Trying to make the sensible choice

Sparkly_Purse

Hello forum,

Long time reader here but new to posting.

Trying to stay on the straight and narrow money wise - hoping this is the right place to keep track.

Starting off on a high - no spend day today!

Now to organise my thoughts about what exactly I want to achieve. Nothing like a goal or two to focus your efforts!

Sparkly_Purse

So my starter for ten is to aim to save £1000 before the end of the year.

There’s plenty of clothes in the cupboards for the coming cold weather so I’m going to try and keep spends here very low.

I’m going to keep an inventory of the food in the cupboards and fridge freezer. I’ll meal plan and shop with a list. Left overs will also get stretched out and used up.

Treats like coffees out and take aways will be exactly that - treats - not an every day occurrence.

I’ve been through my short list of direct debits and cancelled one that I haven’t got my money’s worth the last month or two.

I’ve budgeted for the month.

I’m sure there’ll be more but I think that’s enough to be getting on with for now.

Here we go...

MovingForwards

Open up a separate account, away from your regular bank, every time you use your debit card, get paid, have bills come out move the pennies (99p and under) to your savings account.

Good luck with your journey!

savingwannabe

Hi Sparkly I cancelled my cable and realised I didn't miss it as I got freeview and ended up with a lot of the channels for free.

Good luck on your journey.

Socajam

savingwannabe wrote: »

Hi Sparkly I cancelled my cable and realised I didn't miss it as I got freeview and ended up with a lot of the channels for free.

Good luck on your journey.

I did the same and saving it making me very happy.
Do not miss cable and like you never realized the number of free channels available.

Sparkly_Purse

Thanks for the replies!

MovingForwards - I agree that keeping savings separate to every day money is the way to go.

Savingwannabe and Socajam - I’m a big fan of freeview also. No expensive tv packages in this house!

Sparkly_Purse

All spends today were planned for and reasonable. £14 hair cut, £15 electricity and £12.64 food shop.

I would like to try and keep the food shop to £30 per week. This may be a bit ambitious given that there are three mouths to feed, but we’ll see how it goes. I do two small shops, one at the start of the week and another before the weekend. My shop on Monday came to £11.19, so that’s £23.83 this week and hopefully won’t need to get anything else until the beginning of next week.

Used up a few odds and ends in the meals today and had left overs for dinner. Starting as I mean to go on (hopefully!).

savingwannabe

That's amazing seeing as there are 3 of you to feed. Flippin heck that's how much I spend on me. No wonder I am getting big. lol. :rotfl::rotfl:

Skint_yet_Again

Hi Sparkly Purse :hello: what a fabulous name


Well done on the meal planning. Is £30 just for food for 3 of you or does it include toiletries & cleaning stuff ? If its just for food what sort of meals do you eat ? (vegetarian/vegan or carnivores )


Its starting to turn cold now and I've been batch cooking. This week its chilli & stew. I bulk my chilli out with baked beans & kidney beans and lots of veg in my stew which is cheap at aldee where I do most of my shopping. Have you tried lentils for bulking meals out ? I haven't tried them.


You sound determined to reach your £1000 goal I am sure you will make it and I look forward to picking up some tips :T

Sparkly_Purse

Thanks for the kind words savingwannabe and Skint yet Again.

The £30 is to cover all manner of things - it may be a bit ambitious but I do like a challenge!

We tend to have some vegetarian meals through the week which I’m sure helps keep costs down a bit.

I like the idea of using baked beans in chilli! Funny you should mention lentils...I had guests for dinner tonight and made a shepherds pie bulked out with a tin of green lentils. I would definitely recommend. A tin is about 50p, just rinse and chuck in!

Sparkly_Purse

I had planned a few small spends today but in the end didn’t get round to them, so surprisingly had another no spend day.

I help out a relative once a week and she sends me away with a few foodie bits. There is really no need but she is quite insistent, so I’m very grateful that this helps to keep the food spends down a bit.

Friday night is usually my night for visitors and a takeaway. But in the spirit of saving I decided to cook for them tonight. About half the price and that was including dessert. Managed to use up a few bits from the freezer also. Clean plates all round. Cheaper and healthier. Win win.