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

Mariek

I've been noseying around in the OS forum all morning (not that I should be working or anything....shhhhhhh!) so I thought I'd take the plunge and intro myself.

I'm 33 yo, married with two kids (DD 5 and DS 3). I work part time as an administrator in a sixth form college and my DH works full time as a plant manager for a concrete manufacturer.

We've had a couple of problems with debts in the past and have always managed to get out of them before they got out of control and because we've been there (and never want to be again!) I'm always conscious of us not spending above our means. With the recession hitting and DH being employed in the field he is we're finding we need to tighten our belts more (hopefully to ride out the recession without too much pain!).

I've always tried to do menu planning and budgeting in the past but now I really need to kick this up a gear (I need to know where on earth the rest of that "spare money" we're supposed to have each month is going, because I'm blown if I know! LOL). I'm looking forward to having a delve around in the OS board some more and checking out all the great advice.

Ooo - I should also add that I love baking, sewing, knitting and crochet. I've noticed it mentioned there's some knitters threads... might have to go check them out too.

sugar_muffin

Hi,

I've been lurking on here for a while and decided to take the plunge and start posting!

I'm 29 and recently got married. DH and I both work full time and have got lazy with cooking and started eating a lot of ready meals. Reading this forum has inspired me to want to start eating more home cooked food and less ready meals and cut down our shopping bills.

I worked out how much we were spending on food and it horrified me so I think I need to look at the groccery challange!

PrincessMort

Hi I'm 25 and work PT as a telephonist. I live with my lovely husband, no kids as yet but a scatty 6 month old kitten.

meanmarie

Welcome all,

You will like this site I know and be amazed at the tips that can save you sooooo much money

Marie

Kitchenbunny

Welcome, everyone It's good to see you here. I find this forum so useful and have become organised and really like it here.

Kitchenbunny xx

oneeyedandgreen

Hi

I'm new, been browsing for a while but decided that it's too easy to give up trying to save unless I'm recording it.

I'm a student (just started my 4th year out of 6!) living in a shared house with 4 other people including my boyfriend who is also a student. Both pretty bad at looking after our money but I've decided to try improve. I am currently surviving on a student loan(really not very easy) but should be starting a new job soon

cake21

I'm 30-something, work full-time but I'm inspired by the OS boards to do more batch cooking and freezing. 1. it costs less (*got* to get back into positive equity! :eek:) and 2. tastes better :j

Thanks everyone for the friendly advice and welcome :A

Kitchenbunny

Welcome, Oneeyedandgreen and Cake21! Batch cooking is great isn't it? It makes it so much more convenient too!

Kitchenbunny xx

dawn060861

I am the wrong side of 40, I have always stayed at home to raise my children and now they are all grown up I am a volunteer fundraiser , cardmaker , and general dogsbody. I do some book keeping for my husband every now and then , take care of my dog and am an internet addict!!!

SukieSoo

Hi everyone,

DH & I are early 30's, no kids. We do have an Australian bearded dragon and the world's most rapidly growing goldfish (currently on his 4th tank and needing a bigger one already!)

In my teens & early 20s, I used to do what I thought of as 'proper' cooking and prided myself on never using jars of sauce & making everything from scratch. Over the last 8 or so years, I've got very lazy and it's been jars & other expensive stuff for every meal. Food shopping is costing a fortune, probably 3-4 times more than if I got myself organised and cooked properly. (Doesn't help that DH is a really fussy eater, LOL.)

Thanks to lurking on MSE I now have a slow cooker and am making a real effort to use it more, and have decided to try and cook as much from scratch as possible. Not doing badly for this week - I've now got 3 portions of home-made soup, 3 portions of mince & veggies, and 3 portions of spag bol in the freezer. Looking forward to picking up more great tips & recipes from MSE