath Tub Cleaner
Ingredients
Vinegar
Baking Soda

Wipe down with vinegar and then scrub with baking soda. After that just rinse it off and you will have a sparkly clean bath tub.


I hope that answers some of your questions and you find that they work just as well for you as they do for me.   If you have anymore questions about the cleaning products or if you have a cleaning problem I can help you with please don't hesitate to drop a comment or an email.

Once again, happy cleaning.

Tiffany.   

Homemade Cleaning Products

One of my favorite things to do is look around the house and find ways to cut cost and 'greenify' my house (yes I have no life). Well a few months ago I got out all my cleaning product ready to nuke my house of germs and this was what I saw on my kitchen bench...

Right there I had another one of my epiphany's. I couldn't believe the amount of chemicals that I had and the cost that they all added up to, easy close to $30. And most of them I needed to buy fortnightly.
There had to be away that I could cut down the amount of chemicals I was pumping into my house and the amount on cash that was flowing out.  I jumped on google to 'google it' and there it was, my answer.
I could make my own cleaning products for less money and best of all I knew exactly what was in them. 

So now this is all I use to clean my house...

                                         

They cost me roughly $45 to buy. Yes I know that the initial cost is more expensive then buying commercial cleaning products, but most of them are fairly cheap.  The most expensive items are the essential oils but bear in mind that you only use a few drops at a time. So that little bottle will last you quite some time.  The item I buy the most frequently is the pure soap. A pack of four will usually last me a month and it only sets me back $2 a pack. 
Have I won you over yet? If not wait till you see how easy it is to make and how well they work.

This one is by far my favourite, the Laundry Powder.

Ingredients
4 cups of grated pure soap (or to save time you could use Lux Flakes)
2 cups of washing soda
1 cup of borax

It is as easy as just combining all the ingredients and  pouring it into a container.  I prefer to take my stab mixer to my grated soap. You can use it just in the little curls but the perfectionist in me likes it a little finer.  Also, when you are using the borax it is always best to play it safe and wear some rubber gloves.   Add one tablespoon to every wash and you will be surprised at how well it works, I sure was.

This one is a very close second on my list of favourites.

Eucalyptus Oil All Purpose Cleaner
Ingredients
15 drops of Eucalyptus oil
1/2 cup of vinegar
water

Once again as simple as combining the ingredients.  Drop in 15 drops of the oil, pour in the vinegar and then top up with water. Give it a shake and away you go.   So simple!  I love the smell of Eucalyptus as well it just smells so clean.

This one is a little more fiddly but well worth it.

Dish washing liquid
Ingredients

1/4 cup of grated soap
2 cups hot water
1/4 glycerine
15 drops of orange oil

Mix the soap with the hot water and then stir until the soap is completely dissolved. Put aside till it has cooled to just above room temperate. Add the glycerine and the oil.  When the mixture cools it will come to a nearly jelly consistency. Grab a fork and break it all up then pour it into a squeeze or pump bottle.  Then tackle those messy dishes.

The one thing I get asked the most when I tell people that I use homemade cleaning products is 'What do you use to get off the baked food in your oven?'   Well its simple and easy.  And best of all it works!!

Ingredients
1/2 baking soda
1/2 salt
water

Mix the baking soda and salt together with just enough water to make a paste. Smear that paste over the oven. I found it works best when it is kept a little moist. So I always have a little spray bottle of water on hand to give it a squirt every hour or so.  Keep the mixture on for about 5 hours then wipe it off with a damp cloth.  All those baked on nasty's will come right off.

So there you have it.

                                           Eucalyptus all purpose spray and laundry powder

 That is some of my homemade cleaning products. I have loads more ways to keep your house clean with these ingredients but only have a limited amount of time. I will have to make a part 2 to this post.  Try them and I am sure you will be just as surprised as I was with the results.

Happy cleaning.

Tiffany.