How to make it stretch?

thomathy

sacha28 wrote: »

just been asked by the agent if we could pay the first months rent a few days early as we live so far away.

Odd ask of them, isn't it? I don't see how the distance relates to it. A good tenant is hard to find, without imposing extra terms on them...

(Not the advice you are looking for, I know - just a puzzler!)

sourcrates

Monkeyballs wrote: »

Sainsburys in York have a great deal on 6 drumsticks for a quid so I assume it's national? so chuck them in the pot as it boils, give it half an hour and then remove them and strip off the meat (careful not to burn your fingers) and put it back in

My god, just for one minute I thought Gordon Ramsey had logged on lol

must.try.harder

Food is definitely one of the biggest outgoings but probably the place where you can make the biggest savings. Try and find recipes that you can make in bulk and freeze it all. I make a bean chilli (buy the cheap cans of beans, they are the same) that is enough for 12 portions for less than £5.

Maybe plan some free things to do in the month so that you still have fun days out without spending anything. That way you have things to look forward to. At this time in the year there are loads of outdoor events that don't cost a thing.

Monkeyballs

sourcrates wrote: »

My god, just for one minute I thought Gordon Ramsey had logged on lol

Well that's F@#!ing F@#! F@#!edy chicken F@#!ing F@#!ed F@#! pot in F@#!er F@#! F@#!ing F@#!ed cooked F@#!ing F@#!edy F@#!ed F@#!ker tasty F@#!ing F@#! F@#!er F@#!ing well niiiice

[STRIKE]MB of G[/STRIKE] GR

ghostmadlittlemiss

Go to your local library and see if they have any copies of "A girl called Jack", a really great, budget cookbook using products usually found in supermarket's value ranges (specificity Sainsburys Basics but other supermarkets sell pretty much the same things in their value ranges). The only fault that I have with it is that, as she cooks for herself and a toddler, recipes that say they'll serve 4 usually only serve 2 and 2 only serves 1. But that could just be because I'm a greedy pig! Just keep that in mind and adjust the quantities as necessary and you should do fine.

I also second the recommendation to ask on the Old Style board, they're really good with making meals from store cupboard ingredients over there.
Kayleigh

On_my_way

sacha28 wrote: »

Hi guys :wave:

Haven't been on this part for a while but just need your amazing ideas to help me stretch a little bit of money a long way!!!

We've finally got a moving date :j it's in 4 weeks time but have just been asked by the agent if we could pay the first months rent a few days early as we live so far away. We've said yes but would prefer to do this now, whilst the money is in the bank, to avoid us spending it and being stuck!! We've been over our finances and, once the amount is paid, we have 3 payments to make tomorrow totaling £90 and this would leave us with £160 with another £81.40 (child benefit) due into the account next Monday.

We have 1/2 a tank of fuel but I am yet to do food shopping (me+OH+2yo lb)....how can I stretch this amount out in a way that wouldn't make us feel like we are just existing? I know we are going to need to be frugal but can you be frugal and still feel able to live?

Any advice appreciated @D

For the food shopping - do you really need to go out and buy food or do you actually still have lots in your cupboard to put together meals? So many people have at least £100 worth of food in their house already but just go and buy more before they need to.

Just a thought!

sacha28

Hi peeps, some really good advice here

I agree about not buying too much food, I actually said to my OH that I really don't want to end up with loads of food to have to take with us.....the frozen stuff will all defrost and end up wasted as we move on the 25th and I start my new job on 28th so, in amongst getting the house sorted, I'm not really going to have the time (or inclination) to go on a massive cook-a-thon!!!

I know it's a strange request from the agent, and we could probably refuse, but when we thought about it it leaves us in a much better position when we move. From a money saving expert point of view if we pay it now then we only have the deposit to pay when we move.....we then get our deposit back from where we live now (which is more than the new one) so, effectively, we will have a month rent free the month we move (which, believe me, is needed!!).

In answer to the question about walking LO to nursery.....I probably could but it's over 2 miles away and he starts at 7am and I don't fancy the idea of having to leave at 6.20am because he's a terrible sleeper and, if by some way of a miracle, he has slept past 5.30am and only woken 4 times in the night (average is 8 :eek:) I really need to embrace the zzz's!

I think my freezer is down to the wire atm as I did a stock check last month and did a monthly shop for £83.94 Does anyone know if Sainsbury's still do the weekly meal planning thing where you can buy the ingredients for a weeks dinners for about £25? I'm sure it used to be less than £20 but the price of food has gone up so much since I did it!!!!

On_my_way

If you are very careful you can buy a lot of food for not a lot of money. We buy yellow sticker food that we can freeze etc. We only buy loo roll etc when it's on offer etc. If you carefully work out the offers etc you can do very well - especially when you make sure that you don't fall into any of their marketing traps!

After a while it becomes second nature. My BF and I know exactly our limits on what we are prepared to spend on each thing!

faithcecilia

I find this website very helpful http://thriftylesley.com/

sacha28

faithcecilia wrote: »

I find this website very helpful http://thriftylesley.com/

What a great link, thank you so much!!!

Bit of a fly in ointment, ebay have just taken £15 out of our account :eek: wouldn't mind but we did it on the 'free listings' last month so wasn't expecting that

On the plus I have just sold my dsd's bed to a friend for £70 but don't have the money as yet, was going to wait until a bit later on in the month to ask for it so we have a little buffer

Just asked my neighbour to clean our carpets when we leave (he has a carpet cleaning company) and he has said he will do our 3 bed house for £50 as we gave their details to our LA and they now have a contract to do all of their rental properties and have done loads of work for them (they did our house about 6 months ago and did an amazing job so thought a good word would go down well )

Have also just had a letter from our water company to say we are £80 in credit everything feels like it's falling into place atm, I have never moved and been in credit with anything!!!!!