As from today I SAVE

[datingbarb]

Starting today my goal is to save!

Have download a app on my phone so I can see my savings grow which I think will help!

I have set my goal at £250 to start me off... This isn't my ultimate goal but figured set myself a small goal and work my way up! The money saved will be so I always have a little pot to help with things like xmas, holidays etc.

I intend to do this by:

Sell, sell, sell our old things, I listed some things on gumtree/ Facebook and if they turn up tonight I'm £30 towards my total.

Transfer the odd pounds/ pence from my bank account as I'm going to budget and use cash now (learned this trick here)

And in a month or two (have a large bill to clear first) I intend to save the £100 pounds per month dd's dad give me, as I don't ever include in my budget as he is forever paying late etc

If anyone has any other tips please let me know..... I'm going with the look after the penny's and the pounds will look after themselves

[ginorwine]

Menu plan
Do two really cheap meals a week
Check your providers re gas etc are cheapest you can get
Tx any credit card to 0 % finance
Eat less meat
Keep track of what you spend
Ask self do I need it or will it end up in charity shop ?

[datingbarb]

Thanks for the tips, both my gas and flex are on metres so not sure I can change suppliers.

I already menu plan and last week mangled my shopping in Aldi for £40 that included chicken breast for Chinese chicken, gammon for a roast and mince for spag Bol, other than that we will have jackets, pizza and chip and pasta dish

I'm really thinking about what I'm spending st the moment, getting rid of do many clothes that I never really work etc and just thinking about staple things that I will actually use so willing to spend on them.

[datingbarb]

£30 worth of stuff I sold has been collected this evening so that's a good start.

As long as people don't let me down (Facebook selling) then I should have another £99 coming in the next day or two.... Pleased with that for day one of my saving/clearing out

[thiswould]

at mangled shopping in Aldi. That's a great typo.

I love Aldi. Every time we (rarely) need an online shop from another supermarket I'm horrified at their prices.

We've just wound down the stuff in the freezer too. A good few meals in there. It was do I could defrost it. Very satisfying!

Music magpie and Facebook selling really Kickstarted getting out of debt for us. Very good psychologically clearing clutter too. Good luck!

[new5poundnote]

Use cash wherever possible. I watched something on tv once where they filmed people at a checkout and asked them how much their shopping cost as they left the till. Not one of the card payers could say what they had spent

Only take the cash you need out with you to avoid impulse buys. I used to budget really successfully for my weekly shop but always spent at least £20/£30 on top up shops. There's an amazing sense of satisfaction in popping out for milk and coming back with just that!

Library for all books. Ours even has current magazines to read there.

[confusedofengland]

Buy foods from the reduced sections. I went to Tesco the other night at around 7.30pm & got 10 main meals for a family of 5 (including potatoes & veg), plus tonnes of fruit for £12 (6p punnets of raspberries, 30p pack of diced beef etc)! The key is getting there at the right time & being prepared to buy foods that others aren't perhaps so keen on e.g. whole mackerel. Also remembering to freeze the vast majority of things straight away.

Also, apply for product tests on this & other parenting sites. Over the last couple of weeks I've had 2 packs of nappies, 2 packs of wipes, deodorant & in the past I've had things like breakfast cereal, butter & much more! Then you can put the money saved into your savings. Also, on one occasion I've had £100 vouchers for product testing something, which was very nice