I bought a loaf

(Book Review of “How to afford time off with your baby” by Becky Goddard-Hill)

at Tescos yesterday.

Nothing new there really. In fact my shopping habits are fairly predictable. The only way to manage a tight budget and a family of six is to be routine. No impulse buys. Planned mealtime menus. If I do buy special offers they are only on things I would normally buy anyway and then freeze.

That is why I found Becky Godard-Hill’s “How to afford time off with your baby – 101 ways to ease the financial strain” (Published by Vermillion – http://wwwbabybudgeting.co.uk) a fascinating read.

My eldest is 18 ( I know I don’t look old enough – I wish!) and being the first child we went crazy buying everything new, innovative and en vogue. By the time the youngest came along eleven years later I had realised that most of the gadgets I’d bought for baby one were a complete waste of time.

Babies need very little. They are actually quite robust and strive amazingly well on very few material items as long as there are plenty of hugs, clean nappies standing by and a healthy supply of food on tap.

My book Mum Ultrapreneur looks at the growing phenonmenom of WAHMs or Work At Home Mums (Mumpreneurs, Kitchen Table Tycoons etc). But do not be fooled few are multi-millionaires – quite the opposite in fact.

Whilst Becky’s book is primarily aimed as SAHMs (Stay At Home Mums – come on keep up!) the great ideas contained inside can equally be applied to WAHMs. And it is written in an honest, warm style that makes the concept of budgeting seem less daunting and even, possibly, some what fun.

Again though the book is aimed at new mums – I, as an experienced mother of four and expert financial juggler, found it full of fantastic money-saving ideas that I hadn’t thought of.

And to all budding Mum Ultrapreneurs there is also a great section on Making Money that will give you lots of fab ideas to get the cash flowing.

Then again instead of popping down to Tesco’s to buy a loaf – you could always bake your own? Try it!