Made a start on being DF

gilly1964

Well after posting the other day I have made a good start

1. Sat my OH and DS down to highlight a few money saving ideas.
Things like do we need the TV/lights etc on when no-one is even in the room.
Making sure that the TV in DS's room is switched off when he goes to sleep - even if it is only to standby on the sleep function
Not throwing food away when there is enough to make another portion for the freezer
That OH doing the cooking, does not mean dial the local Tandoori.
That Ebay would be better used for selling than buying at the moment. The OH collects BMW memorabilia.

2. Used Quidco to switch energy suppliers - £18.00 in the kitty
Also looking into the insurances - house/car etc

3. Signed up to some online surveys - £1.75 so far

4. Sorted an old mobile phone that was at the back of the drawer and it is now on Ebay - 8 watchers and a few low bids but fingers crossed

5. Sorted loads of paperbacks for Ebay/Amazon. Just need a good run at doing the listing.

6. Sorted enough stuff to do a car boot

7. Offered to cover some extra hours at work which should get me a nice tidy sum before tax etc

8. Started a £2 and 20p coin saver pot. £4.00 and £1.20 respectively so far.

9. Cancelled the window cleaner and told OH he can do the honours. Saving £6.20 every month.

10. Bought a bottle of Stardrops as recommended on the OS board and now have a gleaming kitchen, bathrooms and mirrors. No more expensive stuff for me.

11. Trawling MSE for other ideas

12. Got the OH and family on board with the ideas.

Thanks all for your help and encouragement

CAFCGirl

13. Meal plan to the high heavens. Buy items in bulk so you can batch cook. i.e enough mince to create spag bol and a shepards pie.

14. Utilise smaller businesses such as greengrocer and butchers, and any farm shops you may have. Better quality for better prices

PeachPickle

15. Pigsback! Look on the freebies thread for details

gilly1964

Thank you for those ideas. :T

I have found a Farmer's Market near me on Saturday so will have a look around that.

I am veggie and the rest of the family eat meat so bulk cooking mince etc for them would be a good idea - even if I only made a base that they could then turn into spag bol, chilli, lasagne and so on.

I make my own soup using veg that looks past its best but otherwise is okay.

I bulk buy, BOGOF should be my middle name, especially soap powder, loo roll, kitchen roll etc

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

headcase

Look at https://www.gumtree.co.uk Sell stuff on there locally for free. I've used ebay and expensive. Gumtree advertise and get the persons interested to pick up. Save ££££

gilly1964

PeachPickle wrote:

15. Pigsback! Look on the freebies thread for details

I have tried that but don't really understand how you build points up - I seem to have been at 120 for the last year.

gilly1964

headcase wrote:

Look at https://www.gumtree.co.uk Sell stuff on there locally for free. I've used ebay and expensive. Gumtree advertise and get the persons interested to pick up. Save ££££

I have had a look and it seems interesting so will give that a go over the weekend for books, CDs and videos. If it costs nothing but time it has got to be worth doing.;)

gilly1964

gilly1964 wrote:

I have had a look and it seems interesting so will give that a go over the weekend for books, CDs and videos. If it costs nothing but time it has got to be worth doing.;)

:mad: They don't do my town:mad: so back to Ebay and Amazon

CAFCGirl

gilly1964 wrote:

Thank you for those ideas. :T

I have found a Farmer's Market near me on Saturday so will have a look around that.

I am veggie and the rest of the family eat meat so bulk cooking mince etc for them would be a good idea - even if I only made a base that they could then turn into spag bol, chilli, lasagne and so on.

I make my own soup using veg that looks past its best but otherwise is okay.

I bulk buy, BOGOF should be my middle name, especially soap powder, loo roll, kitchen roll etc

Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

In which case, if you got items in bulk, go through and see how much of everything you've got and start using it. Don't buy anymore for a certain amount of time, otherwise you're not really actually saving anything. Items like that are always on some sort of offer so it's not like you'll be stung on price when you do need to buy some more in.

So say you've got 24 loo rolls, that would last x amount of time (I dont wanna put a time frame in there! lol), so you dont buy anymore until you've got down to say the last 4 rolls.

I find that if I bulk buy some items, I'm perpetually just keeping a store of them, so don't actually save!

I go :eek: :eek: :eek: only 4 shower gels left, must buy more!

When until theres only one left in the cupboard, I'm not desperate!

It's another good idea, if everyone else is a meatie, to batch cook your own veggie meals. I've heard a lot of comments about veggies doing all the cooking and leaving themselves till last and not having the time/energy to put as much into their meals as the ones the had to do before.

Plus this will cut down on the time you spend cooking various meals, electricity costs, doing it all at once, costs of water etc from the washing up!

Have you worked yourself out a budget you'd like to work to on your journey to being DF........

PHEW! I talk too much xx

gilly1964

I never thought of bulk buying like that - but you are so right. I can't remember the last time I ran out of anything.

CAFCGirl

DF is a journey! You'll learn lots of things about your habits, good and bad along the way.

It's not going to cost you anything to try. But good luck.

I'm not very far into my own journey so any extra tips I find out, I'll let you know
Welcome to the party xx