Newbie saying Hi and looking for advice

Jayllie

Ok so I am totally new to this and some of you may think me mad but I have kind of chosen to be in this position.

In order to spend time with my two young children I have gone from working full time to just two days a week and I am really starting to feel the pinch. Am definitely spending more than I earn and need to nip it in the bud right now before it gets out of control.
I have been so used to having money and just spending the off tenner here and there that when I went part time I didn't really stop my spending habits and now I am finding out the hard way that I should have!

First on my list to do is write up and budget and then see if I can cut my outgoings down at all, especially my food shopping (approx £70-80 a week for 2 adults a 4 yr old and a 2 yr old).

Anyway I just thought I would introduce myself as I have a funny feeling I am to be a frequent visitor to these boards from this day forth :-)

Any advice, tips and inspiration would be gladly appreciated

xxx

quintwins

i don't think your mad at all, i'm a stay at home mum and i love it, i don't know how other mums manage to work tbh, 1 it would break my heart and 2 i don't have enough hours in the day as it is

i would suggest doing some baking it's a great way to spend the afternoon and the kids will love it, and you will have treats for pennies, flapjacks and fairy cakes are a good start

if you have tome you could try batch cooking aswell, and looking for reductions in the supermarket, even wee things liek making yoru own pasta sauces, a jar of sauce is £1+ but you can make it for about 40p

when i first had my twins everything had to be new, there was no way i would buy them 2nd hand clothes, til someone gave me a bag of clothes for them and they were all perfect stuff that her wee boy had grown out of since then i buy alot from ebay and even some bits from the charity shop and my youngest goes in the older 2's hand me downs

Bitsy_Beans

My mum refers to my DD as second hand Rose as many of her summer dresses etc are bought second hand off ebay. Like quintwins when I had my first everything was new but in order to change jobs and be in a position to be at home after my second child my priorities changed. There are soooooo many hints and tips on here it's hard to know where to point you.

If you're starting with your grocery list why not check out the Grocery Challenge and see how you get on for the month.

Welcome to OS, it's a fabby place to be

Carolyntia

Jayllie wrote: »

Ok so I am totally new to this and some of you may think me mad but I have kind of chosen to be in this position.


No one is here to judge you Jayllie. I always take a list with me when I go shopping and only buy what I need. I also look on supermarket websites and check for offers I might be able to take advantage of. I'm also a great rummager of the reduced to clear section too.. Meal planning is also very popular here so that's something else you could look into. Making some days no spend days is also something to think about.

Do you have a garden? Maybe you could look towards growing a few things too. How about selling things on ebay or a car boot?

happierdaystocome

Hi Jayllie

There is no reason berating yourself for not realising you need to change your spending habits sooner, just be glade that you have realised that changers need to me made and are look for way to do this.

In terms of shopping I'd try to reduce the buget over a couple of weeks as if you try and drastically cut it straight away you can feel very deprived. Try down grading a brand in stuff, so if you buy branded, down grade to the supermarkets own brand and if you buy supermarkets own, try the value range.

I always have a little bit of wiggle room in my shopping buget so that I am able to stock up on special offers on things we use regulally when they are on offer, such as bake beans and tuna.

Cooking from scratch is also a good way to ensure you know what your littlies are eating and also saving money. I try to make enough so that there is leftovers for lunch the next day.


When you take your little ones out, take drinks, food an treats with you, rather than buying stuff while your out.

Im sure like most Littlies your to are forever growing out of clothes, I use to buy my kids clothes either in the sales, on ebay or charity shops. I also asked others to either give vouchers for clothes shops or buy items of clothing/shoes for birthday/christmas presents. You could ebay the clothes that littlies have grown out of to earn money to buy new stuff.

Im sure I'll think of other things when Im not so tired but I hope some of these help.

Good luck

CH27

Hi Jayllie:)

Realising you need to cutback is a huge thing so well done.
Good luck & you will get loads of encouragement here.

BitterAndTwisted

£70 to £80 a week for grocery shopping is a fair whack and the temptation to buy treats when you've only gone our for a pint of milk is one all of us understand.

One way round it could be to withdraw a reasonable amount of cash a week and spend only that and nothing more. Meal-planning and making a shopping list and keeping to it might work for you.

Meanwhile take a look at the cheap-family-recipes.org website for some fabby recipe ideas. If they say you can feed a family of four on £100 a month think how much you might be able to save out of your £300 plus

Bexstars

Hi Jayllie

Im doing the same at the moment, trying to get a better handle of things and bring out outgoings down, I also have 2 little ones and have found some really great tips and advice here, Im sure you too x

Jayllie

Thank you all so much for the encouraging words and advice. I am just back from doing my weekly shop and managed to cut down by a tenner this week so all is going the right way :-) We decided what we were going to eat for the week and went with a shopping list and it worked. Still a long way to go but it is nice to know that even small changes can make a difference

xx

ALIBOBSY

Small steps are the best as if you try to do too much at once it becomes easier to fail or easier to say this is too much like hard work and give in to temptation.

I went part time after my first child and went back PT after my second, but when I was having the third we decided I would be a SAHM-we now have baby 4 as well. To be honest the costs of before school/after school clubs and childcare for the youngest 2, plus travel costs and all those extra bits involved in working (the endless collections for people, the temptation to buy lunch/a fancy coffee etc) it just wouldn't be cost effective for me to work anyway.
First thing is to look at your total income , I don't know if you have a partner or are alone but the advice is the same. Ensure you are claiming the tax credits and child benefit available (have you informed the tax credits people that you income will be lower this tax year than last?). Maximise income, you could consider ebaying useless items for example.

Then look at your bills, using martins money diet get the best deals for your fuel bills/telephone/insurances etc etc.

Once you have done this you have your income less the expenditure which leaves you with what you might think of as living cost cash. You need to work out what you need this to cover, so petrol/travel costs/money for birthdays/haircuts/toiletries etc etc. Different people have different cost and priorities there is a spread sheet link somewhere on these boards.
Then you can see exactly how much you can afford to spend on food, this may be more or less than you think lol.

The more you can cook and bake from scratch the better fed you are and the cheaper it is, bit by bit you can cut down your costs. There are the 6 of us and I could ush it and feed us on £50 per week, but because we have the extra it does quite often creep up to £80 per week. I budget for the 80 and any extra can get saved or used to buy products on good offers which then mean I have some items in "stock" so to speak to live off in shorter/tighter months.

Good luck
Enjoy it
ali x

elaine12022

Good luck with staying at home, sounds like you need time to adjust, but i'm sure the littlies will love having you home. I was lucky we had my mam at home when we were little, always had proper food etc

I don't have children, but I have found it easier on the whole to buy from smaller shops (less temptation!). We get most of our meat from the butcher (some are more pricier than others though Cheaper cuts of meat can be very economical and very nice - we had half a lamb breast today between two of us with peas, cooked slowly, there's enough juice & peas left for lunch tomorrow -and another half of breast in the freezer. Whole breast cost about £3. Lovely:))

Baking is nice, like others say - flapjacks can be scrummy & easy to make. And home made bread is nicer than shop stuff too.