Profile of a budgeting mum:Laura (Adventures of An Ordinary Parent)

Profile of a budgeting mum:

What’s your name?  Laura (from the Adventures of an Ordinary Parent blog).

Any kids?  I have two.  My little girl is nearly three and my baby boy is eight months old.

Do you work?  I have a full-time job but am currently still on maternity leave.

If so what do you do?  I work in PR

Why do you work?  I would love to be a stay at home Mum but we need a joint income.  Also, I love my job.

What are your childcare arrangements?  I am fortunate in that my Mother-in-Law will look after the children while I’m at work.

How do you manage for money?  We normally have a monthly budget that we work to.  This has been especially important this year.

Do you worry about money?  Not normally, thank goodness.  However, there has been some financial juggling this year due to my maternity leave and reduced income.

What do you waste money on?  The children.  We like to get them things that we think they’ll like and we don’t always wait for their birthdays or Christmas.  Chances are though, they’ll prefer to play with the box and forget about the item in question.

How do you make extra cash?  We’re always looking at what we have and assessing whether we still need it or not.  If not, it goes on eBay.

Please share 3 top budgeting tips – 1) After you’ve set money aside to pay mortgage/rent, bills etc., try and set yourself a weekly amount to get by on (which includes food shopping).  Then, get that amount out of your bank account in cash so you’re not tempted to keep spending on plastic.  You can be amazed at how far it can go.  2) Look ahead.  If you are aware that a birthday is coming up or the TV licence or car insurance needs renewing, you can plan ahead and save a little each month to pay for it.  That way, it won’t be such a big hit to the wallet.  3) Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t always stick to your budget, sometimes life just gets in the way.  As long as it’s not a regular occurrence, I don’t think it does that much harm.

 

Where can we find you online?  http://ordinary-parent.blogspot.com

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