Opened my eyes finally & dealing with what I see

note3

Well feeling good as this morning when awoken before 6 by one child instead of laying dozing or scrolling through Facebook I sat and filled out more surveys and competition entries. Feeling very good and productive as a result and will do the same tomorrow morning as that's an hour or two of money saving and earning I can do each weekend

note3

So yesterday was both productive and counter productive. It began well with me doing comps and surveys. Then we went to a shopping outlet with hubby promising to buy lunch and some clothes for the girls. He did...however I discovered Next outlet shop about to shut and so I grabbed 4 bargain items for myself then in return for paying for lunch I got us coffee each and and cookie. In slight defence I have just had a baby and have few clothes that fit at the mo but really I shouldn't justify at all. Lesson learnt with coffee and cookies as neither was that nice and it felt like karma biting me! On a positive note I didn't even go in the toy shop where I used to stock up on gifts for party invites so I spent way less than normal at the outlet.

On a very positive note I now have finished 20 ebay listings and prepared 6 more drafts ready to activate them later today as it's better to finish auctions when most ppl aren't having a Sunday lie in! I will then do a load more listings later too as have mounds of clothes to put up

note3

I've also this morning completed one survey and entered approx 25 competitions

note3

Cringed as I wrote about the spending but that's good as it's made me associate negative with spending for next time and by writing it down I can't kid myself about my situation

enthusiasticsaver

note3 wrote: »

Cringed as I wrote about the spending but that's good as it's made me associate negative with spending for next time and by writing it down I can't kid myself about my situation

Spending money is often more about psychology than need. The majority of over spenders say "I work hard so I deserve to buy what I want" then feel guilty afterwards because a bargain bought on credit costs a lot more and delays debt free date. Budgeting for things like clothes, lunch out etc is the secret. If you know you will fail on going cold turkey with spending build a budget into your soa otherwise you set yourself up to failure.

note3

You're totally right thanks. I have budgeted 35 for clothes each month so when next paid I will reduce to 15 to balance it out. Then for coffees and cookies it'll have to come out this month's grocery budget. I need to action my direct debit plan at start of month asap so I can transfer budgeting amounts out too at start then I only have grocery and petrol money left to play with and then if I do spend out I will have to make do with what's left from that. I really don't have wriggle room to increase budgets if I want to tackle debt anytime soon so I'm going to do best to make it work.

I've started saving budget cooking websites to phone so I can look and jot down tips and recipes when get chance as I'm sure I can reduce food money a bit or at the least get more out if what we buy to make us feel we're not just getting by

reality_check

That's a good idea about the envelopes with money, I am going to do that too with food shopping and petrol! Just need to wait on my debit card arriving. I too can't be trusted with a debit card, maybe I should make the move to cash only.... something to think about!

I am also going to make an email address for competitions and surveys! Did you do this before? Did you win anything good?!

Where abouts do you do your food shopping? I spend a ridiculous amount on food/takeaways/lunches out...I am budgeting £25 but there are only 2 of us, I'm hoping to get toiletries and cleaning stuff with this too...I don't know how realistic this is, seems ok so far as I have plenty cleaning stuff, washing powder, dishwasher tablets etc....and I am only in week 1!

note3

Yep envelopes works brilliantly and if my current plan doesn't work I'll be going back to that myself! What a nightmare that you lost your debit card! Glad you have good to get by til it arrives!

We do majority at aldi. If I do a budget shop I get everything (nappies, food, cleaning stuff, pet food and so on) for around 55. However a slightly indulgent shop would include a few treats and slightly bigger selection of food so say two different cereals and interesting meat and that would be 65/70. That's for 2 adults, 2 children and a newborn. Hubby and I have discussed it and are going to cut back and do somewhere between these amounts (aiming for 60 a week max but some weeks it will be less naturally when don't have as much household stuff to get such as the weeks we don't need toilet paper and then this allows for the odd bits we have to go to a main supermarket like tesco as some things can only be bought there like super large nappies for my middle child for nights. On months where there are 5 weeks I'm challenging myself to stick within that same food budget...pretty sure it'll work as I regularly have enough random stuff in cupboards to sustain us and I have started discovering all sorts of frugal ways. I'm going to teach myself next how to make meat last longer as that'll be big saving

reality_check

I am on a facebook group called 'Feed yourself for £1 a day' - they have some really good tips! One is how to make 6 wraps for 7p it works out! It is so simple to do and taste really good...I will never buy shop bought again if I can avoid it, mostly for taste but cost too!

I am brand loyal and don't know why! I don't stick to specific brands but I do always believe the big brands are the best - probably all made in the same factory! I will be chaning my thoughts on this. Going to shop in Lidl as one close to work/where I live and try out Home bargains for cleaning stuff...

I also made shepphards pie last night for tonight and one of the tips from the fb page was to add lentils to make it go further and be more filling....you can't even taste it! Will do me and my daughter tonight, plus my dinner tomorrow and one for the freezer - and that is generous portions could probably do another person if it had to!

note3

Thanks I'll check that out as I'm on a facebook page called feed your family for about twenty pound a week but that other one sounds great too! Lentils could well be a game changer for us as I think we could double how far our meat currently goes thanks