Pobke Photography » Canberra Photographer | Natural Light Modern Portraiture for Children and Families

Sarah - I'm loving all these tips. I love thrift and op shops. I have picked up some fantastic second hand toys for my 3 year old and when he is finished I donate them back. I think it is a great way not only of saving a bit of money but also reducing our carbon foot print.

Kirsten - Awesome contest! Anything to win a free session with you, Christine! :) My advice: hangdry all your laundry. Don't use your dryer if the energy rating is low. Besides, clothes last longer that way! Also, on the same token, use your dishwasher less and do the dishes right after meals so that they don't pile up!

Anna - Hi, i love the blog, and the new site. I follow your photos because they are so lovely. I know I am not in Australia to cash in on the "saving money advice" award, but you never know what the future might hold. :) My advice on saving money: Find some good happy hours and use them as date night. (we have a monday/tuesday all night happy hour at a great thai place, as well as an all night happy hour sunday's at another restaurant. Those are in addition to the multitude of normal happy hour places. Cook. Find a food you are excited too cook and make the meal around it. Look in your cupboards, and in your fridge and see what you can make with one or two additional ingredients. (I made an amazing stuffed poblano pepper this way, with spanish style rice and beans yum yum). Run outside. Walk somewhere. (exorcise and get places!) If a friend wants to get together for coffee or something, suggest an outdoor activity such as a walk in a park or other scenic location (again you get exorcise and a good friend chat!) Share meals when you go out to eat, they usually serve too much anyways. Don't drink alcohol at dinner, or if you do have less, ex. one glass each verses a bottle. Bring your lunch (I think you might have said you already do this.) Carpool. Be crafty when you give gifts. Exchange services for goods, or visa versa. Never underestimate the romance of a date outside with a picnic dinner and a deck of cards. Seriously one of my best dates ever.

Chris - Wow, these are all excellent ideas! One thing I have cut out recently are beverages - I now carry my water bottle everywhere and refuse to buy bottled waters, cokes, and even coffees. Those drinks add up: $3 here, $2 there... and besides, it's better for the environment reusing my water bottle!

Sam - Another good tip could be "cheap tuesdays" where you and your hubby make a really cheap meal! Grilled cheese sandwiches, instant noodles, etc! Sounds lame but it can be really fun! Top it off with a glass of cheap clean skin!

Jen - Maybe more important when you have kids but hey, grocery shopping is expensive for everyone ... so what I do is a big shop at Aldi once every 2-3 weeks, buy as much as you can there that you know you will use (or freeze) before the use-by dates and not waste. Then you can drop in to Coles or Woolworths for the essentials in between, or little special faves that you can't live without, and it won't send you broke! And the other thing that works for us is if you're going to entertain, or go out for a meal with friends - make it BREKKY! It's cheaper to have brekky at a cafe than lunch or dinner and you can still make it a long nice relaxed chatty one. Or it's cheap to do at home - bacon, eggs, muffins, a big fruit platter, fresh juice ... yummy and won't blow the budget! Good luck Christine. xoxo

Mandy Jill - Tip #1: cook awesome meals and you won't miss eating out. Don't cook? Find someone who does! :) Also, vintage shopping is my secret weapon. I hardly ever buy any new clothes, just "new to me" clothes.

Kyle - Don't enter me in the contest because I'm not in Australia, but we are on a very strict budget and one thing that works for me is to take all my entire allotted spending money out of the bank at once. When I can see that the cash in my hands is dwindling and I know I'm not allowed to take out more it's much less tempting to cheat on the budget!

Kirsty - Sorry that should have said 3pm on Sunday.

Kirsty - I had a thought for those in Canberra. If you go to the Fyshwick Markets at about 3pm they start selling stuff cheap. There is a meat stall (they sell organic meat as well as non-organic) and they start selling all the chicken and meat at half price...... meat is soooooooo expensive so a great way to save $$$. I go every so often and buy heaps and then freeze it for when we need it.

Emily - Cuuuute image. :) Jon and I are considering getting rid of our cable; it would save $50 a month... just a small step that adds up. :)

Kylie - Wow, love your photos :-) My money saving tip is don't do the grocery shopping on an empty stomach! Sure fire way to buy everything appealing and too much of it. And take a list and stick to it!

s h e r r y - Love that photo! My only saving tip is packing my own food. I'd love to learn more though- I definitely need to save up!!

Katie - I have LOADS of money saving tips - too many to list here. BUT, more importantly, I love that photo SOOOO much. It might be the best photo of Toby and I have ever SEEN!

Bec Thorpe - I just have to say - that photo is making me cry - it's a VERY pulling-at-the-heartstrings-photo... and while I'm here, my tip: whenever possible - take the bus, or ride a bike. Great for your wallet and your body. xox

Samantha - think of creative ways to plan out your meals so that you don't overspend on groceries! buying meat on the last sell-by date is excellent, just buy it and freeze it! that has saved me so much money!

Mike Hall - The only thing that worked to help me save money was to marry Liana! Seeing as how she is married to me and there are no plans to change that fact, it doesn't really help anyone else. =)

Cindy - great idea! i've had to cut out alot lately, sigh. Stopped the weekly newspaper. I can check it online.

Kirsty - Any opportunity to have another session with you Christine :) I was amazed at how we have managed with me being on half pay for the last 12 months. Things we aren't doing so much now that we were doing before, nice dinners out, movies and shopping (who has time for shopping with a baby?). I am telling you having babies is a good way to save money. Although there is an initial outlay when having babies we are heaps ahead considering I have been on half my normal salary. So there you go...... what are you waiting for, babies, babies, babies. Also as you are an awesome photograher you will save money not having to pay for wonderful photos of your family!!

Penny - A real easy one is budget your bread/milk/newspaper/magazine/fun/treat/takeaway money each week in cash in your wallet. You think twice before you impluse buy cos if you run out that's it for the week .... otherwise it's just sooo easy to EFTPOS $20 bucks here, $10 bucks there.

Sean - Oh geez. Haha. Not the post for me - I eat out all the time (Hello yummy food!) and go out for coffee four times a week? Ha! Making more money = less worrying about spending = a more enjoyable time through life :)

Claire - Wow, these are fantastic! One other good way of saving is keeping track of every spend and seeing where the money is going. Only by knowing the spend will you realise where you can cut costs! I've started doing this and I can't believe how much I've spent eating at cafes on the weekends... it certainly adds up!

Adam S - Christine, without a doubt the number 1 money saving tip is to PAY YOURSELF FIRST! This might be a bit more difficult if your income hits your bank account on an irregular (freelance) basis, but for everyone on a regular salary, paying yourself first involves automatically transfering out the portion of your income you want to save (say 10%) the day you get paid (or the day after, so that the money clears in your bank account), and putting it in an account that you can't touch easily. Something like an ING Direct web-only account is perfect, because you have no EFTPOS access to it. This means that savings are taken care of automatically, and what you have left is yours to budget with, spend to do what you will. But it makes saving the priority, not the leftover bit at the end of the month; because we all know that it is too easy for there not to be anything left over at the end of the month! After a while, you adjust to having your lower salary; and soon you build up a sizeable chunk of savings - all without really trying! No standing in the shops wondering whether something you want fits with your savings goals or not, because your savings are already taken care of. Think about it - it is part of the reason why our superannuation comes out of our income before we are paid - if it was left to us to do it, most of us wouldn't. One of the best websites I could recommend to you is http://www.thesimpledollar.com/ This website covers a huge amount of material in such a simple fashion - everything from savings, frugality and the mindset to downshifting a consumerist lifestyle to something that fits better with your personal goals and values. Highly recommended. And good luck!

Angie Field - Wow, I'd love to win not only to have a chance at getting some gorgeous photos of my kidlets but also to meet you and see you in action :) After being made redundant late last year the first thing we cut out was our weekly take away night and instead having home made pizzas, fish and chips and hamburgers. The kids loved the fact that they were involved in making their own and we ended saving over $150 a month. Sweet!

Eva - Oooooh, can I enter?? My biggest money saver is.....SHOPPING AT ALDI with my gourmet 4 Week Menu Plan!! With 3 little kids (with very healthy apetites and 2 in nappies) and 2 gourmet eating adults, the grocery bill is ASTONISHING when everything is purchased at Woolworths or Coles. We're talking $300 a WEEK, nappies included. BUT with my Gourmet 4 Week Menu Plan and brand-snobbery attitude aside, I can purchase my entire FORTNIGHTS (2 weeks) groceries for $300!! That's with yummy things like Brie, gourmet fetta, smoked salmon etc in there as well! After shopping for the menu plan, each nights recipe is set out to follow and all the right ingredients are at your fingertips.

Marissa Rodriguez - I did the same thing this year! Mini little resolutions...because if I don't meet them, I don't feel so bad! This is so awesome that you are doing this, I'd love to win, BUT I'm in California...that's kinda' far! Hehe! I'm sure you'll do great with your saving, we're actually trying to save for a house also. Tip: Quickbooks. Track all your spending and at the end of the month you can print out reports to see how you did. Phew! Long comment! :)

Jessica Feely - hehe :) You are awesome! Well I know I cant win a session, unless you want to fly me out there :) But here is my tip: Plan your meals ahead of time down the small ingredients and roughly estimate how much each thing would cost. Say it will cost $50 for one week's worth of meals. When you go to the grocery store, set your maximum grocery amount to $50 and try to get the best deals and prices possible. When you have a plan its easy to stick to it and not throw things in your cart you dont need. Oh and one more: DONT EVER go to the grocery store HUNGRY!!! xoxo

Andy - What a cute kid. :) My money saving tip: getting rid of memberships/subscriptions that I didn't need, like quickflix and my old gym membership that I never used. It's not much but it's still adding $100/month to my savings!

Sarah M - Awesome news! I would love to win a shoot with you! I'm not a very good saver but one thing that we did do was get rid of our landline - it was costing $80/month and we rarely used it! Using free forms of communication like Skype really helped us out! :)

Katie Mac - ooh how I'd love to win this photo shoot for my family, documenting our last year as a family before I get married and move away. It's not too greedy to have u photograph me three times is it! ;) This year I was able to save up for a trip to the states while on a student budget. One thing was opening up a saving account with high interest + squirreling money away. Getting money out needed for the week/fortnight and then any left over money and coinage went into a box and was banked once it reached a certain amount. Morgan did this too and we managed to save a couple of hundred dollars between the two of us! and then simple things like u mentioned - packing my lunch each day, coffee only occasionally and more 'home-cooked' dates with the boy in the garden or a picnic at the park and cooking together at home with friends too rather than going to a restaurant :)