OS Daily Thread - Monday 31st August

bubblybee

Hi all :hello:,

This is the first time I've seen this daily thread and thought I'd share my weekend with you to show what an inspiration all you Old Style Money Savers have been. If I give you a little bit of background... I've been getting Martin's emails for a while but only really approached the forums a couple of months ago. What a fantastic resource. What do people do without it?

Anyway, me and my other half are first time buyers eagerly waiting to buy a house. After saving for 5 years, we nearly bought one at the end of 2007 but we backed out after the survey was done and the vendors weren't willing to drop the price. Shortly after that the economy took a turn for the worse and all the 95% mortgages disappeared. So, at the start of the year, I sat down and set out a tough savings plan for the year to get to a 10% deposit. Holidays, extravegant eating out, clothes buying and all the other superfluous spending was out. We are now in September and while our deposit is now up to 8.0% we have been eating too much into our current accounts removing a safety buffer that I am keen to build back up. So two weeks ago, with a renewed determinism to get through to the end of the year, I moved from the Competitions boards (in an attempt to win a holiday!) to the Old Style Money Saving board.

We have cut down a lot of spending and have to say have done really well. But food was still taking a lot (too much!) from our budget every month. So, a week ago I did a week's menu plan. It worked. We only bought what we needed and managed to spend on £22 for a week's shopping bill and didn't really buy anything else. This would have been compared with nearly £100 some weeks! (There are only two of us!)

And so with inspiration from all of you on here, I sat down and did a couple more weeks of menu planning to get us through September. Yesterday was miserable and I was on a roll. I ended up getting carried away and now have 25 weeks worth of menu plans to pick and choose from depending on weather, mood, sales in shops etc:j. There are not too many repeat meals in that too which I thought for almost veggies who eat no fish is pretty good going. I took most of my ideas from the menu planners and recipes here so it's really just a re-creation with a twist based on what we like eating. Where this post is going to though was that after I'd written them all I was super excited and it's strange what a buzz this extra money saving is for me. I think my other half thinks I am crazy :wall:

We're both quite busy and tired when we get home at the end of the day. These menu plans will not only significantly cut down on food waste but also save us lots of money and time as it means that we don't have to think what to buy in the shops. I haven't set a weekly budget for each of the meals but I know this is going to save us money and it will mean that we don't pop in the shops every evening after work. I'm still hoping for a competition holiday win, or money win towards the deposit but like most people we need to do it the hard way. I think compare to many people we are pretty lucky - although it doesn't always feel like that when everyone I work with (who are also younger than me) already own house and even bought before the boom. We also want to start having children but don't want to do that until we are financially stable and have a house. It's all rather frustrating at times and people don't always understand when you say you can't come out to eat a meal, or away for the weekend but hopefully in 4-6 months we'll be in a much better position. However, on Wednesday this week we are expecting pay cuts to be announced. There were redundancies early this year. We have no idea how much they will cut our pay and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's managable and will allow us to continue to save (and pay off credit cards).

I'm definately going to be checking out this board lots more now. And wanted to say a huge thank you to you all for all your significant time and effort into making this board fantastic. :T Not only that Martin's whole MSE website is invaluable and should be everyone's homepage.

redruby

Welcome bubblybee, its nice to 'meet' you and what a lovley post, well done you xx

meanmarie

bubblybee wrote: »

Hi all :hello:,

I think my other half thinks I am crazy :wall:

.

Welcome bubblybee.....if your OH's thoughts are correct you should fit right in here.

Marie

domestic_goddess

MoneySaving Diva, Can I join your club....

Hello my name is Domestic Goddess and I am a stationery-aholic

:rotfl:

I don't post too often but most days I have a quick read through, been a bit busy over the summer holidays but will definately be on more from next week.

Alipot

Ladygrim wrote: »

Just popped in to say the boiled ham is DELICIOUS!

Just need to blitz the cooking liquid to turn it into a nice thick soup and then let it cool before putting it in the freezer.

Ham sandwich anyone??

LG

P.S. Thanks for all the kind words about my husbands news - been a worrying few months - hopefully he has now turned the corner xx

Hi I want to cook a ham in my new slow cooker but don't fancy the ham in coke that seems to be posted a lot on the In my slow cooker today thread. Please could I ask how you cooked your 'delicious ham'?