Not quite sure I'm ready for this?

sammyjammy

EssexHebridean wrote: »

Good work on the budget night out! :T

The coffee you're giving up - yes, assuming a spend around £2.10 a cup then that's somewhere in the region of £500 a year if you do that most days. Makes you think, doesn't it! As Mrs H says the free Waitrose coffee with their loyalty card is a great idea if you have one nearby, but otherwise why not grab a cheap insulated travel mug and make a cup at home to take out with you?

Lunches - do you have a microwave at work? If so you could grab a bag of baking potatoes (usually £1 for 4 tatties?) a couple of tins of value beans and a bag of grated cheese and that would sort you out for 4 days? otherwise tinned soup can be had for 45p a can and that makes a really filling lunch!

Or make a big batch of soup, so cheap to make and much much nicer than tinned soup, I freeze mine in portions and take it out of the freezer on my way to work.

A coffee a day isn't always a bad thing. I only work four days a week and it does add up but I don't go out, smoke etc.

BTW Waitrose are stopping the free coffees, customer complaints that it attracts riffraff apparently. :eek:

loveis

My biggest struggle at my current home is there is no freezer space. It's communal but the live in landlord has it chock full I'm not at home enough to say anything.

I get free 'nice' coffee when at work so it's actually really bad of me to buy it on the way in too. I have a friend who goes out of her way for a Waitrose coffee in the morning. lol I'd agree with her being riffraff haha

loveis

spent a bit of time organising my spreadsheet. It's not pretty. I can do it by this time next year if I'm good and clever.

Starting with spuds and a real meal plan.

EssexHebridean

Ooh go on, show us yer meal plan!

Mine's in chaos already this week. My own fault, When Monday night is meant to be a stew that was in the slow cooker overnight last night, and I've been too lazy to actually sort it out and get it in there, and cooked, what can I expect. Thankfully I always build stuff ion that will account for this happening - I know myself too well! :rotfl:

loveis

Haha meal plans are the worst!

My BF doesn't eat stew I am being treated to homemade pie tonight.

Tomorrow I am making a veg curry and spag bol.. then I have a couple of dins I can munch on and a tasty filling option for my spuds for lunch.

That's actually as far as I got. haha

loveis

Wondering today if I should be tracking surveys etc, and whether to resign up to yougov..?
Also thinking I need a new job but that feels like hard work.

loveis

Just had to remind friends that I put their train ticket for a day trip to Paris on my card. I feel awful. That's £80 though and a week before payday deffo needed. Worried about getting to work Thursday I can't borrow more off the BF, I have emergency £2 coins if it gets that desperate.. No more on my credit card. Ever if I can manage it.

EssexHebridean

There you go - the £2 coins are the way forward if it comes to it.

Hopefully the friend will cough up soonest. No need to feel awful about reminding them either - in fairness they should have remembered unless the deal was that you'd remind them, in which case then you just have, so all good! Pals and I often sort out tickets etc for events between us to cut down on booking fees - makes perfect sense and nobody ever minds being nudged if they've forgotten to pay up.

loveis

Thanks EH I was feeling mighty bad about it but now friend feeling bad for forgetting.

Will be resorting to the £2 coins to get through Thursday but I'm feeling calmer about it than I was a little while ago.

Mrs_Hainsworth

A few years ago when I first moved to London and was trying to live as cheap as possible I used to make bug batches of turkey stew (sainsburys used to do a while turkey leg for a couple quid) with whatever cheap veg I could find on a Sunday to get me through the week - cheap filling and tasty lunches!

If you don't have much space at home could you get away with keeping all your lunches for the week in a fridge at work?