My First SOA :) Help me plug the leaks please...

iamstacie

Thank you for your replies so far. You're all absolutely right about food & beer, we have cut down (you should have seen the bills a few months ago!) but it does - and WILL - come down again.

Electricity I can't do much about, £30 is high but again its a pre-pay meter and OH works from home and the computers are on all the time, gas is coming down but only cos I've had all the GCH off for about 6 weeks now - it was about £80 in the winter.

As you can see food & beers are our main downfall, I was spending about £180 at work, this month £120, but now I've got a big box of muesli on my desk and I've brought some sandwiches today and intend to carry on, the only thing I have to pay for is milk (for cereals) and hot water for teas & coffee (work charges for it!). Monthly food bill probably can come down, got loads of frozen meat in the freezer and we're going to work thru that for the time being, and I'm going to start 'batch cooking', plus we get a veg delivery once a week for £18 (expensive but it stops me going to sainsburys for veg and coming out £50-£70 worse off with stuff I dont need. And its fresh & organic and lets us try different stuff) Hoping to do just 2 online tesco shops a month for about £50 each time incl cleaning stuff & dog food.

Beers. Hmm. I Know its high. We're going to aim to go out just once a week, and spend only(!) £50 between us compared to the £100 a night before, even if it means just buying our own drinks and not getting rounds in so we can keep track of it. Leave the pub when its been spent. I feel bad though cos with the OH working from home going to the pub is his only escape.

Thanks again for the advice so far, I know in my head what needs to be done, but doing its a different matter.

If anyone has any ideas of what we can do at home for free (no cheeky replies please! I'm sure we can come up with few ideas ourselves ) other than the usual watching TV, then any suggestions welcome.

Thanks again,
Stacie

iamstacie

A couple of replies while I was posting mine...

Cigs - We are now buying tobacco again, tried to quit but just ended up buy packets in the pub machine so rollies should reduce it by half.

I think I have had my LBM - came whacking my round the head when I found we had about £5k more debt than I thought.

Beers (by this I do mean nights out incl bus/taxis/trains if not local) can and will come down. I hope to be able to post in a months time and tell you all that we've spent only half of our budget. That is my own personal target.

Food? This is where I struggle cos I love cooking and making nice meals and using the best ingredients. I'm going to cut down though, I've bought a multi pack of egg noodles to get that chinese takeaway taste at home, and some curry powder for a home made curry. I'm going to take myself off to the OS board for cooking tips on a budget.

Thanks for the replies. I know our spending is crazy, but sometimes it helps to have it pointed out to you to fully realise.

x

wannasavemoney

It seems a little tweaking on your lifestyle would pay dividends health and money wise, There are lots of other things to do rather than going to the pub which is much cheaper. Go to the cinema, take your own snacks/sweets too. Much healthier than drinking. If you want to socialise with your friends, invite them over for a meal, they can bring the booze, you can make the food. The OS Board will help with recipes and this all leads to a much healthier diet overall. Don't get me wrong I'm the first in line for a beer:beer: but recently, myself and OH have cut down on our intake drastically and taken up cycling. Can you cycle/walk to work and save money that way? You could both go out on bike rides if OH goes stir crazy being stuck at home all day? Hope some of this helps.

Burlesque_Babe

hiya - why not invite friends round - they bring the beer and wine and you provide the food? There are loads of cheap nibbles (ie bread sticks, dips) and things you can make for literally pennies. Homemade pizza is great and costs very little.

Have you any board games? You could set up a 'championship' of games at your house with your friends coming around every so often to play a different game.

The old style board will be able to give you loads of ideas for home made (cheap ) snacks and party food.

Shineyhappy

Have you thought about inviting people round to your home instead of going out?

If you could cook something fairly cheaply like a curry or spaghetti bolognase or nachos and chilli, then you would probably save quite a lot as you wouldnt be paying pub prices or taxi fares.

With the lovely summer coming it is bbq season after all!

I love cooking too and I also love takeaways so I batch cook and then when am too tired to cook I defrost a curry and cook a nan bread. If you miss the richness of a restaurant curry try using ghee to fry the onions and spices in.

I always take a packed lunch to work and that can be sandwhiches made the night before (dont do mornings!) or leftovers so I get a warm dinner. I tend to take in more food than I think I will eat so I can not use the excuse, but I am still hungry to pop out for something. Obviously I make sure I leave things like a packet of crisps that will keep!

pinkkaz

I can't believe your work charges for hot water! That's just mean!

As everyone else has said, it's the £500 on beer which is the major downfall. It is possible to go to the pub and not spend very much money - it's just remembering your budget when you get to the bar...

iamstacie

Very useful ideas all, especially the having people over for food/games. I think half the reason our 'going out bill' is so high is that we have many seperate groups of friends and feel obliged to go out with each group seperately whenever we're invited.

My new job includes doing some night shifts which means i wont even have chance to spend any money in the canteen! But they do have a microwave so I can batch cook more & take leftovers

Sus1e

Why not buy a thermos flask and take in your own hot water........

Every little bit helps.

iamstacie

Just got my first ebay payment thru :j Its only £28 but its better being in our savings account than in the wardrobe And I still have more to sell which hopefully will be another £60 or so.... All going towards getting Smile CC back under its limit so as not to incur charges

RAS

iamstacie wrote: »

I feel bad though cos with the OH working from home going to the pub is his only escape.

Stacie

Hi

Apart from the staying at home and inviting people around, which will improve your social life and hopefully mean invites out, you jointly need to think about the loneliness of the home worker and his real need to get out of the house.

Is there any sport that OH used to play and could take up relatively cheaply to get more social contact. Does your area/Business Link have a homeworkers network? Alternatively, is there some sort of people-based voluntary work that he would enjoy once or twice a week? At the cheapest, is there somewhere local and nice to which you could just go for a walk together once or twice a week?

And re the hot water, meanies, what about taking your own water and sticking a mug in the microwave?