I've had enough .........!

weegie_2

That's it - I've had enough!

I'm fed up spending too much money in ASDA on shopping, of wasting food, or not preparing enough home made stuff and thinking its easier to buy processed meals....of living in clutter ..... of never having enough money...and of just not being bloody organised!

As of today, I got to make some changes and hope this thread can help ....I've been too much of a lurker for too long.

So....from now on.....

Prepare a weekly menu and shopping list - stick to the list and I'll save money instead of compulsive buying when in store. What should a family of four spend on food in a week?

Go through my cupboards and see what meals I can make from the stuff that is in the cupboard....

do more home baking

Clear my house of clutter - bin, charity, freecycle or ebay....

Start saving £2 coins etc.

It's a start I suppose. And I gotta do something. Fed up of constantly being in overdraft!

Weegie
x

ziggy2004

Good for you!!!!!m

Since discovering this site I now have a tidy house and I eat a lot healthier I have rediscoverd homebaking and come the end of july our overdraft will be a thing of the past! I have now actually started enjoying being a sahm and my sewingmachine is no longer collecting dust.

I think this site is great and I hope it does the same for you as it did for me!!

X Anne

taplady

Good luck Weegie!:D

I'm sure you'll do it with all the excellent tips here!;)

moggins

Well done to both of you, it's lovely to see the Old Style attracting so many new friends. Just remember to ask if you need any advice.

MSE Adage - there is no such thing as a stupid question (I'm not promising you won't get some stupid answers, some on here have a very peculiar sense of humour )

weegie_2

Thanks! I've already had a look through some of the recipes and think I might give a couple of them a shot over the weekend.

I really do need to do something....I must get out of overdraft!

weegie
x

Bargain_Rzl

Just a word of caution! If you're anything like me (which perhaps you're not, but still...) it's a bad idea to decide to change EVERYTHING at once, or you'll do it for about a fortnight, get sick of it, and go back to your old ways feeling ashamed of yourself. Whereas if you introduce the various oldstyle/moneysaving elements gradually, you'll have a much better shot at a permanent lifestyle change. For example, I've been oldstyling for about a year .. the cooking from scratch was the easiest thing to pick up, then meal planning, then more of an interest in ethical shopping. It's only now that I'm starting to declutter (you should see my place, it's disgusting) and the next step for me will be getting started on ebay and freecycle. Baby steps

joannasmum

Good luck with making the changes. Take babysteps and you'll have that bank balance looking healthy in no time

thriftmonster

Yes, I was going to say the same - one bit at a time. Also it's easier to get the family on board if you do it slowly. Packed lunches are one of the places I started and now they hardly ever have anything that is processed or packaged in there.

tootles_2

Welcome Weegie and well done for joining us, you will find lots of inspiration on this board and lots of laughs too...........

Budget for 4, depends on how much you eat and ages of children etc, but we are two in the third age if you know what I mean and our budget is £25.oo a week. I find it easier and cheaper to shop once a month for basic foodstuffs and buy fruit and veg every fortnight, if fruit and veg are stored correctly they will last for 2 weeks. You only have one chance then to just chuck stuff in your basket rather than the four times if you shop weekly. I had 4 children and worked fulltime so organisation was the name of the game........ I use the computer to print out a monthly calander and plan the meals then put a shopping list on with everything you might buy, you can then go through your menu list and see whats required, check your store cupboard and see what you can use up so you do not have too much money sitting on the shelf so to speak. I stick the menu list onto the fridge door, we do not stick to it rigidly, but swap it around as the mood takes us, I also write on the side when I run out of something so I can be sure I add it to my shopping list at the end of the month.

When I drew up my shopping list I tried to do it aisle by aisle as it is arranged in the aupermarket, that way you do not have to hop from thing to thing as you go round......I shop on the market for fruit and the veg we do not grow on the allotment...... if you have a good local butcher cultivate him, you might pay a bit more for your meat but if he is any good the qualtiy will be better and you can pad out less meat in stews etc with beans or veg.

If you look in the recipe section you will find lots of ideas for meals, Black Saturn has a meal planner going on right now with the recipes.........and if you do a search you will find lots more ideas.

Cleaning products are an area where you can save loads of dosh, white vinegar, washing soda and micro fibre cloths are about all you will need, with the occasional splash of bleach. I use surf mixed with washing soda in my washing machine, white vinegar in the final rinse.........stardrops is another fav on here can be used for all sorts of things.......

Good luck and let us know how you are getting on, ask quetions, you will get loads of answers..........................

Linda32

What I did regarding budget for food, is kept a record on a spreadsheet over 4 weeks of how much was spent on various items.

The total at the start was £320.00 for two people. :eek:

So then I did the next four weeks and kept the same records but looked at each purchase.
For example we have mixed fruit and nuts. I used to buy the luxery mixed fruit. So instead I swopped to basic (sainsbury's) apparently according to the packet, the fruit is different sizes, thats all.
Oh and a small matter of £1.75 / 45p

I've done this now for 4 months and we immediately went down to £200.00 :T

Thats an example of a small change to make.

Best of luck

pickle

When you get a shopping urge go on a scout around the charity shops, it's fun and you never know what you can find plus it costs next to nothing but gets that shopping urge out of your system! And you can donate it all again when you want to declutter.