New to money saving need some advice

JackieRHE

Hi

Have you thought of posting on the Debt-Free wannabe board.

If you put your SOA on there, people will come along to advise on how you can make savings on utilities, insurances etc.

Sometimes others will see savings that we cannot and no-one judges - just genuine help.

Jackie

Helen2k8

What do you feed the bunnies on? You can forage a lot of greenery (well, less this time of year!) and with that number of mouth sto feed I'd be buying a bale of hay from a stables/yard - roundabout £4 - rather than pay inflated prices for little bags of hay

cjez_2

Have you tried semi-chem or savers instead of boots?
I have started using a slow cooker- saves time and money. Also, just bought the takeaway secret book. Porridge is a cheap breakfast. I shop at aldi, I work out that I save at least a third shopping there and the products are equal if not often superior to Tesco. I like the crisps- can't remember what they're called but they look just like pringles and taste great!
Definitely make your own baby food- that's a great idea. There's a thread about os cleaning things. Can't remember what it's called exactly. You don't need to spend much to clean though. I use bleach, bicarb of soda, vinegar, tea tree oil, water and microfibre clothes and those do everything for me. A lot of people use stardrops, I haven't tried them yet, but I think a bottle costs between 86p to £1 and you can use it on a lot of stuff and hardly use any, from what I've heard anyway.
The sneaky ways to save the pennies thread is great too.

Good luck!

AlternativeMamma

Hey Lucy! I am a new member aswell and I am in the same boat as you. I found that me and my partner had found ourselves in quite a bit of debt (not as much as you have by the looks of your signature though). I have started to meal plan aswell for each week. In regards to your food, I would advise that you buy all your meats from the Butcher, fish from a fish market or Fish Monger and fruit & vegetables from a local farm shop. I have found these to be a significant amount cheaper than Tesco, Asda or Sainsburies. Your local Butcher will more than likely have £10, £15, £20 and £25 meat deals! I buy these all the time and once I get the meat home, I bag them separately into portions and label the bags for the freezer. I do the same with fresh fruit and veg (I blanch the vegetables first). We don't buy frozen foods anymore but instead we opted to make everything from scratch. If you make HUGE portions then you can buy freezer containers and split the food into perhaps 8 diners!

In regards to your toiletries, do you have a local Poundland? You can buy the majority of your toiletries there and your household cleaning products. I stock up once every 6 months and only spend £30 or £40! I always use shops like Savers to buy cheaper shampoo and conditioner. Me and my partner both have very long, thick hair so we both need a reliable shampoo and conditioner to tend to our hairs. We also both frequently dye our hairs but we found the Alberto Basalm (not every single scent, some of them irritate our scalps) are brilliant! You can buy the shampoo and conditioner together in a pack for £1.70!

For your baby, we have a 16 month old daughter and another one on the way so I understand that keeping up with baby products can be expensive. If you are a stay at home mum and have the time, maybe you could consider switching to cheap cloth nappies like the Alva ones on Ebay and use cheap flannels from Poundland as wipes. You can make wipes solution using cold water and 1 drop of tea tree oil or cold camomile tea (works wonders for nappy rash). If you can't live without nappies then consider the Tesco Value ones! We buy them for £1.40 per 20 nappies and they are fab! We also buy baby wipes in a box of 6 for £4.50 in ASDA! The baby events at supermarkets are the time to stock up!

I hate to say it hunni but can you afford to keep all the animals? I was the same as you. I was paying out a fortune to keep animals when I really couldn't afford it! Maybe you should sit down, work out what exactly your spending on all your pets (food, bedding, vets, accessories etc) and decide whether or not you can afford to keep them. I know it's a hard decision but you seem to be in quite a bit of debt so maybe it could really help you?

AlternativeMamma

Oh and I forgot to say, supermarket own brand food is amazing. It isn't as horrible tasting as some people insinuate! You should shop around for the best deals on food. I go from shop to shop every single week to find the best deals. It saves us a fortune!

tessie_bear

id second the use of the £1.49 nappies...i used to use them on my son as day nappies as i called them...if we were close to home or in all day i thought they were a good saving on pampers

AlternativeMamma

The Tesco Value Nappies, I use them 24/7 with my daughter and even took them on holidays with us to Spain! They are bloody fab! My daughter has very sensitive skin and suffered from chemical burns with pampers. x

foxgloves

For cleaning, I buy the 5L containers of basic bleach.from Lidl &.carefully decant it into a rinsed out loo cleaner bottle. That deals with loo cleaning v cheaply. I buy Stardrops, which I dilute in an old spray.bottle &.that cleans sink, bath, shower, surfaces etc. A blob used neat also shifts grease & serious dirt. I buy a bag of the basic soda crystals & they tackle just about evetything else such as cleaning cooker, unblocking sinks, etc. Oh, & washing up liquid, which mixef with a dash of vinegar, wiped on with a rag & polished off with scrunched up newspaper, makes a great job of your windows.

Rebob

I have 3 friends with little babies and all three rate the asda little angels and aldi nappies as fantastic and even better than pampers.

Shop at aldi for most things and you will save at least a third on your shopping if not more. I buy the bags of veg such as carrots and then peel, slice, portion and freeze them. Much nicer and cheaper than frozen ones. Their cleaning products and toiletries are good quality and well priced.
Batch cook and freeze.
Cook full chickens instead of portions.
See if savers/pound shops are cheaper for toilet rolls etc.

Rummer

Welcome to Old Style! Others have given you loads of great advice already however I thought I would chip in too!

We always used value or smart price nappies and supermarket own wipes although sometimes we got large boxes of branded wipes on special. Baby food was not something we bought often as our DD ate what we did.

When it comes to food buy in bulk the main things you use for example rice and pasta. When it comes to protein why not use beans and pulses instead of just meat, they are affordable and tasty. Meal planning also makes a huge difference as does cooking/baking from scratch. Herbs and spices also add a variety of flavours for little cost.

Cleaning products for us are star drops and bicarbonate of soda. For toiletries I use supermarket own brands and I have been delighted with them, especially own brand shampoo.

Rabbits are affordable to feed. We buy huge bags of food (15kg)and hay bales from the local feed merchant. We use correx as a flooring in their run and only have a litter tray and a separate hay tray so there is little waste. Mind you our bunnies are indoors. There is a pets board where you can get even more cost cutting advice.