How to fall in love with saving money

JoJoC

Morning everyone!

It's not very sunny here- in fact it's overcast and drizzling so not nice at all!

We've got lunch with husnand's family today then I just need to pick up a few basic bits from the supermarket and then a quiet night in with my wee boy. Might even do some baking if I can be bothered!

Your grocery challenge sounds amazing Cathy! Do you think you can do it? Xx

JIL

I may join you in your £10 per week grocery challenge. I had joined the forum grocery challenge. Set myself £180 for March and then realised it was a five week month. I have spent £150 so far with three weekends left.
I really don't want to dip into my savings account I find when I do its disheartening, and coming up I have two meals out and a birthday present to buy. If I am really careful I think I can do it with the money in my current account. I am also spurred on my my husbands "no chance" comments.

atush

cathybird wrote: »

Morning all! Lovely sunny morning where I am, hope it's sunny with you too. I'm back to work today - yay!! (not). Anyway, I've decided on a mini-challenge, to set myself a grocery budget of £10 a week till next month ... I just want to see if I can do it. I've got loads of food in the freezer/storecupboard and it's only three weeks so I reckon I can. It starts today.

Ok, but here's the thing.

You'll run down your store cupboards and freezer and save money. But how much will you spend to fill them all again lol? After all, for meal planning you need to have certain basics and lux items in your cupboards from tinned toms to coconut milk to all sorts.

Mine are kinda full, and I don't buy stuff because I know they are full lol.

WantToBeSE

Good luck with your grocery challenge, Cathy! I think its sometimes good to use up what you have already.
I am coming up with more imaginative meals doing that, I have found 4 tins of chickpeas, so that's my next challenge. But I have already written my meal plan for the week, so the chickpeas will have to wait for now

cathybird

JoJoC wrote: »

Morning everyone!

It's not very sunny here- in fact it's overcast and drizzling so not nice at all!

We've got lunch with husnand's family today then I just need to pick up a few basic bits from the supermarket and then a quiet night in with my wee boy. Might even do some baking if I can be bothered!

Your grocery challenge sounds amazing Cathy! Do you think you can do it? Xx

We had a lovely sunny day here, but of course I was at work

Re the grocery challenge, yes I am going to try. I think I can do it. It will do me good, just as an exercise - even if I don't keep up that level of thriftiness as a matter of routine

Hope you had a nice lunch/quiet evening, JoJoC? ...

JoJoC

You should keep us up to date with how you get on Cathy. If be interested to know how you do it

Lunch was lovely, although had to have an argument with the waiter about using a voucher that we had. He told me it was an old one and had expired and I told him it couldn't have expired because it didn't have an expiry date on it. Needless to say that after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I won. So lunch was lovely!

I had a nice evening with my little one which husband played football then I've been chilling watching some tv and eating supper. I'll probably go to make tomorrow's lunches shortly then head to bed for an early night.

Everyone else had a nice day?

Xx

cathybird

JIL wrote: »

I may join you in your £10 per week grocery challenge. I had joined the forum grocery challenge. Set myself £180 for March and then realised it was a five week month. I have spent £150 so far with three weekends left.
I really don't want to dip into my savings account I find when I do its disheartening, and coming up I have two meals out and a birthday present to buy. If I am really careful I think I can do it with the money in my current account. I am also spurred on my my husbands "no chance" comments.

Ooh why not JIL, we can spur each other on :T:T:T

JoJoC

Also, I mentioned on WTBSE's thread that husband for paid £110 for his overtime this weekend so put that in the piggy then we had some unexpected spends this weekend which meant I had to transfer £50 out of the savings. It'll be going back in when husband gets paid on Tuesday but I was a bit annoyed at first.

The total has still gone up though- £1420. Remaining positive!

cathybird

atush wrote: »

Ok, but here's the thing.

You'll run down your store cupboards and freezer and save money. But how much will you spend to fill them all again lol? After all, for meal planning you need to have certain basics and lux items in your cupboards from tinned toms to coconut milk to all sorts.

Mine are kinda full, and I don't buy stuff because I know they are full lol.

All very true, atush, you're not wrong, but I usually spend so much money on food I just think it might be an interesting exercise for me to see I don't have to be lazy and head down the street to the supermarket every time I run out of particular supplies. I can use my head instead and make something else. It's by way of training myself to think about it differently, I guess. I reckon as a one-off it will do no harm.

cathybird

JoJoC wrote: »

You should keep us up to date with how you get on Cathy. If be interested to know how you do it

Lunch was lovely, although had to have an argument with the waiter about using a voucher that we had. He told me it was an old one and had expired and I told him it couldn't have expired because it didn't have an expiry date on it. Needless to say that after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I won. So lunch was lovely!

I had a nice evening with my little one which husband played football then I've been chilling watching some tv and eating supper. I'll probably go to make tomorrow's lunches shortly then head to bed for an early night.

Everyone else had a nice day?

Xx

Sounds like a very good day indeed ... a voucher with no expiry date, that's a useful thing to have. I might have an early night too actually, as I still have a bit of a flu bug and want to get a good night's sleep.

I will keep people up-to-date on how I go, in fact that will probably make me try harder.