New home

carrottopsuk

Hello :-)

I am hopefully moving into my first home shortly after years of being spoilt at home. I will be trying to keep costs down as the mortgage payments are quite high and it will just be me and my cat.

I was wondering whether anyone can give me any advice/ideas on how much I should budget for food/household items each week/month.

I'm vegetarian (except that I eat fish).

I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Thanks

redballoon_2

for me and my hubby, we spend 95.00 per month on food including food for two kittens!

if you read this board there is loads of ways of cutting down your spending, if you do some searches for "microfibre cloths" "laundry gloop" and read the mega index thread it will give you loads of ideas and advice.

good luck, moving into your first house is so exciting!

also sign up to pigsback, rpoints, freefivers sites (see referrers board for more and info) to get free money, and look at the freebie site for offers such as free samples that always come in handy.

carrottopsuk

Thank you for your reply red balloon. It's good to have a rough idea about how much I should aim to spend.

I look forward to finding about laundry gloop whatever that is :-) and reading all the other suggestions.

Thanks again

carrottopsuk

I have been looking up laundry gloop and microfibre cloths and keep getting sidetracked by all the interesting threads lol

I still have a few questions which i hope someone may answer for me.

Do many of you make your own laundry gloop?

Also, I was wondering what everyone's opinion was on stardrops v. vinegar? What does stardrops clean/not clean?

Also, although I found plenty of threads mentioning microfibre cloths, I'm still a little baffled of the advantages over normal cloths and when to use them.

Please excuse my ignorance.

Thanks again.

redballoon_2

I make laundy gloop and it really is fab stuff. it's works just as well as shop brought powders but not as expensive.

i have got tescos own microfibre cloth and i just use that to clean practically everything in the house.

it's not like a normal cloth as the surface of a normal one is smooth, the microfibre surface is uneven which are able to trap dirt instead of just rubbing it somewhere else. they really are good and not very expensive. and they are washable. I use mine for:

washing windows. use a damp normal cloth to wet the window then use microfibre cloth to wipe and polish the glass. No need for any windolean. and no smears.

dust everywhere with it when it is damp

wipe all my wood like doors, skirting boards etc...

you dont need to use any sprays with them, they are just able to get all the grease and grime off with just water. so i use these for any cleaning, dusting or polishing, kitchen, bathroom, lounge, inside and out!

I dont use star drops or vinegar. if i have to i will use soda crystals dissolved in water.

GardenMillie

Good luck moving into your new home, and well done for getting onto the property ladder.

I'm a singleton and aim to spend £80 per month on grocery shopping - I'm not vegetarian but eat loads of veggie food as it's cheap and filling. Keep checking out the Old Style board as there are loads of tips. I use washing tablets but only put one in per wash so they last twice as long.

Also I make big pots of curry, etc and freeze portions - it saves nipping to the supermarket all the time and pushing up your grocery bill.:D

carrottopsuk

Thanks Redballoon and gardenmillie for your suggestions. I will definately take them on.

I really appreciate all your help.