What gives you a buzz?

clipperty · 10 January 2012 at 2:33PM

I am new to here so please be kind

I have never saved in my life, always thought once a spender always a spender!! Until my LBM in December, I do not know what made me put a search in google for this site, but to say I am grateful is an understatement.

I have ebayed for many years but the money is either used to buy more tat (always looks a bargain until it arrives lol) from Ebay just because I have got money in my paypal account or if the person collects the item the money just goes in the pocket and is wasted. If I have money in my bank, I spend, I get bored and restless after a stressful day at work and nothing in the cupboards so say to DH lets go to Tesco/Sainsburys/Asda for a mooch, usually come out with 3 ready meals/pizzas for tea, some cakes and biscuits and anything else I fancy, plus the NEED to go and look at the clothes, household items etc etc you know how it works, I am a shops dream shopper. Get to the till look on the conveyor belt and only enough food for that night and low and behold I have spent anywhere between £50 and £150 :eek: this would happen a couple of times a week at least and looking back through my statements wasting in excess of £1000 a month by doing this.

The rest of our meals were made up of takeaways as I thought they were not that bad a value, have hated cooking all my life even with the 30+ cookbooks I have aquired and love to read but when I see a recipe I like the sound of, half the ingredients are missing from my cupboard and would cost a fortune to buy so never bothered.

ANYWAY (yes I am waffling now)! A new Aldi store opened in October 2 doors from where I work and since then OMG what a life changer this has been. We shop there once a week religiously now I might add and cook EVERY night, I dont just mean burgers and fish fingers (in fact have stopped buying them) have taught myself how to cook simple things that I never dared make before like Lasagne and curries and the best thing is I have got over my fear of chickens (would cook chicken breasts but never a whole chicken).

MSE has taught me the value, I dont even buy chicken breasts anymore as they are not cost effective, last week I bought a whole chicken for £4.29 and made roast dinners for 3 of us, then the next night I made 3 x chicken korma and the night after I made chicken broth for 4 with enough left over to freeze two portions for my toddler (another recipe I have never tried to make).

I also went to Asda last night and told husband that I was only allowed to buy anything if it was on offer at 50p each or reduced. Came out with a trolley load for £22

i cannot believe it my cupboards are now full of every spice and sauce I will ever need so I now longer have to go to the cookbooks and not be able to make, my freezer is so full I had to give away the 4 dozen breadbuns from Asda for 20p my fridge is full and biscuits and cakes galore in the cupboards (even all the stuff to make my own which I keep doing).

Since I started cooking we have only had 1 takeaway in this time, sausage and chips x 2 and fish and chips from the chip shop and it was ..... £10.50 :(OMG when did they go up to that much I have never even noticed!!!

Anyway have waffled too much, what gives you a buzz because of MSE. Mine are as follows:-

Seeing a meal created for pennies or only a couple of pounds from scratch and being enjoyed.

Going to the cupboards and there being nice things in there to eat

Leaving stuff on the selves because they no longer fit in with my lifestyle pricewise and walking out of the shop with a big smile on my face

Watching items on Ebay whenever you refresh and there has been a new bid and going to find which item has made you money (also watching that last minute of an ebay item when there is bid after bid)

Putting my £2 coins in my jar and not knowing how much is in there, also in my sealed pot and my £1 a day.

Watching the money build up to a payout on a survey, getting so close to a voucher for next Christmas.

Walking out of a supermarket and knowing that they have paid YOU to take away that joint of beef or steak for the pennies you have just paid for it.

These are mine, what are yours

CCP · 10 January 2012 at 2:45PM

Very well done on turning things around - what an inspirational story! :T

I guess my things are:

Having home-made 'ready meals' in the freezer for any time I don't feel like cooking
Yellow stickers! I try to use them to buy things I need anyway, so I just get them cheaper
Using price comparison and cashback websites for essential things like insurance, which means I get to keep more of my money rather than giving it away to big companies that really don't need it
Passing on tips and special offers to other people, so they can do the same

I look forward to seeing what everyone else says.

heavenleigh · 10 January 2012 at 3:01PM

I actually like being tight with the pennies, it gives me a feeling of self worth looking after my family without being in debt.
It is precious bonding time with my daughter, we go out a couple of times a week about 7pm and luckily have 3 supermarkets within a 10 minute walking distance, whilst enjoying the thrill of finding bargain whoopsies (she loves it) i'm also setting her up with moneysaving principles for life.
If we ever have a bad week moneywise (which of course most people do at some point), i know my batch cooking and whoopsie bargains in both my freezers could probably feed the whole street for a week if needed!
I'm the first on the phone to my mum or friends if something good comes up on the grabbit board, i like to share the bargains!
I'm sure i'll think of more x

elaine12022 · 10 January 2012 at 3:15PM

Hello Clipperty - congratulations on changing your life around :j

I am with you on the cooking front - I get a buzz out of trying new things and using simple ingredients - and a lot of my new things come from an old cookbook - last night I made bread & butter pudding for the first time - yummy

WartimeScrapingofMarmite · 10 January 2012 at 3:49PM

Well done to you for changing your lifestyle in such a positive way :beer:!

The things I get a buzz out of are:-

Not paying full price for something (i.e. using coupons or voucher codes, or buying whoopsied items)

Getting cashback and watching that balance mount up

Getting through a day without spending any money

Watching our house deposit savings account mount up as a result of our new-found thriftiness:D

clipperty · 10 January 2012 at 4:08PM

Thank you for your lovely replies. A little bit more about me is, I own a business and work extremely hard, too hard to be honest and my husband works full time as well (also have a toddler and a teenager to look after) as well as 8 horses to look after, which we show from one end of the country to the other, 5 dogs, a cat and a goldfish.

The business is not in trouble BUT the Directors all decided to take a £1000 pay cut for 12 months, dont get me wrong we still have enough money coming in but even on the large amounts of money we were both bringing in come the middle of the month we were skint!! We dont have any loans or credit cards just two small mortgages and it has got to the stage where I have thought to myself where is all my money going, we have not been on holiday as a family for 13 years and rarely eat out, even if we do it tends to be a cheap carvery or the all you can eat chinese. Look at this and it makes be flabbergasted that we waste so much money!

This month, I have had Christmas and as I said earlier have a house full of food, have paid the bills and have done ALL my christmas shopping for about 30 people and I have still got money in the back. This has NEVER happened to me before. I am so pleased with myself and I am set next money to have a virtual spend free month apart from food.

I have set myself a target of listing 5 items on Ebay a day which will give me a few days off through the money as my house to packed to the rafters with stuff. The sad thing is when I look at what I am selling it is either brand new with tags or in boxes or my toddlers clothes have literally been worn once as I would just buy for buyings sake, this meant I was buying clothes every week for her and would very rarely wear the same thing twice before it was outgrown.

When I now think of all the money I have just flushed down the toilet it makes me quite sad.

Also I have never bothered shopping around, my home and contents insurers are both with the mortgage provider and when I have looked into it I am paying nearly 3 times the amount I can get myself :eek: so I am currently looking into this, also wait for it when I took out my gas and electric my husband got duped by a door to door salesman and changed supplier 7 years ago, we had been paying a set amount each month but the readings had been taken down wrongly at the beginning, meaning I owed them £8,000 on the electric :eek: after a lot of arguing we got this down to £4,000 but they would not budge and have been paying £275 per month for the last year and still owe them £1,200. Just ridiculous I pay £83.00 on the gas each month. Really cannot wait to get enough money in the bank of savings so I can pay this £1,200 straight off (should be next month) so that I can give them 2 fingers and show around for a better deal.

Thanks again for listening

bearcub · 10 January 2012 at 5:26PM

Clipperty, what a wonderful story! :T Huge shame about the energy fiasco, but you're getting there.

I don't think it matters at all whether we have financial problems or not, it's still good to know that we're not wasting money or, as CCP put it, not putting into the pockets (or bank accounts) of big companies that couldn't care less about its customers, just its profits.

I've found recently that, without even intending to, I've got into the habit of spotting and buying genuine bargains. As a result, I've reduced my monthly spend. We don't scrimp on quality - we still buy local farm-reared meat and treats - but, by cutting back on the cost of basics, I've saved enough to buy myself some new quality clothes from a good company in their sale. These clothes would have been more than I was prepared to spend usually, without feeling guilty, but I could, so I spoiled myself!

Plus, having been inspired by the 'messy' thread, I almost feel as if someone on there is watching, so I've been inspired to clear some of the clutter and 'waiting to be done' projects. Quite :A, really.

LiviaRink · 10 January 2012 at 6:13PM

New clothes. I am self confessed shopaholic! I love the feeling of new clothes and when you walk out the shop with the bags in your hand. Whenever I realise I am spending too much I have to sit myself down and watch the film confessions of a shopaholic because I love the film anyway and it's a bearable way to make me realise I could get myself in big trouble very easily!

[Deleted User] · 10 January 2012 at 6:56PM

my youngest grandson Mikey aged 7 when he gives me a huge gappy grin in the morning and says how much he loves me totally priceless

Alison_Funnell · 10 January 2012 at 7:24PM

Learning something new. Today butter making.

The biggest buzz of the moment - paying off the mortgage yesterday, never thought we would see that for many many years.