Giving every £ a job

Sarahwithlove

I love normal jaffa cakes not sure how I feel about blackcurrant ones. I am beginning to think I need to try olio though. 

Blackcats

JoeDenise and lady holly I rarely buy Jaffa cakes because I can't just eat one.  I remember on Bake Off when a challenge was to make a Jaffa cake - it was hugely complicated and time consuming as you can imagine.  Much easier to leave all that palaver to mcvities.

sarahwithlove - I would recommend trying olio - it's been fantastic for me.  At first I felt a bit uncomfortable about it but now I view it as reducing food waste I find it motivating.  We only request what we will use and adapt our meal plan to suit.  Our freezer is v full!  

June's budget was ok - I came in a bit under the planned budget and adjusted from underspent pots to overspent pots.  The cats' budget was subsidised by the eating out pots - further proof that the cats rule the roost here.  Still getting used to thinking that the budget is a maximum not a target.

meal plan this week -
Sat. Chicken and halloumi kebabs and salad
sun. Sausages, new pots, yorkies, cabbage
mon - American Independence Day - bbq ribs, sweet corn and sweet potato fries
tues - paella - I had a voucher from Ocadoh for 1/2 price meal deal 
wed - summer veg pasta 
Thursday - omelette and salad
friday - home made pizza 

will set up July budget tomorrow ... a bit late but I quite enjoy a Sunday morning with a cuppa at the kitchen table with my notebook, ruler and multi coloured pen.  (I've loved the 4 colour biro since I was about 11 - I wonder how many I've had in my life and where the many that I lost along the way are? 

savingholmes

Gotta love a 4 colour pen!!

I am still learning that budget is a max and not a target. I am the same with SW on treats...

Blackcats

I totally get the treats "budget" savingholmes.  Snacks and treats are my downfall! If I know I've got treats in the house I seem powerless to resist.  I never understand how people can say that they've made a bag of chocolate buttons last a week .... once they are open it's a short amount of time before they are eaten.

well, it's a jolly good job I did my budgets today .... eating out budget has only £20 left in it already 🤦‍♀️.  Actually a special treat meal out from last month happened on 1st of this month and also we were able to meet up with some friends we haven't seen for a while, so we had a round of coffees at a lovely beachfront cafe.  I don't begrudge a penny of it but £24 on coffee in paper cups!  I have a contingency plan as I have a £20 voucher for a local restaurant so we are lucky enough to be able to look forward to another meal out this month if we want to.  

Other budget pots are set up according to this month's plans.  Hoping to spend less on food this month with the help of olio and careful planning.  I'm doing the grocery challenge which is motivating.

savingholmes

Good luck with balancing the budget 

Cheery_Daff

Hello 😊 I've been sneakily reading back over your diary, what an excellent job you've been doing! 

I don't share your spendy history - I'm a fritterer, but it's usually been charity shops and small things. I too adore scented candles, but they've always been cheap ones. We do still have a house full of stuff though 😂 much of it is just charity shop stuff. Still plenty of shopping from home opportunity!

Mr Cheery is also a charity shop bargain hunter - but goodness me the man has skills when it comes to chocolate buttons. I would eat them all in one go (of course) but he's been known to buy me a packet as a treat and make them last several days! 😮😮 He brings them to me while I'm working, 3 or 4 on a little plate at a time 😂😂

Of course it's far more fun that way than stuffing them all in at once, but I could never do it myself! 😂

Blackcats

Thank you SH - budgets currently balance with a bit of jiggery pokery from one pot to another.  

Thank you so much for reading Cheerydaff - its been an interesting journey - this site helps so much and I wish I'd learned these lessons years ago.  it's fascinating how we chose to spend our money (or the bank's money isn't it? For me it was lots of money on fancy candles, handbags, clothes, cushions etc etc - very materialistic.     3 or 4 chocolate buttons at a time - that's incredible.  Even as I type this I'm craving chocolate buttons .... I think 3 or 4 of the giant buttons might just about suffice.

just back from a lovely weekend away - a mix of seaside and countryside - feeling very refreshed and fairly virtuous as we stayed within budget.  Luckily the hotel honoured our room rate from 2 years ago which was a great saving - prices have gone up so much that it would have been an additional £46 per night.    I also noticed a few little cut backs that the hotel have made - a £5 charge for a cooked breakfast, no bottled water in the room, shampoo bottle attached to the shower instead of my favourite little bottles.  I understand why, as there's a fine line with keeping room prices competitive, covering rising costs and making a profit.  

savingholmes

Glad you had a lovely weekend away.

Blackcats

Stating the bloomin obvious - isn't it hot!

relaxing with a mocktail made using cranberry lemonade, fuzzy water, squirt of lime, ice, and slices of lemon - very refreshing.  Dinner is chilli leftover from yesterday with a sweet corn salsa and salad.  I love cooking once, eating twice.  Not much left in the fridge now but it's a shopping day tomorrow.  Still doing the grocery challenge which definitely keeps me on track.

waiting for some money to come into my account which I'll use to pay off another 2% off the council tax.  That will take me to 51% paid - over the top of the mountain and heading downhill.

savingholmes

Great progress on CT. Mocktail sounds lovely too - as long as it was fizzy rather than fuzzy water