Last year I turned 30, and in all that time I’ve learned quite a lot. Some of it important, like how to adult and some not so important, like the words to too many songs from the 90s. Most of these life lessons I learned in my 20s, but some are quite recent, like number 15. So here are my 30 life lessons from a 30-year-old.

1. Have an outlet to relieve your frustrations; write, exercise, meditate etc.
2. Prioritise by working out what is important to you.
3. Stop spending your time on things you don’t enjoy. Hate a particular chore? Outsource it. Hate your job? Get a new one.
4. Find your happy place. But be prepared, it might not be where you expect. My sister in law recently noticed that I really like it at the local strawberry farm. I feel comfortable there.
5. You need to look after yourself before you can look after others. Sometimes you really do need to put yourself first.
6. Get enough sleep, it really does make a difference to your day.
7. Live in the moment and acknowledge what you are experiencing, especially if you have young kids.
8. Really listen to people when they are talking with you. You don’t always need to say something in return.
9. Never stop learning, whether it be for profit or pleasure.
10. Give up judging people, it doesn’t do you any favours.
11. Don’t be too afraid of making mistakes that you don’t even try.
12. Learn from your mistakes, if you don’t you will probably continue to make those mistakes.
13. Ask for help when you need it, you won’t get it unless you ask.
14. What doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
15. If something won’t take long, just do it.
16. Celebrate the wins, even if they are small. Sometimes they can be few and far between.
17. If someone means a lot to you, let them know.
18. Be grateful, the things that follow may surprise you.
19. Ask for what you want. If you want a pay raise, ask for it. Don’t wait until it’s offered to you. You might not be offered one or it may be much less than you think you deserve.
20. Never stop saving your money. Even if you are only saving $10 a week, keep saving.
21. Make time for family. Take the time to catch up with your family members. I go to pretty much everything I am invited to. We also arrange a family Christmas party sometime in December just so we can all catch up.
22. Take all the advice you are given. People are going to give you advice whether you want it or not, especially when it comes to parenting. Take it and do what you want with it.
23. Do it while you can. My husband and I spent a month travelling the US for our honeymoon. In hindsight, it cost us quite a bit but it was an experience we will never forget. It’s also something we may not have the chance to do again.
24. Learn and know your body. Take the time to learn what your body is telling you. Also learn to track your menstrual cycle, the stuff they teach you in school is just not enough.
25. Done is better than perfect. You can waste your life away waiting for something to be perfect. The perfect partner, the perfect time to have children, the perfect job, the perfect blog post.
26. Don’t be afraid to let your guard down. The moment I admitted to my friends that I had experienced postnatal depression, I discovered some of my friends were the same.
27. Put yourself out there. For years I have been really concerned about what others thought of me. This blog has helped me put myself out there more. I was absolutely petrified when the first person I knew in real life found this blog.
28. It’s ok to change your mind about friends, partners, jobs and your health.
29. Don’t be ashamed of your flaws. There are many people out there that are likely experiencing something similar. And on the contrary, wish for what you have.
30. Always have a carton of long life milk in the fridge or cupboard as well as a loaf of bread in the freezer. Have you ever run out of milk and really don’t want to go out just for milk?

The importance of meal planning is touted on almost every money-saving blog and is a priority for many stay-at-home parents. But I generally meal plan because I like to know what to expect. You see I am horrible with surprises and not that good when it comes to a change of plans. But I think I’ve come up with the easiest meal plan.

I only meal plan our dinners and I try my best to be flexible about it. Events pop up out of nowhere and there are nights when nobody wants to cook. Most of the items are stored in the freezer, so are put in the fridge the night before or the day of. If it doesn’t get eaten on the day its planned for, it moves to the next night.

Go shopping

Many will suggest you make your meal plan before going shopping. You can use the catalogues and the current specials to get great deals and work out what you are going to eat for the week.

I don’t do this. I shop pretty solely at Aldi and they don’t often discount their regular stock. So I just go shopping and buy what I think we might like to eat. I always have sausages, beef mince and chicken breast on hand.

Once I am home with the shopping, I divide it up into meal servings. The sausages I buy come in a pack of 24. Out of the 24 sausages, I get 5 meals: four meals of five sausages (two each for the adults and one for little miss), and one meal of four sausages. I prefer to store everything in freezer bags. I also don’t bother labelling it, nothing is usually in my freezer for longer than three months.

Write that list

Your fridge and freezer are now packed to the brim just waiting to be emptied again. Make a list of all the items you have that you can make the main meals out of. Then, next to the item, I list the quantity I have. So with the example of sausages from earlier, I have five serves. U usually when I do this, I end up with about 3 weeks of dinners!

The easiest meal plan

Now that you know what you have and how much of it you have, start allocating meals to days of the week. I try to mix it up so that we don’t have the same type of meat every night in a row. I also take into account what sort of activities we are doing during the day. Monday is usually something simple, as we are both at work. Wednesday tends to be the most extravagant because it’s grocery shopping day. So that means I can pick up anything that we need to keep fresh like salads or cold meats.

Let them eat cake! (if it’s in the meal plan)

The last step, which isn’t really a step, is to eat your way through the easiest meal plan! Hopefully, you won’t need to buy any meat for the duration.

I also like to have tins of baked beans or spaghetti on hand, as well as a tin or two of soup. They are great to have on hand for quick easy meals, plus they remind me of my childhood.

I have been toying with the idea of a certain type of meal on a specific night of the week. Like Monday is chicken night, Tuesday is sausage night etc. But I’m not sure I’m ready to live my life like that, although it would make it the easiest meal plan.