Building a new (organised and frugal) life

littlerock

I'm a loner and spend a lot of time by myself. I find a hobby helps to stimulate my mind into areas outside the family. In my case I knit woollen hats for for the Mission to Seafarers - easy to do when you are watching tv at night but it also gives you something outside the family to take an interest in. I have also been doing the Telegraph Fantasy Racing League (no bettings its all hypothetical) for the flat season. The jump season is about to start. I have no interest in horses or racing in general and just chose some horses at random to get started. But I do know more now about the horse racing scene and have found it quite interesting.

lindsaygalaxy

Hello all:) I am terrible at tracking threads but I will try! I too have strated ebaying, though some of it is my daughters (she is 10) so I will put money into her saving from anything she wants to sell. I find having the app on my phone much easier. I sold some Tesco days out vouchers that we would be unable to use and they sold really well. Now got to list the other pile of stuff!

If you post your SOA we can see if we can help you make any savings. Have you made sure you are getting nay single person benefits like 25% discount on council tax? Make sure anything you buy online goes through a cashback site like Quidco or Top Cashback.

I am all about the slow cooker these days - especially on work days. I find it a lot cheaper and can usually save some leftovers for lunch the next day.

I find with shopping its cheaper to swap places. One week I go to Aldi and the next Tesco so I dont miss any offers. My biggest problem is shoving meat in the freezer that i havent used in time then never defrosting it! I try not to spend more that £80 a week for the 4 of us. I too have a glass in the kitchen with change in for when we run out of bread/ milk (which is several times a week!) If I had a chest freezer again I would stick a few reduced loaves in there as often it gets used up by toast.

Mooglet71

Hello
I'm in a slightly different position, but I definitely am broke

So I will follow your thread with interest and try to join in. My circumstances are that I'm taking voluntary redundancy next month after 16 years in the same job. It's not as cushy as it sounds, as really I'm being forced out. I decided to jump and get a little bit of redundancy (and I mean a little) before my salary goes down next year (demoted a couple of years back) and I can't afford childcare or anything else.

I have two kids and a DH, he was made redundant a couple of years ago and now has a great job which he loves but doesn't earn much at all.

We are both on DMPs and have cut back our outgoings as far as possible, so I'm trying to be frugal on the weekly shop.

Good luck!

lindsaygalaxy

How is it going?

lottie3000

I've subscribed to your thread GettingmyHALO, you've inspired me in to being more frugal and thanks for that. I am in a different situation to yourselves but need a kick to sort out my finances better! I do complete a spreadsheet every month and try to stick to it but for the last two months have gone over budget on groceries. So this month i'm going to try my hardest to stick to it.

Sequeena

Hello. Hope I can join I'm not a single mum though there are days where I feel like I am (OH works nights, we see him for about 3 hours a day). I'm 25 and my son is 3. I'm always trying to find ways to be frugal as costs keep going up.

I'm currently saving for a raincover for my son's wheelchair. They're £165 :eek:

I'm always trying to reduce our food budget too!

GettingmyHALO

Hi everyone and welcome along to those just joining us. Sorry it's been a few days, I actually thought I was going it alone.....so glad I'm not

Eager_elephant - I have tried fb and found it way easier and cheaper, but I've given up my fb account for a while, as I do like my privacy, especially at the moment......and as with little rock I too am a loner.

Little rock - i too am a loner.......by choice and I always have been, that's why it's even more difficult being a single parent. I lost my only friend (husband) just over a year ago. I really don't have time for a hobby as such, I do enjoy planning for my business tho, so it's kind of a prepay org hobby. I must admit when it comes to horses, I'm a bit of a sucker for the grand national, but I just pick names I like lol.

Lindsaygalaxy - I'm a longtime follower of Martins weekly email, so def have all the benefits I'm entitled to. The only place I really have room to cut back is on my groceries, but there's lots of room for improvement there i'm sure. I love my slow cooker too!

Mooglet71 - sorry to hear about your redundancy hopefully we'll both benefit here on the grocery cut backs.

Lottie3000 - I have found a great budget for those like me who struggle sticking to one or going over budget often. It's called YNAB, I found it online (sorry Martin) I'm using a 34 day free trial and after that I can either buy it (doubt that) or use the principles they give. It's so simple it's almost stupid, but so far it's got me sticking to it and there's loads of online help in getting it set up. It is an American company, but it also has £.

Sequeena - we've all felt like single parents when we were not, I'm sure. It's definitley hard either way. I really hope you can sort the rain over out ASAP......it really bugs me that things like that cost so much, when drug addicts can get methadone on the NHS........I won't start a rant tho.

I've had a massive clear up this week, all 3 kids rooms done, and I'm just taking a break from a mountain of ironing, in prep for back to school on Monday. No savings yet, but have listed my first 4 items on eBay and may get some more on tomorrow.

Good luck everyone and thanks for keeping me motivated, just by being here :T

Post again soon.

GettingmyHALO

Well things aren't going so well the last couple of days, I just feel sooo exhausted! I'm still motivated to keep going, but recent stress is taking its toll. The fluey feeling hasn't materialised into anything yet thankfully though.
I suspect my failure to stick to the early nights have a large part to play too, so I MUST get to bed early tonight.

1/4 items on eBay will sell in a couple of days, I suspect the others may well go for 99p :-) at least they won't be cluttering up the house. (I may have to reconsider getting back on fb, if only to sell my clutter.)

Had a few unexpected expenses (£137) in the last week too, so my budget has taken a hit. Also realised I missed off the yearly payment for the garden waste bin, which is due in a couple of weeks (£36)

On the plus side, I got my £12 electricity voucher (as mentioned in last weeks money saving email.)

Will get some sleep and hopefully, bounce back tomorrow with some kind of plan to recoup those expenses, and regain control of my budget.

How's everyone else getting on? Any one have some happy news?

catrobinson

Hi,
I have come to join you ladies if thats ok!
We are in a different position. I am married, 2 children and 2 pets. We earn a not bad wage but throw money away constantly. We rent and would love to buy (we are both 45) but have no deposit and when we look at mortgage repayments we wonder how we would ever manage.
Last month we decided to try and cut back and put away the extra it would cost on a mortgage and typically my mother in law was hospitalised meaning 3 trips to yorkshire and I injured myself meaning lots convenience food shopping and other additional costs.
Our house is a mess made worse by a month of no housework and it is all getting to me now!!
So I need a shake up and a sort out!!
I will read through the previous posts and come back!

Sequeena

GettingmyHALO - what a nightmare! Unexpected expenses are horrible. I hope you don't get sick either.

catrobinson - hi sorry to hear about your MIL and your injury too. Hope you're both feeling better soon. A mortgage is something we've thought about but I've no idea how we'd ever be able to save enough! Maybe in the next few years as OH gets his pay rises.

Nothing much budget wise has changed here though we have cut some of our Sky bill so that's money in our pocket. I also cancelled some charity payments as we really just can't afford it now.

I'm completely exhausted at the minute. I started a sleep clinic yesterday to try and help my son sleep (currently he sleeps 4-5 hours a night, 6 hours if we're lucky). It went reasonably well. It's just the parents and a disability health visitor and community nurse at the meetings. The parents carry out techniques at home which will hopefully help. The only issue right now is that they don't know how to deal with my son's sensory issues (one of his conditions is Sensory Processing Disorder and at night he has to stroke my arm for 2-4 hours and when distressed he self harms. He's over 3 but we still co-sleep for his safety and to get some sleep). The HV and nurse said they'd speak to Occupational Therapy to see what they suggest and hopefully they'll have answers for us.

I still went ahead and started the new sleep routine. Massive fail but I shall soldier on (on my knees because I'm too tired to walk :rotfl:).

I also had a Local Education Authority officer out yesterday as we're just about to start the statementing process and that takes 26 weeks. Fun times ahead :cool:

Hope everyone else is OK x