Chanie fabulously looks after her pennies...

chanie

Kitten868 wrote: »

I always feel like number 2 pulls the short straw so its good to see it from the other side.

I'm conscious of that too, but it probably evens itself out. DD gets to benefit from the mistakes we've made with DS. Plus, she gets to do things at an earlier age (eg visiting places of interest(.

As we approach the Autumn, I thought it would be a good opportunity to reflect on the year so far. Whilst I haven't made much progress with reducing my overdraft, I'm spending more wisely and making my money go further.

I trialled soem changes to my shopping which seem to be going well.

Bulk buying - I've been shopping more in Costco and whilst this hasn't necessarily saved me money on the weekly shop, it has cut down on top up shopping, as we always have food in the house.

Local shopping - . I started doing this as a way to support local businesses, but the produce is lovely and you get so much more fory money. The only problem is that the market is difficult to get to, so I'll go when I can.

chanie

September is proving to be a rather expensive month. Although I though I was organised, by buying the children's school uniform from July, it turns out, I'd underestimated what I needed. DS needed new shoes, jumper, bag, jogging bottoms and beavers uniform. Dd needed a school bag, vests and earrings, vests and socks. Plus, it was DDs birthday and all the expenses that came with that.

One sneaky purchase this month was a new kitchen bin. Our old bin was a plastic one and I was going to replace it st some point, but the lid snapped. The ones I'd been eyeing up were £60-£100. I saw one in Costco for £40 and impulse bought it, even though I preferred the other bins. Turns out, I love it!!! My justification for it is that it holds so much rubbish that it means I can spend less on bin bags, as I don't need to empty the bin so often.

chanie

I was commenting on another thread about how much our weekly shopping was and I think ours is about £70-£80 for two adults and two under 7s. Although we do our main shop in Lidl, I think we've taken our eye off the ball and so our shopping has been creeping up.

Hopefully, our bill will decrease naturally, now the children are back at school, but I want to get it down to £50-£60 per week, with an additional £60 in Costco for bulk items. My plan is:

1) track what we've been spending. Last week, we spent £90. This week, it was £50 and I'll try and get away with £50 next weekend, as we still have lots in.
2) I'll check the cupboards before we go shopping. We do a cursory glance, but I'm not as thorough as I used to be.
3) the children like to snack on expensive cold meats, children's yogurts and cheese strings. The constant grazing is really expensive, so we need to get them eating proper meals.
3)try new recipes. We are stuck in a food rut, so we need to find new recipes so that we avoid the temptation of buying extra treats so that we have something to look forward to.

chanie

We are on track to last until the weekend without needing to top up on the shopping. OH is on board with the plan to cut back on the shopping and said we are buying more junk.

A couple of frugal activities.
Blackberries - I picked some last week, but they turned to mush before I got to use them. I picked some more, which I froze, so I'll need to see how they turn out when defrosted.

Birthday cake - OH was going to buy me a cake, but I said I'd make one. We had all of the ingredients except for the butter, so it was,much cheaper and nicer than shop bought.

New recipe - I made some pulled pork recently. I'd bought some ready prepared pulled pork which DS really enjoyed, but it was £4 and there wasn't enough for all of us. I made it myself and it was double the size for a pound less. We made the glaze from store cupboard ingredients.

chanie

I'm working from home today, so I've put some meat in the slow cooker for dinner tonight. We've managed not to get any top ups this week or last week and we still have lots of food in, so I feel we are doing much better than we have done for a while, in terms of managing our food budget.

Kitten868

Now you've noticed it im sure you'll get it finessed. What about a 2 week meal plan with only 1 repeat? I couldn't handle it but I'm sure you can x

chanie

We don't meal plan as such, but have a version which works for us. We always ensure we have enough store cupboard ingredients like rice, pasta, frozen veg etc. Then we consider which meats we want and plan meals around that. Our children often don't want a proper dinner during the week so I prefer the flexibility of meals.

chanie

I spent £7 today on top up shopping. OH suggested we have a fry up for dinner, but I needed to get some extra stuff in, ad we have a couple of extra mouths to feed. I also bought some veg.

chanie

I have been gifted some money from a generous family member in order to decorate our home. It's been 8 years and two children since we moved in and its definitely showing on the house.

At the weekend, we packed the children off to family members and painted the living room. We spent well under £100 - I thought it wad going to cost much more. We did buy washable paint (certainly needed with my children). We need to buy new curtains, curtain poles and sofa and then the room will be done. I feel so much happier knowing we will have one room done. We've set ourselves a target of redecorating the kitchen and our bedroom by Xmas. Luckily, both rooms only need painting.

Kitten868

Oh how lovely. Well done you chanie. Like you've seen best thing is just to get on with it. Bet it'll make you feel fab having it looking fresher and nicer. Might even improve your decluttering. Maybe it should be a by thanks giving challenge? Mwhaha well done you'll have to give me your decorating tips x