5 year plan

Financialfreedom

Thanks both! Love your story Betterthanever!

I definitely need some saving tips, so keep them coming!

Here are some saving tips I already do:

1. Recycle jam jars and coffee jars as glasses and for storage (make-up brushes, crayons).
2. Recycle plastic take away containers to use as Tupperware. Great for freezing food and picnics.
3. Use up toiletries before buying new, including cutting open toothpaste tubes and finding out shampoo.
4. Buy second hand furniture and white goods. My best washer dryer was second hand for £150. Lasted 5 years until it was broken in a house move. Bought a brand new £500 washer dryer that broke constantly, spent £160 on fixing it and it was gone within 3 years!

Spend this week - £22 on food and a charitable donation.

The weekends are my biggest expense, so will see if I can keep that down...

Silence101

Oh yes, I tend to shop a lot more at the weekend. I tend to avoid the shops during the week, making it easy to not spend, but then I go a bit crazy at the weekend.
We're moving soon, so I'm trying not to bring anything in the house, which helps my wallet too. But I can see myself going a bit off plan when we've moved and I can finally decorate (ftb)

Betterthanever

Have a good weekend! Keep your spending diary to hand so it makes you think twice before buying anything!!

Financialfreedom

I do not have a spending diary... are there any good apps for that?

Good luck with the move Silence101!

Silence101

Thanks!
I haven't got a suggestion for an app, but pen and paper always works for me

wishingthemortgaheaway

I YNAB all bank account transactions ( when I take cash out I assign it roughly to the pots I think I'll spend it on and just record cash spends on a page in my bullet journal, simple and works for me.

Jelllibeanz

Good luck with your journey - I'm following with interest.


The apps I use are receipt pig and a shop prize one too. You take a photo of the receipts and they reward you with points that can be later converted to cash or prizes. Failing that I use the online banking app on my phone to regularly review how much I've spent and have left.

Financialfreedom

Thanks all. Will try out a few different approaches and see what works for me.

I have been in to see my mortgage team. Apparently I can't simply transfer cash over as and when, I can either overpay regularly by writing to them, and/or I can pay one off amounts which must be £2k or more.

I am really not good at saving, so will do a combination of both. Setting up an overpayment of £300 per month to begin, then when I have savings, pay some over in a lump sum. They don't make it easy!! I was sort of hoping they had an account I could simply transfer cash to now and then. Will have to be more organised...

Thistlewhistle

Hi FF

I've just returned to MSE after a gap of 5 months so looking forward to following your thread and picking up some hints too.

Thistle:p

Financialfreedom

An update on spending - my OH and I are really getting into this saving malarkey! (Seriously, we have never saved any money before, relying on bonuses for holidays and paying off cards etc.) So the big thing I have noticed is our food - reducing the nipping to the shops, takeaways and convenience food is a must to save. So now that every night is a home cooked meal, we are healthy living whilst we save. Big bonus!

We get a box of veg delivered by a local farmer bi-weekly, which is all seasonal and always a bit of a challenge to manage meals with (Kale and rainbow chard?) But now we have to be more economical, everything is being used up. Though meals are now rogue attempts at classics (tonight's chilli con carne featuring kale, aubergine and lentils actually a total hit with the kids), and definitely our biggest challenge on the frugal front to date.

If anyone has any frugal food hacks to try, please share!