Wanting to save money, more so then ever with #2 on the way!

ETanny

Hi guys, I have posted here a few times in the past.
I
am back again looking for some more excellent advice on how to save money. It is more imporant then ever for us to save, espeically now we have a second bundle on the way.

Our goal is to try and spend as little as possible and save some of Dh's salary every month and put that into a seprate account to use when something goes wrong, like the car breaks down or the washing machine goes. DH is currently awaiting release from BR so we have no debt and dont want to go down that bad path again.

We have been struggling the past few months more down to the fact I have been suffering from very bad fatiuge and morning sickness so not been wanting to cook on a night time and the last thing DH wants to do when he gets home from a 12hr shift is cook. So we have resorted to the take away menus. Unfortunatley this is not healthy and not a good way to save money. This has to stop.

I am now, slowly coming out of it and into the second trimester so I want to get back into cooking - I even plan on doing some batch cooking so we have some stored up for when baby is born (I am not due till march so we have a long way to go yet!)

We also plan on finding out the babies gender and if it is another girl reusing the clothes that are reusable so we dont have to buy as much.
Also, if it is a boy I will be keeping the white/gender nuteral things too.

In an effort to save money I also plan on using cloth nappies. Anyone got any tips on how to aquire cheap but good quiality cloth nappies?!

Does anyone else have any tips on how we can save some money?

Thanks in advance, Emma.

mumoffour77

Congratulations xx

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D-4600110891118471671&ei=IGVFTvC3KM-1hAfy6OnBBg&usg=AFQjCNGkIh9BhYH4vtEHu63ab3meI6S9DQ

I hope that link works!!
Google has lots of answers on cloth nappies!!

ginnyknit

ETanny, if you have a look at the Old Style board is a thread called old style index collection. On there is every recipe people have shared, ways to save money by making your own cleaning stuff etc etc. it will take a while to read but you can jot down the bits you feel upto. Nothing takes long to do really it just a matter of learning new ways to do things. Make lists of what you need for the baby and have a look on your local freecycle. Learn to save money by cutting your bills, stocking the cupboards and freezer and yes baking or cooking meals in advance is a great start. Of course all this will help when the new on is born as you will be a bit more in control. good luck starting on your new path with us to encourage you

ETanny

Mumoffour - I have a sewing machine but I am a total newbie. I really dont think any cloth nappies I made would be usable

Ginnyknit - Thanks, I will have a look through that this evening and see what tips I can pick up along the way!

babyshoes

I don't have children but have the same issue with not feeling up to 'proper' cooking some nights when we both get home late from work. On the 'good' days, I often try to cook extra and freeze portions - bolognese and stews are favourites. That way, all you need to cook is the starchy bit such as pasta or rice, microwave the topping and serve. You can bulk out mince with oats - add a handful or two after browning the meat so it soaks up the meaty fat and juices, then add beef stock and / or something beefy like bovril so the oats soak up the colour and flavour before continuing with your recipe as normal. I did this for months before my (usually very fussy) OH found out - if you make the oats look and taste beefy you really can't tell they are there. If you add them later, they stay white and are visible. Also, grate in carrots or other veg to bulk it out more.

I also sometimes cheat! (shhhhhhhh!) Things like frozen mash and frozen veg are a staple of easy weekday meals in my house. What could be simpler than shoving a couple of chops under the grill and microwaving some mash and some veg? Of course, some veg like broccoli doesn't taste so good after being frozen, but things like spinach (add cream cheese at end of cooking for easy creamed spinach), beans, peas, cauli cheese, etc are fine. I think it also saves on waste - if I buy a big load of veg, usually some of it will go off before I have a chance to cook it, while frozen veg stays fine for ages. These days, the only veg I buy fresh which goes off easily is stuff like broccoli or pak choi, and I try to use it up first. The tesco frozen mash is admittedly a bit more expensive than basic potatoes, and while I *could* buy a big bag of potatoes, cook, mash and freeze them, the convenience is worth more to me than the time that would take compared to the slightly higher price in the supermarket! It is still fairly cheap as food goes...

I also like to invent 'all in one' meals. The other day I put cooked chicken breast (could have been from leftover roast but I had breasts to use up) in a casserole dish, then topped it with defrosted frozen spinach, a sprinkle of smoked cheese and frozen cauliflower cheese bake. Topped with cheese and baked. Super easy, and pretty tasty for a weeknight meal.

Also, have standbys ready for those CBA days. OH won't eat baked beans, so our standby tends to be pasta with pesto or tinned soup with frozen garlic bread, but beans on toast, cheese on toast, sausage, egg and chips (from frozen of course!) or similar won't harm you if eaten instead of a main meal occasionally. In fact, baked beans are pretty healthy in many ways, so don't feel too guilty. Give fruit for dessert if you are worried about vitamins!

exlibris

I have mentioned this before but I think it is suitable here.

When you cook a roast carve up the meat and freeze down any extras before you start picking. If you freeze the meat with gravy in meal portions it won't dry out and all you need to do is thaw and heat, and add veg. Result - a fairly quick meal!

Spendless

Some time ago, I thought back to how my parents always had savings, never much when they were raising kids but there was always something there. What they did and to this day still do is go into town once a week and banked money. MY mum is SE so she would bank takings at the same time as she put an amount in a savings account. Since the beginning of the year I have done the same, but I do mine on-line. I'm weekly paid so each time my wages go in I put £35 in. I do this regardless of whether I've had a short week (I temp so am only paid for hours I work) or I've done more hours. Savings are put away 1st. I allowed myself a few weeks off when we had a family hol and I now have £1k saved up. :money:

Re, baby clothes. When I was having my 2nd I didn't find out baby's gender, but what I did was seperate clothes in advance into 'boys' and 'neutral' so when I had a girl I gave away the boys bag. From there I further split them into sleepsuits, 'daywear' and sizes.

ETanny

My husband has just set up a new bank account, the plan is to put in one account enough money for petrol and shopping to last us the month and keeping the money for the bills and the rest of his pay in the other account and once the bills etc are out we dont touch that account unless its a super duper urgent need.
I hope that plan works for us as it would be nice to have some kind of saftey net to fall back on!

I really like the idea of bulking up my bologanise - What kind of oats do I use to do this?

babyshoes

ETanny wrote: »

I really like the idea of bulking up my bologanise - What kind of oats do I use to do this?

I use any old oats, currently using up a bag of tesco value porridge oats - but any porridge oats you happen have will do! I haven't tried pushing it too far - a couple of big handfuls with a normal sized (about 400g, I think) pack of mince is about right. Much more and it starts affecting the texture. You really don't want to end up with meaty porridge! I have also added finely grated carrots before (along with the oats) and you really can't tell they are there (as long as you use the fine side of the grater). Additionally, I always add lots of tinned tomato - the value ones are quite cheap and it gives you plenty of sauce to stretch the bolognese further.

As an aside, my fussy OH really likes my bolognese (and lasagne made with the leftovers), so bulking it out really doesn't affect the taste!

Nickitree30

http://http://www.usednappies.co.uk/custom_page,page,12,topic_id,content_pages
I got a load of second hand Mothercare nappies from this site for £20, it's like ebay but just for nappies. Wouldn't bother buying disposable wipes either if you are doing washable nappies, just cut up and edge an old flannel sheet then fling them in the nappy pail when used. I was given a bundle of face cloths and use them for sticky hands and face. Have become a recent convert to muslins after reading '50 uses for muslin' on a mum's forum (sorry can't remember which one, found it by googling) wish I had read it before buying bibs. Have seen recipes online for homemade solutions to wet wipes with.
Sorry this isn't very sequential, past my bedtime. HTH

quintwins

i also suffered really bad morning sickness in my first pregnancy and ended up in hospital and fell into your trap of takeaways and readymeals, 2nd time around i had sever spd and couldn't walk the length of myself but i discovered the wonders of my slow cooker, i would chop and freezer onions carrots and any other veg and meat i needed when i was feeling ok then in the mornings i just tipped the bags into my slowcooker and added some water, you can also cook roasts and steaks by just popping them in as is, you can even buy pre-chopped veg and meats i then peeled spuds later or i kept a bag of ready made roasties in the freezer incase i wasn't up to it, slowcookers are really cheap if you don't already ahve one and cook cheaper cuts of meats perfectly so can save money in the longrun


i also give a big thumbs up to reusable nappies i used them with my twins however my youngest has really bad exzema and it didn't go well so i sold them on gumtree

another idea is to breastfeed i couldn't feed my twins they were prem and i was very very ill after they were born and was in hospital until they were 4 months, but my youngest was exclusively feed til 10months and the thrived, i saved a fortune and felt a great sense of achivement at seeing him weight going up

try looking on ebay for local bundles, postage tends to be high on bundles so if you can save this it really does make it a bargain