Stepping to the simpler MF life...

tootoo

Another post.
Visit to mr t yesterday (£75) which should hopefully last a fortnight with just a top up of milk, bread and fruit.
I've sold a few bits and once the car payment has gone out (today!!) then I can transfer the pennies over from p@ymate and move to my savings

MallyGirl

I also made a tomatoey chilli sauce yesterday with onions from the allotment and tomatoes from the greenhouse. I served it with half price breaded fish, salad leaves from the garden and some wholewheat pasta. The leftover sauce will have mushrooms, a tiny bottle of wine from a BA flight and some chicken in to become cacciatore. yum!

tootoo

that sounds delicious mally!

i made a lemon cake today using lemon curd (value of course!) and it gotten the thumbs up from everyone i'm guessing ingredients would've cost around 40p for the entire cake!

mouche

Sounds like you're doing really well tootoo. Thanks for posting on my diary; I will follow yours with interest. I wish I was good at cooking - OH being a chef means I never bothered to learn but he doesn't seem to understand the concept of thrift where groceries are concerned!

tootoo

Im a little jealous you are married to chef! Although I can see why it is expensive on the groceries my dh likes the expensive ingredients.

Im setting myself a little goal. Im trying to save a £1000 before the end of the year to recover my poor savings account. I shall also make an op every month. I have a holiday coming up then Christmas and its all of our birthdays in the space of a few months so I need to be prepared. Ive tried telling dh we should set a budget for each ither this year but he says he will spend what he feels comfy with.
Im planning on 2014 being a very thrifty year (fingers crossed) and I want to make some head way with the savings and also up the ops if money allows.

Raining here today so the beach party invite we had will no longer be happening!

tootoo

NSD yesterday and also friday:)
I think I'll have to buy bread tomorrow so LSD.

I'm trying to get myself motivated into saving the pennies in small ways. So I'm going to tackle each chunk by chunk, research and see where I can save pennies.
The first one I looked at was water and I have a little list of what I can/need to do!
* Fix the kitchen tap (dh has finally looked at it and it cannot be fixed so a replacement has been order). Once the constant dripping has stopped, hopefully we can save some pennies going down the drain.
*Water saving devices - my provider now offers some more, so I have ordered them. I'll put them in use once arrived.
* Only boil water we need. I could really use a flask when i'm home alone.
* Cutting down on my washing. This is not an easy one with young children! However, I am only washing full loads and even though my washing hamper is overflowing a little - I'm still limiting myself to one load per day.
* Hand washing - I did two dresses that needed washing (handwashing only) and once I had done them, I though why not wash something else with the water? So I did almost a full load of not too dirty clothes and a very quick spin in the washer. So a lot less water, a lot less electricity and on the line.
* We mainly shower and the children share a bath. I'm trying to cut down on the amount of time in the shower and keep it as short as possible.

Store cupboard dinner today - hm pizza (I fancy a roast but the joints were all around £10 in mr t!). I also need to bake some snacks - i might try some biscuits. My aim is to stop the need for taking packaged snacks to work (dh!) but I'll see if it works.

Off to make scotch pancakes for breakfast topped with my homemade blackcurrant jam! The sun is shining this morning, I think I can tell!

tootoo

Oh and to add - £12.25 in savings. 1.225% achieved!

tootoo

£50.19 now in savings - so 5%. Making slow progress but it's more than I had in there a few days ago.

On the water saving front I want/need to cut down my shower time. I spend more time than I need to in there using water.

LSD - bread which was needed (£1) and some reduced sausages (8 for 50p a nice brand). I'll pop them in the freezer for a meal later on.

tootoo

Just done my weekly meter readings (I like this to help me cut back!)
electric was £7.28 and gas £4.40.
my monthly dd is £141! I'll ring to change this at some point but at least I know that I have a little stocked up for when we need it in winter.
I have used my tumble a few times this week to finish clothes off, so not on for long. I have also been baking quite a bit and we have a elec oven. so I'm quite pleased with this.

newgirly

Hi , I have not popped in for a while and just wanted to say how well you are doing, its not always easy to cut back , my biggest problem is my kids taking hours in the shower every morning