WTBSEs 'Starting From Scratch' Savings Diary.

atush

Sorry, didn't mean to make your list longer lol

atush

PS, on overspending.

Sometimes you just have to. Living in a very small town on a small island I cannot always get what I want. When we moved there there was no tesco, no Boots, no fastfood and precious few decent restaurants.

In the last 2 months, most I f which I was away, there have been 3 new places open up ( a year or so ago we got our first french Bistro- run by an actual frenchman lol).

One is a noodle bar set up by a local guy who spent time in asia, one is a hot fresh dontut shop, and another is a take out pizza place (local not chain).

So in the last 2 weeks esp the last one as the twins were home for a few days, we had to try them out lol. AS normally we spend very litel on take out food.

The Pizza was tonite and was decent. Not quite as good as the thin and crispy stuff from t he local italian place (owned by italians) but was cheaper. The hot donuts and the noodles were also enjoyed.

Have I had better elsewhere? Yes. But these are in my local Small town so I dont have to jump on a plane or ferry. And I do remember not that many years ago when there wasn't that many places to eat here of any quality. It is good to support local places when you can. We do support the french place but it isn't cheap so only go so many times a year.

JoJoC

Just lost my post so will try to remember what I was saying.

Atush, dont feel bad about adding to my list! You gave me the boot up the backside that I needed and I applied for it last night

It must be nice to finally have a selection of places to choose from to eat out now. We're lucky that we are in a decent sized town so have plenty of amenities.

I suppose you could look at it as just more temptation though!

Have hopefully managed to save a bit of money as I think I've tracked down a company that can get me the missing part foe the car seat. He's going to get back to me on Monday with a price. Hooray! That's £170 that we will not need to spend now proving we can get the part!

atush

Well glad to put the boot in, if yu want me too lo.

And yes, it does mean more temptation. but they closed the roads in our small town for over a year as they were resurfaced by granite blocks (streets paved with gold and all that). Looks great but fewer parking places, and I got used to not going down the main street and parked Quayside instead so I dont see these places often to be tempted

WantToBeSE

Good morning

Am definitely planning a NSD today. Bread is in the BM, bread rolls are proving (in the garden, in a sunny spot ), i am also planning on making some veggie burgers to freeze.

The washing is out on the line, the washing is being folded, i am going to be mainly catching up on housework and doing cooking, baking and meal planning today

Have saved £350 this month. Not bad going, especially since i had to pay £300 to the garage.

atush

Excellent saving.

WE are never no spending days here, as it is the only 2 days we get a newspaper to read. Plus we like french bread so usually get a baguette each WE day. But a newspaper and a baguette aren't too expensive

WantToBeSE

Thanks atush

I am planning on spending a big fat £0 for the next 4 days. Its pay day on Friday, so i will do a big food shop then, if i need to.

I have £41 in Morrisons saving stamps so might see if i can spend only that much on Friday, and use up what i have in the stocks already.

I love baguettes, but i cant work out how to make them at home so crunchy!

WantToBeSE

I really need to start meal planning again. It normally saves me a fortune, but i stopped doing it when i became vegan because i just wasnt sure how to work it with 2 different diets. But now i have gotten my head around it. So this weeks meal plan (starting tomorrow):

Risotto and salad
Burgers, potato wedges and salad
Chilli and Foccacia
Veg and sweet potato kebabs with rice + salad
Baked potatoes and salad
Big salad
Roast.

JoJoC

Well done on saving so much, especially with your big car bill! It'll make a nice addition to your balance

My husband has been doing homers (feel like I haven't seen him for a couple of weeks). He has been paid in cash so I'm going to put it in the bank tomorrow. Will come back on and update my signature but hoping to break the £2K mark. We are planning on getting new carpets in the living room and bedroom in the next few weeks so it will go down a bit again.

I've kind of fallen out the way of meal planning but will need to get back into it again. It should be easier now I'm not working but maybe not so easy with two kids!

My freezer is full and I wrote a list last week of what's in it so it shouldn't be too difficult.

JoJoC

Just popping on to update my savings total- put £860 in the bank yesterday so total is now £2275. As I said, some of that will come back out for carpets in a while but it's nice to see it a bit healthier again.

Also been putting more in my pot on a fairly regular basis, mostly £ and £2 coins so that'll be adding up nicely too. I'm not opening it until I can't get another penny into it and I can't wait. How sad!