To Buy Or Not To Buy?

Is it still a money saving exercise to buy a coat for £20 when it is reduced from £45? The dangers of window shopping when you know you are going to be paid soon.
To think sensibly my mum would say it's not practical (no collar) and my dad would probably say I already own a coat (true, but I did see a granny wearing one the same which damaged it's style rating!) So really I only want to hear from you if you are going to encourage me to buy it!
If you are remotely interested this it it but in blue, the rules of shopping used to state I had to wait four days before buying something so I guess now I'm on super save I should at least double it! Meanwhile I'll hide all the coats in my size around the shop to waylay anyone else from buying them!

Here's A Cup Cozie In Action

I am most proud that they actually work!

I think maybe I should lurk outside starbucks for a Saturday, maybe I'd make some super sales.

Thanks for the pic Beccy.

Green Fair Roundup

I earned £2.83 per hour, I stood up all day, I spent till 12.30 the night before crafting.
It was worthwhile though, the stall looked fab,
I got to spend the day chit chatting with my friend Evelyn, I did sell some of my wares (all though the lovely Beccy and my Mum in Law did buy some of my wares so sympathy buys don't count!) and lots of people said our stuff was lovely.

Now we have masses of stuff we think we may do another, if nothing else to shift our remaining stock and as my mum said "think of it as being paid £17 to get a day of rest from your daughter".

Ten Pence Per Minute

Some people earn this. Others may pay it for their mobile phone calls. For me however it was the cost of relaxation.
I paid it willingly and along with aching thighs, crippled wrists, and a distinct lack of flexibility it was worth every penny.
I have been stressed lately, the sort of can't sleep I think I'm going to implode sort of stress. So I decided to blow a few quid on getting some 'me' time to see what effect it had and oh it was glorious. I felt so peculiar driving home that I think it was shire luck I didn't drive off the road and that was even knowing I had to chase home to fetch my daughter and take her to the doctors. Nothing was going to beat my hour spent focusing on breathing in and out, checking my feet were in line with my hips while twisting my body into some impossible position.
So will I be spending six precious pounds next week? We'll wait and see how much I ache tomorrow before I decide.

And Some More

My favorites, Cute baby bibs and even little tags to decorate our creations.

No Room For Writing

Today it is just photos. Of all the lovely things I have crafted.
What a busy bee I am.

Seven Days And Couting

It's exactly seven days till crafting deadline. We are booked in to do the Green Fair at 8am next Saturday and panic has hit.
Back in the heady days of the summer holidays I was full of enthusiasm for a stall packed to the rafters with Eco jewllery, up cycled home-wares and vintage trinkets galore. Today I spread my haul out over the dining table (much to Max's dismay, he is not a big fan of crafting) to discover a grand total of about twenty items, four of which were made by my mum! I think I will do well to make enough profit to treat myself to a cup of tea at the end of it all.
The trouble is time, or lack of it. On my days off from work my only free time is nap time (I can tell you attempting to make crafts with Martha's assitance is not easy) and during nap time I feel I should tend to my 'housewifley' duties of floor mopping and cleaning the bathroom and if you saw the state of our house you'd agree. So that only leaves evenings and weekends and there is certainly no more time or energy there. Combine it all with trying to cram five days worth of work into a three day week, cooking the odd nutricious meal here and there and getting a bit of down time and it's easy to see why I haven't managed to make much stuff!
Today I worked like a Trojan thanks to Martha's fantastic fairy godmother taking her out to be 'ladies that lunch' and tomorrow is another day and I plan to spend it all in front of my sewing machine or armed with a glue gun. Watch this space as tomorrow it will be so crammed full with cup cosys, peg holders, felted jewellery, baby bibs, coasters and clutch bags there won't be room for any text.

Today I want, Wait, I Need

I am feeling materialistic, will power is waning. Today, if I had the 'readdies' I certainly would have spent them.
My lust list encompasses everything from new socks and trousers, film for my plethora of cameras, new roasting and muffin trays, Croc boots for Martha, a nice dress from Matalan, a new DVD and a cleaner, or even better a butler crossed with a PA!
I think sometimes a lack of cash can make you want things even more, especially if you had a challenging day with your daughter which you only made it through with the bribe of some Disney princess knickers! (I know totally corporate and £6!!!!! but she's two and a half, a girl and they were mostly pink with sparkles and hearts on. They worked their magic and were worth every penny)
Maybe I should throw a swap shop party and offer out my decrepit wardrobe and possessions in the hope that someone decked in Zara clothes and with a wheelie trolley full of habitat belongings is looking for a trade!
In reality I'm hoping a trip to my local charity shop and a project from the Junk for Joy book with have the desired affect.

Fen Potatoes

This post is irrelevant unless you live in Cambridgeshire. If you do however, get yourself out into the fens in search of a sack of potatoes. If like us you are a potatoes lover (mashed, jackets, boiled, roast, saute, dauphinous, you name it I am addicted to them all) then you can save yourself a small fortune.
Sainsburys potatoes 2kg = approx £2.00
Fen Potatoes so heavy I can't lift the sack kg= £5.00

I always like an edible money saving tip.

A Month In Recession Re-hab

Apologies followers for the distinct lack of activity. It certainly isn't from a lack of money saving, it's more from a glut of money depression. Several days after my last post I had the embarrassment of 'transaction decline' in the supermarket and my weeks shopping had to be paid for from the savings account. I dared myself to check my online banking only to discover I was in the red. What's worse is it came just a fortnight after being paid, so the following two weeks was spent scrapping my petrol money together from the coppers pot, nicking change out of Max's trouser pockets and eating a mainly vegetarian and lentil based diet!
Grabbing my deerstalker and magnifying glass I scrutinised my spending to see what had happened and after the initial certainty that my account had been hacked and someone had spent all my money in Sainsburys, Clarks and the garage I realised that the cause of the cash flow crisis was actually a rather steep car repair (£110), some new shoes for Martha (£35) a night out with my new work colleagues (£30) and some generally rubbish account keeping. What it did force me to do was actually look at my spending and really account for what goes in and out. I noticed the fact I am still paying payment protection on a cooker for a house I don't even live in any more so that was swiftly canceled making me a whopping £1.20 richer each month.
My new job leaves me financially worse off than my old but I am definitley much happier with my work/stress/life balance so that's acceptable but it does mean for a while at least I am on a very tight rein so that new yoga class I was itching to start will have to wait and that mythical £30 a day we are meant to be saving may be a challenge!
As for general money saving we are doing well, rather than find us in Waterstones on a weekend we are more likely to be found stomping through the countryside with a thermos and some homemade cupcakes for sustenance. I am in the proccess of listing some items on ebay in order to make the money to buy the new camera I want and I have even resisted the jewelery making kit that I tried to convince myself myself I needed for the Green Fair 'craftathon'. I still have moments of weakness when I can be found making an online shopping basket at ASOS (only for pretend buying though) but on the whole perhaps I am a little less materialistic? Though I dread to think the sight that would behold if I got to do a trolley dash round Primark!
What I have been so warmed by is my lovely family who have come to the rescue and cheered us up no end. The Jone's and Blick's came en mass for a visit with a full on lunch (Including jacket potatoes and a pie traveled up from London in tinfoil) and Olivia took me and Marty to the seaside for a day out and even insisted on driving us so it wouldn't cost me the petrol.
Max and I even did a date night for a cheap break from the daily grind, Martha tucked up in bed early, a nice home cooked meal, a bottle of bargain wine and an evening playing cards was a right chuckle and next week it's his turn I shall enjoy kicking back and relaxing while he uses every utensil in the kitchen to make a pasta creation and then challenges me to a match of Scrabble or Cluedo!
So for the moment it's a bit of a wait and see with how the finances go. We are still toying with the idea of downsizing the house to save some money and Martha may get a few more home made Chrimbo presents this year but we are all happy and healthy and that the main thing.

Music Magpie Update

The boy is obsessed!
He is at this moment still adding CD s to the Music Magpie haul. Grand total £112.54. I think I may get up tomorrow to find we own no more music and Max has pulled a bar code typing all nighter. It may not pay the mortgage off single handedly but if he makes it to £125 that is a quarter of the bathroom re-fit paid for with old music and films.
Watch this space.

Music Magpie In Progress

I handed the thankless Music Magpie task over to Max. Hours sat typing barcode numbers into a website wasn't my cup of tea, but it turned out it certainlywas his. Two hours later and we have two bags for life packed full of DVD s and CD s waiting for a courier to collect and our grand total of cash in the pocket £70, that's if none of the selection are rejected.
Max is a brave man too, he has bid farewell to his entire James Bond catalogue and cast aside an unusual collection of classical music. I on the other hand clutched onto my DVD s. Even though I have Napoleon Dynamite recorded on the Sky box I still couldn't bring myself to let it go, and that was along with demanding to keep the first CD I ever owned (even though I haven't listened to it sine I was about 18!) I think Max's second round will have to be done while me and my sentimentality are out of the house.
All in all far easier than a car boot sale and it gave Max an excuse to have the rugby on in the background without being nagged.
Now it's my turn. This week challenge is listing some pre-loved baby items on eBay, lets see if I can beat £70.

Philosophical Frugality!

Apologies for of lack of posts but I have been somewhat busy. Beavering away at my new job while trying to be a mother, housewife and crafter extraordinaire uses up a lot of time (and energy). I have spent most evenings this week crashing out on the sofa moments after I sit down.
We should be celbrating though, we saw in the start of the month with record funding in our bank accounts after the super saving month and we are at it again this month. Last months excesses haven't gone towards the mortgage yet though, we're still playing catch up and its going on credit cards to pay off summer Euro tunnel crossings and new cars (well pre-loved cars)!
The most striking outcome is that our attitude to things seems to have changed, on a small scale we have broken the routines of spending, pack lunch and thermos's are common place and I am shocked at the idea of spending Two quid on a cup of coffee when I go into town. I am far more aware of spending and prices as I toddle round the supermarket (This week I estimated my shopping as I went round the supermarket and was only a pound off at checkout, not bad eh) and we are more conscious of cooking and enjoying eating on a budget. However on a larger scale things have really got going and has posed us some interesting dilemmas I shall leave you with one to mull over.

Our house has three bedrooms and a cellar bedroom come office too. We occasionally have guests but on the whole theses rooms are dumping grounds for laundry and clutter. While we tackle the pennies by turning lights out and taking packed lunch surely we are wasting a great deal of money by owning (courtesy of the mortgage lender) two rooms we barely use. Wouldn't we be better downsizing, shrinking the mortgage and paying it off faster? And if we achieve paying off said smaller mortgage, what could and should we do after that?

hmm perplexing.........

Wonder Weather

So the trip to the coast was an absolute success, I haven't felt so relaxed in a long time. A complete change of pace and scenery sorted the three of us out a treat. All this month we have been frugally saving money and thinking about the future but all it took was to stretch out on the sand to put a few worries into perspective and to consider what we could do next with our lives. Max especially had a chuckle about his looming 40th birthday and the ensuing mid life crisis. I don't know if a motorbike or sports-car will fit snugly into the budget.
OK so we did spend a Tenner on fish and chips and we had a cheeky half of Adnams, but I think we both agree the benefits of the day definitely outweighed our financial slip up.

Sunshine

Well it's sunny outside and we should all be making the most of it. Another week of work ticked off and a busy one at that, so its time to enjoy the weekend, a day out is in order.
Now how do you have a day out without spending any money?
We have decided on a trip to the coast, luckily we only live an hour away from the sun, sand and surf so petrol won't cost too much, but there is the dilemma of fish and chips versus picnic. Picnic should be cheaper but fresh fish and chips is the ultimate luxury so maybe just once this month we shall splash out, but if our financial will power wins it will be some home made sandwiches, English apples picked from the tree and home made cakes. We'll be packing up our thermos flasks and some Martha proof snacks and all we need then is the picnic blanket, bucket and spade and we are off. Hopefully the weather will hold and the rest of East Anglia won't have had the same idea as us!

Ebay Assist

My daughters feet grow daily and my six year old teachers wardrobe is looking a bit shabby. The money saving rules dictate I'm not allowed to spend, but needs must so I've been hitting the eBay searchs. Kids shoes still go for a fair few pounds but I'm watching some preloved Clarks that hopefully won't carry the £30 price tag of a new pair. As for my proffesional attire I've grabbed some great bargains bidding at the last moment. Two skirts and some trousers none of which went over the £1 mark and best of all I get some post which isn't a bill!

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£96 And Counting

Routine equals success, the nightly preparation of snacks and sustinance for the following day. The inbuilt habit to pick up your lunchbox on the way out to work. We have nearly completed our first month back at school since summer holidays and we haven't failed once to take our own packing up. Max has had one unfortunate day where all he consumed was two rounds of peanut butter sarnies but on the whole lunch is good. Martha and I are even baking home made treats to battle the sugar hit you need to see you through the afternoon. The best thing though is the feeling of saving money. Max isn't piling round after round of 30p's into the staff room coffee machine and I'm avoiding the daily 50p spent on afternoon cake. This month we think we've added nearly £100 into the kitty from packing up not buying out. I need to deduct from that a tenner for buying two new thermos flasks after obliterating the old ones caps in the microwave in an attempt to steralise them but that's still not bad. Now I just need anithervVicky Blick visit to cook us up a couple more batches of sausage pie for next month and we are truly sorted.

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Tasty Savings

Saved money today by baking. I followed the no wastage rules and whipped up a batch of chocolate and banana cupcakes. Utilising the very dodgy bananas and some scrapings from a jar of honey. They were very delicious (were being the word to choose as they are now all eaten!) Tomorrow I think it's autumnal enough to cook the first roast of the season and I shall see how many meals I can get out of the leftovers (if there are any). I'm looking forward to the eating already.

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A Hobbit House?

Just a quick post today as I have a pile of school admin to sort before bedtime. Tonight's tip bit comes from my good friend Mr Todd. Now I would love to build me one of these.

This clever man designed and built his house with just the help of his father in law and all for just £3000. Only trouble is he got some free woodland to build it in. Woodland owners let us know if we can come and build a house amongst your trees. For more pictures check out
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/Man-builds-stunning-hobbit-yahoofinanceuk-1514084024.html
On a different note our electricity has decided to go AWOL and we are without power to any upstairs sockets. We only discovered this on our return from work, the fuses had tripped and the power had been off all day! It's good news for the electric bill but not so good for the repair bill. Glad we have been living on a tight budget, it may all get spent on the repairs, that's if I can't persuade the electrician to take payment in cakes or handmade green fair ipod holders!

Shabby Chic?

I've been meaning to post this since the weekend. What a slacker.
Last week Mrs Chicken suffered a cat attack (she survived it, slightly shaken though she hasn't laid an egg since!) We decided it was time our free rangers got cooped up when we weren't around to protect them. In the spirit of saving rather than spending Max went into super scavenge mode. Our neighbor Carl (of the famous Carl cookie) gave us some posts from his wood stash and Mr Next Door (I can't remember his first name and embarrassment stops me from asking him) donated us a little more. A couple of hours spent scavenging in the waste ground behind our house and Max had enough to knock up this little number. You may call it rickety or bodged but I think its fantastic and with a splash of blue to match their house and maybe even a bit of bunting to decorate it it will look dandy. Most importantly it saved us a few bob and it's protected our feathered friends from cat attack.

School Photos

Martha has got her school photo tomorrow. Well nursery photo. Last year we didn't even realise she was having one taken and it was pure luck she turned up in a clean and coordinating outfit. When we saw the shots we were suckered in to buying the budget set (not that budget at £27). This year we are adamant we will not buckle no matter how cute she looks. To help our resolve I did some maths and worked out that if we bought a photo every year of her nursery and school days from now until she finishes school (which hopefully she will and not become a delinquent ) then we would spend a massive £400. Now that's enough to buy her a first car in years to come, or pay for several euro tunnel crossings to France, or even renovate our bathroom. So sorry Martha, but I think I will be taking the nursery photo this year.

Music Matters

Thirty pounds a day is a challenge. We aren't vast earners and we don't lead a lifestyles of excess, in fact I can't even remember the last time we frittered away our hard earned money on a morning in a coffee shop or a trip to Primarni. So if we want to save we are really going to have to sell. My Ebay items are slowly ticking over with a watcher here or there and the next round of autions may include my beloved gold 80's heels, but that's just not enough. Tonight I discovered Music Magpie (care of a tip off from my sister) Its a nifty little site that offers you cash for your old CD's and DVD's, the proccess is quite laborious needing you to type in and search each barcode and some items only clock up pennies but the odd one I typed in was worth a pound or more. Max owns the worlds biggest CD collection most of which has been decanted onto the worlds biggest Ipod and my Cd collection dates back to the early 90's so I definitely think there are a few things we could say farewell to, and that's before we've begun rummaging through the massive DVD stockpile. Music Magpie will freepost or free collect your items and then send you a check to pay straight into the mortgage account. I think Max's penance for breaking the spending rules may be an evening of barcode typing. Who knows there might be £50 or more waiting for our efforts, but let's just hope we never loose our iPod once we are CD free.

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One For My Mum

My lovely mother spent last night on a sewing mission. Battling to make peg bags while I attempted glasses cases and phone covers. Tonight I worked alone hoping to do her proud. I spent over an hour wrestling with a clutch bag prototype and then twenty five minutes on mark two. I won't say they are as good as hers as they wern't but Max viewed the final article saying "I think you can sell some of those" so it felt like a good nights work. Tomorrow night is vintage fabric iPhone holders and the night after laptop cases. I think my sewing machine and I shall become very good friends over the next month. And if nothing sells at the fayre I will have plenty of handmade christmas presents ready to go.
Mum if you're reading this I'll post up some pictures tomorrow.

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Max Broke The Rules

Max gave me the afternoon off. I spent it stitching and sewing items for the green fair while eating oodles of Carl Cookies (cookies our lovely neighbor Carl bakes). I had a most relaxing time and Max busied himself taking Martha to the park and to feed the ducks. On their return Martha called out that she had a present for me. I got a little excited and then as she handed me a little book I turned it over to discover it was a Thomas The Tank Engine book and she was clutching two others, so mot so much a present for me more three for her! Apparently the trip to Waterstones was a money saving exercise as the books three for two but Max is also the proud owner of a new Mark Kermode book. Tut tut indeed. I shall have to ban him from taking his wallet with him on trips out especially as Martha says they also went in a toy shop!

The Lunch Bunch

My folks are here and fully encouraging the five years to mortgage freedom. My dads encouraging us to get solar panels (best long term money saver ever) and my mum is cooking her heart out on a quest to feed and organise us. What started as a chat about how dull pack lunchs are led into a full on lunch mission. A tenner spent at the blue and red supermarket created sausage pizza, quiche, sausage rolls and my token contribution of windfall apple tart and don't forget all this was cooked alongside the regular dinner and while doing a spot of baking with the tiddler she's a fiend! The long and the short if it us we created 16 packed lunch portions at around 60p each, none of which are boring cheese sandwiches and all of which are now labelled up in the freezer waiting to be chomped! Top money saving marks.

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100 Days To Go

Christmas is lumbering slowly towards us. Its a great time of the year for overeating and drinking and also for getting a little something for those you love, which set me thinking how present buying and mince pie making will fit into the extreme budgeting calculator. It just so happens that other people seem to be pinching their pennies too (don't know why that is hey David Cameron?) and while I was looking at Christmas things I found a helpful little device to turn those pennies into pounds.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/income/demohohotivator/
It was an entertaining way to see that if I gave up my daily snickers bar (which obviously I am no longer allowed) at 60p per day would give me £61 in cash towards pressies. With a big family and two lovely toddlers to buy pressies for £60 doesn't go that far, but I've gone down the handmade presents route before and it was a bit of a disaster. I think the main trouble was I started with only a couple of weeks to go and making something for everyone in the family was a bit too much of a challenge. My poor dad graciously accepted his pair of his and hers canal boating fingerless gloves without complaining that one hands glove was considerably larger than the other and my younger sister still has her jar of handmade marmalade untouched in the cupboard a year on which is somewhat a bad sign. I shall have to get the thinking cap on for this year and meanwhile I shall keep playing on the hohotivator!

chilly At Bedtime

It's getting cold, nearing that time of year that I like to get my electric blanket plugged in and reved up. This winter though I shall have to weigh up the benefits of getting into a pre-heated bed against the downside of larger electricity bill. I am a complete Scrooge when it comes to finally turning the heating on. I certainly don't allow the spare room radiator on unless it's being occupied and I'd much rather have a roaring fire going than radiators on. Max and I shall have to steel ourselves for our yearly log hunt, scrambling about on wasteland to find chopped down trees or as my neighbour suggested going skipping (looking in skips not the childrens game) to find discarded wood. Perhaps instead of the electric blanket I should unblock the fireplace in our bedroom, or maybe just buy some thermals and a wooly hat for bedtime. Who says romance is dead!

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Money Saving Tip

Today's money saving tip comes from Mr Jones and it is excellent, if not a little cheeky.
Anything you want to charge eg, phone, ipod, batteries, take it in to work plug it in and off you go. That's definitely going to save a few pennies, but be careful it may loose you many more if you get spotted and get the sack!

One For the Girls

Men, unless you are strong stomached, liberal and want to know how you can get out of the enforced dash to Tesco to buy emergency Tampax for your lady friend then look away now.

Ok you have been warned, last chance

So ladies. The Mooncup, the idea terrifies me, this strange 'cup' seems like some archaic form of contraception or something to do with pregnancy. If you are lost at this point and have no idea what I'm talking about then please check out this link as I am not going into details here!
http://www.mooncup.co.uk/

Two trusted sources have bought this little gismo to my attention and assured me that once experienced I will never go back. Initially I was interested purely in the interest of saving some cash for our cause, but this purchase would also see me doing my bit for the environment and for the health of my body.
The average lady spends between £3-£7 per joyous time of the month and that is around £60 a year. An investment of £20 now could save me £40 this year and then over £250 in five years.
The real dilemma is if I am brave enough to try it, if I am it certainly won't be while I'm at work, it will be in the comfort and safety of my own home and goodness knows what Max would think if he found it, he'd probably faint on the spot.
I'll keep you updated.

Specualte to Accumulate

It's time to make money, not just save it. The more cash in the pot the better. As far as I am aware we do not have any rare antiques lurking in our attic and there is no way I'm selling my camera or laptop to get us closer to mortgage freedom, so it seems some hard work may have to go into making the extra cash.
I have spent this afternoon rummaging about through draws and cupboards and I have found an unusual selection of clutter that is due to be listed on Ebay this evening. I have even considered throwing my vintage cowboy boots into the mix, as the last time I went out in them Max asked if I was deliberately dressed as a cowboy!
I shall then be investing my profits in buying the raw ingredients to make some fabulous hand crafted bits (or clutter as most of my family would say!) and then attempting to sell said items at the green fayre coming up in November. Well that is the plan anyway though I haven't quite worked out what I'm going to make and who might actually buy it, but I have started experimenting and hey, we shall just have to wait and see. The stall cost £20 and I've gone in with a friend so hopefully it will be a laugh if nothing else. If it is successful I may have to turn the cellar into my crafting empire and hit the Christmas Fayre's too.
"Cup Cosy" experiments and windfall apple cakes to fuel experimentation.

Here's To The Numbers

We are nearly a fortnight into our cash crackdown and at the end of this month we will embark on the biggest challenge possible for a couple who have no financial sensibilities whatsoever.

So I thought I would try and explain (maybe rather poorly) where the theory comes from.
If you had a £200,000 repayment mortgage over 25 years, which is a bit more than we have but will do for the purpose of illustration, by paying off an extra £150 per month or £5 per day (packet of fags, bottle of reasonable wine) you will magically save over £40,000 in interest and reduce your mortgage by almost 5 years. I will comment here that I'm not entirely sure what exact interest rate is used to calculate this but the idea is that the more cash you pay off the less interest you will incurring as the debt is reducing more rapidly.

If you paid off an extra £400 per month (£15 per day) you would save around £7o,000 in interest payments and reduce your mortgage by nearly ten years.

So, the next stage is to go more extreme, we could have opted for the suggestions of paying the mortgage off in 2 years but I think you must have to be earning one heck of a lot and be spending a lot too, so we reckon on five years, though this is where it may all go pear shaped, we doubled the £400 to £800 and the £15 to £30 and hey presto we are off.

The final hurdle that needs overcoming is the fact that our over-payments each month are limited to £500 so if this craziness actually works out then we may have to do some mortgage re-jigging at the next review and in the meantime any extra dosh can go towards those cheeky credit card and student loan companies.

Anyone who has genuine maths ability (or who is employed as a mortgage advisor) please feel free to correct me, though in a gentle way please so you don't dash my hopes and dreams. Tomorrow I shall be back to anecdotal ramblings and hopefully steering clear of the maths for a while but thank-you for your patience.

Re-Calculating

Having gone Facebook public with my blog it appears that I may have made some rather outrageous claims and for the sake of other dishwasher users its time to put the record straight.
A lovely young man I used to teach (who is rather better at maths than me!) pointed out that my energy meter may be a little (or a lot in this case) inaccurate and that actually far from being an electricity gobbling demon it is actually quite an efficient little helper. Rather than the gigantic £5 per session I thought it cost, it is far more likely to be costing me about 20p per hit. So without a hint of guilt I shall load it up and set it off, while I sit down and relax instead of slaving over sodding washing up.
Later I shall be tackling the ins and outs of this paying your mortgage of malarkey for my brother in law who has been attempting to dash my hopes of mortgage freedom! I shall be calling on Max for maths assistance with this so I shall have to wait for the footy to be over, either that or call upon Dad skills and get him to do the sums for me.
Oh yes, while I'm at it I shall maybe exploring the realms of on-line ASDA shopping, moon cups and slow cookers, it seems that everyone has their own way of saving these days, I just need to steal them all to help me in my quest!

Time For Some Maths

We have spent too long chit chatting about how we are going to save and haven't begun to work out how much it is possible to save in one month. I'm hoping seeing the hard cash totals will encourage us on and keep us away from wine in the week and extra treats at the weekend.
so here's our totals so far.

Taking packed lunch and a thermos £3.50 a day so a monthly saving of £115 (no its not bad maths, I work three days a week and Max five)

Not running the dishwasher £5ish a day so a monthly saving of £130 (thats is mega encouragement to wash up not load up and switch on)

Only going to the supermarket once a week £60 versus normally over £100 so monthly savings of £160 (although we have cracked a bit on this we are still being pretty strict)

So the total we 'could' save this month is over £400 and that's not bad at all, however it is way off the £900 we need to save each month but we shall take it in baby steps. The only trouble is the chickens need a new bag of food, Martha is angling for some new felt tip pens and I'd like some new clothes to go with my new job. Factory warehouse shop here we come!

p.s If you read this earlier there was some extremely bad maths in my packed lunch sums, apologies but it's all corrected now!

Harvest Time

I long to be self sufficient. I suffer from severe vegetable patch envy when I see other peoples success and yet I just can't seem to pull off my own gardening prowess and that is something I am definitely going to need when I am living mortgage free in my earth ship (otherwise known as a hippy house) making my living through exhibiting my photography while Max writes his best selling crime novel.
Part of the blame rests on me, I never really bother to read gardening books fully, I brush over the detail and instead ooh and ahh over the images. But a large part of the blame rests on my daughters shoulders too, only today I discovered her in the garden with her Early Learning Centre scissors hacking the runner beans to pieces under the illusion she was harvesting them and she just adores the tomato plants, but hasn't quite worked out that a tomato needs to be red to be edible, of my pathetic harvest she has already plucked, bitten into then spat out nearly half a dozen, removed all the support canes to be stinging nettle whippers and copiously watered them (with not only the watering can but also the contents of her potty).
Next year I may not only have to slug proof my veg patch but toddler proof it too, that or plant so many strawberry plants that she will be so busy gorging herself that everything else will get the chance to reach its potential.
My shambolic attempt at tomato plants, not enough for a salad, let alone a batch of chutney.

DVD Rentals into liquidation

Max is a sucker for the DVD Isle at Supermarkets. I think its a male thing, maybe hormones are pumped into the air to entice them over. I think he could spend at least half an hour perusing the £3 DVD selection. We buy masses of films, normally all pretty cheap refusing to buy something at full price. Our cellar shelves are bowing under the weight of the whole James Bond collection, and everything from Bourne to Hayao Miyazaki animations. You name it we have been tempted into buying it. We lend out so many DVD's that its become a family joke that we are like a rental store. So our customer base will be sad to hear that we are going into liquidation and what's more the stock is soon to be sold off via car boot sales and eBay. (The DVDs alone will probably clear the mortgage debt)
Instead we've taken to storing up masses of movies on our sky box and even more savvy watching films and documentaries via YouTube (as I write this I do wonder about the legality of films on YouTube) This week alone we have saved our selves £22 and had the pleasure of watching Nuts in May and Encounters at the end of the world. If you are prepared to have anything you view split up into many parts (seven for Werner Herzog) then its my new recommended form of viewing. Although I am careful to say here I don't condone the watching of pirate videos!

Out of Rations

We were going to go on the wine wagon, only allowing ourselves a glass or two at weekends. Unfortunately the shock to our systems of returning to full time employment after six weeks summer holidays caused a severe outbreak of wine consumption and three days into our two bottles a week ration we are out of supplies.
Now here is the real dilemma:
Max says buy next weeks ration tomorrow and go without next week.
I suggest drinking squash till the weekend and then treating ourselves to a first week back at school bottle.
Hmm which to choose......
On a positive note we did have the most delicious Delia Frugal food dinner and for the cost of brown rice, celery, peppers and mushrooms had a scrumptious tea (all be it washed down with the last of the illicit wine!)

Dirty Dishes

I am addicted to checking my energy monitor. Rushing about the house, switching lights off, un-plugging random appliances and generally trying to get it down to the lowest possible cost per day. (About 20p at one point with nothing whatsoever on at which point I considered turning the monitor itself off!)
However I am horrified to discover that running my most loved and luxurious appliance, namely the dishwasher racks up a cost of over £130 per day to run. Clearly it is not running 24/7 but it does run for a good hour nearly every day and broken down that's nearly a £5 a day (If my maths is correct which it very possibly isn't) It is with a heavy heart that I realised that it probably doesn't cost me any where near £5 in gas and electricity to heat up a sink full of water and have the lights on while I wash up.
£5 is a fair chunk of the magical £30 that we need to save each day, so it seems my beloved dishwasher may have to take a backseat for a while and only be fired up on special occasions.
So, back to pushing up our sleeves and slipping on the marigolds. I think I'm going to need a very inspirational picture hanging above the sink to help me get through the next half decade of washing up.

Online Abandoned!

I got my weekly shop down to under £60 and that included wine and nappies, so not too bad. But then Sainsbury's wanted the pleasure of charging me £6 to get it all delivered so where's my saving? That £6 could by Martha a 'Charlie and Lola' hairband and me a king size Snickers bar with change left over, so in my eyes I'm definitely losing out.
Instead of doing it online, tomorrow we are having a family outing to the supermarket, I've written out the list and we shall go with full stomachs and a packet of Smarties (oh no I mean healthy snacks) to placate Martha with as she careers around the aisles grabbing everything within arms reach.
Now the real question is which supermarket to go to? Do I stick as a shopping snob and go to Sainsburys or go with the statistics and hit the aisles of Asda? My mum would be shouting Lidl at this point but with my nearest store half an hour away it defeats the object and I would probably end up spending far more on unusual European looking delights (like breakfast biscuits, honey with almonds and Cherry Brandy) and getting some obscure gardening or DIY bargains and lots of rock bottom priced wine too!
Whichever one I choose I'm bound to turn up without my reward card and having left my bags for life and the shopping list in the hallway at home!

Online Shopping

Watch this space. I am about to attempt an online supermarket shop (If i can get it delivered before my cupboards become truly bare!)
I normally spend at least £70 a week on my shopping but a fair portion of my shopping goes 'off list' and is bought sporadically or because Martha and I are hungry. We often get to the till with a selection of semi eaten products, some awful Disney branded hair accessories and a magazine for her and me too (If we've been good)!
I'm hoping I can do the lot for £30 but its going to be tough as that includes pack lunches. I'm off to read Delia's Frugal Food before I get shopping.

Action Taken

So now this is stuck on the fridge to remind us of the rules. Will it work? Who Knows......

So I lied!

Apologies folks, I told a little white lie yesterday. A white, crisp, fruity one in the shape of a bottle of wine. It was a fundamental rule broken (Only to allow ourselves a glass of wine at the weekends)
We couldn't help it though. It was just sitting there waiting to be drunk and the sun was shining and it was the last day of summer. Plus it helped ease my 'first day at a new job' nerves. Hope you will forgive us, especially as tonight we have succumbed to a sharing size bar of chocolate. So we will need forgiving for that tomorrow too! Opps I think more will power will be required, I better take action.

Did I Break Even?

It is the last day of summer and the sun is actually shining.
A stroll with my sister and my daughter down by the river turned into a slow cooking in Skinny Jeans and shoulder carrying, so as we sweated our way past a co-op my canny daughter pointed out that an ice lolly would be good. Initially I resisted but as the air con blasted out from the shop and the icy chill from the freezers whirred out at us I thought, "hmm what harm would a Feast do to the budget?" so as I already owe my sister a Tapas dinner from my card being declined last month I brought her one too and Martha chose a Fab. Now that £2.70ish brought us a great deal of pleasure as we wandered back to my sisters flat, slurping and crunching and generally feeling much more chilled.
However wracked with guilt on the way home and hoping Martha wouldn't 'fab' blab to Max, I decided to avoid the supermarket and rustle up dinner from the 'on the turn' selection of ingredients in our cupboards and with one of the giant (and I mean giant) marrows my sister gave me from her allotment. I did the business, stuffed Marrow with lentils, tomatoes and slightly suspicious Feta cheese. Even Max who would normally be highly alarmed by a dinner involving both lentils and Marrow had seconds.
So on the whole even though I did have another moment of weakness I made up for it with my chef savvy, hopefully creating a financial equilibrium that won't damage the super saving month too much. £6 down 30 days to go!
The Marrow in all its glory, tomorrow I have to decide what to do with the other half, hmm any suggestions?

First Saving Steps

I've cracked and had to go to the supermarket and it's only day one of the big save.
All be it for essentials only but i still had to go and I broke the golden rule and went while i was pekish!
Three things on the list, eggs, juice and bread. I won't compromise on free range eggs so I bought myself half a dozen. I will mention here I own two chickens but they are Bantams and produce not only half size eggs but not many of them either, so I do have to top up their offerings with the supermarkets! Juice was next one this list and at half the price I've had a bash at sampling 'value' juice (I may have to re-package it to disguise this from Max) but I reckon it tastes ok and I can't start my day without a glass of juice, it helps to convince me that I'm close to getting my Five a day. The trouble was I buckled at the final moment when it came to bread, my idea was to bake my own but the smells wafting out from the bakery drew me straight into my all time favourite of tiger bread (for those who don't know crusty white bread laced with something addictive so you scoff the whole loaf at once) so i snatched up a loaf, legged it to the till and paid before i had a chance to stop myself.
So £3 spent, lets see how long I have to go before I next dip into my purse.
With chickens like these it may time some time before I'm self sufficient on eggs.

Basics or Branded?

Right, if we need to save 30 quid a day, I am aware we may need to make some economies. While fully committed to our aim, I'm not happy about the idea of 'value' or 'basics' pickle. I'd rather go without than have non branded pickle for my sandwiches. Am I being fussy? I don't mind value bog roll or basics cartons of tomatoes, I'll even drink sub £3 wine but some things I think should be a luxury or not at all. You don't get value squid, do you? This post is mostly for Nancy, but any feedback welcome - what supermarket items would you never compromise on price for?

To begin at the beginning

We are nearing the end of six weeks of summer holidays and the reality of life back at work has firmly kicked in.
Trudging down the work path for another thirty plus years fills my husband and I with, well what can I say, a certain sense of depression and darkness! Our dreams of sustainable living, writing novels and making a living from art are well and truly being pushed into retirement.
Combine that with bottomed out bank accounts (all be it from a lovely three weeks in France) and another year in which we haven't managed to get it together to sort out our delapidated bathroom, damp cellar or tumbling down sheds and some Suffolk astrological alignment seems to have taken place with the time and motivation to act appearing from thin air.
From an afternoon of Googling, with only the Google patience that men have, the solutions to our financial crisis appeared.
Save yourself £30 a day and you will be mortgage free in five years
Seems like an impossible task, but the more we consider it the more we think that just maybe (and its one big maybe) it's do-able. Perhaps not the full £30 each day but we think we could get close and to start the challenge we've decided to see how little we can live off for one month. Thats Four week-ends, 30 days and 720 hours.