Happy New Year and welcome to the 30 Day Challenge!

For the thousands of families who have activated the Challenge we look forward to your feedback, comments and learnings.....

Have a great week

Analaura & Wilson
Your Family Your Money

Hi

I just wanted to say how much I'm enjoying the 30 Day Challenge - I was amazed at just how much our family could save just by following the simple tips. The grocery days especially made a huge difference to our finances and it was great to start seeing savings right from day 1 ... we've managed to reduce our weekly shopping bill by around $45 so far and I'm sure we'll be able to increase that saving as we improve our shopping skills!

I'm interested to see how much other Challengers have saved so far - and also if they have any tips for reducing our grocery bill even further ... ?

Cant' wait to see what happens for the rest of the challenge!

Hey ... Just wanted to let u know how easy I am finding the beginning stages of the 30 day chellenge. I've realised that I have had to became accountable & make lists when going shopping instead of just relaying on my memory of what we need or have in stock.

It's also been great at work as there is a group of us working thru it together. We are coming up with differenet menu ideas , swapping books such as the 4 ingredients ... which are easy to make & so so cheap but heatlhy meal plans.... We have realised that consistancy is the key !!!

Can't wait to continue organising all other aspects of my life. How is evryone else finding it????

Cheers Laura

Hi,
 
I'm Jennifer and today is Day 1 for us (myself, husband and young daughter)  for the challenge. I am really looking forward to seeing how much we can save over the next month and then continue with our new habits for the rest of the year and beyond obviously.

My goal is to have a certain amount banked by Christmas 2010 for a holiday and some work on our house and I think I could almost accomplish this just with saving money on our groceries alone! Today I am planning on getting a pantry list organised so I know what we have there and a list of  all the meals we like to eat  and then working out the weeks meals from what we already have here at home. This should be fun! Good Luck to all the Challengers !

Well, Day 1 was very productive with some meal plans for a couple of weeks achieved and pantry and fridge/freezer lists organised. Some great tips in the book about organising meals, sticking to lists and so forth and I have taken these on board and implemented some changes to how I will shop now.

Already I can see where I am blowing out the grocery budget simply by purchasing things I 'might'' need for the week if I intended to cook something,  but now with a list in hand and a plan, these items are not required so will not be purchased. Already I can see a very clear saving of around $30 a week. Thanks for the great advice.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer

It's great to hear that someone else is getting so much out of the Challenge - it's amazing when you realise how much you don't need to buy each week! With a big family, trimming those grocery costs really makes a difference and I love the fact that I now have an answer prepared when I get asked the 'What's for dinner?' question!

Looking forward to hearing how you go for the rest of the week - I was amazed to discover just how much we can save on our electricity and phone bills with just a little organisation ... wow!

Alex :)

Hi Alex,
 
It has been a great first week and eventhough I am still not entirely sure of what the true amount of savings is I have made (  I need to sit down and fully add them all up later), I know it is quite a bit. Got rid of a mobile we never use saving us $240 a year and switched the phone to a bundle plan which includes local calls and that will save us another $120 a year at least.  Groceries are looking like we are getting them under control, however I discovered yesterday how easy it is to blow them out without thinking. I was tired and it was hot and I had to get our fruit and veges and what should have been a $30 fruit and vege bill turned into a $54 one  with the addition of some specialty cheese, some beer sticks and Greek Yoghurt and some nuts.. nice to have them as treats, but the bill soon blew out ... at least now I am conscious of it and if we really want these things, then I am going to have to budget more for them in the future.
Really looking forward to Week 2 now.  Hope you are going well too.
Jennifer

HI ALL... Just recieved this email throught that I'd share it with all the wonderful people on the same journey as me... FREEBIES are always great .... Enjoy !!!

For those who love movies and whose birthday is before July 2010 or if you know someone pass along

http://celebrate.hoyts.com.au/">http://celebrate.hoyts.com.au/">http://celebrate.hoyts.com.au/

Free movie ticket from Hoyts as part of their 100th year celebration.
One ticket per person which can be used on your birthday to any cinema (gold class, la premiere, 3D, imax, xtremescreen).
Offer valid until 31/7/2010
(For people whose birthday after July 2010, sorry u miss out).
Just register on the above website to print out your voucher & bring your ID to claim the tix at the counter.

A little bird told me that the work team from Alice's Cottage have started on the 30 Day Challenge and they are going strong. Well Done!

Keep us posted on your progress!

Your Family Your Money

Hi Jennifer

It's amazing how fast things can blow-out if you're not concentrating - I guess that it's all just habit, so here's to making some new, better ones to replace the old expensive ones!

We've decided to let ourselves have some treats occasionally (otherwise it gets too boring!) but have limited them to once a month, and we're trying to make more things at home as well - we're making our own yogurt now and the Greek one is lovely :)

How are you going with week two?

Cheers
Alex

PS - Also, just wanted to say thanks to Laura for letting us all know about the movie tickets - I'm just disappointed that my birthday is after July!

Hi,
I have saved $80 in 1 day just by making lists and shopping from my own pantry I have food in there for at least 2 weeks.
First time in a long time I have read the catalogue I usally though them in the rubbish.
Can't wait to see how much I can save over the course the challenge!

Hey Alex ... Not a problem ... My sister was also not happy as her bday is in Dec BUT she used it for her hubbies bday instead ...will keep an eye out for future deals

Cheers Laura

Hi All,
I am up to day 4, we went to Stanthorpe, a 2 1/2 hour drive and Did NOT buy Mcdonalds on the way, saved us $30.00 and on the way back spent $2.95  I can not remember the last time I spent that little on Mc donalds. The next day I needed bread for lunch but instead of driving into town I realised I had pancake mix so I made them with ham, cheese, tomato, onion, with a dollop of sour cream, and tada lunch is served. Ok saved about $100 there because if I drove into town I would  have spent about that much or more lol.
Not sure how much we  have saved all up, but it would be getting into the $100;s for sure.
hope everyone else is going sooo well.
Tanzie

Our first day on the challenge and already im thinking whats in my cupboard I can use instead of doubling up!

Day 5    ok this one is easy for me, my electicity bill is $200 for the 3 months and my Gas bill is $30, I can get it down to $120  but life was a little bit to hard when it was that low. bring on day 6 lol
tanzie

Hi,  I'm Kirsty & this is Day 1 of the challenge for my family (husband & toddler). I found reading your blogs & ideas a great help to get started. I too have found just by going through my pantry & freezer I don't need to go shopping for 2 weeks. All by just writing a list of what was in my pantry - who knew.  Thanks for the fantastic tips.

Hi Everyone

We're well and truly out of week one and I thought we had already  really streamlined our freezer/pantry but after getting a couple of big bills last week (and the kids back to school ... I don't think my wallet's seen the inside of my bag all week!) I went on a foraging expedition throughout the kitchen - and managed to save over $120 on our weekly groceries just by taking another look at what we had and working around 'missing' ingredients! It's really amazing when you discover what you can make when there's 'nothing' in the house!

Hope everyone's still enjoying the Challenge as much as we are ... !

Alex

Hi Alex and all the new members   that have decided to take part in the forums and the challenge,

Firstly apologies for disappearing off the scene there for a couple of weeks.

Well, we have had some really challenging times the past couple of weeks with work and some illness in the family ( which is all really good now though)  so unfortunately I didn't have my mind on concentrating on Week 2 of the challenge so I am about to start Week 2 from next Monday seeing as things should have really settled down by then .  Still finetuning some of the major changes we made in Week 1 as well which has been great for the budget ( and eventhough everything was chaotic going on around me in our world, saving money still seemed to be a little more natural  or instinctual this time if that is the right word?)  I mean that normally when I am subject to stressful things in life, I tend to shop and I tend to eat unhealthy foods, but because Week 1 was still fresh in my mind,  I knew that doing those two things would only cause more stress in the long run, so thank you once again  to Wilson and Analaura and the other members too for all the great advice.  Thanks to Laura too for the Movie Tickets, my daughter and husband are June so lucky them, me I miss out by a couple of months but never mind :( 
All the best everyone!

Jennifer

Hi, one week down. The biggest thing i have gained from this week is the menu planning and hence better shopping. It seemed like a bit of a hassle the first time but really wasn't that hard. Takes all the stress out of the week of "what are we going to eat tonight" and only shopping for what is on the list. I really wasn't able to make any real savings from the other days but maybe thats a good thing as it means I have them under control. If all I gain from the book is the weekly menu planning and shopping it will have been more than worthwhile. I will see what the next 3 weeks has install for me.

Hey everyone,
I am a mother of 3 gorgeous children and have recently found out I am 8 weeks pregnant with number 4! This is a HUGE shock for us as it wasnt planned so we realised there needed to be some changes to the way we do things to get back on our feet and start preparing ourselves for the new addition. Today is day one of the rest of my life! I am taking control of the money and cracking down on family members habits. I have made menus and shopping lists for a month, and have told my husband he can only have 1 packet of smokes per week and 1x 6 pack of standard beer (he likes the premium stuff) and thats it! Sounds mean but I feel its whats right, im hoping by making him cut down smoking he can stop all together cause it is gross and bad for his health anyway. I am going to do my bit as well an start baking more snacks for the children (i have been very tired due to the pregnancy) and getting them in the kitchen to help me. I figue it kills to birds with one stone, they help out so i dont need to do as much, and it keeps them occupied and not nagging at me :p Im going to try and write on here everyday to keep reminding myself about the challenge, im the type to need constant reminding about the end result sadly so hopefully this will help. Thanks for listening guys, i know I talk alot! lol
Tiff

Hi Tiff, glad to hear you are enthusiastic about the changes. Firstly, the husbands smokes simply have to go, for so many reasons its not funny, not the least, the impact on your kids. Not to condone excessive drinking but maybe you could offer a carrot in a couple of extra beers for your husband in a week instead of the smoking??? Plus, I hope you still buy them buy the carton as you pay more than double the price!! by buying them by the 6 pack, even though you think you are doing the right thing by getting 6 a week. 2 drinks a night is considered ok for a bloke so you could offer your hubby 12 beers a week instead of cigarettes? Sorry if I am telling stuff you already know. Good luck.

Hi Everyone,

I got the first 3 days done in a row but then the weekend came along and so I didn't get back on track til Monday. I figure this challenge is more like 30 days worth of challenge rather than 30 consecutive days of challenge. So instead of taking on an attitude of  'oh well I broke my diet no point in going on' I thought I will continue making the changes I have learnt so far (over the weekend) and start back with what would have been my Saturday day, on Monday. 

To everyone out there who may be thinking they can't spend specific time everyday doing the challenge. Trust me it won't matter, the book, the forum, and the emails will still be there when you next read them. Just keep acting out the things you've learnt so far until you can get back to the book and its further challenges.

Hope this helps!
Kirra

Hi Everyone,

Day One! What an eye opener. The menu planning took a considerable amount of time. Alot more than expected anyway but I can tell you two weeks in and I'm thanking myself I made them. I do large fortnightly shops followed by small (fruit, veg etc) weekly shops in between. So I made my menu planner a fortnightly one. I do a relatively time consuming or 'new' or expensive dish on weekends. For the expensive dishes I switch out 4 dishes so that we get the ones we like but only once a week and not 4 times a week. I left one day a week called take away/going out/I couldn't be bothered night (this can mean going out, ordering take away, looting the freezer for frozen pies etc)which I made Friday. However, last Tuesday I was too tired to do anything so I swapped it to my RDO meal night and moved everything one day later.

It doesn't have to be strict, where for example mondays are spaghetti night and Tuesdays are soup night etc just make sure you shop at home for what you have, make a list of recipes that you have most ingredients for, then add a few more recipes and then allocate days to these. Keeping in mind veggies to use quickly so make your stir fry's and salad meals on the nights right after shopping day and your casseroles and shephards pies later in the week.

I am now redoing my second fortnight worth of menu planning and have made notes beside the meals I made. These notes are things like

• lots of leftovers (make Mon, Tues, Wed, or Thurs so I have luncht eh next day)
• Had some leftover potato, swap my shephards pie day to follow this
• And so on

I have found this time around it takes alot less time and I am finding more convenient nights for certain things. Many meals are following on nicely from the last due to the above points or need to be moved, but in general the same meals are there except for my expensive ones which I have swapped for the other two for this rotation.

I hope this help!
Kirra

Hi Everyone,

Day Two, I am yet to try the take a set amount of cash to the store as I really had no idea how much I spent on my big shop and my little shop. But I have kept my receipts and this week I will be taking cash only. I feel this will force me to choose between that really nice block of chocolate and that chocolate icecream. I figure if I take an extra $20 for drastically reduced items only. Then I can take adavntage of the bulk buys on discounted meats and fresh goods. This way I can warrant an overspend.
 
Goodluck!
Kirra

Hi Everyone,

Day 5! OMG the amount of services out there and the amount of useless companies that just won't help you find the right package and right discount for you!

I started by assessing what we have and what we use.

• Mobile phone-$49 cap = $250 included calls and texts but I only spend max $150 with the majority being calls. We're in the country so we kind of need the Next-G network
• Home Phone- $19.90 we actually don't use this at all (incoming calls we do pick up but no outgoing). We apparently HAVE to have this to have Broadband! How ridiculous is that?
• Broadband- $110 50g download (we really do use it all!)and fastest speed available (we're online gamers in our free time)

Then I thought I would call Telstra to see if we really were getting the best deal. I was given the run around while they tried to talk me into deals that were completely irrelevant to me after I specifically explained what I used, when and how and what I wanted.

I already know how we will benefit an it is with a combined service percentage discount. Unfortunately Tesltra stopped this service back in 2004 (lucky devils that are still on that plan). And I can't seem to find another company that offers % discounts anymore :(

I was so frustrated in the end that I changed nothing.

Any light that can be shed on this day would be appreciated
Kirra

Whoops got day 5 and day 6 around the wrong way

The real day five was pretty easy I called my electricity company and found out what I was on and it was the cheapest so tada!

We had our home assessed for Sustainability by the government during the Greenloans program but unfortunately didn't take out our interest free loan before they pulled the plug on it. However, we learnt alot about our home, how we could save money on heating and cooling etc. the service is free even though the Greenloans program has been removed (for the time being) they still offer the assessment.

http://www.climatechange.gov.au/en/government/programs-and-rebates/green-loans/homes.aspx

Hope this helps
Kirra

Hi Kirra

It's great to see how much you're getting into the Challenge ... and how much you're getting out of it as well! Thanks for taking the time to keep everyone updated about your progress, share your fantastic tips with the community and get other people as inspired to make a difference in their lives as you are.

Keep up the great work - we're looking forward to hearing about how you go during the rest of the Challenge!

Your Family Your Money

Hi Everyone,

An update on my adventures of finding a new phone deal. Last year Telstra brought all their prices down to compete with other providers. Realistically they are only on par now with some of the toher leaders but beinging in the country it's really one of the only options if you want good mobile coverage. Prior to my separation my ex an I had our mobiles in separate names and the home in mine and the broadband in his. When I went to combine everything into mine after the separation I found that I got a much better bundle deal through Telstra. I now pay 117.95 per month for 50g extra download and save over $50. So I was right a combination discount was the best option to go with but at the time I must not have asked the right questions to get this deal (or it wasn't offered). Either way I jsut needed to hang in there until they paid off for me.

Happy Provider Hunting
Kirra

Hi everyone, just started. First grocery shop yesterday. Needed to take my 4 year old with me, which is always fine, as by the time we start in the bakery section, move to the deli and then to fresh foods, we've eaten almost all food groups and chatted happily for the majority of the shop. Even when I'm on my own now, I tend to find something cheap in the bakery and pick at it which reduces incredibly the size of my trolley by the time I'm at the check out.

This said, thought I had it under control racing off to the store via child care pick up on my way home from work with list in hand.
Honestly, have to say what I have got from this week is the gift of realising how much and in what ways there is huge room for improvement!!! Maybe next shop?

That said, I love and always have loved growing as much of my food as I can. One tip for fellow renters who don't want to put money into improving someone else's soil, or don't have a garden, go to your fruit shop and ask for polystyreine boxes. Most will give them to you, or charge very little, and almost everything does better in these than pots anyway.