Giving every £ a job

EssexHebridean

SA - I recall seeing neighbours (who have now moved away) open their garage door one day fairly early on and it was just stacked up with crazy amounts of stuff. Also seeing the sheer amount of stuff overflowing people's bins when it got thrown away as it was bought in spite of not being needed "just in case". Infuriating when others were struggling to get basic needs! 

Blackcats

@ladyholly - hopefully your husband's first win in 60 years will be the jackpot!  Closely followed by @lillypoo winning the jackpot in the next draw.  

My chances of winning are now officially zero and the money is in a 5.4% savings account.  

It's easier to give up on  the premium bonds than it was for the lottery.   I used to do regular numbers when the lottery first started and I naively thought it would be relatively easy to win £10 - only needed 3 numbers 🤷‍♀️

@EssexHebridean and @Sun_Addict we were talking about the pandemic this week whilst stuck in an m25 traffic jam.  In the first lockdown the roads were deserted which definitely feels like a distant memory.
lockdown helped us re-set our expensive coffee shop habit.  When all shops were closed and we were allowed out for exercise only we bought flasks for our tea and coffee on our daily walks.  We still use them now and have fun choosing lovely places to stop for our own pop up coffee shop.   Based on our old bad spending habits we probably save around £30 a week. 

savingholmes

£30 savings a week is a lot - that equates to around £1.5K a year! Well done.

Blackcats

thank you @savingholmes - it was a pre- lockdown habit.  Because I always worked from home we used to go to coffee shops to signal the end of my working day.  Often a piece of cake would be eaten too.  A saving in my purse and on the waistline.

I thought that today I would celebrate a few little money saving wins so that they don't get lost amongst bigger financial thinking.

I sold an item on vinted - £3 (I'm deliberately not saying ONLY £3)
used co-op offers of £1 off shopping and 75p off galaxy to buy a tasty treat for next week
Stored my roll on deodorant upside down and so far have got 3 more days out of it 
finally finished the bar of soap in the bathroom.  So much more economical than the bottles of liquid soap and less plastic waste.  Now using a lovely soap that I got for Christmas 
enough leftovers from last night for tonight's dinner - cook once and eat twice.
Washing dried on the line 
nearly past their best apricots were transformed into a delicious compote which we had with Greek yoghurt in the garden for breakfast followed by a giant crumpet from olio 

lellybun

Blackcats said:

thank you @savingholmes - it was a pre- lockdown habit.  Because I always worked from home we used to go to coffee shops to signal the end of my working day.  Often a piece of cake would be eaten too.  A saving in my purse and on the waistline.

I thought that today I would celebrate a few little money saving wins so that they don't get lost amongst bigger financial thinking.

I sold an item on vinted - £3 (I'm deliberately not saying ONLY £3)
used co-op offers of £1 off shopping and 75p off galaxy to buy a tasty treat for next week
Stored my roll on deodorant upside down and so far have got 3 more days out of it 
finally finished the bar of soap in the bathroom.  So much more economical than the bottles of liquid soap and less plastic waste.  Now using a lovely soap that I got for Christmas 
enough leftovers from last night for tonight's dinner - cook once and eat twice.
Washing dried on the line 
nearly past their best apricots were transformed into a delicious compote which we had with Greek yoghurt in the garden for breakfast followed by a giant crumpet from olio 

Anyone else now really wanting apricot compote with Greek yogurt and a giant crumpet!!😋

savingholmes

The apricot compote does sound impressive.

EssexHebridean

Yep - Apricot compote sounding good here too! 

Blackcats

@lellybun, @savingholmes and @EssexHebridean I thought that apricot compote sounded like a posh description.  In reality it was stewed apricots with vanilla sugar and a grate of nutmeg.  As a child I used to dread my mum answering the question "what's for pudding?" With the dreaded answer "stewed fruit and custard". I actually like stewed fruit now but can't bring myself to call it that.

It's the end of my budget month and I've got an overall underspend of £137.71.  We are NOT going to spend any more money before midnight and so that means homemade chips and fried eggs for tea rather than fish and chips from the chippy. 

June has been a good month for extra "unearned" money.  We categorise that as money not from employment or pensions.  We've both had some success with selling - I've sold a couple of things on vinted and MrBC has done well on eBay.  We continue to gradually de-clutter and organise our stuff.  A couple of bags of bits have gone to the charity shop and I do a Monday morning walk round the house with a carrier bag collecting up odds and ends for the bin that would otherwise hang around - things like receipts, flyers etc.

I hope everyone has had a good June.

Sun_Addict

That’s a very impressive underspend 👏

savingholmes

Well done on the underspend