PaddyPaws peruses the possibility...

catshark88

A really interesting diary!

I'm trying to do a lot of meal planning too. I'm not allocating food to specific days, but doing lots of batch cooking and packing it all away in the freezer.

PaddyPaws

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

after drifting in and out I've joined the Jan GC challenge properly this time. With a few small tweaks to how we used to do things we seem to have found a system that works for both of us. We've stuck to it for 2 weeks and have made good savings. If I can find the time and energy to plan properly, it is one area of our budget where we have scope to make substantial savings to free up cash.

Tracking every penny spent on food is an eye opener and is making us think much more about using things up to avoid waste. I'd like to build up to Tilly's system of monthly meal planning. So far it looks like we'll reach the end of the Jan grocery challenge managing 4/4 with sticking to the meal planning. The next step is to see if we can make the transition to fortnightly planning.

Woo-hoo! I managed a multi-quote :j
Hi pavlovs_dog the meal planning and looking at how much you spend on food makes a huge difference. I started doing it about 18 months ago when I wasn't working and I think I shaved about £125/month off what we were spending.
My down-fall is the stocking up at C0stc0 or if something is on offer, so I've tweaked the system slightly. I have a budget of £250/month but break it down to £50/week (so either £200 or £250/month depending if 4 or 5 weeks). The balance goes into one of my many pots - C0stc0 membership/xmas food/bargains and stocking up/contingency (all tracked via a trusty spreadsheet)

catshark88 wrote: »

A really interesting diary!

I'm trying to do a lot of meal planning too. I'm not allocating food to specific days, but doing lots of batch cooking and packing it all away in the freezer.

Hi catshark88, thanks for popping by. I plan my meals for specific days but do sometimes swap things round depending on what's happening on any given day (and if I've forgotten to get something out of the freezer) I use the meal plan so I don't forget to eat the meals that were batch cooked and frozen (that feeling of having a full freezer and nothing to eat is nearly as bad as a full wardrobe and nothing to wear )

catch you later
PP

PaddyPaws

Hellooooo :wave:

Well, think I've had a good day today
1. Put the DW and WM on before I went to work
2. Remembered to get dinner out of the freezer
3. Did a couple of extra hours at work (paid by the hour so that's good!)
4. Checked the bank and I've been paid
5. Money includes an extra £20.98 from extra hours worked :T
6. Based on discussion with Mr PP on where extras go I've paid 98p to the mortgage :rotfl:
7. Mortgage monthly statement issued today and the off-set has saved us over £36 interest this month :T

Not so good - I didn't take a packed lunch and spent £1.40 on soup and crusty bread for lunch


Catch you later, off to cook the dinner and do some chores Will pop back for a read later
PP

PaddyPaws

Hellooooo:wave:

I can't believe it's been a week since I posted - oops! No idea why, just been really busy. I've been sooooo busy I've not even been reading other people's diaries :eek:

Anyway, it's payday today :jand I has some extra pay :j:jso that's £6.37 OP to the mortgage. Total OP this month £375.88 (includes our 'normal' OP of £80)

Popping off now as there's washing to hang up on the airer and I'm going to chill out and watch Lewis at 9

catch you all soon
PP
x

Lois_E

Ooh lucky you. I have to wait until the 26th for my payday.

PaddyPaws

Lois_E wrote: »

Ooh lucky you. I have to wait until the 26th for my payday.

Lois - our main payday is the last friday of the month (DH's payday) and the money gets transferred round the accounts on the first of the month. I work part time through an agency so get paid weekly. 'Tis a bit of a novelty as I've been on monthly pay since about 1990 (and it pays for our 'treats':D)

PP

PaddyPaws

oh, heck, I've not posted for 3 weeks - BAD PaddyPaws :rotfl:

So last week I managed to OP £9.05 and this week I've just OPd £34.25 :j

Food shopping is going ok too, total spend for January was £174.23 out of a budget of £200. I didn't OP the underspend as I'm trying to build up a bit of a "bulk buy" pot so I added it to there. And so far this month we've spent £80.57, including £8.50 in M&S on Friday for treats for the weekend!!!:eek:

Better go and update MFW2013 and my signature. Will try to post more often going forwards
catch you later
PP

PaddyPaws

oh dear, managed to go another 2 weeks without posting, BUT in my defence I've been poorly Labyrinthitus (I really don't recommend this) closely followed by a stinking cold (which I'm struggling to shake off)

On the plus side, I've just done my month end/month start financial update and we now have 33% of the mortgage off-set:jAnd we're below £60k capital outstanding:jAND our daily interest is down to less than £3:j:j

On non-mortgage related finances we came in £34.12 under budget for the Feb grocery spending, so that's been added to the bulk buy/contingency budget as I'm going to C0stc0 this week.

Off for a read whilst dinner's cooking, catch you later
PP
xx

Lois_E

PaddyPaws wrote: »

oh dear, managed to go another 2 weeks without posting, BUT in my defence I've been poorly Labyrinthitus (I really don't recommend this) closely followed by a stinking cold (which I'm struggling to shake off)

On the plus side, I've just done my month end/month start financial update and we now have 33% of the mortgage off-set:jAnd we're below £60k capital outstanding:jAND our daily interest is down to less than £3:j:j

On non-mortgage related finances we came in £34.12 under budget for the Feb grocery spending, so that's been added to the bulk buy/contingency budget as I'm going to C0stc0 this week.

Off for a read whilst dinner's cooking, catch you later
PP
xx

Oooh poor you. I've had that, and wouldn't have been able to post on here or do anything really, except lie down and wait for it to get better. Glad you're on the mend.

PaddyPaws

Lois_E wrote: »

Oooh poor you. I've had that, and wouldn't have been able to post on here or do anything really, except lie down and wait for it to get better. Glad you're on the mend.

Thanks Lois, feeling much better, but still very tired. Hopefully the " feeling better everyday" feeling will continue.

And this evening I really must update my mortgage and the MFW 2013 and MFiT-T3 threads...

But I've got work to get through then a dentist appt

catch you later
PP