Lost my way :(

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

I spent my whole pregnancy glued to this forum and used all the hints and tips to stockpile money for my dd coming and get us debt free.

I then spent the first 10 months of her life doing the same and enjoying being on maternity leave and having time to homebake and cook from scratch.

She is now 15 months, and for the past 5 months all my oh and i's bad habits have creeped back in - takeaways, convenience food, eating out and generally overspending.

We went out on saturday with free tickets for an event and managed to spend nearly £20 on coffees and a bit of lunch :eek:

Please help me find my way again before we end up back in debt - the last four months i have had to dip into our savings (for a new house) to supplement our income. My oh doesnt see that as a problem as he thinks that is what savings are for.

I still menu plan etc but the problem is we have a night where we are both exhausted and we end up phoning for food

We also want to be out all weekend as a family and although we visit parks and beaches etc we still manage to 'waste' money on coffees and food etc

Any tips, hints, kicks up the backside would be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Pink.

Hi kitty,

Lots of tips and good advice that should help on this thread:

Oops! I've fallen off the OS wagon.....


Pink

redballoon_2

keep reading the forum posts to get you motivated again!

dont take money/cards out with you when you go out

take a flask of coffee/tea/squash with you when you go out the same with sandwiches etc...

spend one day a month batch cooking a few meals and then freeze for when you dont have time to cook something.

you'll soon be back on track!

LameWolf

I'm sure there's better people out there than me to answer this, but I'll start off with a couple of suggestions.

Firstly, when you do have time to make a home-made dinner, make enough for another day and freeze it, then when you come in too exhausted to cook, you have a "ready meal" that you can quickly heat up, rather than phoning for a takeaway. Maybe get a small stock of various meals built up?

Second, if Mr LW and I go out for the day, we take a flask of tea, a bottle of cold drink (squash or something) and a home-made picnic - sandwiches, salad stuff, HM cakes, a bit of fruit - anything that can be put in a plastic box! Much cheaper than paying through the nose at coffee shops!

HTH and Good Luck!:o

EDIT: LOL Redballoon obviously had the same thoughts as me, at the same time!

kaze_2

Hi,

Just wanted to say that i am in exactly the same situation as you are, my little one is 15months old as well and the minute i started back at work, all the carefull planning went out of the window. I've only just started to get back into the habit of meal planning and taking a shopping list and i only work 3 days a week so i've got no excuses really. What i've started to do is make sure that on the days i'm working we have simple easy meals, things that can be just chucked into the oven or cooked in one pot, this way we're less likely to reach for the phone and order a takeaway if we can't be bothered to cook from scratch.

Also how about when you go out at weekends you take a picnic and a flask of coffee to save on buying food out, not ideal i know if its raining as trying to feed little one in the car can sometimes be a nightmare but hopefully the weather should be getting warmer soon.

Hope this helps

rosh12

No advice- just wanted to empathise. My oldest daughter is nearly 2 and we now have a 6 week old too! I also got hooked on OS during my last mat leave, but since going back to work (then getting pregnant!) I have completely fallen off the bandwagon, and I am now wondering how to get back on board before going back to work. Eek. Good luck to us all!

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

first of all thanks for the great advice and kick up the backside lol

also good to hear that others find it difficult with baby(ies)

i spend too much time feeling guilty and not enough time getting motivated

thanks for the link - pink im off to look now