Help please!! I'm in pickle!

art_student

Hello pickleddebt!
I'd definately agree with others on this thread who have said that you should be able to dramatically reduce your expenditure on food etc. I reckon you could halve it but why don't you aim for £200 per month as this saving alone would make your expenditure less than your income! Food shopping is one area I have been attacking recently and the way to do it is to plan your meals for the week before you go based on what you have in the cupboards/fridge and then only buy what you need for the meals. I also write the meals up on my blackboard in the kitchen so I don't forget what I planned to make!
Also, how do you socialise? Could you do anything cheaper? Maybe instead of going out, stay in - having people round for dinner is cheaper than going out. Maybe have a video and nibbles evening instead of the cinema? Or a playstation evening (if you have one!) - get friends to bring beer. The weather is improving, do you have space for a BBQ - again, get people to bring drinks and even food to BBQ (then you will have loads of sausages and burgers left over so you won't have to go food shopping again for weeks!!).
And get washable nappies for the baby! Many congratulations by the way!!!

pickleddebt

Loads of nice tips!!! Im really glad I came here for advice...
Thanks people!

beanielou

What a great start pickled debt
Welcome to MSE

joeblack066

Congratulations on the pregnancy!! I'm a Mum of 4 and became a Grandma in Nov and it's GREAT!! And well done on sorting your finances well before the arrival of your baby....you'll be stress free once you are in control!! Only advice to add further is check out any benefits etc that you may be entitled to..........my son and his g/f weren't entitled to the £500 SureStart grant before the baby was born because they both work, but they WOULD have been entitled to it afterwards a their tax credits were for more than the basic one, but you have to claim before Baby is 3 months old and none of us knew!!! So watch out for that one!!

pickleddebt

Thank you! I will look into that!
I had already had been told about the SureStart Grant and work tax credits,etc. I just need to find all the ins and outs of all that we are entitled to...
I've got so much to sort out and so little time, but I am sorting it all out very soon!
Again, Thank you so much for the sound advice !!!!
Happy Easter everyone!!!

David

TurnaroundSue

Hi and welcome to MSE - you are in the right place.

Remember to go through Quidco if you are buying insurance/phones etc as you are able to get money off any new deals. It covers a variety of things you may purchase so check there before spending any money.

Car boots are good places for baby stuff also - remember that babies don't stay babies for long and soon grow out of their stuff, so most of the clothes you buy are in excellent condition as they have hardly been worn.

Good luck and I wish you all the best for the future.

petetidball

If you want to buy new stuff for the baby, go to Primark or Matalan-cheap as anything and you can always save them for number two (if you decide to stupidly do it again!). We've used stuff from our first child for our second. Tesco and Asda are also pretty cheap. For number two we didn't buy any newborn or 0-3 clothes because wth the first we ended up having loads she hadn't worn as everyone bought clothes for her that were 0-3 so if you've got lots of family and friends it saves you money.

Furniture is always going to be expensive new, so freecycle or car boots would be good for getting cots, changing tables, prams etc.

I hate to disagree with another MSEer, but washable nappies aren't significantly cheaper than disposable when you take washing into account. We looked at it (when I actually cared a tiny bit about saving the planet) and over three years the difference was pennies. That was with disposables at full price. If you live near enough to a mix of supermarkets, say a Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons, and have a Boots nearby, you'll nearly always find bogofs or two for a reduced amount of big brand nappies. Own brand nappies are also quite good for smaller babies but we did have issues as ours got older.

Also start buying stuff like wipes now. Stockpile them. We found that Tesco don't always get the multipacks priced right so you can save there too.

Check out the Which? website for any big purchases before you waste money on things that look good or have a good name but aren't. We saved hundreds on a pushchair by checking them out first and going for one that got a good review rather than one with a name that should have meant it was better. Then go to Mothercare, try them out, go home, chec it on kelkoo and buy it there-save even more!!

Most of all, good luck! Try to give up the baccy (hypocritical of me, but hey, and easier said than done!) as that'll save you money now, and cut back on the food shopping. There's no worse feeling than realising you need to but more nappies or shoes for the kids and the bank acconts empty and saving money now will mean you'll have it when the baby comes.

Sorry for the long post!

pickleddebt

I've stopped smoking too now! hopefully that will save me a few quid!!!
still struggling a little with the banks, but I didnt think it would be easy to get out of this mess! Thank you to everyone who has suggested and provided me with ideas!!!

liz105

Well done on quitting smoking :j

you now have the ultimate motivation, an ickle pickle to get you on your way :T

the only thing I really thought reading through all that was the socialising bit, I know we all need a break but little 'un will be around before you can blink and the missus will need you around lots too.

one good thing....smoking ban 01/07/2007 :j so even if you do want to pop out down the pub you wont be tempted and the missus will be fine too (she wont get 'pickled' so to speak )

chevalier

Whilst I agree that Primark etc are cheap, they are cheap because they use cheap labour. There has just been an article about this, saying that people get about £8 a week for an 80 hour week, and the employees regularly get done out on any overtime they should have. I just never felt right puttin my children in clothes that had made by such poorly treated workers.

Perhaps shopping in charity shops is more of a plan. You often find that they have baby bins, as they get given it but not much of a profit in it for them. I got a load of baby vests in my local one for 50p each, and they looked as good as new. Also you are giving the charity money to help people in need too.

Also https://www.freecycle.org is the link to freecycle. You regularly see people offereing cots, baby clothes, bed linen etc on there. The best bit is it is FREE to you! All you have to do is go and pick it up. I got rid of my pram on there! But do you have any friends who already have older babies, because if you are not proud they may offer you their babies clothes, which will literally save you £100's of pounds. I didn't buy any clothes for my first one (except a couple of really cute bits!) until he was 18 months old, cos I had been given so much!

best of luck getting it sorted
chev