Post here to join in money saving thread

[stropicana]

My other thread is not working.

I am planning to try and save a smuch as possible, if you want to join me with new ideas and support then do!

I am going to keep a running total.

Oh dear secondcoming I feel your pain!

In the week before xmas the oven broke (£70 to fix), the hoover broke (£100 for a new one) and dh had a £300 dental bill

We paid out just over £400 on Christmas Eve on the car fo a new clutch and then last week it failed its MOT and cost £300 to fix . We have seriously started to budget!
We have started to meal plan - the children LOVE it and make me do a menu to put up on the fridge!!! So far we have gone from one big weekly shop plus 2/3 little shops in the week for bits and bobs - totalling approx £120 - to one weekly on line shop totalling £70 per week!!!! Unbelievable! AND the children have had home made meals every night!!! We rarely ow throw out stuff whereas before I was forever throwing out corn on the cob, green beans etc that I just didn't get round to using!!!
It does take half an hour a week for me to sort out but it is well worth it.
I would highly recommend it!

We have done the menu plan too, though it was more a case of being fed up with the dc moaning that they didn't like this that and the other,; I challenged my dd (nearly 11) to come up with 7 nutritious meals and we also have it stuck up on the fridge. It has had the added effect of reducing waste and spending, as well. The plan all falls to pieces if dh ever ends up doing a shop, though. He always overstocks on veg and other perishables, and buys things he doesn't eat like fresh pineapple, which has to be eaten up quickly once started. He also squanders enormous amounts on work lunches - £5-£10 per day, and wouldn't dream of taking sandwiches. And don't even get me started on the amount he drinks.

We budget quite separately and I usually pay for most of the holidays, day-to-day kids' expenses, groceries, and anything for me. (Plus contribute to the mortgage). He pays most of the mortgage, the utility bills, insurances etc and does shop around and get the best deals on those things.

I hadn't worked out the monthly cost of dc activities as I pay termly, but I suppose it's currently about £80-£100 a month. (2 x drama clubs for dd, swimming and gymnastics for ds). Hope dd will start Guides in March. Other afterschool things she does are free: (book club and netball club). My biggest outgoing is childcare, which I have decided to cut considerably after half-term, taking dd out of the after-school care 3 nights a week. Partly to prepare her for being more independent when she goes to secondary in Sept, but also to save over £30 a week!

oh god....childcare! We will have to pay for ds2s first few terms at pre school as his entitlement doesnt start til january next year!

Also, if I am to retrain (as a I want to) then thats going to cost too