Holidays are an important part of life. They are a great way to recharge and return home with a renewed and refreshed attitude. A priest friend of ours insists that families should go on holidays at least once every year and that those working, must use their annual leave as a matter of priority. …
Winter has been hitting us hard in Melbourne this year. It has also been hitting our bills hard from our use of the heater. Not being made of money, we’ve been trying to do what we can to keep these bills as low as we can. Here are our strategies to keep the heater …
Interest rates are low and holding, now is the perfect time to take steps to get ahead on your mortgage repayments. More than the minimum When my husband and I bought our first house back in 2008, interest rates were over 8%. Our fortnightly repayments were fairly substantial but as we both worked at …
This billing period, our water usage was half of what it was at this time last year. Half!! We’re pretty stoked, because in the last twelve months, we have been doing our darndest to get our water usage as low as we can. We’ve realized that every litre of water that we allow out …
Budgeting is part and parcel of running a household but we all have items that we prefer not to buy in generic brands. For some its tissues or toilet paper and others cheese or bread. Almsgiving challenge: This Lent, buy generic brands for everything. After each shopping trip calculate the money you’ve saved and …
It might be the season to be jolly but it’s certainly one of the most expensive times of the year. Buying something for everyone and keeping within our budget can be a real challenge and leave us feeling as though we have short changed some one this time around with our gift selection. So …
Miss 4 was caught stealing the other day. Caught red-handed, and slightly guilty, though more upset that she was caught rather than upset at having done the wrong thing. Basically, it was a shopping trip like any other, except intentionally speedy. I had all four of my children with me, as it was the …
My husband and I have recently decided that now is the time to look for a bigger house. Our current house is a small, though lovely, three bedroom brick house but with four children and the future possibility of more we knew that we would have to trade up at some point. With interest …
Financial difficulties are one of the biggest challenges facing relationships and are often one of the main players in marital separation. Stress over mortgage payments, utility bills and groceries is hard to deal with. Managing on a single income can be tricky at times and this is where budgeting can be truly effective. I …
