Please can anybody help me with my budget

hackedoffatthem

Ah thats ok- I just didn't want you thinking you were having to settle for a lower standard of care because you have chosen a childminder. A very fine choice- especially for a baby imo! :T

RoxieW

Suziebear wrote: »

Sorry hacked off i didn't mean to offend, of course childminders are just as good as nurseries, i just wanted to point out that even with the lower price that a childminder charges compared to a nursery that it will still be really expensive for us, we are having a childminder for this baby though:)

How else can i cut down on usage pelirocco, at the moment with it being summer the heating is off, the only time gas gets used is to heat any water up, if im having a bath or washing up etc which isnt done excessively and electric wise we are out most of the day time and i try and switch things off at the plug but we do watch tv at night and have the living room light on for a few hours and also the landing light as my son wont sleep without it on x

Do u have your light on at night while watching tv? We sit with the light off if the tv is on. What I would do is go on money supermarket to find the cheapest deal, then go on quidco to see if you can get money back for swapping. We got £50 back for swapping to eon and also got a free energy thing that tells u how much u are using.

katsu

Susie,

I borrowed an OWL meter from the local library, for free. It just clips on to the cable at the meter and then you turn things off and on to find out stuff like - it is costing me 1.481p/hr to use the computer to tell you this My shower is 27p/hr, hairdryer around 7p/hr. That helps you find if you have expensive stuff and what to cut down on using. Check if your library has them.

Also, check if you are on an economy seven type tarrif and if you are, use more stuff when elec is cheap - i.e. use a timer on the washing machine to wash at night and empty in the morning.

Also - as RAS said - energy saving bulbs are the way to go. Cheaper to use and need changing far less often.

You say you turn most things off -make sure you do. Check sockets for sneaky standby gadgets. Don't use the immersion heater to heat a tank of water and (as RAS said) check the temp you are heating it to. My boiler man recommends 60 is plenty.

Then insulate everything before winter - line the curtains (I hang a curtain over the front door), wear jumpers, foil behind the radiators etc.

Hope this helps.

**dancingbutterfly**

danilou1910 wrote: »

Hi Suzie,

I bought all my Bridesmaid dresses and flower girls dresses custom made from ebay. The dresses I loved in the shops were in excess of 150 each. But from ebay I paid 35 for BM dresses and 25 for flower girls and they were amazing every1 commented on them. They were made to they specific size and in any colour I wanted and I even negotiated a discount for buying more than 1.

Also bought my original dress from ebay which was also amazing but when we cancelled and rebooked for halloween I thought black wuld have been over the top for the day but regret a lil selling now.

I then bought my actual dress in the sale a wedding shp and got a 1600 dress for 300 and paid 100 for alterations. Got flowers off ebay and they were fab paid 150 and that included my bouquet, six bm bouquets, 8 button holes, 4 corsages and 4 hairslips to match for my bm's

I made all my own invites etc and that made it even more special, also made all my own favours. All in all i saved thousands by being thrifty and I loved all of it. My brother and sister in law got married 1 and 2 years before us and spent well over 10,000 each and everyone said how amazing our day was.

Oh and for men's suits I hired them locally and got 6 suits for 300 as the grooms was free and they all looked very handsome (if I do say so myself)

If you want I can give you some links to the ebay sellers I used as I would highly recommend them

Here's a link to my wedding pics, so you can see the bridesmaid dresses etc to see what I mean about the quality

Sorry suzie, as i'm a new member i can't paste a direct link to my photobox album, but if you go to photobox.co.uk and search the album number 238393913 it will bring it up.

the password for the pics is mrsscorer

Danilou,

sorry to be cheeky but would you mind messaging me the link for the ebay dresses? and for the flowers?? if its not too much trouble id be very greatful!

im searching through ebay 24/7 trying to find decent dresses and flowers!

sorry suzie! hope you dont mind!

thanks

db

Angela84

Hi Suzie, hope all is going well, lucky you knowing the date of your baby, I'm just sat here waiting and not knowing! And definately for the BF on a great way to keep costs down, plus brilliant weightloss plan as well!
Im planning on getting my dress from Ebay too, and just growing some flowers in the garden for the vases, and bouquet I'm going to watch some tutorials online and give one a go myself. Got plenty of time to practise, and if they turn out rubbish will look into florist/ebay.
Suit hire I found about £60 each, but will have to fish out who that was.
Vistaprint is cheapest for invites I reckon, got 25 save the date magnets for £3 recently.

Our wedding is pretty budget, (5k for church, 80 people BBQ, marquee with trimmings, 3 bridesmaids, DJ, photographer etc) but Im just so excited about doing all of it myself, and being able to look around on the day and feel like all my hard work has paid off.

Suziebear_3

Hi everyone!

Ras - How would i check what my fridge is using as i have no clue if it is efficient or not so i could do with taking a look at that, i only use energy saving light bulbs though so i am covered on that front.

Katsu - the OWL meter sounds fab i shall pop down to the library tomorrow and see if i can borrow one:)

Dancingbutterfly - I don't mind at all!

Angela - I know i have 1 week to go and its driving me potty so im throwing all my energy into money saving!!. My wedding budget is pretty similar, we paid £2800 for the wedding at the country club, it included canopes and champagne reception for 50 guests, the ceremony, sit down meal for 50 people with champagne for the toasts, Dj entertainment at night and a hot buffet for 100 evening guests as well as a night in the bridal suite which i thought was very savvy!!.

We have also paid for our registrar already and our cake which was £220 but we managed to haggle it down such a lot, we looked at plain wedding cakes from m&s but it was £190 for just a completely plain 3 tiered cake where as for £30 more we are having a 3 tiered carrot cake in pink and white with pink butterflies/feathers and diamantes just what i wanted and she will be dropping it off for us too so i thought it was a bargain!.

We have already paid the £2800 for the venue and the £200 for the registar (£3000) and i think we may be able to save up at least another £1000 or £2000 at most minus the cost of the cake so ours will be about £5000 too or slightly less. So i have £2000 in which to get a dress for me as well as my hair and makeup, 3 bridesmaid dresses, 4 suits, flowers, photographer, invites and honeymoon, a tough one but i know it can and WILL be done. I think we deffo need to stay in touch so you can give me all the money saving ideas, i also want to make my own centrepieces.

ANYWAY on the budget front i have now switched to the post office home phone for £12 per month and ive cut my sons nursery fees by half so we should be a bit better off as even tohugh well lose tax credits they only pay 80% of the cots anyway, still struggling with the gas and electric though