Tag Archives: Money

An Easy Guide to Setting Up a Budget on Google Docs

January 30, 2019 Zoe

I don’t normally like to talk about money. I don’t claim to be some kind of financial guru or to have all the answers to get people out of debt or whatnot. There are plenty of other blogs and sites that can help with that. But, I am pretty good with money, and I thought I’d share something that has made our lives way easier. Dean and I have a budget on Google and it is a lifesaver.

Back in South Africa, Dean was paid a consistent income every month on the 25th. It ran like clockwork. Then we would logon to our internet banking and pay all the bills we paid manually, and a couple days later all the debit orders would come off and we’d see how much money we had left for the month as my income was usually paid on a more irregular basis. It was simple and worked for us. But now, with both of us working as freelancers or contractors or whatever you want to call it, the funds vary a lot more from one month to the next, and it can be hard to keep track of it all. That’s why we have a budget sheet on Google. Continue Reading

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Comment Coaching, Marriage, Rambling

How much does it cost to feed your family?

August 16, 2016 Zoe

I came across an interesting blog yesterday. In it Hayley asks if everyone else is spending a fortune feeding their families, and she described her monthly shopping. It sounded almost exactly like my shopping, and I’ve been wondering the same thing – Dean and I live a comfortable life, but I keep finding that our money is getting tighter and tighter and the majority of our spending seems to go towards food. I’ve been paying closer attention because of an article I’m going to write as part of Harassed Mom‘s series called “What we ate this week” (I promise I will answer your questions soon, Laura!). We really spend a lot just to eat these days.

Part of it is, yes, takeaways or going out to eat. But surprisingly, that’s not as big a thing as I imagined. We might go without cooking once or twice in the week, but for the most part we cook our food. Plus, I like to think that I’m pretty smart with how we shop. I tend to buy our meat once, or maybe twice in the month online from a fantastic butcher who delivers. Their prices are really reasonable and the quality of the meat is great. Plus, I order all the things in 500 gram or 1kg portions, so it’s already nicely divided – just throw it in my deep freezer and pull out what I need, as and when I need it; just the right amount for dinner at night and my breakfast and lunch of leftovers. The rest of our food usually comes from the two local stores – PicknPay and Woolies. Continue Reading

23 Comments Food, Rambling, South Africa

cooking Family Food

SNAPnSAVE will save you money no matter where you shop

August 11, 2016 Zoe

Babies are expensive. Actually, no, the baby themselves aren’t expensive – there are easy ways to keep your baby clean, fed and safe without spending a fortune. The expenses come for all the things you want to do with your child, you know, like educate them or take them to swimming classes (something I’ve started and will be blogging about soon!). Times are tight, and whether you have kids or not, we can all benefit from saving money. Recently, I wrote about SNAPnSAVE on Tums2Tots, and I just have to share why it’s so cool.

You can read about how the app actually works in my article, but the main thing I’m impressed by is that you can shop pretty much anywhere. Do you typically buy a pie at the petrol station? Or your milk at Spar vs PicknPay? No problem, SNAPnSAVE is still rad for you. It’s more about the products you buy rather than where you buy them. Continue Reading

Comment App, Geek, South Africa

App Budgets Geeky Mommy

How much do babies cost?

October 26, 2015 Zoe

It’s sort of an accepted reality, right? Kids are ridiculously expensive (but apparently worth it). From the moment they are born (and even before) they cost money and that amount can only rise as they get older. It’s one of the big reasons that Dean and I held off on procreating for so long; it was sort of ingrained in both of us that we simply couldn’t afford it… until we decided that maybe we could. So, just how much does it cost to have a baby?

I’m not going to crunch ALL the numbers, and I’d really appreciate any input from parents who have gone through this – obviously you all know where the real hidden costs come in and what sort of things can be avoided or negated entirely. Still, it’s worth looking at, even with very loose and vague figures. Continue Reading

8 Comments Parenting, Pregnancy

Expensive Money Parenting