Getting to know you........

sweetpeas_2

:hello: Hi,

What a lovely thread

I come on the OS board quite often for ideas and inspiration but rarely post as I don't always have a lot to contribute back...! I'm very pleased as I've just done my first ever meal plan for a whole month (and thanks to inspiration from the OS board) it's all HM

I am a 24 year old married mummy of 2... a 6yr old boy and 3yr old girl. I work full time (unfortunately) and also do m/s's etc for extra cash. We also have a lovely golden retriever who is a complete fuss pot.

That's me

rc01

Hello everyone

I've been on the forum for a bit now, but am new to this board. I've done the dreaded SOA, cried a bit, panicked a bit and then got into action! I've done all I can do to try and re-organise debts, its just a case of paying them off now, I'm raising my income as my business grows and gets busier.

My household spending is the only area left to sort - I spend way too much on groceries, takeaways and coffee!! I will be spending tonight reading, reading and more reading!

DD (4 yrs) and I will be toddling off do the supermarket shop tomorrow and hope not to be spending my usual £80 for a week :rolleyes: what are my chances of learning enough by the morning to halve it!!

Rebecca xx

esio_trot

Hi everyone,

Newbie here who has been lurking for a wee while. I'm 25, a clerical worker and living with my BF of 4 years in Edinburgh.

I love reading all of your tips! I already do a lot of meal planning/trying to chop my food bills etc but I'm prone to slips (a lot of them!)

look forward to getting to know some of you and saving some more pennies!

:beer:

nannyboo1

Trinny wrote: »

Hello All

Just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me to become OS - i have learnt to cook,meal plan, budget, product test, and buy the cheapest fuel - all because of MSE - and i know there is lots more good stuff to learn - so thanks for the recipes, meal plans, freezer building blocks, fly lady etc it all helps

Trin

Can I ask what OS means

thank you

nannyboo1

nannyboo1 wrote: »

Can I ask what OS means

thank you

Okay brain must be dead guess its Old Style hangs head embarrassed

nannyboo1

Okay after my stupid post above I will now introduce myself.

My name is Kate, 45, married to Gary sadly with no children. I work as a childminder which apart from all the paperwork is the ideal job and I love it.

I joined this site over 2 years ago. I occasionally come and read posts but never really take things to heart. I do keep getting attracted to these OS boards which take me back to my childhood when things were all home made and not out of packets (well they must have been but you know what I mean).

We have never had a fortune but have always managed and hubby's money paid the mortgage and the bills and mine paid for the extras such as holidays. sadly things have become so tight that we have a week off next week and can't afford a holiday (not exactly true we have vouchers from hubby's work that can be used in a hotel chain but it is far too posh for me and I would rather have a week s/c then 2 nights in a hotel - sorry I digress a bad habit of mine).

So instead of having a holiday next week I have informed hubby that we are sitting down and sorting out our finances instead of just saying we will do it. (So it may end in divorce yet)

Ideally I would love to be green and organic and I feel the Old style way is a way of achieving this (well as much as I am able). I hope to be a regular here (I've been addicted to FB and farming so its my way of keeping off there as well).

The debts we have are our mortgage which if we keep on the way we are then we have another 19 years to pay off a car loan to be paid off by Feb 2011, an overdraft of £700 and a 5 year loan for £10K I have just taken out to sort the garden out for the business but which will give me an area for growing fruit and veg (this was a necessity to give me a selling point for the business and was thought about long and hard before doing it)

Sorry I have babbled on too much I know.

Kate

yummyhoney

ok,,so here's me,,been reading for a few days now,,so excited i found this place,,so im a stay at home mom of 3 finances are mad at th mo,,been using credit card for shopping past few months,,that stopped 2 weeks ago,,have had enough of hiding it from himself!!!! oh and i'm in Ireland!!!

MakeitandMendit

Hello everyone. I have been an avid reader of MSE for some time now but had never really looked in the Forums before now. I love this one!
I am one of the 4 founding partners of Make it and Mend it and I work from home mostly on that - but to pay the bills I also work as a self employed Marketing Consultant.
We started Make it and Mend it because, like lots of people on this Forum, we were lucky enough to grow up with skills learnt from our mothers/ grandmothers and at school - although in my case at least, years of working crazy hours and flying all over the place on business trips meant I'd got into the habit of spending money on stuff and then chucking it away when it didn't fit or work or I got bored with it. I was too busy to cook from scratch and ate out a lot. After making all my own clothes in my early 20s I had got into buying designer labels then sending them to charity shops and buying more.
What I had forgotten, was the pleasure and pride you get from making your own stuff. I rediscovered this when I did an upholstery course last year.
Since setting up Make it and Mend it I have taken up jam making (something I hadn't done since I was 14) and have become a bit of a gardening fanatic - I particularly enjoy growing my own veg - and then cooking and eating them!
One of the nice things about the way we run Make it and Mend it is that we 4 meet as a team in each other's houses once a fortnight for a day - and whoever is hosting cooks the lunch.
We all share ideas and now have a growing band of followers from around the world eager to share and add to our tips and ideas on everything from buying reconditioned computers to stuffing courgette flowersor making garden furniture from an old bed!
This forum is going to be a great source of inspiration for me - as seeing the kind of problems people have and the things people care about will be very useful for us to help guide the kinds of articles we write.
Best wishes to everyone and please come and visit us at makeitandmendit.com and tell us what you think!
Clare from MakeitandMendit.com

meanmarie

Welcome to all....where are you in Ireland Yummyhoney? I am always trying to get MSE meets going, lovely to be able to put faces to names I find.

Marie

Gizmogiz

Well I've finally registered to post. Have been a lurker for a while & am really starting to get into OS.
I'm 27 & recently married to hubby, 29 :smileyhea . We live in a rented flat in Cardiff & are saving up for a house which we plan to buy early next year if we find something suitable. I'm a full time accountant and hubby is currently on a short term contract.
We don't have any debts other than OH's student loan which they haven't been taking for a while and he needs to sort out.

Financially we're pretty stable & have become good at money management, however we do still spend more than we need to on lots of things. And like everyone else we could always do with a bit more spare cash.

I was always a meal planner & shopping lister but have started trying to reduce the amount of extras we buy and think more carefully about using seasonal fruit and veg, OS cleaning products etc.

Weekends are our downfall, we don't always plan meals for weekends and end up with takeaways which are not only bad for my wallet but also my waist!

Luckily OH is getting into the spirit too & hasn't made me feel stupid for creating a household manual or using vinegar to clean things or filling the freezer with bits of veggies that would have been thrown out (so I can make soup or stock!).

I told OH last night (as I was going through the kitchen cupboards making a list of what we've got) that I think I'm trying to get my life sorted before we have a little one (planning in the next couple of yrs) so that I am better able to cope with being a mum (not sure thats true but it makes me feel more in control of things which is good for me).

So hi to everyone and hope to be speaking to you guys a bit more. I have found such invaluable info on these boards it really has changed my way of thinking about a lot of things. Thanks to everyone who contributes!