How can I save?

AliceBanned

MoneyWorry wrote: »

Hi Alice

I am enjoying and interested very much in your thread. I too am single so can identify completely with trying to balance costs with providing a social life for oneself. I'm in the North so although my costs are a lot lower so is my salary. At the moment I'm struggling with needing a new kitchen and struggling to save enough into private pension without becoming a complete hermit eating baked beans every day for a months on end!!!!!.

Hi, yes it's a tough one. You seem to be doing well, looking at your signature. . I do find these boards encouraging.

AliceBanned

thevinternet wrote: »

Hiya! Sorry for the delay in replying, I am subscribed to your thread, but I don't think it updated properly for some reason? :huh:

Anyhoo, I'm ok thanks - it's a bit of a tough month financially, but getting by. Today I did a big food shop; spent £50 but managed to get a lot for my money, if that makes sense.

Interestingly, I had a good Christmas, save for a bit of a row with my dad about that very topic. I was trying to explain how C*ubcard points work. I got as far as 'So say I buy £50 of groceries for me and my OH one week' before he went mad at me, saying that was far too much money to be spending on food!!

Now before I go any further, let me just explain:

1. My Dad is elderly, and doesn't do his own food shopping
2. He hasn't been in a supermarket himself for about 15 years
3. He eats like a little bird, i.e. a biscuit for breakfast, a sandwich made with a bit of ham for lunch, a cornetto (!) for dinner...no snacks except maybe a banana and copious cups of tea. There are many many reasons why he eats this way, which I won't go into now, except to say that we have tried MANY times over the years to try and get more food into him, with little success!

So you can imagine that I didn't take it lying down!! Bless him, he's completely clueless, he'll give you a tenner for a week's food
Mind you, I'm not saying we couldn't still tighten up, but we have certainly improved on food bills since the old days, when me and the OH used to shop at Waitrose and spend £100 per week (including a takeaway), oh the shame!!

Do you spend a lot on food per week Alice? I know I used to when I was living on my own. We found that packed lunches and buying supermarket own brands were the things that cut our food bill drastically.

Also, was Christmas ok for you? It can be a tricky time of year, especially if you are on a budget and your mates aren't. x

Hi

Sorry for delay in replying.

I don't understand how elderly people sometimes get by on so little food! My friend's mum ate as little as that for years, into her 90s!

Christmas is a hard time for me but I'm always glad when it's over and then start enjoying a fresh start for the new year.

Glad you had a good Christmas.:)

It has set me back from my plan to pay off debts as I bought a lovely new cooker - managed to get deferred payment from Comet. It was much needed though as I bought the old one second hand from a market stall 5 years ago - now my food tastes so much better and I got £200 off in Jan sale, it was exactly the one I'd had my eye on. So another debt £450 including installation) but I was really slumming it with my old cooker and that's not good either. . I also finished a hp repayments (0%) for some furniture in Dec so had one less debt anyway.

My food spending is still reduced and I'm finding that part quite easy. I was spending far too much and can manage on £35 a week maximum quite easily, including cleaning stuff and lunches.

Still looking positive and the good thing is a lot of people are on a budget now and so people understand.

I even got offered a free skiing holiday in March - a friend has a chalet in France and offered to teach me to ski. However it may be more complicated but I won't go into that here..don't think I'll be going though unfortunately.