Looking for savvy budgeting ideas - please suggest as many as you can

[steffers34]

When will it end? all us families out here, working so many hours, missing out on time with our kids, to be living like a lot of us are.

How are you mums being savvy? I would love some tips! 3 Kids, single working mum, just trying my best and failing miserably so hoping some mums on here can give me some savvy ideas and tips.

Trying to be positive but its hard as i imagine it us for a lot of us on here. Sitting with nothing in bank, no help and working wondering how il get thro tomorrow never mind the days after. The mum guilt is rife and i cant sleep from the panic and anxiety of it all.

Please ladies, whats your budget hacks? Meal Hacks? Il take all suggestions!! :)

I get my shopping delivered weekly, in the cheapest delivery slot, the £1.50 is much less than the impulse purchases I would make in the supermarket.
I also use a breadmaker, the big saving is avoiding a top up shop because you never just buy bread & milk

@Bjorkdidit I haven't missed out on anything due to budgeting hence why it's called a budget 🤔

Where's this mythical land that dues take cash because I have no problems what so ever so stop spouting tosh that no where accepts cash because that is lunacy. I pay everything in cash the only place I've found that doesn't accept cash is Pizza Hut and I'm hardly going to die from not eating pizza!

The money Ive saved is in my bank in pots, the money I'm saving is in cash. I've hardly got bags of cash all over my house 😬

@ShutTheFuckUpCakes I'm a single mother on benefits 🤔so yes struggling but thanks to cash stuffing I've managed to change my mindset and save.

@that doesn't take cash

Wow. A single parent of 2 children on full UC wouldn't even get £1k a month (not including housing element) so I'm very impressed. You presumably work a relatively well paid job as well, or have multiple children born before 2017, or get the highest rates of disability elements, in order to have £1k a month spare after covering essentials.

Until not that long ago I was also a single parent on UC and it would have been genuinely completely impossible to save that sort of sum. No matter what I cut back on, it just wouldn't have been doable - and mindset didn't come into it, you just can't save money that doesn't exist!

@ShutTheFuckUpCakes I'm a disabled single mother of two one of which has a disability too no job and I've saved that much. So yes it is doable. I also sell on vinted and batch cook. I'm a visual saver not a numbers on a screen saver that's why cash in my hands works better. Anyway I don't know why I'm bothering to reply to you l, the op asked for tips and I gave her my answer.

A few ideas.
Try to cut down on waste. Mostly food but disposables too ( no antibacterial wipes etc).
I used to make an extra portion of "favourite" meals and freeze them. When one of the children didn't like what I was cooking I could throw the extra meal in the microwave. It saved on waste and made meals less stressful.
I always freeze leftovers even if it is less than a portion. I used them for lunches or use 2 or more of the same thing to make a meal (labels are important - bitter experience talking)
Never buy deli sliced meat. It's much cheaper to buy a joint and then slice what's left for sandwiches. I bought a meat slicer years ago and it's still going strong.
Get a delivery pass for supermarkets. You can restrict what you buy and won't be so tempted. It also saves a lot of time and fuel.
If you can, treat every month as a 5 week month and the months you have extra put it to an instant access savings account for an emergency fund.
My daughter has started playing games on her phone through one of those sites that pay you. She has lots of spare time on her commute and so has started playing stupid games. She tells me she had Amazon vouchers. Don't think it's much but she is saving for Christmas so every little helps.
I have a current account that gives me cashback (no fees). I get 1% cashback on almost everything. It's not much but it's free money. I save it and use it at Christmas. I use top cashback too.

Some workplaces are members of rewards/cashback type schemes that allow you to buy vouchers at a discount. Worth looking into whether your employer offers this. I use it to buy supermarket vouchers before I go to do the shopping. Saves me 4 or 5%. Not a huge amount but it all adds up. (Also use it for clothes and gift shopping.)
Be aware it can sometimes take a while for the vouchers to come through, so allow yourself plenty of time.

Things that have helped me single mum of four.

Pay off debt quickly and first over savings money.

When you start saving put this is a separate account on payday and forget it.

Don't use tumble dryer I use a heater airer instead or line dry. I do miss the dryer though.

I do one big monthly shop in Asda for around 200. Then I hide most in cupboards. Take a few bits out each week for snacks. I then spend 30 per week on fresh items fruit and milk etc. this stops me running out of stuff and going to the shops and buying crap. So monthly food is around 300-350 which isn't bad for 5 with all the cleaning bits.

I don't by brand anything food wise.

Cook a lot from scratch. Egg on toast or beans on toast is an ok mela over a week or noodles with frozen veg and a sauce.

I bake a lot as the oven is on once a day and it's cheaper than buying a cake.

Lidl for baking ingredients

All my clothes are from a charity shop for me

Exercise at home no gum membership

Free days out

Don't have a car on finance

Own brand washing powder etc is absolutely fine I find the Lidl one good

Use soap not shower gels and hand washes lasts much longer

Lidl and Aldi face creams cleanser etc are all good.

Buy uniform when sales are on. Re use last year's I see no point in buying new for September just replace what needs updating.

Take water bottles from home everywhere

I never buy lunch at work. I make a smoothie at home using frozen fruit and have that for lunch Monday to Friday.

If you pass a garage that's cheaper for petrol fill up there the difference can be enormous

Holidays are euro camp which are really reasonable and good fun

Don't drink alcohol often

I get home stuff in charity shops like art and old cups and saucers but that's my style I don't like new stuff.

Think about everything before you buy it often you don't need it

Do less washing to cut down on energy costs. Wash your clothes / sheets / towels less often than you do at the moment.

Budget ..for the year not the month. . Write down everything you spend too...or track it on an app.

Use money saving.com

Eat out the freezer or cupboards twice a week.

Re use stuff.

Just don't buy crap.

I use The Budget Mom’s Budget by Paycheck methodology (YouTube). It sets me up for the month. She uses cash envelopes, which is not my preference, so I use the YNAB app as virtual cash stuffing envelopes instead.

I watch a lot of you tube videos on frugality , shoestring Jane is good and frugal money saver . Take what tips you can
Meal plan , I sell on vinted and ebay out unwanted or outgrown clothes and toys. I buy every thing apart from underwear and pjs from vinted, ebay and charity shops

As well as all these excellent budgeting ideas, I strongly recommend you look at how to also increase income - whatever you can do within your means, sometimes it means doing things you would prefer not to do but you cannot always budget yourself out of a crisis.

this could be an extra job, extra shifts, a weekend job, shelf stacking at night, using your professional skills in additional ways etc

If you've got any outside space try growing fresh food. Herbs and various salad leaves grow well in tubs. Cherry tomatoes grow in hanging baskets, runner beans, board beans or peas grow up bamboo sticks. DC could shell the peas or broad beans. If you have a garden plant an apple and a plum tree. In less than 2 years you'll get fruit and very low maintenance. You can grow raspberry canes in a small space. Rhubarb takes up only a small space and again can be grown in a patio tub. If all the bounty comes at once you can freeze it. It was an eye opener for me how much money I saved by growing my own fruit and vegetables and it's lovely and fresh. Also shop in supermarket about 7.30pm if you can as that's when they do the yellow stickers. You can buy and freeze a few bargains. Batch cook a Bolognese once a week and pack it out with either lentils or chopped peppers. I call it Rainbow Bolognese with chopped red, yellow, orange and green peppers in it. I used lentils in Shepherds pie to pack it out. Also in the winter cook up some nutritious homemade soup. Every week I make Lentil & Tomato, Potato & Leek and a Winter Vegetable soup with onion, carrots, swede, a parsnip and a potato and serve it with crusty bread. DH and I have it for lunch at least 3 times a week. It's very cheap to make and I throw ingredients into the soup maker and it takes 20-25 minutes. One portion cost about 35 pence.

Use white vinegar for cleaning everything. It really works and it sanitises surfaces. I buy a large container of white vinegar now and then, 5 litres, not malt vinegar.
I pour vinegar from the large container into smaller bottles (I use empty vinegar bottles) and squirt away and wipe. No water needed, no rinsing. No nasty chemicals. If you squeeze fresh lemon juice in, that's really nice too.

Shopping
have a basket of bulk buy items on amazon and wait for the price to come down and then buy in bulk, dishwasher tablets, shaving foam and stuff like that.

Budgeting
Go through your entire bank account spend for the whole month. I write it out and match it to the spreadsheet of doom budget. Its an eye opener where the money is really going. If you know you have to sit down and do this once a month then its a natural way to mindful spending which can save 100's.

Debt
I once heard a saying, credit cards, car finance and lottery tickets are for poor people. Harsh i know but maybe true basically stay away from high interest debt and gambling.

Gardening
strawberries, plums, pears and apples and parsley and potatoes are easy to grow and low maintenance and don't take up too much room if you have a garden. Obviously you wont be fed year round at all but its nice to have some fresh organic food sometimes and you will save maybe £60 per year.

Was going to say exactly the same.

Made a fab chilli the other week with a £1 tin of mixed beans in addition to my normal mince and kidney beans. Apparently it was the best chilli ever. And it meant we got three meals instead of two out of the mince.