New here and really need to sort myself out(please move if in wrong place)

milasavesmoney

gemmajenkins0208 wrote: »

I honestly didn't know about that purpleivy, thank you!

I will begin to help him today, if he is willing

Just catching up.
All of my children are dyslexic in varing degrees.. But, they are really smart. One is a medical doctor (had to have extended time on all her tests during her education because of her slow reading), one is in graduate school and one is director of a section of 400 students at a large private school (same concerning testing as her sister). It take hard work and a lot of help. Dyslexia has nothing to do with intellectual ability. Build him up and be patient. Bless you for being willing to help your BF. Reading will open the world for him. Two of my children read out loud to help with comprehension. There are lots of ways to strengthen his reading.

gemmajenkins0208

Hi maman, long time no speak!

Yeah i believe each persons rent money will be pooled together and used for shopping and the like.

Oh my bad, when i said that's all we had left, i meant things that were bought as a one off, or on occasion. I'm not including things that are bought regularly.

I'm using the toiletries up at a steady rate thank god!

The dreaded baylis and harding body butter that I'm meant to be using after showers isn't getting used after showers at all for various reasons so I'm slathering as much as possible onto my feet as often as possible and i think i have just about hit pan on it!

gemmajenkins0208

Very impressive milasavesmoney!

Thank you for the tip

maman

I find body butter is too slow to soak in for every day use
Best to keep that for when you have a bit of time for a pampering session. Then you can stick on some old clothes or a bath robe while you do your hair or your nails or tidy your eyebrows. Every day I just use a body lotion.
I wouldn't recommend just buying things in every week without a plan as that way stuff can be wasted. As there's 6 of you I was wondering whether it might be worth buying a big sack of potatoes as it can often work out cheaper. Just a thought.

gemmajenkins0208

Yeah i literally never really have time to have a pamper session, but if i do have the odd hour or 2 to myself i can't be bothered! :rotfl:

My bf bought a huge 25kg sack of spuds from a farm shop near where he lives a couple months back before he crashed his car and they lasted us about a month! They were only £8 too which was good! He says he's willing to buy them again for us but it's finding dad at the right time to take him there!

suki1964

Gemma.

Not getting at you at all. Just if you are here looking support and help, we need the bigger picture

Btw. Well done for cooking the family meal and well done for mum doing the same


Who is it that buys the family's shopping and who actually contributes, and what meals for whom is it expected to last?

If we have an idea of what money is available for food and for how many we can really help


You are going great guns ATM, I myself don't want you to wander off back into the abyess once the freezer is empty

gemmajenkins0208

Um, i don't really know either to be honest suki

My dad keeps track of all the finances, i ask my mum now and again 'how much have you got to spend on food?', 'what do we have here?' etc but she never really gives definitive answers. My dad butts in and snaps 'not enough for whatever you're thinking of!' yet mum still managed to come back with complete rubbish

That's what needs to be talked about and definitive measures put in place when it comes to the food shop.

Tiddlywinks

So, you said you were going to talk to everyone in the house about pooling resources - how did that go exactly?

Your household is not managing its finances or healthy eating is it? So, to be blunt, just using up an ice cream stash and then diverting attention to writing about body creams isn't really addressing the core issues.

Why do you live at home? Why not move out into a house share? You and your BF could rent a room in an area with more employment opportunities for him and nearer to your work to cut down on travel costs.

You're not staying at your parents to allow you to save and you're clearly not allowed input into the household planning - so why stay? Your BF is 29 and I'm guessing you're mid twenties? When will you start a life together?

Seems to me that most of your family members have it pretty cushy - only three of the six work, they get to choose not to eat cereals and have cooked breakfasts instead.

Your BF and brother's GF are unemployed yet don't seem to actually do much around the house even though they have the time.

They could easily cook from scratch yet you've been eating a 'chips with everything' diet and lots of convenience foods which are far more expensive.

So, nothing will change unless you change something a bit more fundamental than eating up the ice cream and canned peaches.

Sorry, but someone has to say it.

suki1964

gemmajenkins0208 wrote: »

Um, i don't really know either to be honest suki

My dad keeps track of all the finances, i ask my mum now and again 'how much have you got to spend on food?', 'what do we have here?' etc but she never really gives definitive answers. My dad butts in and snaps 'not enough for whatever you're thinking of!' yet mum still managed to come back with complete rubbish

That's what needs to be talked about and definitive measures put in place when it comes to the food shop.

Aww Gemma you do have your work cut out for you and I do really admire that you are trying to sort things to help your family


So as I understand it there are 6 adults, with varying incomes all needing feeding 7 days a week, between 2 and 3 meals a day


What I would do is get each and everyone one contribute £80 a month each to the food/ house cleaning bill Make that a four week month and it's doable

Then sit as a family, decide what meals you all like and plan the meals around those dishes, using the discount stores, ys items etc


Two packs of good quality sausages here would be £3 premium would be £5. 16 sausages would make one hell of a toad in the hole using just two eggs and a few tablespoons of milk, flour and water.

Lidl's do a good mince, 800g for less then £2.50 ( I feed six adults from this easy)

Tesco do 8 chops for £5 which are part of their 3 for £10 deals


Rice, pasta, spuds, tinned toms, pulses are cheap

Add eggs, small amounts of strong processed meats like smoked bacon, chorizo etc where a little goes a long way and meals can be made for as little as 50p a person

Ok so we aren't looking at steak dinners and 3 course meals every day but we can manage to get you a meal plan on that amount, that's not only cheap but really healthy and after a couple of months we can look at cutting it down again

I feed three of us for six days a week for around £30 a week. That includes cleaning materials. What is doesn't include is personal spends like chocolate bars, pop etc

Think how much money can be saved to throw at those debts. Get those debts squashed and think how well you as a family will be able to live with your new skills at budgeting and scratch cooking saving you so much you will soon be able to afford those treats we all love

Gemma , you have done well so far, now step up a notch

gemmajenkins0208

Thank you for the tips, both of you.

It's my dads 65th birthday tomorrow and we aren't doing much at all for it. Not because we don't have the money to, but he said himself he doesn't want a big fuss.

I think i will sit down with everyone tomorrow and say 'look, we can't keep going on like this. We all know that we all need to eat, and eat well. 3 of us need to lose some weight(my dad, brothers gf and me) so we need to look at not only healthy foods, but less of the convenience rubbish and calorie filled snacks, and try to get it as cheap as possible, even if that means visiting the stores in the evening to get it YS.'