About

Nicole Avery - Planning Queen

Thanks for wanting to know a little bit more about me! My real name is Nicole Avery and I have a beautiful husband and five very unique and amazing children aged 12, 10, 7 (only girl!), 5 and two. We live in an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne – the best city in Australia!

I love my family. I love nothing more than to whip up a quick spreadsheet, to make life easier and more enjoyable for us. I passionately believe in equality and peace and try to teach my children this through life experiences.

I love music, mainly of the non main stream variety. Genres I love include pop indie, country, folk, and electronica. I love politics and the process of democracy. When I have the time, I volunteer with an organisation which gets me closer to the action.

I have been writing at Planning With Kids since January 2008. If you are looking for a place to investigate the blog further, head to my Where To Start page. It will give you a taste of what I write about here and what readers have liked!

In October 2009, I flew to Singapore to participate in the inaugural Nuffnang Asia Pacific Blog Awards. Planning With Kids was ranked as one of the top five parenting blogs for this region.

Photo by the wonderful Bek from Little Red Photography.

The Planning With Kids Book

The Planning With Kids Book is now available in stores or you can find out more about it and buy it here. If you have any publicity enquries regarding the book please contact Laura.Callow@wiley.com.

Getting In Touch

I get lots of lovely emails from readers asking questions and wanting to know more about me and the blog. I do read all correspondence but in my endeavour to find some balance with blogging and family life, I am not always able to respond individually to each email. If you have a question you can email me via nicole@planningwithkids.com or the contact form. In the meantime here are some answers to frequently asked questions:

Is your house perfectly organised?

Never! I gave up aiming for perfection in the house years ago. I have a level of tidiness and cleanliness that I need to be able to function, but there is always stuff somewhere in my house needing tidying and cleaning. I find playing with the kids much more interesting than cleaning.

How do I find time to blog?

I take a very planned approach to blogging. I have a content plan for at least the next six months, so I know what I am writing about in advance. Quite often they are written in my head before they are written on the Mac! I batch write my posts on weekends when my husband is home to care for the kids. I then work at night and around kids sleep times.

I watch almost no TV. This isn’t a philosophical decision – it is a time management issue. When most people are watching TV, I am doing bloggy stuff like responding to emails, tweeting etc. I don’t mind missing TV as I really love blogging.

Do my kids fight?

YES! And sometimes it drives me crazy. But they do get on pretty well. The older two boys tend to do lots together and then numbers 3 and 4 play together. Our toddler is just starting to join in this play.

What did I do before I had kids?

I went to University and completed a Bachelor of Business (Finance). For the majority of my adult life I worked for a large Australian Telecommunications Company. I held a number of different roles within the organisation, including but not limited to: Regional Performance Manager, Call Centre Manager and Project Manager. I went back to work between son number one and son number two. After number two was born in 2001, I decided the corporate gig was no longer for me and have been at home ever since.

Why do I blog about this stuff?

Planning has helped keep our life harmonious and enjoyable. This is my attempt to share some of the things we do in our daily life. Hopefully these posts provide some ideas to other families or stimulus for reflection on what you are doing in your life.

Do the kids know I blog about them?

With the kids who are at school, I will always tell them about my idea for a post if it involves them. Mostly they are okay with me to post, but there has been times when I haven’t gone ahead with a post because one of the kids, hasn’t comfortable with it.

Is it okay to link to your blog?

Of course! I love it if you share my work – thanks.

Can I use your photos?

Yes, providing there is a link back to Planning With Kids.