Money savng tips? (non horsey...)

[Brandy]

Just wondering really as I went to the bank yesterday and was horrified to find that I have pretty much no money left!! Next pay day 27th jan...

Obviously Xmas has been a factor though not THAT much of one.

This is the first time that I have had 3 ponies, a mortgage, and a bf who earns less than me - all at the same time! So have pretty much gone from spending what I want, to not being able to (as in thinking nothing of spending over £100 per week for the two of us on the weekly shop....) I think I have reduced my horsey costs as much as is practicle.

So, have started going to Aldi for fruit and veg. And started taking packed lunch to work instead of buying every day.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[lazybee]

Buy your OH a Haynes workshop manual for the car or cars. Then do the services yourselves. Step by step easy guides for the easy stuff. You can literally save 100s and 100s much better than most penny pinching money saving schemes. A good basic DIY book will also save a fortune.

Don't buy any brand names for staple foods. Oats, flour, butter, milk etc

Horse related. call the farrier only when you need him.

 

[Ladylina83]

Don't eat as much meat - he might not like that one but it will save you a fortune.

go to friends houses at the weekend rather than going out

Sell stuff on ebay - anything it is amazing what people sell/ buy there was someone bidding on a used blackhead remover last night when I looked them up to show my BF what they were!! yuck !!

don't buy clothes !

i only ever buy what is on offer - washing powder, loo roll etc

Make soup

 

[Shazzababs]

- Make a menu plan for the week, then make a list of what you need for it before you go shopping, you can see what is going to be on offer from the supermarket websites. STICK TO THE LIST !!!

- Try and cook from scratch rather than buying ready meals, or take always, its much cheaper. We have 'freezer surprise' one day a week, when we have whatever can be made from the freezer\cupboards.

- Be really vigilant about turning off electric appliances, lights etc, and turn the thermostat down on your heating a couple of degrees. Not instant savings, but it does save loads long term.

- Don't buy booze or deserts\snacks\fizzy pop etc. or set a weekly budget for them.

- This one is nasty - If you have a power shower, use an egg timer to limit the time you spend in there to 4 mins (or share a shower ). Saves loads especially if you have a water meter.

- Cancel any TV packages you don't use, and make sure you have the cheapest phone deal for your needs.

- Switch your landline\broadband\electric\gas suppliers every 12 months.

 

[Mare Stare]

I'm on a permanant budget! And I've got 6 mouths to feed.

I've got a "Poverty Stew" that I always cook when I'm broke.

It's basically half a packet of Tesco Value cooking bacon (90p), a can of chopped toms (32p), an onion, a couple of handfuls of red lentils (lentils are fantastic - cheap and filling and you can throw them in any soup or stew to bulk it out. Plus they're a good source of protein and folic acid! ) and a can of baked beans and a can of chickpeas (about 90p but worth it). Fry the onion and bacon, chuck the rest of the stuff in. Cover with water. Chuck a vegatable stock cube in once boiling. And let it simmer for at least 20mins (you've got to make sure the lentils are cooked). And voila!

Also buy chickens (Tesco sell 4 for £12). You can make several dinners from one chicken. Roast one day, make sandwiches or salad with the remains, and then boil up the carcass and make chicken soup.

Jacket potatoes always make a cheap, filling tea. Just fill with butter, salt and pepper if you are proper skint.

Eggs are great. You can make omlettes etc. Throw in some leftover chicken, onion and potato and you've got a decent dinner.

Pancakes. Basically flour, eggs and milk. Cheap and tasty, plus you can make yorkshire puddings and Toad in the Hole from the same batter. (If you make Toad in the Hole, cut the sauages up and you can use less )

A word of warning though - Value bread is crap. If you like butties stick with a decent brand of bread.

Tesco Value Peanut butter and Chocolate Spread are just as good as the proper brands.

Have a look in Poundland or similar for cheap cereals, tins of fish and crisps.

 

[VoR]

I've got a "Poverty Stew" that I always cook when I'm broke.

Poverty stew my ar*e, sounds pretty good to me hungry now!!

 

[Sarah1]

I'm on a permanant budget! And I've got 6 mouths to feed.

I've got a "Poverty Stew" that I always cook when I'm broke.

It's basically half a packet of Tesco Value cooking bacon (90p), a can of chopped toms (32p), an onion, a couple of handfuls of red lentils (lentils are fantastic - cheap and filling and you can throw them in any soup or stew to bulk it out. Plus they're a good source of protein and folic acid! ) and a can of baked beans and a can of chickpeas (about 90p but worth it). Fry the onion and bacon, chuck the rest of the stuff in. Cover with water. Chuck a vegatable stock cube in once boiling. And let it simmer for at least 20mins (you've got to make sure the lentils are cooked). And voila!

Also buy chickens (Tesco sell 4 for £12). You can make several dinners from one chicken. Roast one day, make sandwiches or salad with the remains, and then boil up the carcass and make chicken soup.

Jacket potatoes always make a cheap, filling tea. Just fill with butter, salt and pepper if you are proper skint.

Eggs are great. You can make omlettes etc. Throw in some leftover chicken, onion and potato and you've got a decent dinner.

Pancakes. Basically flour, eggs and milk. Cheap and tasty, plus you can make yorkshire puddings and Toad in the Hole from the same batter. (If you make Toad in the Hole, cut the sauages up and you can use less )

A word of warning though - Value bread is crap. If you like butties stick with a decent brand of bread.

Tesco Value Peanut butter and Chocolate Spread are just as good as the proper brands.

Have a look in Poundland or similar for cheap cereals, tins of fish and crisps.

Oh my - you are my hero! All of that sounds delicious!

Please teach me how to make more things like this - actually any cooking advice would be greatly received, I have a 14 month old daughter who has decided she won't eat anything if it's not fruit or sweet stuff I am at my wits end that's she's going to starve

 

[Mythical]

Have a look in Poundland or similar for cheap cereals, tins of fish and crisps.

Poundland's great but don't get too excited once you're in there - some of the things they sell would be less than a pound elsewhere!

Not sure if I'm allowed to post links as I'm a newb but if you haven't already been, you should take a look at moneysavingexpert.com - the forums there are full of brilliant tips!

 

[Trolt]

This may not be applicable to you but:

~Cancel your gym membership (unless you constantly use it for the weights etc). Then walk or cycle to as many places as possible. To the yard, to work, to the supermarket when you only need a small shop.

You'll save the money from the gym membership, save money on fuel (save on insurance because you can lower your annual predicted mileage) and still keep fit!

 

[Astra]

Definitely check out www.moneysavingexpert.com - brilliant site packed with ideas on ways to save on just about everything. Also have a house/tackroom clear out and ebay stuff you don't want/need anymore. I'm in the middle of a ebay selling fest at the moment! It's amazing how the money stacks up when you sell lots of stuff.

 

[VoR]

We all have cr*p that we never use, don't need any more, were unwanted gifts, etc, etc - e-bay, car boot sales, second hand tack sales and so on are a way to make a few quid, just a case of making time to a) sort stuff out and b) actually sell the stuff.............although car boot sales can be the world's most miserable places I have to admit!!!

 

[Brandy]

I think I'm doomed!!

I do have a gym membership which is £27 a month (subsidised by work) and I do 4 classes as week and have a shower there more often than not so i don;t use water/elec at home.

Don't have a home phone, internet, sky or anything like that at all. We have a telly with freeview. I use the internet at work.......

I buy all our ahopping and know that i would spend waaay less if it were just me and not bf aswell. Not that I'm getting rid of him you know but I would be happy with eating very cheap stuff like the jacket spuds. i also make veg soup quite often. I could do with losing a few lbs but he is already skinny! I have found that whiletrying to diet I spend more on food.

Already cook from scratch most of the time.

Other half used to be mechanic so does all the car stuff anyway, Dad is builder.........

Hardly go out.

Oh well, ebay it is then!!

Seriously though, regarding meals. What do you eat thats cheap and nice?
I always have lots of veg but think the sack of spuds that I have in the pantry will be playing rather a large part this month!

 

[Naryafluffy]

Think it's a BBC wensite, but google, economy gastronomy, was a program that helped cut down peoples food bills, got loads of receipes on there, most of it they say to prepare on a Sunday and then freeze so you don't think I can't be bother cooking tonight and get a take-away or something!!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/b00m1c34
Think they also recommended getting away from the supermarket, expecially for meat and to go to the butchers, most butchers do a meat box where you get different cuts etc that do the whole week.

 

[maree t]

As others have said moneysaving expert is great. Had my car renewal throughit came in at 612 per year. Car is only worth 600 so changed and got it for 248 including full breakdown cover and legal help
A good cheap thing with potato is one of jamies recipes. slice pots and layer in a dish with fried onions then cover with veg or chicken stock and bake in the oven.add some garlic and thyme if you want then it is really tasty and you dont feel on too much of a budget !! We usually do a huge casserole dish at a time so it lasts two days.
Have you got an open fire ? reccomission any blocked up fireplaces and stay warm. We have a woodburner that we can cook on aswell so a lot of meals go on that to cook.
Do you ride all three ponies ? can you get a sharer or two in ?

 

[TheShark]

We eat frittata, which works out quite cheap. Also baked sweet potatoes with fried onion, peppers, courgette and smoked bacon.

Both cheap nutritious meals - male sure to add the bacon though as it adds so much flavour!

Also- buy veg from the Market as it's cheaper. We got courgettes, lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms,Celery, onion and 2 big potatoes for a fiver the other day which is the bulk of our veg for the week.

 

[VoR]

We eat frittata, which works out quite cheap. Also baked sweet potatoes with fried onion, peppers, courgette and smoked bacon.

Can we stop now, I'm really, reeeeeeeeeally hungry now, loved baked veg and fried onions and bacon, yum!

 

[Ladylina83]

as long as I've got mushrooms and peppers in the house I can make anything

Mixed bean chilli I'm living on at the moment - beans are 53p from asda a lloyd grossman tom and chilli sauce £1, chilli powder mushrooms peppers lol and some rice about £1 a portion all together

 

[bounce]

I run a budget book for the month so I can see what is going out and all the unnecessary stuff I might buy and can see how much I am going to have left with at the end of the month. I've found it really useful in seeing how much I spend on stuff I really don't need.

I set up an excel spreadsheet with all my outgoings and then put in what money I have in the bank and keep it up to date with what has been spent and what is due to be paid. I can then work out if I can afford the extras or how much I have left to spend on food shopping etc. It has made me much better with money and you can work out what you can cut down on.

I go to Asda late on a Monday night and hover around the discount shelf whilst they mark down all the produce which is going out of date and then buy anything I can freeze.

 

[Brandy]

Thanks guys some good ideas. I got a slow cooker for christmas so am looking at recipes to use that as I think that I can make cheap meals in it.

I do think I need to write everything down to try and get back on track.

I got loads of fruit and veg from Aldi and a few other bits and spend about £20, and just got a big lot of stuff from the butchers for £24 so I think that is the way forward.

Saw some pigs trotters in there - not quite THAT poor just yet!!

 

[Mythical]

OOh, just thought of another one! Has anyone seen SuperScrimpers on 4od? (Go to 4od and type Superscrimpers or waste not want not into the search box) I really enjoyed watching that show. It's a bit '1950s housewife' at times, but I thought there were some really good examples.

 

[poacher82]

Saw some pigs trotters in there - not quite THAT poor just yet!!

Actually they do taste quite nice if slow-cooked, but I found the bones/knuckles/tendons too fiddly to bother with (we had our own pigs, I didn't actually decide to buy trotters from the butcher I admit!).

Seriously though there are some really cheap cuts of meat that can be way tastier than the 'normal' cuts. Lamb breast - get the butcher to roll and tie it for you - lamb shanks, pork hocks... google recipes to slow cook these, all are delicious and really tender done slowly.

Also, chicken thighs instead of breasts. Much more flavour, either casseroled or boned out and used in stir fry/curry/etc. And actually if you can't be bothered de-boning them, they sell filleted ones in the supermarkets which are still far cheaper than breasts.

Feeling quite inspired by all the above ideas... think my OH may nap when faced with lentils though ;0)

 

[Tinsel Trouble]

Have PM'd you OP!!

 

[Mare Stare]

Oh my - you are my hero! All of that sounds delicious!

Please teach me how to make more things like this - actually any cooking advice would be greatly received, I have a 14 month old daughter who has decided she won't eat anything if it's not fruit or sweet stuff I am at my wits end that's she's going to starve

Will your daughter eat rice pudding? You can use brown rice instead of pudding rice. It takes a bit longer to cook but is more healthy. Just put rice in an oven dish, cover with plenty of milk and a couple of table spoons of sugar and let it simmer away in the bottom of the oven while you cook other things. Serve with some grated nutmeg and a dollop of jam.

Banana icecream. Freeze bananas (minus their skin) and then throw in a food processor when they are wanted. Instant banana icecream! Cheap pudding.

Baked sweet potato. Goes lovely with chicken and bbq sauce! Just bake it like you bake a normal potato. She might like it because it's got a sweet, carrot-like taste.

Porridge oats are always good and cheap. And you can make flapjacks out of it.

Rice Crispy/ cornflake cakes. The cheat's way is to use golden syrup and cocoa powder instead of chocolate. I never make them because I ate so many in my childhood but I can ask my Mum for the recipe.

Chickpeas. Soak overnight if using dried, drain then fry them in olive oil and some garlic. Cheap grown up alternative to crisps.

Oat milk. Use the foot of a new pair of tights, fill with porridge oats, place in a jug of water for 24 hours, squeeze the liquid out of the oats and then voila! The water has now turned into oat milk! I only discovered this because I was buying oat milk at £1.60 for a carton before I found how to make it on the internet. The kids like it when made into banana smoothies (banana, oat milk and a tablespoon of golden syrup whizzed up in the food processor).

I can probably think of some more. There is a website somewhere that is aimed at students. That's got a lot of good ideas for cheap dinners. I can't remember what it's called though but it would be worth a google.

 

[D66]

night before shopping day = veg curry nite.

an onion
any left over veg - carrots, cauli, beans, mushrooms, butternut squash, etc
tin tomatoes if necessary to make up bulk
handful of lentils or chickpeas(tin or soaked)
curry paste or powder
stock cube

fry the onion and curry powder, add the rest and cook until tender. Serve with rice.
empties the fridge, uses everything, and tasty.

 

[Brandy]

Thanks scrunchie - reminded me about the bag of pudding rice I have in the pantry!

 

[Dab]

Join a cashback site, like www.topcashback.co.uk (free to join) especially if you are changing your utilities, and do a weekly shop on-line. Encourage friends to join and then you get money back once they have subscribed etc. I always go through this site when i buy on ebay....saving £2 here and there it all adds up Plus you can combine with other deals to get some great bargins. I needed some new contact lens and with the topcash back and a deal the retailer was running it cost me 46% of the original price!

 

[muddygreymare]

If you have time at the weekends, make your own bread, loaves and rolls and freeze them. Make enough for the week and just defrost when you need them - is cheaper than buying bread.

Try buy fruit and veg from local markets as is cheaper

When you go shopping make a list of only the stuff you really need and be really strict and stick to it.

Can you use public transport/walk or liftshare to try and save on petrol?

Try to use up all your leftovers

As someone else said, see if you can find Super Scrimpers on 4od, it was good but there were a few odd things on there (the one i remember best is a woman who bought boys pants instead of knickers because it was cheaper....!)

 

[juliette]

I have a 14 month old daughter who has decided she won't eat anything if it's not fruit or sweet stuff I am at my wits end that's she's going to starve

Don't worry she won't! My younger daughter seemed to survive on milk, rich tea biscuits and banana for the first years of her life to no ill effect!! She now eats nearly everything including brussel sprouts!

My quick, cheap and healthy favourite meal:
Mix 1 carton of passatta with 3 tins of beans (kidney, chick peas, butter, borlotti...... any you fancy) a pepper, celery, onion. Add herbs if you fancy, add chorizo if you have the budget!! Throw in the oven.

I am also a fan of jacket potatoes with baked beans.

Casserole is also a good way of using up your old veg and if you add worcester sauce it gives it a bit more flavour.

Oh and i cycle to the yard as much as i can to save diesel!

 

[Jazzy B]

best slow cooker dinner ever,

brown off lamp chops then cover in coat of english mustard and then put in the slow cooker add water to cover chops and then add one spoon of horse radish to water - seven hours done yum!!!

gammon put in slow cooker cover in coke (cheap basics is fine) then cook for seven hours - double yum and always loads left for sandwiches for days!

slow cookers are easily the best way to cook you can make loads when your feeling rich then freeze it and as your feeling skint towards the end of the month you still get to have yummy meals!

 

[Nosey]

Sainsburys do those recipe cards...feed your family for a fiver. They are good....& cheap!