Skint Dad's Debt Diary

AlexLK

Just read your blog post and am dreading my son getting older and coveting what I cannot help but refer to as "plastic tat".

brightnotes

Congratulations on the engagement and good luck for the competition. Your positivity is so inspiring, thank you for getting me all fired up about getting rid of my own debt. Can't wait to take a peek at your blog.

Katzen

With regards to the competition, there's nothing wrong with aiming to win but building your hopes on 10k will really hurt if you lose, especially in your debt situation. Personally I would think about all the positives that will come from taking part. Its clearly done your self esteem some good already and its put your name 'out there' to more people who may want to pay for your writing. Both will probably have a bigger long term impact than the money, if you're being honest with yourself. By that rationale you're already a winner so don't get too wound up with nerves! (says she who stresses about everything!)

SkintDadUK

brightnotes wrote: »

Congratulations on the engagement and good luck for the competition. Your positivity is so inspiring, thank you for getting me all fired up about getting rid of my own debt. Can't wait to take a peek at your blog.

Thank you and thank you.

Good luck with clearing your debt and please let me know what you think of my blog. I appreciate feedback, good or bad.

SkintDadUK

Katzen wrote: »

With regards to the competition, there's nothing wrong with aiming to win but building your hopes on 10k will really hurt if you lose, especially in your debt situation. Personally I would think about all the positives that will come from taking part. Its clearly done your self esteem some good already and its put your name 'out there' to more people who may want to pay for your writing. Both will probably have a bigger long term impact than the money, if you're being honest with yourself. By that rationale you're already a winner so don't get too wound up with nerves! (says she who stresses about everything!)

Thank you.

I am going there with the mindset that it's a great achievement just to make it that far. Anything else is a bonus.

When it comes to nerves I cope pretty well although a 20 minute interview with 5 judges may change that :eek:

SkintDadUK

Good morning Guys,

I wrote a post on my blog yesterday about food wastage in reply to the report that came out from (wrap) who have said the average family waste over £700 worth of food per year.:eek::eek:

I wanted to share this you because if true that is shocking and an easy way to save money which can go towards paying off our debts.

_________________________________

Use Your Loaf And Don’t Be A Waster!

The average household in the UK wastes the equivalent of six meals every week, costing near to £60 a month for the average family.

A study by Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) has shown that, despite a significant drive to reduce the problem, the waste costs the UK £12.5 billion a year.

Food items that are discarded every year include the equivalent to:

• 5.8 million potatoes
• 5.9 million glasses of milk
• 24 million slices of bread
• 86 million whole chickens

Even though households have cut avoidable food waste since 2007 by 21% (a consumer saving of £13 billion) in recent years this has slowed and 4.2 million tonnes of edible food has still been wasted.

Shockingly nearly half of this food doesn’t even reach our dinner plates and instead goes straight from the store to our cupboards or fridge then into the bin.

Now Skint Dad is speechless at this.

In one hand Oxfam are reporting the following:

In 2012-13, the Trussell Trust food bank network, an Oxfam partner, provided over 350,000 people in the UK with food parcels – more than double the year before.
Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty estimate that over 500,000 people in the UK are now reliant on food parcels.
Over 2 million people in the UK are estimated to be malnourished, and 3 million are at risk of becoming so.
36% of the UK population are now just one large heating bill or a broken washing machine away from hardship.
1 in 6 parents have gone without food themselves to afford to feed their families.
And in the other Wrap are reporting the average family waste 6 meals a week at a cost of nearly £60 per month?

The math just doesn’t add up?

How can we let people go hungry when we waste so much? It make me so angry and sad.

So what can we do about it?

I certainly don’t have all the answers but below are few suggestions that we use to reduce waste.

1. Batch cook food

Instead of only cooking for the night’s dinner, cook up a load extra, freeze it and save for a later date. This is a brilliant idea on all fronts as you are saving energy by cooking once instead of multiple times, you are using food which may have been wasted later on in the week and you are saving yourself some time.

2. Only buy what you need

Instead of buying loads of fruit and vegetables only for half of it to go off and chucked away, just buy enough. Why do you need to buy 10 bananas when you only need 5 for the week?

3. Meal plan

Instead of writing a shopping list before you visit the supermarket, write a meal list. Work out what you want to eat for the next week, fortnight etc., write down each meal and then work out the ingredients you will need, taking into account what you already have in your cupboards. It sounds like a long and boring task but you’d rather do that that throw money in the bin wouldn’t you?

4. Use your loaf

I bet there isn’t a week that goes by when you throw out some bread. Well stop! That slightly gone off bread can be used for loads of stuff including, bread and butter pudding, French toast, bread dumplings, grilled sandwiches and meatloaf to name a few! Check out this article which lists these and a whole lot more.

5. Lunch next day

So you have cooked a family meal of Spaghetti Bolognese and the children have hardly touched it! Instead of throwing it away, scrape the leftovers into an airtight container, pop it in the fridge and that’s you lunch for work the next day. No waste and saving money! Brilliant!

6. Invite people around

Now I don’t know about you but I hardly talk to my neighbours. It is not because I don’t like them, it is not because they are horrible. The reason I don’t talk to them is because life is busy, so busy in fact that I don’t talk to my partner as much as I would like. I want this to change. In the next week I am going to make a point of talking to a neighbour and invite them around for dinner. I will make a real effort to connect to more people in my road, in my neighbourhood, in my town.

I have been in a position where Skint Mum and I missed meals. If someone like a neighbour had invited me round for dinner, I would have been hesitant but most probably of accepted. You never know who is going without food, it could be your neighbour.

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There is a bit more to the post with other comments from readers and the opportunity to add their/your tips. If you want to have look you can do so here.

Thanks for reading!

SD

stewby

Still lurking and reading your story but just had to post to say congratulations on your engagement!!
:j

I agree that it isn't the big gestures that make an engagement memorable, it's the little things.
I believe that too many people want to impress others which is why they do the big gestures. There was a girl at my old work who spent £6k on her engagement ring and then another £10k getting the wedding rings for her and her hubby to match. She then told everyone that she was trying to save for a house so they could start a family. That's SIXTEEN THOUSAND pounds on rings alone!!
:eek:

Even before my LBM, I thought that was crazy. We have a ring. It cost £500 (about a quarter of OH's monthly wage prior to him leaving work). It is sitting on top of OH's xbox games as he is waiting for the right moment.


Anyways I digress. Your engagement sounds amazing and I can't wait to hear all about your wedding plans.
Our plan is to spend a little on the wedding so that we can spend big on the honeymoon (three weeks touring usa).
Which means I will hopefully be stealing a lot of your ideas (if that's okay of course).


Hugs.

Mara_uk7

Many Congrats on your engagement .. My hubby saved up 50p pieces to buy my engagement ring (remember the ones with the hands on them -- in the 70's ? ) . It cost £37.50 .. and I still wear it with pride and remember his delight when he got the right 50p in his change ! lol

SkintDadUK

Hi everyone,

I Haven't been on here since last Friday but I have been busy.

On Saturday I travelled up to London for the final of Savoo's "UK Smartest Shopper" competition and we will find out the results tomorrow morning. I caught the train up there which cost £13.80 but Savoo are refunding me for this.

It was a great day and an experience I will always remember, win or lose.

Funnily enough Saturday coincided with my eldest daughter's 14th birthday. She lives with her mum but I still see her although not enough.

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On from that, Saturday night we made our regular fakeaway. It was Indian this week and again.

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On Sunday we went to a local pub to celebrate Skint Mum's and Mine engagement. Again I didn't spend any money which was a bonus! I didn't drink as I am really trying to cut down!

The last couple of days the whole family have been off work/school with a sickness bug. It has affected Skint Mum and the youngest the most but it does look like we are all starting to recover.

Finances wise, not much has changed. I still need to update my sig with new figures but all in all we are still on track.

I am still feeling 150% positive and determined as ever. I really feel like we have achieved so much in a short space of time but can achieve so much more with a little extra effort.

SD

AlexLK

How did you think your Smartest Shopper competition went?

We did an Indian fakeaway the other week too, wish I could remember what we had but it was delicious, much better than buying from the shops.

Your other blog post really put my "problems" into perspective, some people on here and in real life have told me I'm "not in the real world" and some kind of dumb, privileged posh boy who wallows in self pity far too often. Having read your blog post, I'm beginning to wonder if they are right.

Anyhow, onto something more positive, glad you're still 150% determined, I for one need your inspiration!