Living with Little Money- How
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Living with little money is something in this day and age many people struggle with and its not hard to feel like you have dug yourself into a hole and cant get yourself out. However, it is possible to get yourself out of the financial and life crises hole- this is not to say that another crisis wont hit you again meaning you struggle again- this is just to say that you can over time and with persaverence get out of that hole and get yourself set up to try and cater for if you have another financial issue.
STEP 1 Paying OFF your debts or most of them
This seems like a laughable thing in itself- your on a low -moderate income, you are struggling financially - how the heck are you meant to pay off your debts. The answer is- its NOT easy but it can be done -2-3 months before our 2nd child was born we had to end or lease early (thankfully we had a good and understanding agent) because we just coud no longer afford rent over $400 per week for a small 3 bedroom home- when we first moved in this was easy..we had me who had a job and I wasnt pregnant, hubby had a job and we had a border. However,by the time I had to go on early maternity leave (which was unpaid) my hubby's workplace was being brought out leaving his hours being cut from 28+ hour per week to just 1 hour a fortnight (some of the workers were left without a job so my hubby was a lucky one) and the the boarder could no longer pay rent- so that being said we had little to no money couldnt pay rent or bills and had to end our lease. So we moeved into our new house with a wonderful reference from the landlord/agent from the house we had to leave- however started out in another state with rent of $230 (3 bedroom home) - around $17,000 in accumulated debt due to the hardship (smallest debt was $700) and both of us going from working class people bring in a combined $1000 + per week) toNO INCOME- to on centrelink payments (so our payments had plummeted from a bit over $2000 per fortnight to $900 per fortnight) - however in less than a year we still managed to pay off $15,000+ in a little over 6 months and still continue on with payments of everything else, like rent and bills- it was hard but as you can see it is very possible.
To be successful with this you need to CUT YOUR EXPENSES and DOWNGRADE- we moved to a house that was 1/2 the weekly rental price as our previous with more room- now I am not saying move states like we did, I am however saying look around check the market, and if you are within a certain income range apply for housing. If you have a mortgage - work out a new payment scheme with your bank to help work for you during the time of hardship- some banks will even allow you a period of time where you dont even have to make payments- worst case senario sell up (I know this would be a horrible thought) but in the long run, if something cannot be worked out with the bank its probably a better idea if you sell the house before they do- because if you sell the house, you leave with NO DEBT and usually some kind of profit meaning you will be able to purchase another house with a lower morgatge payment that you are more comfortable with
Childcare- Childcare is also a big issue, if you have children you will likely know the high costs envolved in childcare, our son was attending the centre where I worked and due to that we were receiving a 20% discount on top of the CCB- so childcare wise we were doing fairly well- but even still, the moment I with drew my son from care because I was on early maternity we REALLY noticed a HUGE saving- so if your child is in childcare it might be worth contemplating looking into other types of care costs, possibly cutting hours, if childcare is REALLY neccessary can you and/or your partner afford to cut either of your work hours down to cut childcare down- or can either of yo9u be a stay at home mum or dad? My husband and I currently have two children aged 10 months and 23 months, my husband works and I stay home with the children, this CUTS childcare fees out completely and we happily survive and do quite well with the $500 after tax my husband brings in each week.
What are you buying- Seriously have a look at the things you are buying and do you REALLY honestly need them??? It is the year 2012 and through shopping I can easily spend ONLY $50-$100 per month to feed all four of us- yes prices have raised for things and the average spending price of a family our size is around $200+ a week- so how is only $50-$100 a month possible- IT IS- all you need to do is LOOK AROUND, dont just buy your things from one shop, buy them from many. Generally you will NEED 1-2 days to do this. I used to spend one day scouring the Woolworths, Coles AND Aldi's websites comparing prices (a few other online grocery sites are great too for comparison sometimes you can really score some bargains) - for ones you cant see online and compare like IGA, Superbarn, the markets and other local food stores go down and have a look, compare your prices (BUT DONT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPARED ALL PRICES) - its very POSSIBLE to do if you are willing to put in the time and effort to do this. Another GREAT place I have found has been Cost-co....we have found that they are REALLY good when it comes to bulk meats (you can get really large amounts of meat for really cheap- we spend $50-$60 on meat every 3 months from cost-co and our freezer gets packed) - Nappies packs of almost 300 nappies both Huggies and Kirkland brands can be brought for between $25-$50, you can get 25 kilos of dogfood for $30, 3 Ltr Milk for $2.70, 20 kilos rice for $10- there are plenty of bargains- but price around still because even though like any other store you will find some FANTASTIC bargains there WILL be things you can get cheaper elsewhere.
Flour, Sugar, Salt, Butter,cooking oil Milk (either UHT, powdered or fresh) & yeast (THE WORLDS BEST THINGS) - if you make sure you have these ingredients all the time you will NEVER go hungry, you can make so much from these things, you can make Bread, Savory or sweet Scrolls, Damper, Muffins, Biscuits and more
STEP 2- ONLINE BANKING- ... if you have access to the internet whether regular or irregular (most people these days do even if through and internet cafe or library) you can access internet Banking... You will need to have your bank help to set this up through a temp password they will provide you- When you have access to your internet banking the world is your oyster. When I say that I mean it can make things a lot easier for you, Online banking will allow you set up B-pay and transfers so that you can automatically get started with bill payments and anything that needs to have money transfered into it for example a credit card- this will make things a LOT easier. For example setting up weekly payments for electricity, phone, credit card, insurance etc becomes so much more manageable this way- just enter in their b-pay or account number your reference number and the amount you want to pay each week i.e $5- $1000+ (however much you want to pay) and then when your bills comes in you will only need to pay a little amount or nothing and sometimes you can be in CREDIT- this system also works well with debts and savings.
STEP 3- Home lines, Mobile Plans and Internet plans(DO YOU REALLY NEED THEM) There are fantastic prepaid deals these days when it comes to phones and internet Telstra for example has wonderful prepaid Portable USB type of internet that you can plug in and take ANYWHERE with you- depending on the place of purchase a Telstra Turbo Portable Internet costs roughly between $50-$100 initial cost for the modem- after that you can put on as much money as you need for internet
$20 = 8c/MB 250MB Talk & Text Credit $5 Expiry time 21 days
$30 = 4.29c/MB 700MB Talk & Text Credit $7 Expiry time 30 days
$40 = 3.91c/MB 1GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 30 days
$50= 1.63c/MB 3GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 30 days
$80 1.95c/MB 4GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 60 days
$100 1.63c/MB 6GB Talk & Text Credit $15 Expiry time 90 days
$150 1.47c/MB 10GB Talk & Text Credit $20 Expiry time 365 days/ 1 YEAR
As for phones Prepaids are fantastic - you can get some fantastic deals just shop around- Vodephone and 3 Mobile have similar deals $70+ will get you Unlimited calls and txt to any phone - they also have Free to 3 Deals if you are 3 or Free to Vodaphone if you are Vodaphone (so if you are purchasing 2 phones its worth getting the phones with the same company to ensure further savings)
Currently we have a prepaid Vodaphone deal of $30 for $170 in credit/calls - we dont like spending a lot of money on credit so this works well for us.
STEP 4- Invest in a slow cooker and rice cooker - these items are not only time savers- put the stuff on in the morning turn it on and hey presto done - dinner with little hassel or time wastage- but its also a GREAT energy saver- and when something is an energy saver its a money saver- you use less electricity therefore more money in your pocket come BILL time.
STEP 5- Do you REALLY need things like baby wipes- yes they are really handy but honestly you can save so much money using wet cloths such as chux wipes or old peices of material are just as good- a great method is using an ice cream container or any other container you have around the home cutting a X in the lid so you can get the homemade wipes out just as you would some store bought ones. Wet the wipes (material peices you intend to use), squirt a little baby wash or disinfectant soap on them, throw the wipes in the container fill the bottom with some hot water, add a few drops of tea tree oil, eucalyptus, aloevera or lavender oil and hey presto some lovely easy to use cheap baby wipes that you can re-use them, just throw them in the wash and remake in two weeks- with 2 pooping machines I only needed to redo the homemade wipes once every 2-3 weeks.
STEP 6- Do you REALLY need new sheets, towels, clothes because they are full of holes- there is a wonderful thing called needle and thread (some people have the luxury of a sewing machine- I have just gotten myself one though am not that good at using it) - if the clothes, towels, sheets really ARE to damaged to repair keep them aside in a box and use them for material for other clothes, towels, sheets, blankets that CAN be repaired or patched. This decreased turn over rate of linen and clothes meaning less money spent and more in the pocket. However if new clothes and/or linen are REALLY necessary you should visit an OP shop such as Vinnies, Salvos and other such stores- you can often pick these up from only a few cents - $10 . We have got so many clothes 2nd hand and they are just BEAUTIFUL and most often look BRAND new but we paid no more than $2 for the most EXPENSIVE item- but most only cost 10-20c. Another option which is FREE, bring up your needs in conversations with friends and relatives DONT hide it- because most of the time someone has something they are wanting to get rid of that you NEED.
Trading clothes and linen with friend and family is also an option if you want a change.
STEP 7- Grow your own food- whether you are in an appartment with no yard or a house with a yard you can ALWAYS grow your own food and it can be done quite cheaply and help you for months-years. Vegetable gardens for example can be made in stiraphone boxes (fruit boxed generally unwanted that you can grab for FREE from a local fruit market or store) these are GREAT for growing vegetables, you can usually collect compost, manure, dirt for free or really cheap ($10-$15 for a trailer load) from you local tips, farmers, and all classified (people wanting to get rid of stuff - you can find lots of GREAT free stuff in their FREEBIES section), this is a great option for people who live in Appartments or want portable vegetables- things like tomatoes, garlic, herbs, lettuce, carrots, broccolli etc can be grown in boxes indoors.
For people who have yards and want to use them, you can either make an above ground garden (this is better protection against animals and children however is a LOT more expensive to start up due to everything needed to make the raised bed, this included wood,cement or stone, large amounts of dirt, mulch etc ) - however if you are not adverse to putting in effort digging - we have the earth/ground so you might as well use it.
We dug a large square out of our grass and turned it into a veggetable patch adding some sugar cane straw on top of it (sugar cane straw can be picked up at most gardening supplier like Bunnings from $5-$10 for a LARGE square of it and its one of the BEST for helping with growing vegetables) - we also dug out all of the weeds out of the two existing gardens added sugar straw and planted seeds in those too. The Dirt and grass that we dug out of the ground to make one of the vegie patches we threw into a pile and that became our COMPOST pile, we throw vegie and fruit scraps and even cereals in the compost, its made a nice rich compost which we use to fertilize our vegie patches every few weeks and to make additional vegetable gardens through boxes- currently we have growing corn, carrots, tomatoes, onion, capsicum, potatoes, brocolli, brussel sprouts, garlic and lettuce. This saves a tonne of money when it comes to groceries
If you have the room you could also get a few chickens to produce eggs so that you can have eggs to eat - we dont eat eggs so dont have chooks at this stage- however, for those who have a strong stomach another option would be collecting chooks having them breed and using them for meat- this way you would also save with meat. Also for those who are not allegic to eggs with both ideas you could also SELL any additional eggs at a markets or online to make some money
In an area such as a suburban area Roosters are illegal to have- so if you intend on chooks for eggs or food, its probablly a better option to just get a bunch of baby chickens or eggs from a pet store or farmer etc and then get another lot when you are through with them - still a huge money saver without the illegal rooster.
STEP 8- Lighting- Everyone has become accustomed to lighting and a lot of people FEEL its essential- however its a LUXURY- you can still get adequate lighting through open windows during the day time and during the night time using a torch or candle can be handy and a HUGE money saver- if you want lights still though there are some FANTASTIC lights you can get online that are powered by solar energy (the sun) by sitting them in the sun for 6-8 hours gives them a charge that will let them supply lighting for 6-8 hours straight. For those with smaller amounts of money but are easily able to save Portable Solar pannels are an option also- these can be bought for around $500, they can be used to heat water, watch tv, power appliances and lights etc and you can move with them- for people in a more permanent house *own home and not needing to move - a better option might be Larger solar panels that provide more power than the portable panels and are more PERMANENT- these range from close to $2000 upward. Rebates are available from the government and some electricity companies will actually PAY YOU money to use some of the power you have collected.
STEP 9- Water- collecting your own water can be a money saver for some and GOOD for the enviroment - for drinking a properly installed Tank which can cost thousands (the rebate from the government is also available) is great- however for those of you like myself who CANT afford thousands of dollars and nice clean large bin or tub can be perfectly fine- just ensure that it is not metal or made of toxic componants. All you need to do is sit it outside and when it rains it will fill- hey presto water- this is great for cleaning, washing dishes, watering animals, watering the garden- however if you intend on drinking it you will need to ensure there is no yuky stuff on top of the water (this is a BIG WARNING SIGN), boil it in the kettle and if possible use a specially designed water treatment such as a UV Pen which will kill any residule germs or bacteria that might be in the water.
STEP 10- Hot Water- a HUGE sapperof money. Do you REALLY need to have a shower EVERY DAY- the answer is NO personally I would LOVE a shower every day and the longer the better- I LOVE my showers- but really its ONLY a luxury it is NOT a necessity and sooo much money can be saved if showers were limited. However, its not just showers that sap the electricity when it comes to hot water- so MANY people use Hot water for washing their clothes (This is NOT necessary) cold water is just as good- if you want a thorough disinfecting stain removing wash use nappy sand, a bit of disinfectant or a cap full of eucalyptus or tea tree oil - It does the SAME job with less electricity used. So if you use hot water for washing clothes STOP. Also many people 'like myself' are terrible when it comes to using a tap or filling a kettle or saucepan using hot water tap instead of the cold - when for the most part of the time the water is going to boil anyway- this is a waste of electricity.
We have found that if you switch your hot water off at the wall you wont be able to use the hot water and you will soon break the habbit of automatically turning on the hot water- this is where you start to think 'turn off my hot water, you mean for while I am out of the house though right? I need my hot water' - Really you DONT need your hot water and I mean turn it off at the wall only to be turned on once a week for 1/2 hour to an hour in effect saving a LOT of electricity- but how am I going to do the dishes and bath the kids, or have a clean if I need it- I dont want to be filthy- the answer is you DONT HAVE TO BE FILTHY- most people have a kettle, saucepan, or microwave- BOIL some water- children generally ONLY need a kettle full of water in the bath to warm it - kids can have and LOVE shallow baths they dont have to be deeply emersed and it cleans them just as well, if not better because they are not fully emersed in their own grime. As for dishes and cleaning yourself, one kettle water will be fine for that to. You can do your dishes once a day with under 1 kettle full of water and the remainder you can use in a bowl with a cloth to wash yourself if you feel you need a clean ( people kept themselves clean in the olden days with similar methods they did not have the LUXURY of showers or taps in baths- it can be done now too- something people seem to forget is most of the things we have these days are LUXURIES they are NOT necessities).
Through this method we use anywehre from 1-3 kettles full of water a day generally just 1 or 2 but some days we spoil ourselves with 3.
If the idea of washing yourself down REALLY doesnt appeal to you- another option is a solar shower you can get them starting at $8 up to $200 online (camping portable showers) they start from 20 Litre water/shower capacity for $8 however can be a lot larger capacity with more temperature controls and settings for higher prices. We have an $8 20Litre one which is wonderful if you TRUELY need a shower and once a week we switch on the hot water for half an hour or so where we all have a shower before the water gets turned off for another week.
STEP 10- Old Furniture- If you have old furniture you cant use anymore dont just throw it into the dump, pull it appart- salvage any salvagable wood, nails, screws etc from the furniture and use it- yes I said use it- you can use it to make more furniture or even toys like blocks etc for the kids. This can save you on more furniture and even toys.
STEP 11- Presents- The problem with people these day is they buy into all things that are out NOW - they waste money on so much STUFF and are so materialistic its not funny. There were some very good points made through many other sites and many other fantastic Mothers and frugal people- Point 1 - Just because they makes the stuff doesnt mean you NEED to buy the stuff & Point 2- People need to seperate REAL NEEDS from URGENT IMPUSES .
Finding the difference from a REAL NEED to an URGENT IMPUSE is very difficult as it will make you feel the real sense of urgency for both real needs and urgent impuses the differences is with an urgent impuse the urgency will disapate over time however, with a real need that need STILL remains a need.
So when it comes to buying things do so with a well thought out list- but when it comes to presents DONT buy them - this is something that once again gives in to the meteralistic attitude of today and takes money that could better be put elsewhere out of your pocket. Start making presents- sew things you can make plenty of things (nappies, clothes, sheets, pillow cases, hankies, stuffed toys such as teddys, rag dolls and balls etc), make bubbles by getting a jar some dishwashing detergent and water- use a peice of wire or something similar to make the bubble blower, make biscuits, slice, muffins, cake etc- make lipgloss by using petroleum jelly and old unusable lipstick for a bit of colour if you have esense such as vanilla you can use that for a bit of smell- collect FREE samples you can get soooo many online and these are great for presents (just collect them over the year and then use them as presents), make some nice creams through oils like eucalyptus, teatree etc and cheap sorbelene or another cheap cream lying around the home. For really little kids be inventive- toddler and babies LOVE sounds, the love wrapping papper and saucepans so why not wrap a saucepan and wooden spoon- they will love playing with it all day and at the end of the day they will forget about it (which is what happens with ALL toys) and leave it- so you just put it back in your cupboard.
If you have old wood lieing around you could make furniture or blocks etc as presents also.
As for wrapping papper this is quite simple- you keep any wrapping papper from xmas presents and birthday presents etc that you get from other people and re use them to wrap presents for birthdays and christmas- sometimes this amount of wrapping paper isnt enough so- another idea is using old newspaper, catelogues or other paper and decorating them - if you have kids you can get them to do this they will LOVE it and the people receiving the gifts will love it too because of the effort and kids artwork is cool.
Cards can be made by keeping old cards (cards you have received) cutting out printed writing and pictures etc- you can then use this as additions to any cards you and/or children make for people for xmas and birthdays.
http://www.simplesavings.com.au/ - Simple Savings Website
http://www.moneymum.com.au/ - Saving Tips
http://www.money-tips.com.au/articles/186/1/Being-Frugal-and-Saving-Money/Page1.html - Frugal and saving money
http://www.savingsguide.com.au/methods-to-be-frugal-like-your-grandparents/ - old school frugal
http://www.kidspot.com.au/MySpot-life-Smart-ways-to-live-on-one-income+5403+172+article.htm - smart ways to live on one income
http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/how-to-manage-on-one-income-20100524-w6me.html - Strategies for one income
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/08/14/raising-a-family-on-one-income-part-one/ - raising a family on one income
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/pg_payments.htm - payments to help raise children
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/ftb_b.htm -Family Tax Benefit Part B - for parents on one main source of income or single parents
http://www.motherinc.com.au/magazine/everything-for-mum/household/householdbudget/109-surviving-on-one-income - living on one income
http://inside.org.au/family-assistance-what-the-changes-really-mean/ -Family assistance changes what they mean
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=12318&page=3 - Carbon Tax Package revealed People on an income of less than 50,000 per year will still be required to pay as much carbon tax as people on 150,000 per year or more
http://www.huggies.com.au/parenting/family-budgeting/assistance-programs - What family assistance is available
http://www.carbontax.net.au/category/how-will-the-carbon-tax-affect-me/ - How will Carbon Tax effect you official site
http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/frugal.html - Frugal living
http://www.savingmoneyexpert.com.au/misc/frugal-living-australia - Frugal Living Australia
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=38890 - Cheapskates
http://www.groupon.com.au/sites/www.groupon.com.au/lp/lp/068/groupon.php?timg=generic10&CID=AU_SEM_2_401_1000_4600&plac=www.thegreedybrain.com&crea=15142491472 - Coupons Australia
http://cudo.com.au/sydney?gclid=CN358JmSiK0CFSFKpgod_yfSlg&cmp=pds:ggl:lgt:syd-comp-con&ef_id=Z2xO6718gncAAMqa:20111217031604:s - Cudo Deals up to 80% off things
http://www.greeningofgavin.com/ - The Greening of Gavin Frugal Website
http://www.sophiesoffers.com.au/landingpage/Travel/307/11,17,23 - Free stuff & Coupons
http://nomorerack.com/savedeals/index.php?n=333&pid=5&pc=2165&gclid=CJrDuJCTiK0CFSFNpgodTEx-kw - Overstock products in Australia you can get things like working laptops fro just $40 or less
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/ - Down to earth about Quality of Frugal life
http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/frugal.html - Green living Australia Frugal Simplicity
http://www.groceryrun.com.au/?gclid=CPzS_82UiK0CFYMlpAodsT7omw - Australian Online Grocery store has some bulk and some great deals
http://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal - Reddit Frugal Information
http://thetimesavingcrewactaustralia.weebly.com/index.html - The Time Saving Crew offers VERY competitive rates on clothes washing & drying, house cleaning, lawn mowing & babysitting- it also offers the swap care program for those who cant afford or dont want to waste money on babysitters - this program allows for parents to have a break while someone looks after their children and in turn on an agreed upon date the parents look after that persons children- there are simple terms and conditions for this as even though it is a free program parents must be assured that anyone looking after their child/children has a police check (there fore participants need to be willing to submit to a poice check) and parents need to be assured that if they babysit someones child they will be assured their turn or be paid fairly for their time in babysitting anothers child (in this case if a person does not follow through with arranged care after having received free babysitting services from another that person will be responsibe for the fee for the amount of care that was provided at a rate of $10 per hour) - Pretty simple terms for a great money saving deal
http://www.permacult.com.au/ - Living Naturally
http://www.ilovefreebies.com/australia.html - Australian Free stuff and grocery coupons site
http://www.freestufftimes.com/world/category/australia - Free stuff in Australia
http://www.freestuff.com.au/forum/free-giveaways - Australian Freestuff
http://aussieslivingsimply.com.au/ - Aussies Living Simply
http://www.oldaussierecipes.com/veryhandylinks.htm - Very Handy Sites
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/990705a1.cfm - Grocery saving tips
http://www.mygreenaustralia.com/2011/12/green-and-frugal-christmas-countdown/ - Frugal Christmas Countdown
http://www.kidspot.com.au/Christmas-Christmas-on-the-cheap-Have-A-Frugal-Christmas+3656+272+article.htm - Frugal Christmas
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2011/christmas-baking/ - Frugal Christmas Baking
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2011/handmade-christmas-decoration-roundup-2/ - Handmade Xmas Decorations
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/newsletter-articles-and-archives/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/ - A debt free christmas
http://childhood101.com/2010/11/teaching-children-value-for-money-at-christmas/ - Teaching Children the value of money at christmas
http://childhood101.com/2009/09/frugal-friday-but-fun-tips-for-smarter-shopping/ - Tips for smarter shopping
http://childhood101.com/2010/12/saving-money-on-kids-toys/ - Saving money on kids toys
http://www.kidspot.com.au/Christmas-Christmas-on-the-cheap-Christmas-Menu-Planning+3654+272+article.htm - Christmas Menu Planning
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/c_50_Wholesale__Bulk_Lots - Shopping Square online bulk shopping
http://santostrading.com.au/ - Santos Wholesale Food delivers Australia wide
http://www.goodness.com.au/store/ - Online health food store sells somethings in bulk- Australia
https://www.onlyoz.com.au/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=275&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=83 - Australian Online bulk grocery store
http://www.hwfoods.com.au/HWFWeb/index.aspx - Online bulk food Australia
http://www.greataussiefood.com.au/listProduct/Food/Bulk+Items - Great Ozzie Food online bulk shopping
http://secure.jamac.com.au/index.php?cPath=35&osCsid=db6052f78e4a2b6a0b031dd93b919319 - bulk cleaning products online
http://www.bulkcleaningsupplies.com.au/Default.asp - Bulk Cleaning supplies online
http://www.nappysupplies.com.au/ - bulk nappies and nappy supplies
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=3 - bulk nappies online
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=7 - bulk toilet paper
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=16 - bulk cleaning products
http://nappies2u.com.au/ordering.html - bulk nappies servicing NSW, QLD & ACT regions
http://www.thebulkwarehouse.com.au/index.htm - The Bulk Warehouse Australia
http://www.smartershopping.com.au/?WT.z_src=main - Aldis Australia website browse the isles create a shopping list of what you want and price things up - but you CANT buy online you will need to go to the store
http://www.costco.com.au/index.shtml - Costco website - if you want to shop at a costco store you will either need membership or you will need to go with a costco member to the store- they are HUGE warehouses that have LOTS of bulk products including Bulk meat, nappies, Dog food, rice, canned food and much more- if you are close to a costco store membership is deffinately worth considering. 'I buy nappies and meat from here and spend only around $60 every four mounths on meat for a family of 4 and we have meat EVERY day'
http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/ - Woolworths Homeshop online shopping -
http://www.coles.com.au/Shop-Online.aspx - Coles Online Shopping
You can shop online with either woolworths or coles online shopping however, unless you are having a lieniant week etc and not being frugal I would not advise buying from either Woolworths or coles online as both have a minimum spend limit $50 plus and then a delivery fee of $6+. However both the woolworths and coles online shopping are GREAT along with Aldi's 'browse isles section of their website' to help weigh up prices to help you decide where you are going to shop and what you are buying.
STEP 1 Paying OFF your debts or most of them
This seems like a laughable thing in itself- your on a low -moderate income, you are struggling financially - how the heck are you meant to pay off your debts. The answer is- its NOT easy but it can be done -2-3 months before our 2nd child was born we had to end or lease early (thankfully we had a good and understanding agent) because we just coud no longer afford rent over $400 per week for a small 3 bedroom home- when we first moved in this was easy..we had me who had a job and I wasnt pregnant, hubby had a job and we had a border. However,by the time I had to go on early maternity leave (which was unpaid) my hubby's workplace was being brought out leaving his hours being cut from 28+ hour per week to just 1 hour a fortnight (some of the workers were left without a job so my hubby was a lucky one) and the the boarder could no longer pay rent- so that being said we had little to no money couldnt pay rent or bills and had to end our lease. So we moeved into our new house with a wonderful reference from the landlord/agent from the house we had to leave- however started out in another state with rent of $230 (3 bedroom home) - around $17,000 in accumulated debt due to the hardship (smallest debt was $700) and both of us going from working class people bring in a combined $1000 + per week) toNO INCOME- to on centrelink payments (so our payments had plummeted from a bit over $2000 per fortnight to $900 per fortnight) - however in less than a year we still managed to pay off $15,000+ in a little over 6 months and still continue on with payments of everything else, like rent and bills- it was hard but as you can see it is very possible.
To be successful with this you need to CUT YOUR EXPENSES and DOWNGRADE- we moved to a house that was 1/2 the weekly rental price as our previous with more room- now I am not saying move states like we did, I am however saying look around check the market, and if you are within a certain income range apply for housing. If you have a mortgage - work out a new payment scheme with your bank to help work for you during the time of hardship- some banks will even allow you a period of time where you dont even have to make payments- worst case senario sell up (I know this would be a horrible thought) but in the long run, if something cannot be worked out with the bank its probably a better idea if you sell the house before they do- because if you sell the house, you leave with NO DEBT and usually some kind of profit meaning you will be able to purchase another house with a lower morgatge payment that you are more comfortable with
Childcare- Childcare is also a big issue, if you have children you will likely know the high costs envolved in childcare, our son was attending the centre where I worked and due to that we were receiving a 20% discount on top of the CCB- so childcare wise we were doing fairly well- but even still, the moment I with drew my son from care because I was on early maternity we REALLY noticed a HUGE saving- so if your child is in childcare it might be worth contemplating looking into other types of care costs, possibly cutting hours, if childcare is REALLY neccessary can you and/or your partner afford to cut either of your work hours down to cut childcare down- or can either of yo9u be a stay at home mum or dad? My husband and I currently have two children aged 10 months and 23 months, my husband works and I stay home with the children, this CUTS childcare fees out completely and we happily survive and do quite well with the $500 after tax my husband brings in each week.
What are you buying- Seriously have a look at the things you are buying and do you REALLY honestly need them??? It is the year 2012 and through shopping I can easily spend ONLY $50-$100 per month to feed all four of us- yes prices have raised for things and the average spending price of a family our size is around $200+ a week- so how is only $50-$100 a month possible- IT IS- all you need to do is LOOK AROUND, dont just buy your things from one shop, buy them from many. Generally you will NEED 1-2 days to do this. I used to spend one day scouring the Woolworths, Coles AND Aldi's websites comparing prices (a few other online grocery sites are great too for comparison sometimes you can really score some bargains) - for ones you cant see online and compare like IGA, Superbarn, the markets and other local food stores go down and have a look, compare your prices (BUT DONT BUY ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPARED ALL PRICES) - its very POSSIBLE to do if you are willing to put in the time and effort to do this. Another GREAT place I have found has been Cost-co....we have found that they are REALLY good when it comes to bulk meats (you can get really large amounts of meat for really cheap- we spend $50-$60 on meat every 3 months from cost-co and our freezer gets packed) - Nappies packs of almost 300 nappies both Huggies and Kirkland brands can be brought for between $25-$50, you can get 25 kilos of dogfood for $30, 3 Ltr Milk for $2.70, 20 kilos rice for $10- there are plenty of bargains- but price around still because even though like any other store you will find some FANTASTIC bargains there WILL be things you can get cheaper elsewhere.
Flour, Sugar, Salt, Butter,cooking oil Milk (either UHT, powdered or fresh) & yeast (THE WORLDS BEST THINGS) - if you make sure you have these ingredients all the time you will NEVER go hungry, you can make so much from these things, you can make Bread, Savory or sweet Scrolls, Damper, Muffins, Biscuits and more
STEP 2- ONLINE BANKING- ... if you have access to the internet whether regular or irregular (most people these days do even if through and internet cafe or library) you can access internet Banking... You will need to have your bank help to set this up through a temp password they will provide you- When you have access to your internet banking the world is your oyster. When I say that I mean it can make things a lot easier for you, Online banking will allow you set up B-pay and transfers so that you can automatically get started with bill payments and anything that needs to have money transfered into it for example a credit card- this will make things a LOT easier. For example setting up weekly payments for electricity, phone, credit card, insurance etc becomes so much more manageable this way- just enter in their b-pay or account number your reference number and the amount you want to pay each week i.e $5- $1000+ (however much you want to pay) and then when your bills comes in you will only need to pay a little amount or nothing and sometimes you can be in CREDIT- this system also works well with debts and savings.
STEP 3- Home lines, Mobile Plans and Internet plans(DO YOU REALLY NEED THEM) There are fantastic prepaid deals these days when it comes to phones and internet Telstra for example has wonderful prepaid Portable USB type of internet that you can plug in and take ANYWHERE with you- depending on the place of purchase a Telstra Turbo Portable Internet costs roughly between $50-$100 initial cost for the modem- after that you can put on as much money as you need for internet
$20 = 8c/MB 250MB Talk & Text Credit $5 Expiry time 21 days
$30 = 4.29c/MB 700MB Talk & Text Credit $7 Expiry time 30 days
$40 = 3.91c/MB 1GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 30 days
$50= 1.63c/MB 3GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 30 days
$80 1.95c/MB 4GB Talk & Text Credit $10 Expiry time 60 days
$100 1.63c/MB 6GB Talk & Text Credit $15 Expiry time 90 days
$150 1.47c/MB 10GB Talk & Text Credit $20 Expiry time 365 days/ 1 YEAR
As for phones Prepaids are fantastic - you can get some fantastic deals just shop around- Vodephone and 3 Mobile have similar deals $70+ will get you Unlimited calls and txt to any phone - they also have Free to 3 Deals if you are 3 or Free to Vodaphone if you are Vodaphone (so if you are purchasing 2 phones its worth getting the phones with the same company to ensure further savings)
Currently we have a prepaid Vodaphone deal of $30 for $170 in credit/calls - we dont like spending a lot of money on credit so this works well for us.
STEP 4- Invest in a slow cooker and rice cooker - these items are not only time savers- put the stuff on in the morning turn it on and hey presto done - dinner with little hassel or time wastage- but its also a GREAT energy saver- and when something is an energy saver its a money saver- you use less electricity therefore more money in your pocket come BILL time.
STEP 5- Do you REALLY need things like baby wipes- yes they are really handy but honestly you can save so much money using wet cloths such as chux wipes or old peices of material are just as good- a great method is using an ice cream container or any other container you have around the home cutting a X in the lid so you can get the homemade wipes out just as you would some store bought ones. Wet the wipes (material peices you intend to use), squirt a little baby wash or disinfectant soap on them, throw the wipes in the container fill the bottom with some hot water, add a few drops of tea tree oil, eucalyptus, aloevera or lavender oil and hey presto some lovely easy to use cheap baby wipes that you can re-use them, just throw them in the wash and remake in two weeks- with 2 pooping machines I only needed to redo the homemade wipes once every 2-3 weeks.
STEP 6- Do you REALLY need new sheets, towels, clothes because they are full of holes- there is a wonderful thing called needle and thread (some people have the luxury of a sewing machine- I have just gotten myself one though am not that good at using it) - if the clothes, towels, sheets really ARE to damaged to repair keep them aside in a box and use them for material for other clothes, towels, sheets, blankets that CAN be repaired or patched. This decreased turn over rate of linen and clothes meaning less money spent and more in the pocket. However if new clothes and/or linen are REALLY necessary you should visit an OP shop such as Vinnies, Salvos and other such stores- you can often pick these up from only a few cents - $10 . We have got so many clothes 2nd hand and they are just BEAUTIFUL and most often look BRAND new but we paid no more than $2 for the most EXPENSIVE item- but most only cost 10-20c. Another option which is FREE, bring up your needs in conversations with friends and relatives DONT hide it- because most of the time someone has something they are wanting to get rid of that you NEED.
Trading clothes and linen with friend and family is also an option if you want a change.
STEP 7- Grow your own food- whether you are in an appartment with no yard or a house with a yard you can ALWAYS grow your own food and it can be done quite cheaply and help you for months-years. Vegetable gardens for example can be made in stiraphone boxes (fruit boxed generally unwanted that you can grab for FREE from a local fruit market or store) these are GREAT for growing vegetables, you can usually collect compost, manure, dirt for free or really cheap ($10-$15 for a trailer load) from you local tips, farmers, and all classified (people wanting to get rid of stuff - you can find lots of GREAT free stuff in their FREEBIES section), this is a great option for people who live in Appartments or want portable vegetables- things like tomatoes, garlic, herbs, lettuce, carrots, broccolli etc can be grown in boxes indoors.
For people who have yards and want to use them, you can either make an above ground garden (this is better protection against animals and children however is a LOT more expensive to start up due to everything needed to make the raised bed, this included wood,cement or stone, large amounts of dirt, mulch etc ) - however if you are not adverse to putting in effort digging - we have the earth/ground so you might as well use it.
We dug a large square out of our grass and turned it into a veggetable patch adding some sugar cane straw on top of it (sugar cane straw can be picked up at most gardening supplier like Bunnings from $5-$10 for a LARGE square of it and its one of the BEST for helping with growing vegetables) - we also dug out all of the weeds out of the two existing gardens added sugar straw and planted seeds in those too. The Dirt and grass that we dug out of the ground to make one of the vegie patches we threw into a pile and that became our COMPOST pile, we throw vegie and fruit scraps and even cereals in the compost, its made a nice rich compost which we use to fertilize our vegie patches every few weeks and to make additional vegetable gardens through boxes- currently we have growing corn, carrots, tomatoes, onion, capsicum, potatoes, brocolli, brussel sprouts, garlic and lettuce. This saves a tonne of money when it comes to groceries
If you have the room you could also get a few chickens to produce eggs so that you can have eggs to eat - we dont eat eggs so dont have chooks at this stage- however, for those who have a strong stomach another option would be collecting chooks having them breed and using them for meat- this way you would also save with meat. Also for those who are not allegic to eggs with both ideas you could also SELL any additional eggs at a markets or online to make some money
In an area such as a suburban area Roosters are illegal to have- so if you intend on chooks for eggs or food, its probablly a better option to just get a bunch of baby chickens or eggs from a pet store or farmer etc and then get another lot when you are through with them - still a huge money saver without the illegal rooster.
STEP 8- Lighting- Everyone has become accustomed to lighting and a lot of people FEEL its essential- however its a LUXURY- you can still get adequate lighting through open windows during the day time and during the night time using a torch or candle can be handy and a HUGE money saver- if you want lights still though there are some FANTASTIC lights you can get online that are powered by solar energy (the sun) by sitting them in the sun for 6-8 hours gives them a charge that will let them supply lighting for 6-8 hours straight. For those with smaller amounts of money but are easily able to save Portable Solar pannels are an option also- these can be bought for around $500, they can be used to heat water, watch tv, power appliances and lights etc and you can move with them- for people in a more permanent house *own home and not needing to move - a better option might be Larger solar panels that provide more power than the portable panels and are more PERMANENT- these range from close to $2000 upward. Rebates are available from the government and some electricity companies will actually PAY YOU money to use some of the power you have collected.
STEP 9- Water- collecting your own water can be a money saver for some and GOOD for the enviroment - for drinking a properly installed Tank which can cost thousands (the rebate from the government is also available) is great- however for those of you like myself who CANT afford thousands of dollars and nice clean large bin or tub can be perfectly fine- just ensure that it is not metal or made of toxic componants. All you need to do is sit it outside and when it rains it will fill- hey presto water- this is great for cleaning, washing dishes, watering animals, watering the garden- however if you intend on drinking it you will need to ensure there is no yuky stuff on top of the water (this is a BIG WARNING SIGN), boil it in the kettle and if possible use a specially designed water treatment such as a UV Pen which will kill any residule germs or bacteria that might be in the water.
STEP 10- Hot Water- a HUGE sapperof money. Do you REALLY need to have a shower EVERY DAY- the answer is NO personally I would LOVE a shower every day and the longer the better- I LOVE my showers- but really its ONLY a luxury it is NOT a necessity and sooo much money can be saved if showers were limited. However, its not just showers that sap the electricity when it comes to hot water- so MANY people use Hot water for washing their clothes (This is NOT necessary) cold water is just as good- if you want a thorough disinfecting stain removing wash use nappy sand, a bit of disinfectant or a cap full of eucalyptus or tea tree oil - It does the SAME job with less electricity used. So if you use hot water for washing clothes STOP. Also many people 'like myself' are terrible when it comes to using a tap or filling a kettle or saucepan using hot water tap instead of the cold - when for the most part of the time the water is going to boil anyway- this is a waste of electricity.
We have found that if you switch your hot water off at the wall you wont be able to use the hot water and you will soon break the habbit of automatically turning on the hot water- this is where you start to think 'turn off my hot water, you mean for while I am out of the house though right? I need my hot water' - Really you DONT need your hot water and I mean turn it off at the wall only to be turned on once a week for 1/2 hour to an hour in effect saving a LOT of electricity- but how am I going to do the dishes and bath the kids, or have a clean if I need it- I dont want to be filthy- the answer is you DONT HAVE TO BE FILTHY- most people have a kettle, saucepan, or microwave- BOIL some water- children generally ONLY need a kettle full of water in the bath to warm it - kids can have and LOVE shallow baths they dont have to be deeply emersed and it cleans them just as well, if not better because they are not fully emersed in their own grime. As for dishes and cleaning yourself, one kettle water will be fine for that to. You can do your dishes once a day with under 1 kettle full of water and the remainder you can use in a bowl with a cloth to wash yourself if you feel you need a clean ( people kept themselves clean in the olden days with similar methods they did not have the LUXURY of showers or taps in baths- it can be done now too- something people seem to forget is most of the things we have these days are LUXURIES they are NOT necessities).
Through this method we use anywehre from 1-3 kettles full of water a day generally just 1 or 2 but some days we spoil ourselves with 3.
If the idea of washing yourself down REALLY doesnt appeal to you- another option is a solar shower you can get them starting at $8 up to $200 online (camping portable showers) they start from 20 Litre water/shower capacity for $8 however can be a lot larger capacity with more temperature controls and settings for higher prices. We have an $8 20Litre one which is wonderful if you TRUELY need a shower and once a week we switch on the hot water for half an hour or so where we all have a shower before the water gets turned off for another week.
STEP 10- Old Furniture- If you have old furniture you cant use anymore dont just throw it into the dump, pull it appart- salvage any salvagable wood, nails, screws etc from the furniture and use it- yes I said use it- you can use it to make more furniture or even toys like blocks etc for the kids. This can save you on more furniture and even toys.
STEP 11- Presents- The problem with people these day is they buy into all things that are out NOW - they waste money on so much STUFF and are so materialistic its not funny. There were some very good points made through many other sites and many other fantastic Mothers and frugal people- Point 1 - Just because they makes the stuff doesnt mean you NEED to buy the stuff & Point 2- People need to seperate REAL NEEDS from URGENT IMPUSES .
Finding the difference from a REAL NEED to an URGENT IMPUSE is very difficult as it will make you feel the real sense of urgency for both real needs and urgent impuses the differences is with an urgent impuse the urgency will disapate over time however, with a real need that need STILL remains a need.
So when it comes to buying things do so with a well thought out list- but when it comes to presents DONT buy them - this is something that once again gives in to the meteralistic attitude of today and takes money that could better be put elsewhere out of your pocket. Start making presents- sew things you can make plenty of things (nappies, clothes, sheets, pillow cases, hankies, stuffed toys such as teddys, rag dolls and balls etc), make bubbles by getting a jar some dishwashing detergent and water- use a peice of wire or something similar to make the bubble blower, make biscuits, slice, muffins, cake etc- make lipgloss by using petroleum jelly and old unusable lipstick for a bit of colour if you have esense such as vanilla you can use that for a bit of smell- collect FREE samples you can get soooo many online and these are great for presents (just collect them over the year and then use them as presents), make some nice creams through oils like eucalyptus, teatree etc and cheap sorbelene or another cheap cream lying around the home. For really little kids be inventive- toddler and babies LOVE sounds, the love wrapping papper and saucepans so why not wrap a saucepan and wooden spoon- they will love playing with it all day and at the end of the day they will forget about it (which is what happens with ALL toys) and leave it- so you just put it back in your cupboard.
If you have old wood lieing around you could make furniture or blocks etc as presents also.
As for wrapping papper this is quite simple- you keep any wrapping papper from xmas presents and birthday presents etc that you get from other people and re use them to wrap presents for birthdays and christmas- sometimes this amount of wrapping paper isnt enough so- another idea is using old newspaper, catelogues or other paper and decorating them - if you have kids you can get them to do this they will LOVE it and the people receiving the gifts will love it too because of the effort and kids artwork is cool.
Cards can be made by keeping old cards (cards you have received) cutting out printed writing and pictures etc- you can then use this as additions to any cards you and/or children make for people for xmas and birthdays.
http://www.simplesavings.com.au/ - Simple Savings Website
http://www.moneymum.com.au/ - Saving Tips
http://www.money-tips.com.au/articles/186/1/Being-Frugal-and-Saving-Money/Page1.html - Frugal and saving money
http://www.savingsguide.com.au/methods-to-be-frugal-like-your-grandparents/ - old school frugal
http://www.kidspot.com.au/MySpot-life-Smart-ways-to-live-on-one-income+5403+172+article.htm - smart ways to live on one income
http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/how-to-manage-on-one-income-20100524-w6me.html - Strategies for one income
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2006/08/14/raising-a-family-on-one-income-part-one/ - raising a family on one income
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/pg_payments.htm - payments to help raise children
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/ftb_b.htm -Family Tax Benefit Part B - for parents on one main source of income or single parents
http://www.motherinc.com.au/magazine/everything-for-mum/household/householdbudget/109-surviving-on-one-income - living on one income
http://inside.org.au/family-assistance-what-the-changes-really-mean/ -Family assistance changes what they mean
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=12318&page=3 - Carbon Tax Package revealed People on an income of less than 50,000 per year will still be required to pay as much carbon tax as people on 150,000 per year or more
http://www.huggies.com.au/parenting/family-budgeting/assistance-programs - What family assistance is available
http://www.carbontax.net.au/category/how-will-the-carbon-tax-affect-me/ - How will Carbon Tax effect you official site
http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/frugal.html - Frugal living
http://www.savingmoneyexpert.com.au/misc/frugal-living-australia - Frugal Living Australia
http://www.cheapskates.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=38890 - Cheapskates
http://www.groupon.com.au/sites/www.groupon.com.au/lp/lp/068/groupon.php?timg=generic10&CID=AU_SEM_2_401_1000_4600&plac=www.thegreedybrain.com&crea=15142491472 - Coupons Australia
http://cudo.com.au/sydney?gclid=CN358JmSiK0CFSFKpgod_yfSlg&cmp=pds:ggl:lgt:syd-comp-con&ef_id=Z2xO6718gncAAMqa:20111217031604:s - Cudo Deals up to 80% off things
http://www.greeningofgavin.com/ - The Greening of Gavin Frugal Website
http://www.sophiesoffers.com.au/landingpage/Travel/307/11,17,23 - Free stuff & Coupons
http://nomorerack.com/savedeals/index.php?n=333&pid=5&pc=2165&gclid=CJrDuJCTiK0CFSFNpgodTEx-kw - Overstock products in Australia you can get things like working laptops fro just $40 or less
http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/ - Down to earth about Quality of Frugal life
http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/frugal.html - Green living Australia Frugal Simplicity
http://www.groceryrun.com.au/?gclid=CPzS_82UiK0CFYMlpAodsT7omw - Australian Online Grocery store has some bulk and some great deals
http://www.reddit.com/r/Frugal - Reddit Frugal Information
http://thetimesavingcrewactaustralia.weebly.com/index.html - The Time Saving Crew offers VERY competitive rates on clothes washing & drying, house cleaning, lawn mowing & babysitting- it also offers the swap care program for those who cant afford or dont want to waste money on babysitters - this program allows for parents to have a break while someone looks after their children and in turn on an agreed upon date the parents look after that persons children- there are simple terms and conditions for this as even though it is a free program parents must be assured that anyone looking after their child/children has a police check (there fore participants need to be willing to submit to a poice check) and parents need to be assured that if they babysit someones child they will be assured their turn or be paid fairly for their time in babysitting anothers child (in this case if a person does not follow through with arranged care after having received free babysitting services from another that person will be responsibe for the fee for the amount of care that was provided at a rate of $10 per hour) - Pretty simple terms for a great money saving deal
http://www.permacult.com.au/ - Living Naturally
http://www.ilovefreebies.com/australia.html - Australian Free stuff and grocery coupons site
http://www.freestufftimes.com/world/category/australia - Free stuff in Australia
http://www.freestuff.com.au/forum/free-giveaways - Australian Freestuff
http://aussieslivingsimply.com.au/ - Aussies Living Simply
http://www.oldaussierecipes.com/veryhandylinks.htm - Very Handy Sites
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/990705a1.cfm - Grocery saving tips
http://www.mygreenaustralia.com/2011/12/green-and-frugal-christmas-countdown/ - Frugal Christmas Countdown
http://www.kidspot.com.au/Christmas-Christmas-on-the-cheap-Have-A-Frugal-Christmas+3656+272+article.htm - Frugal Christmas
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2011/christmas-baking/ - Frugal Christmas Baking
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/2011/handmade-christmas-decoration-roundup-2/ - Handmade Xmas Decorations
http://frugalandthriving.com.au/newsletter-articles-and-archives/its-beginning-to-look-a-lot-like-christmas/ - A debt free christmas
http://childhood101.com/2010/11/teaching-children-value-for-money-at-christmas/ - Teaching Children the value of money at christmas
http://childhood101.com/2009/09/frugal-friday-but-fun-tips-for-smarter-shopping/ - Tips for smarter shopping
http://childhood101.com/2010/12/saving-money-on-kids-toys/ - Saving money on kids toys
http://www.kidspot.com.au/Christmas-Christmas-on-the-cheap-Christmas-Menu-Planning+3654+272+article.htm - Christmas Menu Planning
http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/c_50_Wholesale__Bulk_Lots - Shopping Square online bulk shopping
http://santostrading.com.au/ - Santos Wholesale Food delivers Australia wide
http://www.goodness.com.au/store/ - Online health food store sells somethings in bulk- Australia
https://www.onlyoz.com.au/index.php?page=shop.browse&category_id=275&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=83 - Australian Online bulk grocery store
http://www.hwfoods.com.au/HWFWeb/index.aspx - Online bulk food Australia
http://www.greataussiefood.com.au/listProduct/Food/Bulk+Items - Great Ozzie Food online bulk shopping
http://secure.jamac.com.au/index.php?cPath=35&osCsid=db6052f78e4a2b6a0b031dd93b919319 - bulk cleaning products online
http://www.bulkcleaningsupplies.com.au/Default.asp - Bulk Cleaning supplies online
http://www.nappysupplies.com.au/ - bulk nappies and nappy supplies
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=3 - bulk nappies online
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=7 - bulk toilet paper
http://www.aussienappies.com.au/Category.asp?CategoryID=16 - bulk cleaning products
http://nappies2u.com.au/ordering.html - bulk nappies servicing NSW, QLD & ACT regions
http://www.thebulkwarehouse.com.au/index.htm - The Bulk Warehouse Australia
http://www.smartershopping.com.au/?WT.z_src=main - Aldis Australia website browse the isles create a shopping list of what you want and price things up - but you CANT buy online you will need to go to the store
http://www.costco.com.au/index.shtml - Costco website - if you want to shop at a costco store you will either need membership or you will need to go with a costco member to the store- they are HUGE warehouses that have LOTS of bulk products including Bulk meat, nappies, Dog food, rice, canned food and much more- if you are close to a costco store membership is deffinately worth considering. 'I buy nappies and meat from here and spend only around $60 every four mounths on meat for a family of 4 and we have meat EVERY day'
http://www2.woolworthsonline.com.au/ - Woolworths Homeshop online shopping -
http://www.coles.com.au/Shop-Online.aspx - Coles Online Shopping
You can shop online with either woolworths or coles online shopping however, unless you are having a lieniant week etc and not being frugal I would not advise buying from either Woolworths or coles online as both have a minimum spend limit $50 plus and then a delivery fee of $6+. However both the woolworths and coles online shopping are GREAT along with Aldi's 'browse isles section of their website' to help weigh up prices to help you decide where you are going to shop and what you are buying.