Jody Allen - The $50 Weekly Shop

To my delectable husband, Brenny-Poo, who puts up with my unique ideas, zany antics and general bat-shit craziness: thanks babycakes you are amazing and tremendously good-looking.

Thanks to my two baby boys who arent really babies any more. You are such naughty little shitters, but I love you to death. Thank you for the constant writers inspiration you give me, especially with home maintenance and discipline. Please stop wrecking my house.

To Nikkity Nickers, you have been on this whole Stay at Home Mum journey with me, bad sandals and all. You constantly make me cack. Please never change.

Finally, to Rosikins (i.e. Miss Moneypenny): thanks for making sure I adhere to strict deadlines, and for getting my butt into gear. Also thank you for bringing me coffee when required... You are a star!

Flavoured water

Water is, of course, the cheapest drink you can get. Drink lots of it it is good for you. Some people find it hard to drink enough, so here are a couple of ways to make your water delicious.

Simply add these ingredients to a jug of water and pop it in the fridge for the flavours to infuse:

a slice of lemon or lime, sliced strawberries or crushed blueberries

a few slices of cucumber (very refreshing)

crushed rose petals (very fancy)

mint leaves and sliced lemon (perfect in summer)

Teas

Green tea is good for you drink as much as you like. It is full of antioxidants and the teabags and leaf tea are quite inexpensive.

The cheapest option of all is to make your own herbal teas. Brew a few mint leaves for instant peppermint tea. Grated ginger steeped in hot water is not only delicious but also great for upset tummies. (Its long been used by expectant mums to ease morning sickness.)

Coffee

Iced coffee is great in summer. But how to make it without paying a fortune? One way is to make a coffee, get distracted and remember it an hour later instant iced coffee, LOL!

Seriously, to make a homemade iced coffee, brew your shot (or dissolve your instant in cup of boiling water), pour in full-cream milk (it tastes better and is sweeter), add a few ice cubes and enjoy!

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First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2017

Text copyright Jody Allen, 2017

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

Cover design by Louisa Maggio Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

Text design based on a design by Pauline Haas Penguin Random House Australia Pty Ltd

Author photograph by Paul Harris

penguin.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-76014-318-3

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HI EVERYONE! MY NAME is Jody, and I love living frugally it gives me a real sense of security knowing that I have enough money to pay my bills. But its important to understand that for me, being frugal doesnt mean being cheap. Being cheap means going without to make your bank balance bigger at the expense of having a good time. To me theres no fun in that! I like a good red wine, I love holidays, I love chocolate and getting my hair done. Being frugal allows me to afford treats like this without going into credit-card debt.

Now Ive always been careful with money, but a few years ago, something happened that challenged everything I thought I knew about managing it well. After being made redundant, having two babies in twelve months and living on one income, I did all the sums and worked out that I only had a measly $50 left to spend on groceries. OMG! I was devastated. At that time I had been spending $200 a week on groceries and Id thought that was pretty good!

I cried for a week. It looked like we were going to lose the house wed worked so desperately hard to buy. But sometimes you just need to feel sorry for yourself for a bit before you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and decide to damn-well do something about it. And thats exactly what I did!

I was determined that we would somehow manage on $50 a week. So, like I would with any goal, I broke it down into manageable steps. In the first week my goal was to spend $150 on groceries instead of $200. And to my surprise, it was pretty easy! I felt really good about making a bit of progress, so the next week I aimed for $100. To be honest, that was a lot harder, but I was just