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Btassh
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Joined: 30 June 2009
Location: Auckland
Points: 173
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Posted: 18 September 2009 at 10:36am |
We have a egg timer in our bathroom for showers....has helped us heaps seeming everyone here loves long showers
For birthdays and christmas there is a limit on what to spend (for the the children) and instead of adult present each couple buys a man and a woman present and they get mixed up ...it's a little like a secret santa
We make sure we switch everything off at the wall
Once a week we have a candle light/ one of those solar powered camp laterns night with a board game instead of lights and tv
Everyone else's suggestions seem great have written a whole list of them down so i don't forget
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GingerBaby
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Joined: 03 February 2009
Location: North Shore, Auckland
Points: 359
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Posted: 24 September 2009 at 4:01pm |
Try movie rental services like Fatso, DVD Unlimited etc. They all have 2-4 week free trial services, so try each of them and get a couple months free movies then by the time you've done the 'circuit' they generally email you and offer another 2 weeks for free to get you to come back! Then if you go ahead, you can have 3 dvds at a time for $10 a month. Not bad!
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High9
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Joined: 14 July 2009
Location: North Island
Points: 6750
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Posted: 27 September 2009 at 4:30pm |
I haven't read all the posts but here is some of my tips...
I have a tip for those who want to use cloth nappies - theres a brand of cloth nappies called "Real Nappies" and they have a pack that goes from new born to todler (has everything you need). It is $650 but that's a one off expense for the like 2-3 yrs they wear nappies as oposed to spending much more on disposables... They also have cheaper packs for each stage like new born, infant, crawler, todler, etc then your only expense is liners for them which are $10 for 100 liners!
Another tip is if you cook meals from scratch and you make extra which can be taken as lunch the next day (our fav one to do is Mac Cheese).
Buying bread in bulk - you can freeze it until you need it.
Not using EFTpos card but taking what you need for groceries, petrol, emergencies, house, etc to last from one pay day to the next as using EFTpos card you just swipe and don't usually keep track of your spending!
Finding cheap ways to entertain your kids. Instead of going to the movies wait for the DVD to come out and then watch it at home... In summer going down to local parks to play (some have swimming pools with free sausage sizzles!)
Can't think of anymore right now...
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keithm
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Joined: 18 November 2009
Points: 2
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Posted: 18 November 2009 at 7:59pm |
A decent collection of cloth nappies is a big money saver. I also reckon the whole idea of shopping for fresh produce a big cost to most families- if you have the room and a little extra time on your hands you can really save some big dollars per week with your own veg patch and fruit garden (I guess this is not for everyone though) .. Other than that I would say that things like putting electric timers on things like airconditioners and heaters etc saves on utility bills..
An all round good idea I would suggest to save in every area you spend is to make a list of everything that costs you each month, and then brainstorm alternative ways of accomplishing each task for less expense/ or for an overall longterm lesser cost. This is great fun to do when you realise the amount of money you're going to save and it will take a lot of the stress off once you've implemented some of your new ideas!
All the best!
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amykt
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Joined: 29 July 2008
Location: North Shore, Auckland
Points: 421
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Posted: 30 January 2010 at 2:02pm |
initially i passed over this thread because i thought we'd be fine on one income, but now that we're at that stage, it's a lot harder than i thought! these ideas are great, and i'm actually writing them all down to help me remember them! haha
perhaps i should start a thread on cheap dinner ideas too - that's my next task - trying to figure out which of our meals are the cheapest to make
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LouD
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Joined: 11 January 2009
Points: 3898
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Posted: 02 February 2010 at 10:20pm |
With my PPL ending in a few weeks ive shopped around and trialled out a heap of nappies. Ive just bout 20 packets of huggies that i will use for night time. they worked out to be 38cents a nappy. Ive also gone and got the whole families year worth of clothes from TNT with their half price sale.
The worst part for us is that we got too much working for families this tax year so they wont pay us until after April so my PPL ending we wont have any assistance from them for a few weeks so have to be prepared for that
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Ant
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Joined: 22 April 2009
Points: 514
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Posted: 12 March 2010 at 1:42pm |
We have flushable nappy liners to use with the fabric nappies and DH found that they're washable
We throw them in with the nappies and they'll last 3-5 washes (probably longer if we put them in a lingerie bag). If one's torn when we go to hang them out we just throw it away (and they're so thin that you can put a bunch of them under one peg - easy peasy). If there's been a particularly bad nappy I may just flush it, but it's usually no worse than the nappy itself (which makes me wonder why I use them at all!).
I don't even use them every change now because the lad isn't pooing every day anymore.
So after about 2 1/2 months we've used only half a roll.
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anon
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Joined: 25 January 2009
Location: Auckland
Points: 1014
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Posted: 20 March 2010 at 8:24pm |
Great thread! It'd be so great to put together a list starting at #1. listing everyone's suggestions coz I agree, baby brain forgets what was said even a few posts ago...!
Do you want to hear something really desperate? A friend of the family's has aspergeus (sp?) and one of the things he does is phones and complains to every company under the sun and is always getting vouchers. Even for petty things! I have never bothered to do this, but recently I did and got a $10 tip top voucher and two Starbucks vouchers for free coffee. Normally I wouldn't bother to complain about stuff but the coffees came in handy on a week that was a bit tight for a little outing treat! (A bit sad that Starbucks coffee has become a treat for me but there you go!)
Oh dear - can't believe I shared that one haha
Edited by newlywed
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anon
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Joined: 25 January 2009
Location: Auckland
Points: 1014
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Posted: 20 March 2010 at 9:12pm |
Oh, I'd also like to add that apparently some Plunket Family Centres sell 2nd hand clothes. There's also a website: www.tradekidsgear.co.nz
I noticed it's not well populated but it's a great idea, you just pay for postage. If you decide to join (free), please can you say I referred you (newlywed) as I get trade points and I've almost used all mine! Thanks!
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mumoftwins
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Joined: 04 December 2007
Location: Wellington
Points: 558
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Posted: 21 March 2010 at 9:40am |
Thanks for the link! I joined and said I was refered by you! With baby #4 on the way its great to find a palce with cheap clothes!!
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Guests
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Posted: 09 April 2010 at 6:37pm |
For all the Westies out there
We started shopping at Pak n Save Alderman Drive and for the last month we have saved 30-50 per shop. !!!! The meat there is cheaper than lincoln Road. They don't have as much variety but they have all the essentials
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MrsEmma
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Joined: 19 March 2009
Points: 2769
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Posted: 10 May 2010 at 5:20pm |
Good tip Jody - do you find the other items cheaper than Lincoln Rd or just the meat? We buy our meat from the butcher which we find saves us a lot, we buy the bbq packs and split them into separate meals. Premium mince is so much cheaper from the butcher too.
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rachaels
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Joined: 10 May 2010
Location: Auckland
Points: 266
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Posted: 24 May 2010 at 2:43pm |
I like Alderman Drive better anyway, the big one has always freaked me out a little
Thanks so much everyone for your tips. I'm a single first time mama expecting my arrival in about 4 months so if I start with these cost saving ideas now, I can probably get what I need to get and hopefully put a little away for savings.
My only real tip (and someone else has mentioned this) is to take your water bottle with you EVERYWHERE. I was out of control spending on bottles of coke, take away coffees and flavoured waters and worked out I was spending around $30 a week on them! Ridiculous really, and I'm feeling much healthier since I started drinking water only
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bext1
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Joined: 03 September 2008
Location: Waimauku
Points: 1136
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Posted: 21 August 2010 at 11:34am |
Just a quicky for AK mummies that are BF, if you like to use the Pigeon Breast Pads, you can buy them for $5 a box from BDM Grange's outlet shop - address is 14 Piermark Drive, Albany
(they retail at PNS for about $10 a box!!)
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Raspberryjam
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Joined: 07 November 2007
Location: north shore
Points: 4066
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Posted: 11 June 2011 at 4:11pm |
My tips (that I have only recently learnt) are shop at pak n save - I used to shop at new world - easily saved $70 on a 2 week shop and take cash - definately makes you think about your spending.
Have one 'flatting' meal a week - we have soup and toast or even beans on toast or a fancy tosted sandwich
Home made pizza is really easy I have a no wait base recipe if anyone wants it - its my last minute life saver when I have forgotten to get something out and its super yum with just garlic, feta, seasoned tomato paste, parmesan and feta
The masterchef spagetti recipe has saveed us on a few tight weeks - in its sooo good and super easy!
Edited by Raspberryjam
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InthemiddleMummy
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Joined: 23 April 2011
Points: 579
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Posted: 24 June 2011 at 1:38pm |
countdown has select newborn 3-6kg nappies for $5.99 a pack that works out to 12c a nappy, not sure if it just the local or all?
they also have "real-nappies" on discount
make fruit salad, use 5-6 budget/cheap tins or strawberries $0.99, maderins, fruit salaid, pams diced peachs, etc, then add 2-3 kiwifruit and a large apple. I use this with porridge/cereal every morning, make fruit salad cups for kids to take for lunches, and jelly cups add fruit. lasts about 4-5 days if no bananas are added, I like the chunky pineapple in it. use half syrup and half juice cans. any left at the end of the week starting to mush up can be thrown in with a couple of mashed bananas to make muffins
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mikec
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Joined: 06 July 2011
Points: 5
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Posted: 08 July 2011 at 1:03am |
I would suggest that you do not cut back on what could compromise the health of you, your baby and the who family. Because the last thing you would want is to spend on hospital bills for some thing you got from trying to save.
There are far more solutions to that and our step was to cut back on the electricity bill. Try enjoy natural light more if that would be permitted. Works wonders for us.
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Nadia
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Joined: 23 April 2010
Points: 777
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Posted: 14 September 2011 at 8:37pm |
Don't know if these have already been said as I only read a few posts but here is a couple I have found great.
Since I have to formula feed and we are on a very tight budget I looked for the chepest way to do everything. If you can breast feed you should do it! You save so much money but if like me you cant I found using a microwave steriliser saved me heaps insted of the tablets. You can get a older model one of trade me for about $5 bucks and they do a fantastic job, just 5min in microwave.
Doing up your budget of how much you make each pay day, how much your bills are and what you have left over. So then you know at the start and can work out what you have left over.
If your abit of a spender at the supermarket and are going in mid-week for somthing particula only take the money needed for that item so you don't buy anything else.
If somthing says its on sale make sure you cheek how much you saving. Ive found alot of sales latley is only saving somthing like $1 and then you don't really need the item you just want it cause its on sale!
If you have a DH or DP talk to each other about what your spending and things you want to buy so you can both make sure you need to spend that money.
A big one I also found was our phone and mobil plan. They offerd us all this great stuff for free or really cheap with a certin plan yet we never used all that stuff and were fine with a plan that was half the price.
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Dophy
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Joined: 19 June 2010
Location: Conifer Grove/Takanini
Points: 146
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Posted: 24 March 2012 at 6:42pm |
I found making up food for baby instead of buying jars saves so much! today I bought some lamb mince and chucked some veges cooked it up and I've put away some containers (some sistema ones you can always find on sale) and put them in the freezer.
My vege garden is a complete failure so I buy frozen veges instead of fresh because it doesn't go off and get thrown away and keeps its nutrients unlike the fresh veges by the end of the week. plus I find you can get the frozen veges quite cheap and they're already cut up for you :)
For some reason I also find doing online grocery shopping saves us money too especially if there is free delivery or I can pick it up because I'm not getting sidetracked by extra food we really don't need and I sort the items I'm looking for by lowest price so get the best price for all the items.
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AngieBaby
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Joined: 31 August 2003
Location: New Zealand
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Posted: 08 February 2013 at 4:53pm |
Not sure if anyone has mentioned powershop.co.nz but we just switched and can see the savings immediately!
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