It’s not a resolution as such but every year I make the effort to save money. This year I need to be even thriftier than usual as for a good chunk of it I will be on maternity leave and earning a lot less.
As always I will be sharing my tips with you.
The first thing I recommend that you all do is take stock. Literally. I did this last year and it really worked so well for us. I emptied my food cupboards, gave them a good clean and repacked them but whilst doing so I kept a tally in my notebook of exactly what was in there. You could keep your results in your notebook or stick in sheets inside your cupboard doors. This year I have my new pantry so I MUST be more organised. I have no more excuses,
For example:
3 X cartons of passata
2 X tins of chickpeas
3 X pasta twists
Etc etc
You can them amend whenever you use something so you know when to replenish.
I then did the same with both my fridge and freezer. When I had finished I sat down and meal planned for the following month. I was pretty amazed at the time to realise I had enough food in my house to feed us for 20 days with just a minimal fresh food spend of £20 per week for the remainder of the month. Crazy huh?
From then I did a big shop (approx £90-100) at the beginning of each month followed by weekly fresh food only shops of £20. I saved lots of money and I found that by meal planning we were all eating better meals and wasting less. I hate waste. When I got pregnant and had really bad morning sickness it all went a bit wrong and I stopped most of my frugal ways but I am determined to do better this year.
I am going to use my slow cooker more to free up my afternoons and evenings but also so I can use cheaper cuts of meat along with the mountains of chickpeas and butter beans I seem to have accumulated.
Tomorrow I will write up the results of this years stock take and the meals I plan from it as well as my new weekly shopping budget.
I will continue to share my money saving ideas and any tips you have are gratefully received.
Join me. Save some pennies.
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Marriage isn’t always EXCITING! and FUN! and PERFECT! but when it is, I hold tight to those times and that’s why I wrote this to remind him and myself that in everyday we do something extraordinary by being there for one another. I’m so glad you loved this, I’m even more happy that you told me so, here in this space. THANK YOU xoxox