Australia is a little bit behind the eight-ball with the whole parental leave thing. It wasn’t until the last Federal election that an idea of leave was introduced (due to start next year) which would see families who earn $150,000 or less be entitled to 18 weeks paid leave (at the minimum wage) for people who had worked an average of 10 hours a week for the preceeding 12 months. It’s not as giant a leap forward as you might imagine. Parents are already entitled to a baby bonus ($5,000) …

Welcome to the March Carnival of Natural Parenting: Vintage green!
This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month we’re writing about being green — both how green we were when we were young and how green our kids are today. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

I have a confession to make I have no recollection of my childhood. That’s an exaggeration. I do have three or …

We are on a strict budget at the moment. Really strict. We want to be debt free (other than our mortgage) by July or August. Money annoys me. Or the lack of money annoys me. After we got married we had close to $40,000 in debt between personal loans and credit cards. Nightmare. So to be in a position to have paid that off completely within 4 short years is a real achievement. I love that now whenever I buy something and they ask savings or credit, I always say …

A definite improvement.

This year I want to get organised. And not just with the big stuff, with all the little details as well. But I suppose if I could get on top of the little stuff, the big stuff would follow. Control freakdom is creepy that way.
Now, my inner perfectionist may be dead, but my inner control freak never dies, she just lies (almost) dormant and often passes judgement on everything.My inner control freak is in league with my inner Virgo, who is often (and easily) enraged by the piles of washing, …

I am so glad that I subscribed to the comments at PhD in Parenting’s article  - Dr. Phil Stay-at-home mom vs. working mom show because if I hadn’t I would have missed out an an a really interesting debate. And that’s one of the things I love about Annie’s blog is it almost always sparks intense debate, and there’s nothing I love more than a good debate.
Caroline’s comment sparked a big reaction, but I didn’t comment (yet!) I had so many ideas about it that I thought I could only do …

I’m a little late with the whole New Years resolutions thing. And although I’m not doing resolutions this year, exactly, I am thinking about goals. What is the difference?
Well someone can resolve to be healthy, happy, less stressed or organised. But, my inner control freak would tell you that all of that just means that as soon as you have a crap day, get a bit stressed or forget to do the washing, all of those resolutions have gone out the window, or at least you feel like they have. …

The silly season is almost upon us and we are going to three weddings in the next two months. All friends that I grew up with, now getting married. I think these will probably be the last weddings I go to for awhile, unless my brother decides to tie the knot, because know most people I know aren’t single. I feel old.

Not really. But kind of. (Isn’t that eloquent? You’re welcome.)
I was talking to a friend of mine about joint finances today. I would never have even considered joint finances …