Babies on a Budget

Having three babies so close together while still learning how to run a household, budget, kitchen and be a wife can be a very interesting and stressful time.. Somewhere along the way Josh and I decided to let me run the books.. I am much more enthusiastic about budgeting and as you may know, I love lists. I organise my budget (and whole life really!) with lists. I like how empowered and organised I feel having everything written out from weekly expenses to shopping lists.

Although I understand that babies are much cheaper to provide for than teenagers, when you have babies you are often learning how to live off one income for the first time and it actually matters if you run out of money.. Before it just meant that you couldn’t go out drinking on Friday night and now it means that you may not have money for formula, nappies, baby panadol or food. Budgeting takes on a whole new meaning when you become a family.

I will admit that I absolutely have not got this perfect, but here is what I have learnt budgeting for three babies and two adults on one income…

1. Huggies Nappies are really not the bees knees. Unless your child has a reaction to the cheaper nappies do not feel like you need to buy expensive brands. Aldi nappies work perfectly fine. As do most of the others on the market! I shop the sales, I mostly buy BabyLove nappies, they work well and have been on sale quite often down at woolies and I stockpile with sales.. As I side note, I do not agree when it comes to wipes. There is NOTHING I dislike more when changing nappies than for the contents to end up all over me or my hands. Even though the other brands are cheaper, I end up using lots more per change. Huggies win in the wipes department.

2. Don’t be afraid of the cheaper cuts at the butcher. You generally need to slow cook these cuts, but if you do your research and find recipes that you can handle, this can make a big difference to your weekly shop. Also when you babies are learning to eat, slow cooked foods are nice and soft for finger foods, mashing and pureeing.

3. Make a thorough list for groceries and stick to it! I found shopping online makes this easier and you can also review your trolley and how much you’ve spent before submitting. If you don’t want to pay the delivery fee, you can just order to pick up in store and it is completely free!

3. Make a meal plan for the week. I know I have said this before, but it is a big one! Check it every morning so your meat has time to thaw and you can keep in mind your time management to cook throughout the day. This prevents any need to do a take away night, which adds up very quickly. As those days are always bound to come where you simply haven’t had the chance to get dinner ready, I like to keep a couple of cheat meals in the freezer. (My gorgeous Aunt brings me quiches, these freeze and thaw well as well as quite quickly) I also make homemade vegetable and sausage rolls, chicken pies, and any casseroles to freeze.

4. Homebrand and Aldi are really quite good. I have tried most things that I buy from the supermarket in homebrand and love shopping at Aldi. The only things I stick to brands are garbage bags, toilet paper, baby wipes and tissues. I save so much money this way, and honestly no one has complained about it!

5. Bill Smoothing is a wonderful thing. As hard as I try to budget, when the big bills come, there is rarely enough there.. Gas and electricity can be huge in our house! I have bill smoothing in place which means I pay a set amount every week and never have to come up with money for the quarterly bill. It’s easy to set up, you just have to find the time to talk to your provider.

Hope this helps those who are learning to budget too!