Sharing is Caring

I've always loved to share tips and advice with other mums.  I love to hear others opinions on topics and especially tips to make things easier around the house!

So here are a few of my favourite things to make life easier and to help the planet a little along the way :)

1.  I urge you all wholeheartedly to swap all your cleaning products to EARTH CHOICE.  Not only have I found that they are 100% better than any other cleaning product, they're good for the environment and they're cheap!  Who doesn't love a bargain ?  A $2 bottle of earth choice dish washing liquid lasts this family of six well over a month, it's definitely value for money.  We also made the switch to help Miss 8 with her asthma control.

2.  If you or any of your family/friends suffer with eczema, try this. http://www.thebodyshop.com.au/Product.aspx?Id=852  Miss 8 suffers severely from eczema.  Well I should say she DID until I discovered this $18.95 tin of pure goodness.  It took 2 weeks, but she has gone from cracked, bleeding, pain and scratching, to beautifully clear, soft skin.  Plus the Hemp Seed Oil is grown in the rich fens of Norfolk, England, and is produced by a Community Trade expert distiller, Norfolk Essential Oils.  It also needs the absolute tiniest amount.  It spreads SO far it's truly amazing.

3.  MEAL PLAN!  I so can't stress this enough.  The simplicity of it is amazing.  Below is a picture of my meal plan for a month.  It not only takes the pain away at dinner time, it helps me budget my groceries for a month sometimes longer, depending how far I get into it.  I have posted this too, because I was shocked to find other blogger's charging anywhere up to $9.95 for a template for a meal plan.  Appalls me the things people will charge for.  This template is altered from one in excel.  Who subsequently also have budget plans and chore lists ;)

4.  Budget.  So important for any family really.  Makes finances a much smaller stress and you can know exactly where your money is going.  I also suggest for those starting out on a budget to keep ALL your receipts for at least 2 weeks.  Go through them at the end and you may be surprised just how much you're spending where you don't realise you are.

5.  If at all possible do your grocery shopping online.  I use Coles.  The only thing I don't use them for is meat, because my local butcher is THAT much cheaper.  If you shop online, you 1. know exactly what you're buying and how much it will be before you actually pay, 2. it's harder to impulse buy and 3. yes you may pay delivery, but lets be honest, with the price of petrol it'd cost you that much to go out and do it yourself.  Honestly, you do save by shopping online.

6.  I highly suggest giving kids a chore list + rewards for those chores. Make them age appropriate and encourage them to complete it.  If they don't they miss out, no need to yell and scream and get upset because you're not missing out on anything, they are.  So they can yell and scream and get upset, but it'll be because they've failed to do something not you.  Make sense ?

Anyway that's my few tips for now.  I have a lot more too, but I don't like to shove a heap of stuff down people's throats and really, these 6 are probably the best I have.  The others are more me making the switch to organic as much as possible.