Head out of the sand. Saving for a shiny future

MovingForwards

You probably need to break your budget down into food, toiletries, cleaning and dogs. That way you can tackle each one (aside from dogs as they're happy).

Dal is very cheap at about £1 a packet and makes a lot of meals. If you've an Asian shop nearby it will be cheaper. I make a tarka daal (regional variation on spelling due to where I was born) for next to nothing and it's my go to comfort food.

A lot of supermarkets are also selling pots of herbs / spices / sauces to create the meals, all you need to do is add meat / veg, think they're £2 each, but make enough for a family.

I've a feeling it would potentially be cheaper for you to buy the pre-seasoned, pre-made items from the supermarket than it is to buy the gusto box.

An el paso meal box is £3, all you have to do is add chicken / veg or salad, but as it's for a family of 4, you'll have enough for one meal a week for a month.

At a guess it's about £60PY I spend on cleaning products, that's t-roll, bleach, washing up liquid, washing liquid, window cleaning spray and shower / bathroom spray. It's the t-roll which costs the most, everything else is supermarket branded.

ForestBluebells

Completely blew the food budget today 🙈🙈🙈 my mum came over and decided to pop to marks and Spencer’s as it was next to the DIY shop I was visiting and spent £22 on TODAYS food only for me and her 😬 then went to Aldi to get top up bits like milk and cereal, snacks and yoghurts etc plus got a more expensive(for Aldi) pudding for mum and spent £28 in there. That did include a big tray of chicken for my dogs treats and a cleaning spray I have no need for. I was pointing it out to my mum as she was looking for natural cleaning sprays and then she ended up putting one on my shopping too and I didn’t say no. 

i could have just got potatoes and cabbage really and made veg soup with leftover veg I already had but mum kept mentioning lunch and I felt I had to get her something nice. Damnit! 

I also bought my old dog a new bed but that was only £36 and he likes it. His old bed had become lumpy. I got some parts to fix my dishwasher and I think I finally did fix the leak too so I’m pleased with that. Last thing I bought was some plant food for my sick tree to try save it. I hope it works 

meant for a bad spendy end to the month though 🥺 

I think you are right I’m going to try cooking gousto recipes myself then try throw in a few new recipes to get my confidence back and see if I can reduce my food spend. I also think I spent less when I was shopping weekly as o didn’t feel the need to stock up so much thinking I wouldn’t be going again for a month. I have a cupboard full of cleaning sprays I honestly don’t need more, I don’t know why I bought some! 

I think I’m able to cook my own recipes from not next week but the one after so I could see what recipes I  want to cook and make a plan 

MovingForwards

It's nice to cook a full meal for people, don't be so hard on yourself.

Tell us more about the tree, what is it?. Is it inside / outside, in a pot / the ground, in what way is it sick.

ForestBluebells

MovingForwards said:

It's nice to cook a full meal for people, don't be so hard on yourself.

Tell us more about the tree, what is it?. Is it inside / outside, in a pot / the ground, in what way is it sick.

It’s some kind of broom (it’s impossible to identify which I’ve tried!) it’s my absolute favourite as in may the whole thing flowers bright yellow. It used to have dark green leaves and over recent years the leaves are getting paler and paler and now 90%+ of the leaves are pale, I forgot the term for it but it’s sick. I bought a plant food for acid loving plants as I believe most broom prefer more acid soil and mine is ph7. I guess the previous owners who planted it were feeding it and it’s slowly got sicker and sicker since I moved here.

I really hope I can save it. I also took some seeds so I will try planting them but not sure when to plant it. 

ForestBluebells

I decided to move the over spending  to next months budget so I’m not that badly over budget this month now and just need to be more careful in February which given it’s a shorter month is easier anyway 🤣

MovingForwards

Have you ever trimmed the broom as they benefit from it. Also get some compost, suitable for it, and throw it over the soil, it will make a huge difference. They're easier to grow from a cutting rather than seed. Lastly, it does get sunshine doesn't it?

Needs must with budgets!

ForestBluebells

I think this type doesn’t like being cut as it doesn’t grow from old wood and all the growth seems to be at the tips of the branches. I can try take a cutting it’s just none of it looks healthy to try and take one from. 

ForestBluebells

Taking my elderly dog back to the vet tomorrow as I’m worried about him. He’s not been outside my home (other than my garden) for 2 weeks now and just refuses to go on walks. He was scared by gunshots and hasn’t gone out since! Just wanted to get the vet to check there’s nothing else going on otherwise I guess I’ll just leave it to him to see when he’s ready to go back out again. 

I also renewed my Gousto subscription due to an offer of 30% off 🙈 but £24.50 for 4 meals for 2 so at least 8 portions seems ok I think with the discount. I will get back to non gousto cooking at some point!

finally got paid yesterday, bought my premium bonds but need to top up My pension with my bonus next. 

Also need to work out if it’s worth moving my LISA away from HL. 

atrixa

Poor doggy, I hope his confidence returns.

You asked about grocery budgets a while back- I'm also a single person household. It's difficult for me to work out costs of groceries alone as I've been lax with my logging and have dumped things like toiletries, some meals out and alcohol in my grocery spend line over the past year or two. However, before I dropped the ball, I averaged between £120-£170 per month. It's probably going to be higher now as the cost of food has risen quite a bit.

I've found that cooking batches of one-pot wonders like curry and chilli and eating them with starchy food like rice generally keeps costs down, as does only shopping with a list. I can quite easily go into Mr S for bread and loo roll and come out with chocolate, crisps and drinks if left unchecked. I'm determined to get a handle on it in 2022!

ForestBluebells

I budget £160 a month and I don’t think I’ve ever hit that as I’m always over budget (since Covid started haha) I was quite good before Covid as I was doing menu planning and shopping weekly with a list and gousto has thrown that out the window. I do love my gousto recipes though but I do also really want to reduce my cost if possible. £200 a month (where I usually end up… or more 🙊) feels a lot although like you I also factor in anything I buy at the supermarket in that as I can’t be bothered to split the receipt. 

I had a yummy gousto butternut squash dal tonight and it was quite large so I’ll have it for lunch and dinner tomorrow too I recon even though it’s supposed to be 2 portions. Might add some rice if needed but there was loads left.

My problem is when I’m not shopping very often I tend to grab every snack under the sun but if I’m shopping weekly I’m better at only buying 1-2 things.

im tempted to try the local food hub, it’s available to everyone and local supermarkets donate short life stock and you can fill a shopping basket with anything and it’s just £3. It’s to help stop food waste.