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Aldi Beans
Comments
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atypicalblonde wrote: »Hi Merchandiser
Your monthly OP levels are similar to ours. Some months we manage more, others less. What has helped for us is the following:
- meal planning, to within an inch of our lives. We are a family of 4, plus a dog and a cat and spend around £175 per month. That includes wine, which I cannot and will not go without
- Selling everything of value not nailed down. It's surprised us that we haven't missed anything at all that we've sold, and ebay gets very addictive once you start selling! DVDs and CDs - Music Magpie. Don't buy books for your little one, the library is your friend!
- Are all of your bills as low as they can be? Post an SOA if you are up for it and we can take a look.
Ultimately, keep the end goal in sight. We are two years, nine months into our journey and have paid £51k off in that time, with another few 1000s sat in our account saved to make an OP in January when our 10% allowance refreshes. It CAN be done,and don't get me wrong we still have treats (wine and Jo Malone candles are mine!), but treat saving money as a hobby and before you know it you'll be free.
I personally don't maintain a savings pot as well as OP mortgage but we are lucky we have rather wealthy family who we could ask for help from if the poop hit the fan. Saving AND OPing would be too much of a stretch for us. Plenty of time to save once the mortgage has gone, but that's just my approach.
Well done for all you've achieved so far!
Thank you for your advice
We do regularly sell on eBay and tend to sell things we no longer use so not much more we can do on that one but the meal planning, we could maybe look at I think.
We are a family of 3 with a dog and 2 cats. We do a big shop at start of the month which we get all meat, sauces, pasta, etc - mostly at Aldi, this comes to around £125. Then we do 3 further shops for the month each weekend, each of these are around £45. But, this does include £20 each week for a few beers for me and wine for my OH, this is literally our only vice!!
So that means our grocery bill is around £270 a month which is way more than yours and you have an extra child! Really not sure how to reduce this more as already have shopping from Aldi on a spreadsheet with costs and we use everything we buy to the last jar in the cupboard at end of the month.
The rest of our finances are pretty much as low as we can get them - switch our energy at the end of the terms, always use comparison websites for insurance, just got rid of sky and got a Freesat box for £20 off gum tree. But will try and post an SOA at some point as could be missing something....
We did the emergency fund of £10k first as a precaution and will go towards being mortgage neutral so think it's good to have it there, just In case!Mortgage When Started Over Pay 01/11/2017- £146,500
Current Total - 10/02/2022 - £6,500 (With Offset
£10k Savings)
5 year fix
MFW hopefully by March 2022
01/11/17 - £10k / £10k Emergency Savings :beer:0 -
Love the thread title
We just bought a new car a few days ago and had self imposed Beans & Toast with Bacon the other night so I know what you mean!
Beans on toast with bacon! You posh person!! :rotfl:
Just jk, is good to have a quick cheap meal like beans on toast here and there! I'll defo have to try it with bacon now thoughMortgage When Started Over Pay 01/11/2017- £146,500
Current Total - 10/02/2022 - £6,500 (With Offset
£10k Savings)
5 year fix
MFW hopefully by March 2022
01/11/17 - £10k / £10k Emergency Savings :beer:0 -
We mostly shop at @ldi and spend between £200 and £250 a month. Two adults and very active and hungry 9 and 6 year old. We do lots of batch cooking and as a family eat very little meat (I don't eat any) which I think helps reduce the costs too.June 2025 - part 1 - £19,145 part 2 - £21,973 Total - £41,118 29 months to go!0
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We do lots of batch cooking and as a family eat very little meat (I don't eat any) which I think helps reduce the costs too.
I agree Cath, batch cooking and having some meat free nights make a huge difference. On the weeks when DH works away, I can spend around £25-30 for me, kiddies and pets. We are lucky to have a F&V market in our village (much much cheaper than supermarkets) so can get a bag groaning of veg for £5.MFW
[STRIKE]Mortgage 8.2.15 - [/STRIKE][STRIKE]£171,064.64[/STRIKE] Mortgage 1.5.2018 - £99,980.45Aiming to be MF 1.10.20200 -
atypicalblonde wrote: »I agree Cath, batch cooking and having some meat free nights make a huge difference. On the weeks when DH works away, I can spend around £25-30 for me, kiddies and pets. We are lucky to have a F&V market in our village (much much cheaper than supermarkets) so can get a bag groaning of veg for £5.
We do batch cook for DD who is 3 but not for us. Can you give me a couple of examples of what you batch cook, how many Meals you get and costs ? Would be great to seeMortgage When Started Over Pay 01/11/2017- £146,500
Current Total - 10/02/2022 - £6,500 (With Offset
£10k Savings)
5 year fix
MFW hopefully by March 2022
01/11/17 - £10k / £10k Emergency Savings :beer:0 -
I have to confess to never meal-planning and to cooking several different meals on an evening! I do batch cook a few things, such as bolognaise sauce & chilli. We rarely have food waste and eat a lot of meat (inc a lot of free range chicken, very lean steak mince, good cuts of steak) I spend about £400-450/ mth on groceries - 4 adults (2 teenagers count as adults)an 11yo and a 8yo. This figure also includes fresh veggies for the 3 guinea pigs but doesn't include any toiletries or cleaning products.I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soulRepaid mtge early (orig 11/25) 01/09 £124616 01/11 £89873 01/13 £52546 01/15 £12133 07/15 £NILNet sales 2024: £200
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I have to confess to never meal-planning and to cooking several different meals on an evening! I do batch cook a few things, such as bolognaise sauce & chilli. We rarely have food waste and eat a lot of meat (inc a lot of free range chicken, very lean steak mince, good cuts of steak) I spend about £400-450/ mth on groceries - 4 adults (2 teenagers count as adults)an 11yo and a 8yo. This figure also includes fresh veggies for the 3 guinea pigs but doesn't include any toiletries or cleaning products.
Thanks for sharing
I think groceries/food could be one of the harder categories to directly to others due to tastes, cooking skills etc.
Clicking a mouse to save cash on insurance is a doddle but doing tasty value meals is harder! We eat mostly jar sauces and what have you, maybe this is where we can save a few quid by preparing bigger, fresh meals and freezing?Mortgage When Started Over Pay 01/11/2017- £146,500
Current Total - 10/02/2022 - £6,500 (With Offset
£10k Savings)
5 year fix
MFW hopefully by March 2022
01/11/17 - £10k / £10k Emergency Savings :beer:0 -
Merchandiser2367 wrote: »We do batch cook for DD who is 3 but not for us. Can you give me a couple of examples of what you batch cook, how many Meals you get and costs ? Would be great to see
Yes no problem will post full details in next few days when have a bit more time. For now though I would say definitely use up your jarred sauces and don't buy anymore! They are expensive, packed with salt & sugar and the HM versions cost pennies in comparison :cool:
MFW
[STRIKE]Mortgage 8.2.15 - [/STRIKE][STRIKE]£171,064.64[/STRIKE] Mortgage 1.5.2018 - £99,980.45Aiming to be MF 1.10.20200 -
atypicalblonde wrote: »Yes no problem will post full details in next few days when have a bit more time
. For now though I would say definitely use up your jarred sauces and don't buy anymore! They are expensive, packed with salt & sugar and the HM versions cost pennies in comparison :cool:
That would be great, thank you! Always thought a jar from Aldi of, say, spaghetti Bolognese sauce (about 69p) was much cheaper than doing it all from scratch..... Tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, onion etc?Mortgage When Started Over Pay 01/11/2017- £146,500
Current Total - 10/02/2022 - £6,500 (With Offset
£10k Savings)
5 year fix
MFW hopefully by March 2022
01/11/17 - £10k / £10k Emergency Savings :beer:0 -
The other benefit of batched cooking from scratch is that you know exactly what is in it. I wouldn't return to jars, and I can vouch for the fact that it works out cheaper.
Things like shepherd's pie, chili's, stuffed peppers, spaghetti Bolognese......all done from the same base of one massive pot of mince/tomato/onion base....then portion off and add the extra bits that are specific to that particular dish eg chili, garlic, peppers, potatoes, kidney beans etc.0
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