Money Saving Ideas

*emma remember me when selling gremlin has beens*

Yeah it is very helpful, I'm always going back looking for it because preggy brain forgets what is said lol

I only know Auckland, but there's one in Dressmart, and another at Westgate ;-) I went to the Westgate one on the weekend and had a major spend...

I have to second op shopping as well... I bought Z's entire winter wardrobe (minus a couple 'accidents' at PP) for $30 all up at SaveMart Recycled Clothing... the stuff there is usually fairly reliable, and sometimes they have some really choice stuff - I picked up a couple PP shirts for $3 each and they're in fantastic condition.

Okay ,went shopping for the fortnight - with some dubious thoughts BUT only cost us $287 - considering we were spending $200 a week, thats GREAT for two weeks, but will have to get this weeks veges, but definitely worth it to try!!!

This is such a great list, we do the menu for the week thing then only buy what we need to make it, it saves so much money and the few times that I have been to lazy to do this then we certinaly notice the differance in price.
Also with the pumpkin patch outlet shop you can also but that online in there website there is a button that says outlet shop, for all of us who don't live near a store.

Just with those energy saver bulbs, they are best used in lights that you leave on for a long time (eg hall lights, probably not bedrooms). If you are turning them on and off a lot, it's better to use regular bulbs. Can you tell my DH is a sparky??

Personally, the things I do are:
*cook more than we need & freeze extras for lunches/dinners
*write a shopping list and stick to it (well, I try!)
*shop around for things you need
*try and avoid buying anything on impulse
*wait for sales
*sell old stuff (I have a big pile still to go though - stopped listing stuff a few weeks before Anton was born in case I couldn't send it out on time, and not started up again!)

DH isn't very good at taking lunch, but doing a bit of baking can help. I find making a few batches of different muffins etc can work - they can be frozen and different ones given each day so he doesn't get bored.

Homemade biccies can be a lot cheaper than bought ones, although we prefer homemade so tend to eat them quicker!

Some electricity saving tips for you.

Turn you TV off completley from the button on the front of the TV, it uses the same amount of power on standby as when its on as it is keeping its insides warm.
Use energy saving bulbs, if you have a look around there are tons of different shape ones to suit your light fittings.
Don't use your cooker unless you have to, if you can buy a smaller appliance to do the job then buy one. i.e it is cheaper to buy and use a toaster than to use the grill on your cooker. George forman type grills are way cheaper to run as well.
Switch your kettle off when it gets to about 95 degrees (we have one that you can chose to heat to anything between 30-100 degrees), that last 5 degrees uses up most of the power and also don't boil it unless really necessary and only use as much water as you want don't boil a whole jug.
At work they use to boil the jug so it was still a bit warm at smoko, stupid waste of money, kettles are mega expensive to boil!!!!
Try to never use a tumble dryer they are riduculously expensive (we have one so am guilty of sometimes using it). If you have night rate only ever put it on then.
Avoid using any fan heaters, bar heaters or column heaters, they are stupidly expensive to run, you would be better off putting in decent insulation, double glazing and getting a heat transfer system.
Heat pumps are great, you can't beat them for efficiency, also can dry clothes in front of them instead of using tumble dryer on those cold wet days.
If you have night rate you need to be using about 40% of your power at night to be saving money. We run dishwasher, washing machine and two hot water cylinder at night only (and sometimes the tumble dryer).
If on night rate you pay more during the day than if you don't have cheaper at night, so if you are not making use of it phone them up and get your meter changed will cost about $40.

Hope that helps, have got loads of good tips from all the other posts.

I second what some off the ladies have said about breastfeeding, we had not budgeting for formula as I assumed I would be breastfeeding for first 12 months at least and man did we notice it when we had to start finding $30 a week for formula.

cuppatea, how do you know all this

Cool!!!! Never met a female sparky before

We've managed to get both our families to agree not to do Xmas presents (except for the kids). This is the best money/ time saving thing ever - and it avoids having to store crap you don't want that you get as presents!!