newbie, need to save money

loobyx

Hi everyone, i have been browsing this board for a while and i would really appreciate some advice from you good people.

I am a stay at home mum ( not through choice) with two daughters. my partner works 42 hours a week and earns a pretty low wage. I can't go back to work at the moment due to lack of childcare and not being able to afford it. My youngest starts school next year so i will defo being starting back at work then but it will have to be work during term time. Since i have stopped work i have done numerous college courses and local courses in my area as i managed to get childcare paid for through the college. I have sold a lot of thimgs on ebay and my family are really fussy what they eat but i do tend to get most of my shopping from lidls. At the end of the day we cannot survive off the money we have got coming in and i have looked into any benefits that we are entitled to. I would really appreciate any advice,hints or tips on how to save money generally on anything.

thanks in advance:T

Bargain_Rzl

I'm no expert on this (plenty of folk on here are, so you'll get some proper advice soon ) but your kids are obviously quite young, so NOW is the time to train them out of being fussy It could make your life MUCH easier as they get older.

Also, have a look on the Debt Free Wannabe board, even if you aren't in debt. They're great at advising where cutbacks could be made.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there and welcome..

If you go on "the debt free" board..and put up a list of everything you have coming in and all the bills you have to pay etc..you will get loads of help with swapping suppliers of gas etc too... to help you bring your outgoings down...

what sort of things will and won't your family eat..as then we can hopefully come up with lots of meal suggestions..

One of the best suggestions you will get on here is about sitting down and working out a menu for the weeks meals..then you only buy what you need, and don't end up running short or throwing food away as it is out of date...

Let us know what sort of things you like and im sure you will get masses of help off of the lovely folks on here

Doom_and_Gloom

Have to say I do not have children but I know that they can be fussy little eaters (glad to say I wasn't ate bassically everything under the sun and ate enough fruit that I'm suprised I didn't turn into one) but you should keep trying them on the food. If I didn't eat all my meal when I was little my ma would either sit there and force me (I was very skinny and severly underweight and other parents used to think my mother didn't feed me enough!!) or she would say that was all I was getting and if I wanted to eat it would still be there later but cold. They should eventually try it. If they don't children can be very good at knowing what isn't good for them so even if it is ment to be good it may not be for them (does that make sence??).

If you put a SOA up I'm sure someone on here could help you (I'm not sure what use I'll be there, hehe).

beemuzed

Welcome loobyx - everyone on here's great with advice! Would def. agree about the benefits of planning your meals before going shopping, it really stops impulse spends. You need to look on this as a fun challenge, rather than drudgery - after all when things improve financially it'll be great if you've learned to manage on less as then you'll have extra money to spend on what you really want, rather than just covering the basics. Best of luck!

csarina

Compare your gas and leccy bills online and see if you can change to a cheaper provider. Menu plan and shop according to your plan, you do not have to stick rigidly to it, you can swap around. I do a big shop once a month and then a top up for fruit and any veg needed in between. Cook from scratch, also do you have a garden??? could you grow some of your own veg and get the chidlren interested??

Look at cutting down on the amount of soap pwder etc you use, you will find various tips for that on this board. Dump buying expensive cleaners, stardrops and vinegar with a couple of microfibre clothes are all you need. There are lots of tips on this board and you will get lots of help.

There are two of us and we have to live on a very restricted budget, we manage on £100 a month for food. I bake my own bread and always cook from scratch, recycle any leftovers and freeze as much as I can.

lil_me

First thing I would say is before you can look at what you can save/reduce, you need to look at what you spend/use.

An SOA ont he debt free board would help, also keeping shopping receipts etc see what you buy, where you could cut back/change, what luxuries can compromie on etc.