Thoughts and tips please

luckys_mum

Just because you maybe at home you will still be contributing. Old Style ways are money saving, but they require time and effort, and you will get a feeling of achievement when you can see the difference you can make. Hope you can see the silver lining every cloud has.

rhiwfield

Your OH recognises that you have more value than earning money. Treasure that

Have a chat with him and explain that you want build a rainy day pot of money and that you'd like his help in keeping spending to a budget. Ask him for his help in deciding where to make cuts. To keep discussion objective (rather than personalised on fizzy drinks!) draw up a detailed budget. Do this on both a monthly and annual basis and highlight those areas which are taking most income and those where savings can be made. Unless you are both MSE paragons you may find that there are major savings to be made on house and car insurance, heating and electricity costs, tv subscriptions, holidays, telecoms etc.

When you look at your grocery, consumables and personal spend ask yourself whether you are both indulging in some "luxury" spend. If so its a bit unfair to target his fizzy drinks which seem to be one of his very few luxuries. Consider whether smarter shopping habits could work better, do you throw away food because its gone out of date or put leftovers in the bin? Could you reduce food loss by using whats in the fridge instead of buying new?

Re meat you can reduce meat content or go for cheaper cuts. Liver is cheap, nourishing and enjoyed by many men.

Like dealwithdebt we have hocks once a month which makes loads of pea and ham soup, or roast the hock first for gammon steaks (bit fatty tho)

One problem with meat substitutes is that the texture is often quite different. But if you use say 250g of mince you can bulk it up in mince and gravy/shepherds pie by using soya mince and oats/lentils. The soya mince needs gravy browning to look convincing! The texture mix seems to work well.

A stew can be made similarly with chunky veg/potatoes to add texture contrasts.

For meatballs bulk up mince with breadcrumbs and pureed carrot/onions. Serve it with a strongly flavoured sauce (sauces) and rice

We have no cats but recently moved our dog onto canned food which is more economical than pouches with one can lasting two meals. Are there similar opportunities with your cats?

Wish you best of luck on saving a nest egg and hope you never need it.

Valli

If you EVER solve the cats eating what they are given please do tell - mine has gone off what I used to give her and now will ONLY eat Morrison's own (so at least not TOO pricy) - she won't eat dried (makes note to take her to vets for teeth check)...but still eats 'human' food...



like flapjack

Olliebeak

Buddingblonde wrote: »

...... cats are b*ggers to feed because they can become fussy......

oooooh tell me about it!

I had ours eating Asda's own Tiger cat Food till OH started buying him Whiskas Oh So Meaty for a treat. The little bgr soon turned his nose up at the Tiger after a couple of sachets of the good stuff!

Now, he's not very well and hasn't eaten for a couple of days - has been like this on and off since last October when we got back from holiday and he'd been in the local cattery. We thought at first that he'd been pining for us but it looks more serious now. He's steadily lost weight despite having countless courses of antibiotics, but he's getting on a bit - 14yrs! Today, I've had to throw out a tin of Felix and one of Whiskas Supermeat (he's even refusing the Oh So Meaty!) which both got opened and ignored. Today I bought him a couple of tiny tins of Sheba in an attempt to 'tickle his tastebuds' - but to no avail. He was at the vet on Friday and she said to bring him back if he hadn't eaten in 48 hours, so looks as though he'll be back there tomorrow .

Sorry for going off-topic - just worried about him .

MrsBartolozzi

While I understand the need to cut down, I am with your OH on the branded cola as I have not yet found a cheaper one that I like!
I have tried to limit my consumption by setting a maximum I am prepared to spend on carp (choc, crisps, cola etc) in a month and looking for good offers to make this stretch .
Just to let you know Lidl has 2l of pepsi/diet/max for 70p and Sainsurys has the same for 78p at the moment. (not sure if OH has a preference between coke and pepsi - I don't mind either, just not cheapy stuff).

HTH MrsB.

MoradoJess

Valli wrote: »

If you EVER solve the cats eating what they are given please do tell - mine has gone off what I used to give her and now will ONLY eat Morrison's own (so at least not TOO pricy) - she won't eat dried (makes note to take her to vets for teeth check)...but still eats 'human' food...



like flapjack

Our cat is notoriously picky, bought her very good quality expensive royal canin as she is old and we want to look after her liver etc. Will she eat it? If she is desperatley hungry she does, but she would still rather steal dog food:rolleyes: