Welcome back to Ask Ready or Not! It’s Ready or Not’s tip-based episode, landing in your ears every Friday.

This week, Loz chats with Frances Cook, financial journalist, author, and host of New Zealand’s number one business podcast, Making Sense, about practical money hacks that actually work for busy mums.

Frances breaks down how to budget through maternity leave, what the 50-30-20 rule really looks like when you’ve got kids, and the biggest financial traps new mums fall into. She shares her honest take on joint accounts, childcare costs, and why starting small with investing can be your smartest move.

Find Frances online at @francescooknz 

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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In this episode, we cover practical money advice for mothers, financial wellbeing and advocacy, budgeting through maternity leave, how to manage childcare costs, ways to start investing with small amounts, realistic savings tips for working mums, navigating financial inequality and superannuation after kids, how to talk to your partner about money, creating long-term financial security, and building financial confidence while juggling motherhood and career.

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we’re lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whenever we work with a brand that we love, I immediately want to know the founder’s story. And when our manager relayed Poonami founder Ella Salera’s motherhood and career journey back to me, I knew we had to interview her, because in so many ways, her story captures so many of the common challenges and experiences that our listeners face: working corporate while launching a side project, redundancy, two wildly different postpartum journeys, wondering if your postpartum symptoms are normal or something more, and the many challenges that come with starting a business. 

Here, we talk about the weight gain and symptoms that led to the diagnosis of Hashimoto’s disease after her first baby, delivering her second baby six weeks early just after launching her business, unpacking the pressure to be perfect, and the gap that still exists between being a mum and a business owner.  

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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In this episode, we cover the below topics: 

Postpartum anxiety, premature birth, weight gain postpartum, hashimoto’s disease, launching a business before giving birth, redundancy after maternity leave, returning to work, juggling motherhood and career, launching a business, small business, childcare sickness, identity and more.

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Witching Hour – the show where two mums and sort of cousins figure out how to make work, work. Today on the show we answer some listener questions and share how to: 

• Hold your ground when your workplace pressures you to return early.
• Explain the brain fog of sleep deprivation to a new boss.
• Decide whether to take on leadership when you’re still in the thick of baby life.
• Cope with the guilt of part-time work.
• Manage the stress of endless carer’s leave and daycare bugs.
• And, how to push back if your role changes while you’re on maternity leave.

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Ask Ready or Not! It’s Ready or Not’s tip-based episode, landing in your ears every Friday.

If you’ve ever found yourself whisper-yelling at a toddler in Coles, this one’s for you. Loz chats with Charlotte Wilson, teacher, mindfulness coach and founder of The Happinest, about what to actually do when your child has a meltdown (and how to keep your cool while it’s happening).

Charlotte shares practical, real-world tools for handling tantrums in public, what to say when your child screams “I hate you!”, and how to raise emotionally resilient kids without resorting to yelling. You’ll learn the simple acronym she swears by - RAIN -  and why connection before correction really does work.

Find Charlotte’s resources and mindfulness tools for families at https://thehappinestkids.com/ or on Instagram at @thehappinestkids

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Melissa Reader’s youngest baby was just nine months old when her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. Just 15 months later, he died, leaving behind three children, a wife, and no will in place. Melissa became a single, self-employed mother and in amongst the agonising grief, she felt angry. Angry that they didn’t plan for the worst and overwhelmed by the death admin that comes with losing your husband, on top of navigating everything else. 

And here, she tells us all about it; her story of loss and life after it, navigating motherhood and work through each chapter, and how her experience led her to start Violet, a not-for-profit helping families plan for the last stages of life. 

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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In this episode, we cover the below topics: 

Maternity leave, parental leave, business, owning a business as a mum, newborns, marriage, loss, the sandwich generation, working mums, working motherhood, career mum, returning to work, returning to work after maternity leave, mum guilt, being a mum of three, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, remarrying after death, bringing a new partner into the family, blended families, grief, death admin, losing your husband, finding love again.

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Witching Hour – the show where two mums and sort of cousins figure out how to make work, work. Today on the show:

• It’s not your hormones, your diet or your exercise routine. It’s your husband: why mums aren’t broken, it’s the unequal load that’s breaking us.
• The working mum conundrum: Lu unpacks the logistics of daycare waitlists, kinder half-days, and how any of it is supposed to fit with an actual job.

Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wowee we really did consume culture and talk trash. We also apologise for the slight internet delay we run into at times, as well as Lu’s screaming children towards the end. BUT! For the first time ever, welcome to The Low Battery Book Club, a bonus monthly three-parter in collaboration with Charley from Book Smut, where we consume way too much culture and talk way too much trash. 

On the show today:

• We share our favourite recs of the month (something old, something new, something high, something low)
• We deep dive Loved by Aisha Muharrar (and pick our next book which includes a giveaway!!!).
• Are literary awards actually worth the hype? From the Booker to the NYT bestseller list, do they reflect what we really want to read, or just what looks good on a coffee table?
• All your book rec questions, answered.
• We land on the books we promise to read before we meet again.

EDIT! We assigned the wrong author to Booth! It’s Karen Joy Fowler, not Geraldine Brooks!

LINKS!!

Here are our something old, something new, something high, something low lists:

Charley:

Old: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

New: Heart The Lover by Lily King, Seed by Bri Lee

High: The Cult of Trad Wives on SBS On Demand (watch here) & Can You Be A Big Workout Pants Person? (read here)

Low: The Summer I Turned Pretty ending :( Instead, she's turning to Broadchurch and Slow Horses.

Lu:

Old: Leviathan by Paul Auster

New (well…to her anyway): The Names Florence Knapp

High: You must refill the hot tub after your parties: A letter to Joan Rivers from her daughter/landlord (read here)

Low: Donald Trump talking. Shut up. 

TIME CODES

Haven’t read the book or looking for a particular segment? 

Skip ahead to segments here: 

20:35: Something old, something new, something high, something low 

38:05: Loved One by Aisha Muharrar book discussion 

1:03: We discuss all things Book Prize & New York Times bestseller list 

1:14: We answer all of your book recommendation requests.

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@book_smut 

@lucindamckimm_

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Ask Ready or Not! It’s Ready or Not’s tip-based episode, landing in your ears every Friday.

If you’re burnt out from cooking, sick of dinner battles, or dealing with kids who only want white foods, this episode is for you. Ashleigh from Ashleigh Cooks joins Loz to share real-life, guilt-free food hacks for busy families.

From the genius “no thank you bowl” to freezer tricks, fussy eater strategies, and how to throw together quick dinners without blowing the budget, Ashleigh proves you don’t need Instagram-worthy meals to keep everyone happy and fed. Looking for easy recipes? Ash has heaps! You can find them here at https://ashleighcooks.com.au/

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

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This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey, it's Loz here! Lu was too sick to record this intro so I’m jumping in to let you know about  today's guest. If you’re not already familiar with her, Luka McCabe is the founder of Boob to Food. She's also a mum of three, a midwife by background, and now an author and business owner. In this episode, Luu chats with Luka all about her journey from life as a midwife to motherhood and building Boob to Food into the incredible brand that it is today.

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Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

— 

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to Witching Hour – the show where two mums and sort of cousins figure out how to make work, work. Today on the show:

• We can’t afford our friends anymore: how cost of living pressures are reshaping friendships.

• Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should: why being the office ‘doer’ is holding women back  and how to start saying no.

This episode was brought to you by Yoto. Head to yoto.space for free audio, offline activities and 15% off with the code READY15.

Thanks for listening! If you liked the show, please tell your friends, subscribe or write a review.

You can also find us on Instagram:

@readyornot.pod

@laurentreweek_

@lucindamckimm_

— 

This podcast was recorded on the lands of the Boon Wurong people of the Kulin Nation. The land on which we're lucky enough to raise our sons and daughters always was and always will be Aboriginal land. We Pay The Rent and you can too.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.