the hedgehog's balloons.

Greent yes they are Percy the park keeper stories. I was trying to come up with a user name and DD2 was reading the cross rabbit and was giggling very loudly at his antics. DD1 always loved the hedgehog's balloons (correct spelling) when she was little and would hug herself when the hedgehog finally got his balloon. So whenever I come on here it makes me smile

Been to the bank to set up op as a standing order. Shuffled other savings to accommodate it reduced slush fund to £150 a month, car fund to £250 and upped payment to mum to £250. Bank of mum should be paid by Christmas next year which hopefully will mean we can overpay more.:j on other note doctor is sending me for blood tests to see if l'm pre menopausal :eek:

Our fixed rate mortgage ends in late January. With this in mind I've decided to set my self a 4 month challenge to look at 4 different areas of our lives to see if we can save money.
1) SEPTEMBER- Shopping mainly food and cleaning products. I've managed to reduce our food bill from a eye watering £600 a month to £500. We eat mainly an organic diet. Although we could alter this we feel very strongly about this and since we are not in debt (except bank of mum) and pay credit cards in full when we use them, I'm not prepared to alter it. However I do shop around and often it can be reduced and I know the times of reductions in our local supermarkets. The food bill is also high as I have to eat a gluten free diet and DD2 has to eat a high calorie diet (gets to eat lots lots of yummy cakes,biscuits and chocolate). So this month I'm going to look at the non organic food we buy and see if we can down brand. I know Aldeee does do some organic food as I've been going there for the last couple of weeks. Once I've gained abit more confidence with baking and cooking gluten free alternatives I think it will save me quite abit money. I also need to maximise the allotments and meal plan around whats up there which should reduce the bill further.
2) October- Travel. We have two cars and the girls use public transport to get to and from school. Not sure how much we spend on travel as OH has just started his new job so need a month to see how much extra its costing us. Bus fares have gone up for DD1 as she is now 16 so not sure how much its going to cost us monthly at the moment.
3) November- Mortgage. Start looking at getting a better mortgage deal.
4) December- Holidays/ Entertainment/Birthdays. We love going away. We only holiday in the UK but we really do like to go away. Camping is out as its almost impossible with DD2 who has point blank refused to do it again. We are really lucky to know people who have places and pay mates rates, so often use them or the YHA.
I think looking at these areas will help highlight where we could save money as well as looking at the obvious insurance renewasl etc. Anyway need to refocus on today as need to take DD1 and 2 to the opticians. DD1 is off into town to meet a friend, told her if she is eating in town she needs to pay for it out her own money. I used to give her money for food but since she's turned 16 I've stopped it as she needs to learn to budget her pocket money. DD2 has opted to go to her granma's tonight as we are going to the coast tomorrow with my mum and it means she'll get an extra hour in bed. Must remember to charge her chair tonight.

Had a great day out on Friday at the coast but it was a long drive and preferred the other seaside town we visited last week. Saturday oh and I went to the allotment whilst DD2 went out with her PA. Harvested apples. Carrots, beetroots and a whole host of other stuff. Gave DD2 PA a huge carrier bag of stuff. Spent several hours making veggie lasagnas, etc with produce. DD1 and OH went out with junior rangers on a bat walk. Today we went to Liverpool to see the terracotta warriors and I'm looking forward to getting home as the train was delayed over 40 minutes.