50p a day til christmas, healthily?!-Weezl's next challenge (part 2)

shaz_mum_of__2

Exam went well i think managed to memorise my essay(we had the questions in advance)

Got one next wednesday , no clue about the questions just poverty and inequality ............................

My eldest is on way home for the weekend and bringing a mate so cupboards have been stocked up ready!!

More revision planned so nothing exciting on

Shaz

In_Search_Of_Me

good news shaz...your washing machine will be busy then!! Enjoy having your baby home

weezl74

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Got one next wednesday , no clue about the questions just poverty and inequality ............................

Shaz

so coming on mse is definately revision, right shaz?;)

weezl74

I wanted to give a fuller explanation of why the budget has changed from 50p a day each to £1 a day each..... (well it's actually 96.7741p per person to be uber geeky about it...:o;))

• some of the best 'whoopsed' items ie down to 5p for 70g of cheese etc.... are available if you can do your weekly shop at 9.30 pm, Fergus is a very happily portable babe, so would probably cope really well with going at that time, but we'd really like him to have a bedtime routine so we don't store up trouble for ourselves later on. So those whoopsies aren't baggable!

• Since the challenge started, a lot of the basic things we built meals around have increased hugely. Wholemeal bread flour was 55p in asda this time last year, and is now £1, smart price rice is 73p and was 42p at its best last year. Although the average or mean food price inflation is defined as only 10-15%, for poorer people this is said to be nearer 50% because the cheapest foods have risen by the most money...

• Despite having successfully forraged for 1 kilo of nettles last sunday, I reckon it takes a lot more planning than before, so me and acetate monkey don't find we're crouching in a wood with gloves and scissors just at the point when fergie needs a nice dry bottom! (Meanmarie, he was wearing a pair of your gorgeous white mittens so a flailing hand didn't get stung!!!:A;))

• We are now including 'health and beauty' in our food budget, and so this inevitably raises the monthly amount. In this category we've decided to allow a few more expensive things to make life a little easier. One example is the eco-friendly disposable that fergie wears at night. These work out around 13p each, so obviously if we could use a reusable one this would be loads cheaper, but our sleep is precious, and while we understand the need to get up in the night if fergie is hungry, it feels really disheartening to get up just for a little wee! BASHFUL, I don't know if you're considering doing this, but it's really helped us! (in case anyone's confused, reusable nappies let the baby know they are wet, and therefore uncomfy, much quicker and with less wee than disposable nappies...)
  

• Buying ready chopped veg sometimes is also a decision we've made. Once I realised that Mr Asda was only charging me 10p to peel and cube a kilo of carrots and swede, it didn't seem worth doing it myself at the moment. So many people have advised us to enjoy this newborn phase of fergie's life, and I'd hate to think I chopped veg rather than enjoying time with him, especially when it only added a penny per serving to the overall cost!:money:

Hope everyone's having a good day, sorry I didn't remember to wish you a happy birthday yesterday cazzdevil, hope you had a lovely day.... :beer: What frugal things are you all up to?

Love Weezl x

ceridwen

Well...my personal thoughts about the revised budget Weezl is that the various adaptations - like not going shopping for "whoopsies" late evening for instance - would make it nearer to "achievable" by me for instance. A lot of people have to do a time v. money running equation in their head. I know that when I'm retired there will be even less money - but there will be more time - so I'll always be able to make my own bread (rather than often having to buy it) and will be able to have a go at things like making my own breadspread and soft cheese, etc. Shopping too has to be the most convenient place usually - rather than the cheapest place. So - I have to do "trade-offs" on the time/money front and a lot of us are in this position for one reason or another.

I'm trying to work out my own time and motion conscious foodgrowing set-up by trial and error - in order to save money, without costing much time.

Beauty-wise - my definition of cheap beauty products at the moment is, as far as possible, no specific beauty products. Hence - you'll see me slathering solid vegetable fat on my face as moisturizer and cheapie olive oil used as body lotion. Have come to the conclusion that hair conditioner isnt necessary unless one lives in a part of the country where the water is particularly hard and/or have long hair or curly hair. Still buying shampoo and toothpaste - as I've not got into trying to figure out storecupboard things to use instead (I know - I know - washing-up liquid has traditionally been an emergency standby if one runs out of shampoo....hmmm....goes off wondering whether eco-friendly washing-up liquid would be viable as shampoo.....??)

Yategirl

a couple of notes to add....

cloth nappies - we used these - for ds1 they were brill, I had disposables for long days out but otherwise we used cloth night and day with no problems. For ds2.. it was a nightmare! started off ok but he drank gallons (and still does).. one of these kiddies who always has a drink on the go and is constantly drinking.. so what's the problem? well... when you drink more.. you wee more... we were changing nappies every 1/2hr-1 hr (edited to add: you should change nappies often anyway but there are times when a bit longer is helpful... like when shopping!!) as the cloth was soaked constantly and his botty would get sore so we swopped onto disposables to keep his bottom drier, it also meant we could go a tad longer before changing when we were out and about... we still used cloth but only if we were at home and I was able to change nappies often so just be aware that cloth isn't always the best choice.. fit it in around what suits babe and your lifestyle!

Ceridwen - have you looked at using bicarb as a "shampoo"? some people find it does work for them.

weezl74

ceridwen wrote: »

Hence - you'll see me slathering solid vegetable fat on my face as moisturizer and cheapie olive oil used as body lotion.

Hi Ceridwen, :beer:

re: cheap olive oil, have you seen this? Worth getting if you're doing a bulk buy order at asda, and much much cheaper per 100 ml of non-pomace olive oil...



HTH,

Love Weezl xxx

weezl74

Yategirl wrote: »

Ceridwen - have you looked at using bicarb as a "shampoo"? some people find it does work for them.

I was just going to suggest bicarb as a toothpaste!!! Great minds eh, yategirl?!

cheerfulness4

ceridwen wrote: »

A lot of people have to do a time v. money running equation in their head. I know that when I'm retired there will be even less money - but there will be more time - so I'll always be able to make my own bread (rather than often having to buy it) and will be able to have a go at things like making my own breadspread and soft cheese, etc.

Although I'm not retired I'm a SAHM and so I fit into this category and totally agree. I can find time to shop in several places rather than have to fit a quick shop into one or two.

I'm sure I read on here that someone used bicarb dusted under arms as a deodorant. DS2 reacts badly to many deodorants and this could be a good alternative. Was it on this thread I read it or anyone know if I've just dreamt it?

BTW, don't forget that Asda is doing that great deal of asda pasta (penne) 2x3kg for £3.
Don't get the twirls, they're still £3.49 for a single 3kg bag!
Also the 2kg rice is 2 for £3.
We're stocking up while it lasts. Might help bring the new price calculations down a tad.

In_Search_Of_Me

morning pepys...hows my best boy weezl...did he sleep till 5 for you...I did whisper in his ear...
Re the new budget I'm all for making life easier and with Ferg know he doesent like a wet botty and gets rather grumpy even after a couple of mins...was joking re the chopping veg(as weezl knows) and my take on it is that you just had a baby...anthing that gets you through with sleep depravation is good in my book...plus most of us cant manage to live in £2 a day...
Ceridwen please tell me that theres some deodorant in there somewhere!!!