Single Money Saver living on my own

Bargain_Rzl

Hi missychrissy,

Your question is more of a discussion topic than an oldstyle one - and in fact there was a thread in the MS Arms a while ago about it:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1283495

However, one bit of your post jumped out at me:

missychrissy wrote: »

I found that when my ex left my social life went with him. There is no longer any spontaneous going out. I have tried going to a pub or a bar on my own but it was horrible.

Have you tried "going out" in ways that don't involve the primary objective being social? For example, enrolling in an evening class, joining a choir, going to the theatre?

I am a natural loner really but I go to the theatre loads by myself, and made tons of friends by doing so.

Reverbe

Just found this. Great thread tink. Thanks for starting it. Will catch up on all the posts later. I am a single MSER sharing with a veggy but we are both quite separate in fending for ourselves so this will come in handy. Also I find it hard cos we are 2 adults dossing in a small studio flat so don't have the space to bulk buy as much as I would in a bigger place.

missychrissy

Apologies if my question was a discussion topic and not an Old Style one. I will try not to do it again.

I think Bargain Rzl completely misunderstood me. I have a good social life. My BF and I get together when we can though we both work quite long hours - I work nights and he works days and evenings. We both choose to be single - my BF has 3 failed long term relationships behind him (inc 2 marriages) and doesn't feel like he can risk it again and I intend to preserve what is mine for my four sons unlike my ex who has married a woman 17 years younger than him who will no doubt inherit all his worldly goods. I was empathising with the problems of being single and wondered what were the pros and cons.

I have done lots of things, including evening classes since becoming single. I started Taekwondo classes at 50 and became a black belt within 3 years. I did a City & Guilds in gardening and floristry and a history degree at Leeds uni. I also really enjoy going to the gym but when I moved house, and area, 2 years ago have not joined one and saved the expense but I am missing it so think will have to find the best one locally and join.

I have absolutely no problem with going to the theatre or the cinema on my own.

I find the pros of being single outweight the cons but I agree with everyone that financially the odds seem to be stacked against us.

Bargain_Rzl

missychrissy wrote: »

Apologies if my question was a discussion topic and not an Old Style one. I will try not to do it again.

Oops, didn't mean it like that Apologies if I caused offence. It's just that the board guides have a tendency to move threads which become too chatty, and I had a vague memory of that other thread at the back of my mind

missychrissy

No offence taken. I just thought you had misunderstood me.

Tia_Maria06

Great thread (thanks OP), Hows everyone's meals etc going, any new idea's?

missychrissy

I'm a singleton too. Like some of you I cook in bulk and then freeze one person sized portions.

I roasted a chicken for my dinner this evening with new potatoes, cabbage, carrots and swede. Apart from tonight's dinner I have 6 one person sized portions in the freezer and 2 legs frozen separately. The chicken carcass is now in my slow cooker with a chopped onion, 2 chopped carrots, 4 chopped green tomatoes (from my garden), about 10 sliced mushrooms, 2 tablespoons of black lentils, 6 tablespoons of red lentils, garlic, seasoning and enough water to cover. I leave my sc on overnight whilst I am out at work (I'm a night nurse). That's over 10 meals from one chicken.

My supermarket shop costs around £10 per week though I don't go every week. I often try to see how long I can last eating from the store cupboard and freezer and not go shopping.

I grow a fair bit of my own veg. I did a lot of potatoes this year in pots with ones that had sprouted and I still have some beetroot and spinach growing. I'm going to try and increase the homegrown veg next year.

I make my own wine though I had a disaster today. I was filtering 5 galls of plum wine into a fermenter and I left the tap open on the fermenter. I have just had to mop up approx 3 galls of wine off the utility room floor. What a sticky, smelly mess. I won't do that again in a hurry. I wouldn't care but it was very good.

Cheers to you all.

Dreamer2010

Hi All,
Im really struggling to cook for one think i set my expectations a little to high end up with the all the ingrediants to cook from scratch but non one the time or enthusiasm.
Im a single parent and son eats at nan by the time ive fetched him and got him home played a bit and put to bed its 8pm and i just can not be bothered to cook. So end up cooking something quick that i run and grab or ordering take away :eek:

Just cant offord it or bear to throw out any more food.

Anyone got any tips or words of wisdom.

x

Mrs_Thrify

Hi Dreamer, can you come to some arangement for the Nan to cook dinner for you too?

Or

you could batch cook when you have free time and freeze in thoose take away box's you can buy in the supermarket. Just defrost one the night before and pop in the microwave when needed.

CCP

I'd definitely second the batch cooking idea - I tend to make large portions of things like stew or chilli, which are easy to make but take a long time to cook, and freeze in individual portions. Then, when I'm not in the mood for cooking, all I need to do is take a packet out of the freezer and stick it in the microwave or in the oven and dinner's ready.