I am being upgraded from Mum to Nan - I need a plan!

greenbee

With council tax either get them to spread it over 12 months, or make sure you save the relevant amount in the two months you're not paying it.

Windows - mine are done every 5-6 weeks (it's a little erratic) and I can guarantee that a bird will poo on at least one window as soon as they've been done! Can you talk to your window cleaner about doing them less frequently a bit - maybe quarterly, or every 2 months. Hopefully they'll see that it's better to be flexible than to lose you as a customer.

I know meal planning can be hard when you're out of the house for 12 hours a day or more, but not only do I find it saves me money - I find I eat much better if I do this. I take breakfast to work (overnight oats with either yogurt or rice milk and dried fruit or grated apple or sliced banana) as well as a huge box of salad for lunch, and try to make sure I've got something in the fridge either ready to heat up or (particularly when it's hot) ready to eat. And then after I've eaten I prep my food for the next day. I'm lucky that we have a proper coffee machine in the office, so my decent caffeine fix is free on the days I'm in the office.

I'm guessing the chiropodist is a necessity, but could you drop the netflix for a bit and stick with 'free' online entertainment or use the time for doing some batch cooking. I know it's nice to have something mindless to watch to wind down, but I have to admit I find I waste a lot of time online...

beanielou

My window cleaner does mine every second time he comes round.
Cant afford every time.

Mum2Nan

I cannot believe it's only 10.20 and I have already:

Got my shepherds pie going in the slow cooker. I have bulked this out with carrotts, peppers and mushrooms oh and peas. After doing my food inventory yesterday I have 3 packets of frozen peas! :rotfl:I reckon half my debt is in my freezer!!

The cats have also undergone an inventory. I have enough cat food to not only feed mine but all the others that live around here as well so no more buying cat food until I am down to the last two boxes. I have retrieved one of my recycling bags from the boot and have bagged up the food I know they don't like so will take it take it to the supermarket the next time I go and put it in the donation box. With the multitude of half opened cat treats, the treat tin has almost been replenished. It looks lovely and tidy in there now.

Confession time:

I don't eat anything past it's use by date and going through my fridge yesterday I came across 3 eggs that went out of date on May 5 :eek: so in my getting to grips with all things MSE, I had 2 for breakfast (yes I've also had breakfast as well) and have the other one on the boil for an egg and tomato sandwich for lunch tomorrow (sorry work colleagues).

I have another 6 going out of date on Friday so I now have the makings of a meal plan for this week.

Tuesday - Shepherds Pie with steamed veg
Wednesday - Ham, Mushroom, Cheese Omelette & salad
Thursday - Vegetable masala with pilau rice and HM bombay potatoes (which I will cook later today from the sad bag)
Friday - Cheese Omelette & salad

I am going to use the rest of the ham for a sandwich for Wednesday which I shall also make today and freeze. Thursday and Friday will be Tuna and Salmon. I have 4 of each! This will save me buying lunches this week.

Next weeks meals are going to have to be prawn dominated because I have 2 large bags of them!

Mum2Nan

Oh posts have crossed. Meal plan including lunches for this week is now done.

Good idea about the window cleaner. When he next calls for his money I will ask him how often he does his rounds here and then see if I can drop down to 6 weeks or so. If it wasn't for the bottom windows which don't open I could probably do them myself but I don't like heights and it would mean me leaning right over to do them and knowing what I'm like I would end up head first out of the window.

The chiropodist is a necessity but again, I could drop this down a bit during the winter months. I will work out a plan so this happens as I always book my next appointment when I am there.

I am so reluctant to change council tax over 12 months as I like the breathing space of the other 2 months. I will definitely be putting this aside towards my Barclaycard 3.

Mum2Nan

I have been a busy bee this afternoon.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I had so much energy and felt motivated. I am sure the weather has something to do with it.

I have gone through all my household stuff under the sink cupboard and am starting to feel ashamed. 5 bottles of unopened bleach and 3 half used, 2 packets of unopened cleaning sponges... am sure you get my drift. No wonder I feel like I'm playing tetrus in the cupboards once I’ve been shopping and I am in this financial predicament. So, I have had a big sort out and don't think the cupboards have looked so organised and tidy since the day I moved in. (For any of you who can remember, think of the film Sleeping with the Enemy). I am not sure at what point I became so disorganised as I am completely different at work. My toiletries are pretty much spot on so am pleased with that at least. I do have various lotions and potions which I have been given as presents but am not sure what to do with them so have bagged them up for now.

I now have 5 HM shepherds pie and the sad looking potatoes weren’t so sad afterall, only the top couple. I bought them on Wednesday last week so this has made me happy (small things and all that). I had a rethink on the bolognese as the other mince pack didn't look too good and when I opened it smelt as it looked so binned it. I'm not quite sure what happened there but perhaps it got bored and died waiting to be cooked! All lunches are also made for this week.

My Sainsbury's credit card closes tomorrow which means the start of a new month for me and it looks like it will have captured all this month's spending with the exception of the £7.99 Netflix. I am over my (new from this month) budget by £170.33. £120 of that I can transfer from my present fund which is part of my emergency / savings fund which will mean I have overspent by £50.33 all on food shopping. Given how out of control my food and household shopping has been, even after my flicker of my LBM back in December, I have decided to reduce this to £250 on paper but mentally do not want to spend anymore than £150 this month.

I have also now broken down my savings / emergency fund into the relevant savings pots although the money is still sitting under the one bank; one current and one savings account (this gives me my additional income after it’s gone through my main bank account). I had slightly under-estimated this which stands at £3,778.63.

My savings are now broken down into the following categories:

Car
Presents
Boiler
Hair / Chiropodist / Dental
Savings / Emergency

As I wanted to check my online banking, I have now cancelled the overpayment SO to the loan. This has annoyed me immensely but I will get over it.

With regards to Netflix, I thought the renewal date was the day after the GG mobile which would have been May 10 but it actually went out yesterday. This is my only entertainment at home as I am not connected to live TV so feel I have been given a month’s grace to think about this. It’s only £7.99, less than £100 a year. I do accept the ‘onlys’ add up though. I have made a note in my diary in advance of next month to review.

I have worked out I can drop one appointment at the chiropodist over the winter months by going quarterly rather than bi-monthly so will save £38 there.

If anyone can see any flaws in my plans or think I could do better I would welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

ViolaLass

Re the lotions and potions - could they be regifted thus saving you more money?

I'm impressed with your attitude, by the way, you're really going at this, taking on board suggestions made and doing the work e.g. all the sorting and tidying.

enthusiasticsaver

Organisation, meal planning and shopping lists are the answer to your overstocking and high grocery bills. Maybe check household stuff one a fortnight so you don't splurge on offers when you already have loads.

I don't worry too much about use by dates if only a few days.the usual advice is that quality may be somewhat diminished by going a day or so over but should not be dangerous. I am always careful with chicken, pork and fish though. My nose is the best judge of what is still good and meal planning usually takes care of the rest by using up as you are doing this week.

Mum2Nan

Hi Viola

Thanks for your support. I really appreciate it.

I know it never came from my family so I have joined my local FB Buying & Selling Group so I have put some of it on there as I can't recall where it's come from. TBH some of it's really good quality, L'Occitanne and Molten Brown. Some of it is so old though it really needs to be binned.

beanielou

I find out local FB buying/selling page is great.

Mum2Nan

I didn’t get on here yesterday as I was busy at work and felt exhausted when I got home at 7.30 especially after my unexpected clearing out of the various cupboards on Sunday and Monday. I was very grateful for my HM shepherds pie. I think I enjoyed it all the more because I didn’t have to think about what to do for dinner, cook it and wash up other than for the veg steamer tray and a bowl. I was tempted to have it again for dinner this evening but don’t want to throw any food away which I might have had to do with some of the salad so am sticking with the meal plan for this week.

The sandwich I made for lunch which I remembered to get out of the fridge was fine. Normally I would spend at least £2.50 so have saved there. This morning I took the frozen ham sandwich out of the freezer, sliced up a tomato and stuck in the sandwich so that’s for lunch today.

So yesterday was the start of my new month, spending (less) wise due to credit card statement closing and it didn’t get off to a good start.

The bad news:

My glasses broke on the way into work so popped into the opticians to get them repaired which I have done a few times previously, but the screw / hole combination is no longer viable without the lab getting involved which would take a few days so had to buy a pair ‘off the shelf’ as I need them for work / computer. They cost me £18.49 and despite handing over my Advantage card to collect the points realised once I had removed the plastic packaging (sigh) at my desk, I could have spent the points on there instead as I have accumulated over £62. Will remember this in future.

The remote control is still showing no signs of life so will give it another couple of days before I order the replacement. Previously, I would have given in by now. I am going to convert some of my Nectar points into eBay vouchers if I need to buy a new one.

The good news:

I took meter readings for gas and electric and plugged in the numbers and am in credit by £31.61 so am pleased with this as the heavy usage months are behind me for a while.

The Molten Brown set sold on FB for £8. I put it on for £10 but accepted the offer on the basis that no postage costs, packaging or trip to the post office and find parking was worth the £2 so is being collected this evening.

Right, I need to get back to work. Will try and get back on here later.