Thrifty June

Well for a variety of reasons June is thrifty month in our household. One reason is we have savings targets to reach for our house renovation project and the other reason is I do love to shop and sometimes I need to reign the habit in. 


I find I respond best to tightening the purse strings when I see it as a challenge, a series of goals and 'games'. These are my tips of the month:


1. Trade Me
I have listed all of Elias's 'too small' clothing items on trade me. He needs some new merino tops/pants for winter. So all of the proceeds will go towards these. SAVINGS $100

Earings on my pinterest 'i really want to buy this' board

2. $25 Grocery Challenge
This was a bit of a craze in the media a few years ago. I remember watching an interview on John Campbell on the woman who started it. She shopped for $25 per week for her family of four!! So now every so often maybe once every season, I do this too, using up stuff that's been in the freezer too long, rustling up some baking and soups to plump up the options.  My goal this month is to be really ambitious and do that twice, its just me and the girls, so it should be easily possible. SAVINGS a whopping $600!

 Witchery Jacket on my pinterest 'I really want to buy this' board

3. Cash in the Points
Most credit cards accumulate reward points of some sort. This month I have cashed these in for $200 worth of Farmers vouchers. So I still get my shopping fix, I can buy the girls new thermals without spending extra precious pennies SAVINGS $200

 Duvet for Bee's room on my pinterest 'I really want to buy this' board

4. Stick it On the Wishlist
I have just begun using pinterest. A great site where you pin any picture from the net onto your 'boards'. I have a board labeled family photography and another for home interiors. I also made one for my 'wishlist' items.(This link takes you to my boards, join up and we can follow eachother's boards)  Since there is a total online shopping ban this month when I see things I like I can pin them to my board, and next month flick through, I bet half of the things on there I wont want anymore. Estimated savings $200

Insulated lunch bag on my pinterest 'I really want to buy this' board

Night Time Routines

I was sent a message last night from a FB friend asking for some tips on night time routines for kids. I don't claim to be an expert on the subject but with three sprogs I can definitely call myself experienced!

First and foremost for a routine to be effective it needs to be SIMPLE and FLEXIBLE otherwise it just wont stick. 

First establish how much sleep your child/children need. According to most research a child aged 3 needs 12 to 12.5 hours sleep per day and a five year old needs 11. Check out this link for more ages. A lot of behavioral issues, including lack of concentration have been linked to lack of sleep. If you are unsure if your child is getting enough check out this very useful article which has an online test.

What time does your child rise in the morning? I have a 3 and a half year old who gets up around 6.45am. For Bee to function at her best she needs to be in bed around 6.30pm.

Children need and respond to boundaries. They might not like them in fact when it comes to bed times they might straight out hate them, but I find Bee is much more able to accept it when lights out time is the same each night. 

What do you need to get done at night? Maybe your child has a bath  like my littlies do, obviously there is tea time and maybe dessert. If you have a school aged child there could be homework. Most kids like stories in bed or on the couch, some have milos or bottles before sleep. Write a list of everything that your child needs to do and put a rough amount of time next to each one. Here is my example for Bianca

Bath - 30 min - includes getting into her jammies, brushing hair and teeth

Tea - 30 mins

Pudding - 15 mins

Story-time - 20 mins. This happens in bed, two stories and some time to chat about the highs and lows of her day.

All up that's about an hour and a half. Now because we are dealing with unpredictable kiddies you need to bump at least an extra 30 mins onto this for the odd tantrum, refusing to eat tea and mucking around shenanigans.

So now I know that my routine needs to start 2 hours before Bee's bedtime at around 4.30pm. Now some of you might be reading this and say "hang on a minute I'm a working mum I don't get home until 5pm". My bestie works full time with a 2 year old and she has a very efficient routine which enables her to get it all done. But if you just cant manage think about changing things around, maybe a shower in the morning instead of at night? A routine is a very individual thing if its not working adjust it to work for you.

Now this is where the flexibility comes in. Ideally I would like my kids to have a bath after tea but sometimes if tea isn't ready or they are getting ratty around 5pm its easier to switch it around. Either way it doesn't really matter because my main goal is to get everything vital done and have the kids in bed at a set time.

Maybe you are saying "yeah right there is no way my four year old will go to bed at 7pm she is used to staying up until 8.30pm". Just make a start by bringing bed time forward by 15 mins each night. A great tip from a friend with twin boys is if they say they are not tired after stories have been read, give them a pile of books and let them have some 'alone reading time'. Tell them you will be back in 15 mins, this gives them a chance to wind-down in the quiet of their room and you a chance to pack the dishwasher. When I have tried this Bee is usually asleep with a book on her face shortly after!

Eventually your child will begin to know what to expect and in tern accept it a lot more easily. If you have had no routine to speak of this might take time, but stick at it. Routine makes kids feel safe and secure.

Once they are in bed DON'T LET THEM GET BACK UP. Go back in and read them another story, offer them alone reading time, but allowing them back out into the lounge where the TV is on and adult conversation is around them will only drag things out.

Finally once you have a routine to follow STICK IT ON THE FRIDGE dont just leave it in your head, even if its just using the kids felt tip markers and writing 

5pm Tea 

5.45 bath 

6.30 bed and stories

If you are a freaky phone scheduler like myself put a alarm reminder in for half an hour before your routine starts, that way it wont sneak up and you can mentally prepare for it.

If you have things that work especially well for you in your night time routine or tips for sticking to it please write on Facebook under this link. It could be just the thing someone needs to hear to help change a stressful evening into a peaceful one.

Back from Hiatus!

I have missed writing my Blog. Bianca and Sienna have settled into great routines with pre-school and kindy and now on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I have a generous chunk of time to take up a few  interests that went by the way side after the arrival of our five month old baby boy. That is of course after the washing is folded, beds are made, Elias fed, changed, errands run.....

One of these interests is interior decorating. Hubby and I will be biting into a ambitious renovating project in November of this year when we plan to completely overhaul a slightly tired weatherboard three bedroom home. So I have begun my inspiration folders for each room of the house. They say the kitchen is a good place to start....

 I have already choosen white counters, cupboards and walls in the kitchen. This is partly to do with the aesthetic and also price. A lot of kit-set kitchens come in a small range of colours of which white is the least likely to date.

I love the idea of a kitchen island which is an antique sideboard re-topped and painted. The contrast of modern with antique furniture is a styling trend I love. As you can see in the picture above it also offers great storage.

I love the way this aqua splashback brings so much vibrancy to an otherwise conservative kitchen. I am playing around with the idea of removable glass where wallpaper strips can be inserted and changed.

The beauty of an all white kitchen is the chance to 'colour play'. These kitchen stools add interest and draw the eye.

With a vase of flowers and cerise tea towels this kitchen is immediately polished and styled. You can change 'the look' whenever trends change or in my case, tastes evolve.

LOVE the chairs and also the pendant lights over the island although I have seen a multi-coloured chandelier in a House and Garden kitchen and it looked amazing!

We have a tight budget for the kitchen so I will be focusing on one or two 'must have' items that I fall in love with and the rest will be practical and affordable (much to Chris's relief I am sure!)