The response to the survey has been fantastic, highlighting to me that spending on food is a big issue for families. The survey has provided some base data for comparisons, for families to see what like sized families are spending to feed their family. It does however have limitations:

• Not all respondents new exactly what they were spending in total.
• Not all respondents new the break down into grocery, fruit and veg and meat.
• From the comments it appears respondents have used their total from the supermarket. So would include toiletries, cleaning products etc. I know this is what I did!
• Those who have smaller weekly food bills could be eating out more.
• Those who have a smaller weekly food bill may be using the canteen for kids’ lunches.
• Some food choices are more expensive than others. For example I have started making my own breakfast cereal consisting of nuts and seeds. It would be triple the price of the processed cereal I was buying, but I am happy with that choice. (Thanks Theresa for reminding me of that!)

But it has certainly made me think about how much I spend and where I can save money. I will share some of this next week.

Budgeting

53% of respondents said they set a family budget. The data highlighted that those who budgeted did spend less per week on food by about 5%:

Tracking

51% of families are tracking what they spend on food on a regular basis uses a variety of tools. As with budget setting, those who tracked their expenditure spent on average 5% less than those who didn’t.

Menu planning

94% of readers are menu planning some capacity, 56% doing so on a regular basis. And it was this data that surprised me the most. Those who did not menu plan at all were spending a massive 18% less per week on food:

The sample size for those who did not menu plan was 39, so relatively small at 6%. It would be interesting to have asked additional questions as pointed out by readers in the comments of the first results post and on the Planning With Kids facebook page about additional expenditure on food like school lunches, snacks, take away meals and eating out. Snacks, take away meals and eating out is something we categorise in our budget as miscellaneous – not that we have much expenditure on these though!

The key finding for me is that tracking what you spend and where is powerful. You can compare your expenditure to this data to get an idea of how you are going, but if you are doing your own tracking and know exactly how you categorise expenditure on feeding your family, you have significant information to make budgetary decisions on.

How do you track spending on things like school lunches, snacks, take away meals and eating out?

Current Sponsors:

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Feeding The Family – Budgeting, Planning and Tracking is a post from: Planning With Kids

I am writing about the more practical side of things, while Maxabella is showing how she is returning to study and undertaking a Digital Photography Course . Kelly Exeter is sharing inspiring interviews with Australian women who are following their passion.

Here is a quick summary of the latest from me of achieving your goals and managing your time:

The best goal tracking tools to help you stay accountable

Simple goal tracking tools, online, apps and old school recording that can help you with your goal setting. Read more….

The real 3 Rs – routine, routine, routine

Family routines work as the give you a solid foundation to work from, here are three family routines that will help get your family sorted. Read more….

How to keep going and achieve your dreams

Pursuing your goals, like returning to work or study takes hard work. Here are some tips to help you get to it! Read more….

Helping the family manage change

Tips on how to plan and manage change with the family when you return to work. Read more….

Check-in time. Are you meeting your goals?

One quarter of the way through the year, time to check in and see how you are traveling. Look at what is working, what isn’t and what needs to change. Read more….

How to get out of the house on time

Whether it be to head to work or head to your lecture, here are 4 tips to get you organised and out of the house on time. Read more….

Time management: Fitting it all in

Fitting it all in? Of course not, well at least not all at the same time. Assess where you are spending your time and work out what you can prune to slow the pace down. Read more….

Making the most of your time

Feel time racing away while the to do list remains undone? Some simple tips to help you make the most of your time. Read more….

What about me?

What about me? Why time for you is important, how to plan to so it happens. Read more….

The evening rush

Tips on how to implement strategies into your weekly life to ensure the evening rush has a sense of organised chaos as opposed to complete madness! Read more….

Win with SEEK Learning and Kidspot

Kidspot and SEEK Learning have a fab competition going at the moment (Australian residents only sorry) where you can choose from  a $2000 shopping spree, a $2000 gourmet temptation, a $2000 adventure experience and $2000 endless pampering.  To enter you need to head here  and in 30 words or less, let them know  “Who is your biggest supporter, and why?” Entries close 15:00pm AEST on 8 July 2013.

Have you returned to work or study recently – if so how are you going with it?

Current Sponsors:

• Bright Star Kids' Name Labels - Super Cute & Durable Name Labels
• 4MyEarth - Lunch that does not cost the earth.

Goal Setting and Time Management Tips is a post from: Planning With Kids

Almost five years ago I wrote a series of posts reviewing the excellent book by Celia Lashlie, Growing gorgeous boys into good men. You can see the posts here.

I have been re-reading these posts and feel that I am overdue to read this book again. The following section is particularly relevant to our teenager at the moment:

Adolescent Pragmatism: Why They Do What They Do

Lashlie feels that to understand an adolescent boy, you really need to understand their pragmatism. That is – “what’s in it for me, what’s the pay-off, why should I do this?”

This pragmatism also shows itself in the way most adolescent boys will do the work when the moment arrives and not before. The nagging, cajoling form parents is unlikely to have any impact.

“When he knows it’s up to him and only him whether something does or doesn’t get done, when he’s able to link action with consequences, then he’ll begin to make good decisions for himself.”

Lashlie feels that to connect with your adolescent son we need to:

“encourage him in making good decisions, we need to step into his timeframe.”

Patience

Accepting the teenager’s pragmatism requires endless patience on my behalf. Over the last 10 days he has had seven exams and three NAPLAN tests. Before each exam period I encourage him to create a plan for how he will approach his study. A couple of weeks out fromt these when I tried to do this, the teenager made it very clear he was not keen on this and didn’t want me going on about it.

I made a conscious decision to stay out of his study planning this time. I clearly and calmly articulated that I respected his ability to organise himself and let him know that both myself and his dad would be happy to help if he needed it, he just needed to ask us.

From where I was viewing his study, at times it has been like watching a train wreck. The night before his English exam he did indeed ask me to help him with some revision. While he is very capable at English, it is not his favourite subject and through discussion it appeared that he had spent earlier days studying his preferred subjects of science and history and English was left a little late.

He admitted in hindsight, he should have prioritised better. I resisted the urge to lecture about planning, instead focusing on giving him some tips on what to do now he was in this predicament.

I did unfortunately comment on a different evening to him, that for someone who had NAPLAN and an exam the next day, he didn’t seem to be doing much work. He quite rightly pointed out that he shouldn’t need to do anything for NAPLAN and that I had said I wasn’t going to comment on his study habits. Humble pie for me to eat.

He seems happy with the way his exams went. Time will tell. But I found it quite exhausting, using every ounce of my energy to be patient and allow him to work on his own time line. The good thing is that as these are year 9 exams, he has plenty of time to practice working out his study habits, before the exams start accounting for much more of his results.

How do you approach exam study with your children?

Current Sponsors:

• Bright Star Kids' Name Labels - Super Cute & Durable Name Labels
• 4MyEarth - Lunch that does not cost the earth.

Parenting Tips For Teenagers Vol 4 – Pragmatism and Patience is a post from: Planning With Kids