MFW Newbie - One Income, with a one year old?

cha97michelle

Hi there. There are a few of us about in similar situations i.e SAHM.

We have a bit less coming in than you, and 2 kids - ds1 is 3 and ds2 will be 2 in May. I see my job while at home as to try and find the best deals and work my bum off in keeping spends low. I make sure we go through Quidco when we have bills like car/house insurance. I am constantly trying to think of new things to do to make it all balance, so i use these boards a lot for ideas.

• I use shop and scan
• I answer surveys
• I ebay occasionally
• We do most household work/rennovations ourselves like decorating/built a deck outside the patio doors last year
• I bake a lot of cakes/biscuits for when they want a sweet treat
• we look out for free or heavily subsidised kiddies groups as we are in a surestart area i can usually take both kids for a £1 or go to the library rhyme time group for free.
• I use approved food when i see they have good offers on. We got a heck of a lot of food for £30 including delivery the other week. We also have a similar place up the road that sells milk/frozen food and stuff you'd buy in the supermarket.
• I try to walk to the shops with the double buggy as then i can only buy what i can carry rather than all the last minute bits you see
• I look out for freebies that we would use.
• We don't have takeaways often. I tend to make my own pizza dough around once a week or fortnight so we enjoy making that and saving a fortune.
• We started a veg patch last year in a very ugly flower bed and grew a lot of potatoes, courgettes, runner beans, cabbage, lettuces, tomatoes and strawberries. We also invested in some miniature fruit trees so we are hoping for better produce this year.
• I use my Slow cooker and try cheaper joints of meat. I also buy larger joints to cover a few meals. I also use a lot more beans and pulses nowadays which DH was unsure about at first but got used to.
• I make up milk using powdered milk for making things like rice pudding/angel delight/custard. If we are running low and skint i even make it up to top up the bottles in the fridge, but not often as io know it isn't as good for the kids as whole. But occasionally i don't worry as they are dairy-aholics and have at least a pint a day each.

I'm sure there is loads more but i just must do it automatically and not think about it. These boards have really changed my life.

I must admit we don't have a lot of personal spends. My luxury last month was a total of £1.20 buying a TV guide some weeks but not all. Last month was tight for us. I had to have a couple of prescriptions, pay for house insurance, my car was MOT'd we did a few DIY bits, but we managed to pay off an extra £200 on the mortgage, and as our payments are less than this, that is a whole months extra payment. Can't do this every month, but if you want to do this you have to make some short term sacrifices for the longer term good, and if you are at home all day you will be able to work out what you can personally do for your situation.

Long post - hopefully some of it is useful to you and not babble. Good luck and enjoy that time with your little one as it soon goes.

kemo_2002

cha97michelle wrote: »

Hi there. There are a few of us about in similar situations i.e SAHM.

We have a bit less coming in than you, and 2 kids - ds1 is 3 and ds2 will be 2 in May. I see my job while at home as to try and find the best deals and work my bum off in keeping spends low. I make sure we go through Quidco when we have bills like car/house insurance. I am constantly trying to think of new things to do to make it all balance, so i use these boards a lot for ideas.

• I use shop and scan
• I answer surveys
• I ebay occasionally
• We do most household work/rennovations ourselves like decorating/built a deck outside the patio doors last year
• I bake a lot of cakes/biscuits for when they want a sweet treat
• we look out for free or heavily subsidised kiddies groups as we are in a surestart area i can usually take both kids for a £1 or go to the library rhyme time group for free.
• I use approved food when i see they have good offers on. We got a heck of a lot of food for £30 including delivery the other week. We also have a similar place up the road that sells milk/frozen food and stuff you'd buy in the supermarket.
• I try to walk to the shops with the double buggy as then i can only buy what i can carry rather than all the last minute bits you see
• I look out for freebies that we would use.
• We don't have takeaways often. I tend to make my own pizza dough around once a week or fortnight so we enjoy making that and saving a fortune.
• We started a veg patch last year in a very ugly flower bed and grew a lot of potatoes, courgettes, runner beans, cabbage, lettuces, tomatoes and strawberries. We also invested in some miniature fruit trees so we are hoping for better produce this year.
• I use my Slow cooker and try cheaper joints of meat. I also buy larger joints to cover a few meals. I also use a lot more beans and pulses nowadays which DH was unsure about at first but got used to.
• I make up milk using powdered milk for making things like rice pudding/angel delight/custard. If we are running low and skint i even make it up to top up the bottles in the fridge, but not often as io know it isn't as good for the kids as whole. But occasionally i don't worry as they are dairy-aholics and have at least a pint a day each.

I'm sure there is loads more but i just must do it automatically and not think about it. These boards have really changed my life.

I must admit we don't have a lot of personal spends. My luxury last month was a total of £1.20 buying a TV guide some weeks but not all. Last month was tight for us. I had to have a couple of prescriptions, pay for house insurance, my car was MOT'd we did a few DIY bits, but we managed to pay off an extra £200 on the mortgage, and as our payments are less than this, that is a whole months extra payment. Can't do this every month, but if you want to do this you have to make some short term sacrifices for the longer term good, and if you are at home all day you will be able to work out what you can personally do for your situation.

Long post - hopefully some of it is useful to you and not babble. Good luck and enjoy that time with your little one as it soon goes.

What a lovely post! Thankyou:o

Ive heard about shop and scan but its invite only, and ive never hadone, i do consumer pulse but i use that money to help with christmas, i also do dooyoo but again, thats to try and make xmas as money neutral as i can!

You other half seems a bit more supportive, mine thinks its a good idea when i go on about it, but then moans we have no money, which then makes me feel guilty becasue i dont work!

i dont tend to spend much, if i go to town to meet a friend, i have the cheapest £2.99 meal with water lol!

Probelm with our budget is, with foos, neither of us eat veg or salad (DD eats them though- she has no choice!) , which really casuses problems, as OH loves his meat!

I try to stretch pork joints with lots of mash so he doesnt notice less meat! lol, a whole chicken only seems to last 1 meal for us (although i only buy the cheaepst smallest one i can find, maybe i should be a bigger one and use it for more meals?

Its going to be a tough one this year as we are getin married in september (altho my mum and dad are very kindly paying the main part, ive just got to find mioney for extra, which still adds up) Then the honeymoonn,, we are oging to Sharm El Skeikh in Egypt, we have most of hte fund for this already, only need a frther £500

All this though and i am determained to make some OPs!!

Wow i do drone on!

benbenandme

Yep I agree with Michelles post above, although some people see being at home as a disadvantage as you don't have an income coming in, you need to see it as an advantage as you have the time to save money instead

Not sure if it would be feasible for you but Halifax have a deal if you open their current account. You need to put in £1000 each month, it doesn't have to be a salary and you dont need to transfer direct debits etc, just put in £1k (you can move it back out again the next day) and they give you £5 bonus for doing it Thats £60 over the year which could be saved towards dd birthday etc.

Also I didn't see anything on your budget for car tax or mot costs. Maybe save up your tesco clubcard points to use for the mot?

cha97michelle

Oh good. Glad it was useful and i didn't come across as a know it all. DH is mostly on board although he refused to eat the liver i cooked the other day. Don't blame him on that one though as i normally love the stuff and it smelt quite bad although tasted ok.


I find it has been a number of small steps over a few years for us. Some of the things i don't think he even knows about. (e.g. watering down the milk). He's certainly never aware what we can afford or how the balance of the mortgage is reducing. As long as something tasty hits his belly he is happy.

If you are a meaty family, definitely go for bigger chicken. I sometimes buy 2 medium ones as then i can cook two together and save a little on gas if i am organised. I always then cook the picked carcass to make a chicken and veg soup. You'd be surprised how much more meat comes off but you do have to faff around picking at the bones. Try the old style board for loads of ideas.

With mince, i always buy good stuff but pad it out. I use about 350-400g of mince. I then add 50g dried weight if soya mince in, and if i add that when i add gravy or tinned toms then DH doesn't even notice it. I've also tried porridge oats which hide well, and red lentils which didn't. If you have something like spag bol or shepherds pie, you can get away with sticking in onions/carrots/mushrooms/peppers/celery. If you really aren't keen on veg, blend it. I think try a change at a time till you are happy with it. (I could feed us all 2 or 3 times like this if i add enough)

pork my DH will cut into huge chunks from the roast. I then cut them up much more smaller and tell him it is so the kids can chew it better, and it seems to then go further.

Shop and scan - i got referred by a member on here a few years ago now. I don't know how often people are asked to refer friends. I've only been asked once and the request was for OAPs.

You will really surprise yourself what you can do when you put your mind to it, and my DH reckons i am becoming a much better cook. I have always produced edible meals but stuff like curries and casseroles now get a lot more complements. This website is the best one in my opinion.

Michelle x

pammyj74

I agree about mixing the veg in with the mince, chop it up into fine small chunks, you'll hardly notice its there. We have shepherds pie and spag bol at least once a week as a cheap but tasty meal from the slow cooker and it makes another meal as well if you put it all in a cook it in one go (the same meal I mean)
also if you freeze the leftover then take it out in the morning to defrost so you dont need so much power on the microwave to heat it back up (although I keep forgetting to do this.)
I am not a great cook but I am getting into it by reading the recipe suggestions on here. I try and shop at the end of the day so you can get the whoopsies. Have saved a lot doing this off my grocery bill.

kemo_2002

Well, i have managed to save £233 in jan which i have put aside for the time being, hope to do the same (but a bit more) in Feb, good idea about the soup, i love HM soups that my mum does ive always chucked hte bones out!!! :O

Can do do the same for beef with beef stock? i know the beef dnt have bones...

What is Soya mince??? what does it taste of?

Also great idea about cutting up pork into smaller pieces

Really happy with all your comments, thanks guys!

golfiematt

hi, ive just read your diary, we are on a similar term fixed mortgage of 5.29% for 10 years .as it turns out it isnt as good as some at the moment but at least you know an exact figure each month and the fixed deals now arent much more competative despite the low rate.
my mortgage provider put all my o.p's into an o.p. reserve which i could draw back straight away in case of an emergency,now its got to a certain level i got rid of the mortgage protection as my reserve is worth more than the sum insured ie. 12 months for example.
another thing i noticed was your mobiles are £60 a month, both i and my wife only pay £10 a month pay and go, there are lots of deals out there at the moment.(mine is 200 anytime mins and 300texts) which i think is more than adequate for us.when i go shopping i get 5% off as-da with buying vouchers in advance, i bulk buy any products i normally buy when they are on offer.( be carefull not to buy something that is on offer that looks like a deal but you dont normally buy).Also milk seems a lot dearer at the big supermarkets. ice land currently sell 4 pints for £1.plus i usually get tea bags from b &m which work out 0.8p per tea bag which is cheaper than supermarket own brand.i added our loan to the mortgage to get a better rate and o.p'd what the loan should have been which saved a few quid interest.good luck with your o.p's & i hope theres something in there that will help you
matt