Making a list of ways to save money

candlelight_2013

I have made so much jam this year that I am going to make little hampers for several friends. I usually give the jam away, so I know it is well received.

They will have about 3 jars of different flavours ,a jar of pickle, a bottle of wine, shortbread and a small box of chocolates

It isn't a cheap present, but since I will have made it throughout the year I will have absorbed the cost, and I will only give it to people I know will like it. I know some people can be a bit "funny" about homemade presents, but I love them and I know the person has put some thought in to it, and not just rushed into Bo**s for something.

This is a lovely thread, and I don't remember seeing it last year.

I am just about to skin some shallots ready for pickling:)

Candlelightx

SCFC1961

duchy wrote: »

Sign up to Daily Free Books UK and download daily anything that looks interesting for the future. Nothing lost if later you delete it but better than paying for it later if you do.

Totally agree with this - very MSE

WantToBeSE

charleybear wrote: »

I will be using the 50% 30% 20% rule to help me budget better.

I am curious, what's the 50%, 30%, 20% rule? Am I missing a MSE topsecret budgeting tool here??

[Deleted User]

OS style living is such a personal thing in that you find things to do and ways to live that suit you and your family and your lifestyle is of necessity an individual choice. We found the best way for us was to step slightly out of 'mainstream' living, we have our own set of values likes and dislikes, have been fortunate enough to be able to pay off our mortgage (after a redundancy) and have for as long as I can remember lived beneath our means, put both daughters through university and been as self sufficient as we are able to be. This has not always been easy but always very satisfying. We've always had allottments and produced as much of our own fruit and veg as we can wherever we've lived. We've made beer and wine and now just make cider as we have access to everyones windfalls in the village here. I make jams, chutneys, pickles and cook everything from scratch. I always head for the reduced section of the shop before going into the main area and have a flexible idea of what we need for the week ahead. I don't mind using basics ingredients, I honestly can't taste any difference between a cake made from basics or finest, a cake is still a cake! I don't spend unless we NEED the item, my wardrobe and He Who Knows is very old and well worn but I re-dye jeans when they fade, I keep a couple of sets of 'OUT' clothes that are kept for best only and I always make sure that even if the rest are shabby they are clean and ironed. The only things we don't stint on are good comfy waterproof footware and coats because it's important to us to be dry and warm in our unpredictable weather when we walk the Lurcher. Our home has very little in it that has been bought new we prefer to find good quality second hand items and find they fit nicely together to make a home, our home not a magazine home but a lived in comfy home. I rarely buy magazines as they make for discontent and I rarely watch ads on the TV I've better things to do with my time, I don't need the latest 'must have' thing, I've probably still got one from when they were first marketed anyway and it will still be working and usable too.

I guess that sounds like a fairly bleak existence? not so at all, we are content with what we have, we have an active and fulfilling life and are lacking nothing. We have our friends, live in a lovely place with wonderful walks, our needs are few and we don't feel any envy for those folks we know who are always planning cruises, holidays,new clothes, new kitchens etc. life is simple, life is affordable, life is good but best of all life is our own choice of how we live and that's worth more than rubies.

candlelight_2013

LYN thank you I knew you would have some words of wisdom.

Much love
Candlelightx

springdreams

WantToBeSE wrote: »

I am curious, what's the 50%, 30%, 20% rule? Am I missing a MSE topsecret budgeting tool here??

See point 10 in the OP which says:

Use the 50%(re-payments) 30%(myself) 20%(savings) rule

kippers

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

OS style living is such a personal thing in that you find things to do and ways to live that suit you and your family and your lifestyle is of necessity an individual choice. We found the best way for us was to step slightly out of 'mainstream' living, we have our own set of values likes and dislikes, have been fortunate enough to be able to pay off our mortgage (after a redundancy) and have for as long as I can remember lived beneath our means, put both daughters through university and been as self sufficient as we are able to be. This has not always been easy but always very satisfying. We've always had allottments and produced as much of our own fruit and veg as we can wherever we've lived. We've made beer and wine and now just make cider as we have access to everyones windfalls in the village here. I make jams, chutneys, pickles and cook everything from scratch. I always head for the reduced section of the shop before going into the main area and have a flexible idea of what we need for the week ahead. I don't mind using basics ingredients, I honestly can't taste any difference between a cake made from basics or finest, a cake is still a cake! I don't spend unless we NEED the item, my wardrobe and He Who Knows is very old and well worn but I re-dye jeans when they fade, I keep a couple of sets of 'OUT' clothes that are kept for best only and I always make sure that even if the rest are shabby they are clean and ironed. The only things we don't stint on are good comfy waterproof footware and coats because it's important to us to be dry and warm in our unpredictable weather when we walk the Lurcher. Our home has very little in it that has been bought new we prefer to find good quality second hand items and find they fit nicely together to make a home, our home not a magazine home but a lived in comfy home. I rarely buy magazines as they make for discontent and I rarely watch ads on the TV I've better things to do with my time, I don't need the latest 'must have' thing, I've probably still got one from when they were first marketed anyway and it will still be working and usable too.

I guess that sounds like a fairly bleak existence? not so at all, we are content with what we have, we have an active and fulfilling life and are lacking nothing. We have our friends, live in a lovely place with wonderful walks, our needs are few and we don't feel any envy for those folks we know who are always planning cruises, holidays,new clothes, new kitchens etc. life is simple, life is affordable, life is good but best of all life is our own choice of how we live and that's worth more than rubies.

:T:T:TI could have written this post myself as it is exactly how we live as a family.

My biggest advice is 'don't try and keep up with the Jones' as they probably have loads of debt around them anyway. You are what you are and if people don't like you for it, then they aren't worth knowing anyway....it took me a long time to learn this and I feel the 'green eyed monster' is one of the hardest things to conquer once you first start to moneysave, however if you turn moneysaving into a challenge it soon becomes fun and a way of life.

maman

I was interested in the 'don't watch adverts/read magazines' comment. I do both to an extent. Not much in the way of magazines but I do look at home/fashion pages in newspapers etc.


What gives me pleasure is dressing in a very similar way to some of the 'must haves' by digging stuff out of my wardrobe, adding a few CS bits and then maybe some cheapie accessories.


Same thing with my home. I have a very 'country house' feel. So lots of old, wooden furniture that I've had for years and wouldn't change, plus comfy, squashy sofas (now needing replacement as almost threadbare with flat cushions). I like it the way it is so don't hanker for change other than perhaps paint colours.


I really have no time for people who change everything in the home on a regular basis but each to his own.

[Deleted User]

Hi MAMAN I guess what I'm really trying to say is I'm ME and I don't want to be anything else than that. If folks like me I want it to be for myself and not what I have or don't have and not for the way I look. It's maybe a getting older thing but I'e never been a fashion follower either in dress or home or food fads either. We've had a fun and good life doing things the way we like them, we're clean and relatively neat and if my jeans are 3 times dyed back to colour and my T shirt was from 1998 well, who looks and judges anyway? I get the impression that the big snazzy 'Home' makeover features in magazines and the constantly changing colour schemes and accessories along with the constantly changing fashion scene might make for a feeling of slight discontent if you aren't happy with what you've got in the first place? That's the thing that we're lucky enough to have, we are happy with what we've got and who we are, I know I'm lucky to feel that way and lucky that He Who Knows does too. We're all different though and it wouldn't suit everyone would it?

maman

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Hi MAMAN I guess what I'm really trying to say is I'm ME and I don't want to be anything else than that. If folks like me I want it to be for myself and not what I have or don't have and not for the way I look. It's maybe a getting older thing but I'e never been a fashion follower either in dress or home or food fads either. We've had a fun and good life doing things the way we like them, we're clean and relatively neat and if my jeans are 3 times dyed back to colour and my T shirt was from 1998 well, who looks and judges anyway? I get the impression that the big snazzy 'Home' makeover features in magazines and the constantly changing colour schemes and accessories along with the constantly changing fashion scene might make for a feeling of slight discontent if you aren't happy with what you've got in the first place? That's the thing that we're lucky enough to have, we are happy with what we've got and who we are, I know I'm lucky to feel that way and lucky that He Who Knows does too. We're all different though and it wouldn't suit everyone would it?

Absolutely not. I actually like to follow fashion to an extent but only what I know suits me. Pleased today to receive latest Boden catalogue. I'm sure I won't be buying any of it but I saw a number of ways of wearing things I've already got. So I'm sort of recycling to get the look I want but with minimal (if any) spend.


I'm not discontented but that may be because I could go out and buy all the new stuff if I chose to.


Totally agree that the house/fashion features and programmes can engender discontent along with a feeling of entitlement because one's led to believe that everyone else has everything. I'm sure that's why we ended up with the huge credit boom from the 80s onwards and why there are so many people on the DFW boards.:mad: