Today

Today was our annual banking day, the day when we gather our money boxes and deposit them into the bank. My son and daughter were very excited to give their money to the bank and see how much they had saved over the year. My youngest on the other hand liked the idea until the bank took his money and wouldn't give it back. At that moment I dragged a screaming 3 year old  away. Not the best experience with banking so I pray he is not scarred for life.
This brings me to a conclusion of 2010.Let the new year begin.( i know i am a bit late)
I have made many new year resolutions this year but my biggest is to get more organised and financially in a better place. On one income and four children with no government assistance it can get very tough and I find the older the kids get and the more things they do the harder it gets. Every activity every term is minimum $200. My sons OT and pediatrician fees have eaten a great big whole in the budget.And the cost of living has dramatically increased over the last two years.
I now plan to slow down ,take inventory and make do with everything we have.

 My Plans to achieve this

1. I am planning to avoid the shops as much as posssible to reduce the incidentals and the "ooo" isn't that nice purchases.

2. make list of Birthday presents and Ramadan monies and gifts. I am not going to sway from these.

3. Using up my pantry items and then only re stocking what we need.

4. using recipes that don't require one off ingredients.

5. make a list of the grocery items purchased  then check whether we need it or not.

That is all for now but i am sure better ideas will come. please comment  if you have any money saving ideas. I would appreciate all the help I can get.