WTBSEs 'Starting From Scratch' Savings Diary.

JoJoC

Sounds like you want to give yourself a bit of a shake WTBSE! Hope you can find a way forward to boost those savings as much as possible.

My savings are still at a standstill, just forked out for paint and some other bits so that my husband can freshen up the living room. We're not decorating as such, just painting white to brighten it up. We haven't don't anything since we moved in and I feel like the whole place just needs a lick of paint to tide us over until we can afford to start doing things.

I have still been putting cash into my tins though so at least I feel like I'm doing something savings wise.

Just worked out what our childcare bill will be when I go back to work next year and it's looking at around £800 per month... Really depressing. I spend £200 per month getting to work so that'd be £1k before even making a penny to contribute to the bills and living. I think it really need to look at my options for returning to work- a job closer to home or a career break might have to be looked at

Just about to have a look online while my son is napping to get some inspiration for next weeks lunches.

JoJoC

Hope you've all had a lovely Sunday.

Mine has been good, but busy. My husband has been painting the lounge all day so my son and I went to Aldi and left £53 lighter. Then he went for a nap and my mum and I went to look at a single bed that if been eyeing up on Gumtree for my son- he's still in his cot. It's ikea and matches my furniture set but ikea don't sell that colour anymore. I went to see it and it was like new and only slept on once so I got the bed and mattress for £50.

It sells for £120 for the frame and £80 for the mattress new so I was so pleased. Mum managed to get it in her car, so all we need to do is find time for my husband to paint his room then we can get it done. We're just going.G for white walls and add some minion stickers to it or something simple. Then we can start thinking about the baby's room!

It's my aunts birthday so we went round this afternoon for a visit and she'd made dinner for everyone- Lasagne and salad which was lovely.

My meal plan for this week is:

M- bacon and mushroom Risotto
T- scampi and salad
W- Mums for tea
Th- Sausage, mash and cabbage
F- Beef stew and veg
S- sticky chicken and rice
Sun- something like roasted cheese as husband plays football so just a light, late dinner.

My husband had an unexpected job yesterday and earned £180, but we took £20 out to treat ourselves to a takeaway. Oops! The rest went in my sealed pot

JoJoC

Hi all, how are you? It's been a while since I've managed to update, life is so busy these days.

Still been potting away in my sealed tins but no movement on the actual savings. We've been using the extra from our wages to buy paint and curtains for the living room to freshen it up.

It's not going to get any better as my husband is moving on to the baby's room then my son's room this week and they both need new carpets and my son's room needs curtains so all spare income will go to that.

Had a nice mothers day yesterday, although we didn't do much. Visited my mum and Mil, did the food shopping and my son gave me a lovely bunch of flowers and a home made card which was really nice.

Got my shopping done yesterday in Aldi for £49.24 which isn't too bad considering I bought quite a bit of chicken.
Our meal plan for the week is:
Sun- spag bol
Mon- mother in laws
Tues- chicken feta Alfredo
Weds- mum's
Thurs- Italian foil chicken, salad and wedges
Fri- Beef stew
Sat- chicken and leek pie with veg

Any nice plans for this week?

I'm off today to look after my little fella as my bil has a course to go on. He normally takes him every other Monday. We are just going out to buy pain, curtain poles then do some cooking.

WantToBeSE

Morning All

I have still been thinking about my savings plan and trying to work out where i am going wrong, and how to improve it.

My long term career aim is to train as a psychotherapist, and i have seen that there is a course that starts in September in a town near me. I can pay in installments (£300 a month) or i cant wait another year and save up the money in the meantime. I am not 100% sure what to do, what does everyone think?

BUT i really want to build up a savings pot before i start training, as part of training is also having your own private therapy weekly, which is not cheap!

On the 1st post in this diary, i had some clearly thought out savings goals to aim for...i think i need to re-evaluate them and also maybe change/add to them.

EDIT- OK, i have edited my 1st post, and am now aiming for £3.5K in savings. I wont be able to save anything in March, as i have my sons 11th birthday, my Mums birthday, my sisters wedding....oh the list just goes on and on.

WantToBeSE

How am i going to save money:

1. Withdraw my grocery budget of £250 a month at the start of every month (20th of each month for me).

Hopefully this will mean that i dont touch my bank for the rest of the month, except to move money into savings accounts.

atush

Good idea.

With the costs of the course plus therapy. I would suggest saving up first really. Sorry if that isn't what you wanted to hear. It all sounds expensive and can't see how you would do if you came up om the same costs as today but w/o the savings?

only spent 80 at Tesco this week- yeah! Even with my son sponging for a dinner and breakfast at the mum and dad hotel lol/

WantToBeSE

Thanks atush. No, i agree with you, its much better to save up first. And in the grand scheme of things, its not long to wait, 12 months.

So i have 12 months to save £3.5K AND £3K to pay for the training. Hmm, that sounds daunting! The sooner i get started, the better!

Eco_Miser

WantToBeSE wrote: »

How am i going to save money:

1. Withdraw my grocery budget of £250 a month at the start of every month (20th of each month for me).

Hopefully this will mean that i dont touch my bank for the rest of the month, except to move money into savings accounts.

The good thing about that is you'll see just how fast your grocery budget is disappearing.

The bad thing is that you'll have lots of money at the start of the month (temptation?), and little, or none at the end.

WantToBeSE

Eco_Miser wrote: »

The good thing about that is you'll see just how fast your grocery budget is disappearing.

The bad thing is that you'll have lots of money at the start of the month (temptation?), and little, or none at the end.

I agree, that could be a bad thing...but i need to give it a go for a few months and see if it helps.

I have now found a new greengrocer who sells F&V cheaper than anywhere else i have found, so that should save some £. They also sell biscuits and cakes that have been broken, or boxes have been damaged, for very cheap (so that'll keep the boys happy).

I am struggling with how to 'arrange' my food shopping.
Now that i dont eat meat/dairy, i dont need to go to the supermarket every week to get eggs, milk etc.

So my plan is to do 1 big monthly shop for all my lentils, beans, spices, as well as coffee, tea, bread flour etc and a few meat things (and some milk) for the boys.

Then all i need is to go to the greengrocer every week.

How does everyone else 'do' their food shopping, or am i just over thinking this?

Eco_Miser

There's a big supermarket within easy walking distance, and a dearth of alternative produce vendors, so I go two or three times a week. That way I can often get reduced to clear fruit and veg (and cooked meat) for consumption that or the following day.