any super savers out there???

[lynne192]

Hey all wondering if there are is anyone else out there who is a super saver or who is trying to make their money go further?

are there any good groups you can suggest? i really need to budget and i have been known for my good saving skills but i really need to take it up a gear this year and save money...

anyone want to join or can point me in the right direction.

thanks x

 

[topsy]

Hey, we are always trying to save pennies especially as now just DH works.

I try to meal plan and make bits from scratch-when we can, so we can all eat them. We shop all over the place and often (I cant drive at mo but once a week go to tesco 7 ish and get reduced bread for DH lunches, and chuck it all in freezer)

I buy things when reduced, walked up the shop yesterday with my dad , and co-op had buy 2 anti bac sprays for £1.60-we always use this and there washing up liq half price 59p each, so I bought 6 of each and put in the garage

This week is
M- Pork (for LO), sausage and liver cassorole with jacket pot and rice pudding
T left overs from yesterday
W-Quorn Bologna (will make double with tin tom, garlic, mushrooms) and spaghetti
T rest of quorn made into chilli with Rice (LO has Hone made calflower and broc cheese this night that's in the freezer)
F- Pizza and chips
s-Big tuna and veggie pasta, with garlic bread
S-This is where it goes pear shaped and we normal have takeaway, my parents have LO most sun nights so we can get a decent night sleep-he is an early bird and I am on lots of meds, so we drop him down 4pm ish and end up watching dvd and getting take away and DH takes rest of pasta for mon lunch!

What savings tips do you have hun?

If I buy anything online search for cheapest, we just bought maxi cosi assix car seat of kiddicare and I also use top cash back, paid £150 ish for car seat and I got 9.99 back through them-takes a while to be paid but I leave mine, last Xmas I got £32

We dont really eat out, but if someones b day we exchange clubcard vouchers, and just pay for drinks, and neither of us drinks alcohol. really

Anyone else got some tips?

xxx

 

[MissWaiting]

Id love to join a savings group Im horrendous at saving and need to save as much as i can to make the steps to ttc work as i need to get married before ttc thats none negotcable ( cant spell today) and maybe buy our own house or get into a bigger rental and have some savings for baby target is 2016 I think we can do it if i can manage to save a bit and have a cheap wedding

 

[topsy]

Hey we got married in 2011

We tried to make it cheap
*OH step dad and Grandad drove us to church and reception-saved on cars-they have a new sarb and lexus-nice cars according to DH!
*we did all invites (£4.99 for 50 cards) place-names and table plans ourselves with bits of e bay
*photographer we booked at a wedding fair about 16 months before our date and cause we booked so early got £300 ish discount
*we did centre pieces ourselves and bought flowers from market
*We booked a package at our reception as this worked out cheaper than anything included meal, drinks, disco and buffet.
*My dress came online and bridesmaids were from debenhams when they had 20% off
*boys suits were from mataland- It worked out cheaper then hiring them-and they have both worn them to LO christening
*I bought cakes from m&S and then my friend did sugar icing butterflys (our theme)

sure we did more, but you can save money if you are prepared to look around I am sure

xxx

 

[MissWaiting]

Hey we got married in 2011

We tried to make it cheap
*OH step dad and Grandad drove us to church and reception-saved on cars-they have a new sarb and lexus-nice cars according to DH!
*we did all invites (£4.99 for 50 cards) place-names and table plans ourselves with bits of e bay
*photographer we booked at a wedding fair about 16 months before our date and cause we booked so early got £300 ish discount
*we did centre pieces ourselves and bought flowers from market
*We booked a package at our reception as this worked out cheaper than anything included meal, drinks, disco and buffet.
*My dress came online and bridesmaids were from debenhams when they had 20% off
*boys suits were from mataland- It worked out cheaper then hiring them-and they have both worn them to LO christening
*I bought cakes from m&S and then my friend did sugar icing butterflys (our theme)

sure we did more, but you can save money if you are prepared to look around I am sure

xxx

oh wow thank you these are awesome tips we arent even engaged yet so planning a wedding is abit difficult but if he asks we or not im still plainning for 2 years time coz i want to get to my ttc target

 

[topsy]

Its ok I started to plan ours before we were engaged too haha xxx

 

[MissWaiting]

Its ok I started to plan ours before we were engaged too haha xxx

yer well we have agreed in a talk last night that he wants to be married before ttc and be financially safe and maybe be in a home we own before babies so we have agreed 2 years time we will get married and maybe buy a house and in 3 we will ttc but later that night he also said he wouldnt mind ttc after we were married if we were in a bigger rental propperty then we are in now so we have to get married in 2 years to make sure that we get to ttc when we have said he isnt bothered either way so its me thats pushing to make the target coz its so importent to me

 

[topsy]

I was like your OH I wanted to be settled married and ttc after. We ttc straight after our wedding and I feel within the first month, which I know is incredibly lucky. You know what you are aiming for and that's the main thing, and can try and save as much along the way-well that's what we did

Just had lunch half price wraps from sains before xmas and came out of the freezer and were just as nice as eating fresh, and half price xmas peanuts from aldi (they were supposed to be for LO bday party in feb! Whoops)-but I did buy 2 packets

My theory is if we save money as much as we can on everything we buy, we must be saving money in the long run

xxx

 

[MissWaiting]

yer i agree with u there like my OH has like a saveing thing with work that they can take out his wage before it even hits his pocket so thats good but we were discussing how much we could save in a year if we only put 100 into it a month so we are looking at budgeting and trying to put more into it because i work aswell part time now due to my diploma and our dog so we still have my wage and his to save so i think we can get alot saved in a year if we behave ourselves

 

[Rainbow82]

Ooh what a great thread, we have had a massive drop in income in the last 6 months so have had to get on top of out budgeting or delve into savings. I find that meal planning is really useful and batch cooking so there is always something homemade in the freezer. I'm vegetarian but DW now also eats veggie with me to save money and by grating a couple if carrots into a bag of quorn (300g) I've found I can stretch it to 9/10 portions. To save money during the year we bought lots of stuff in tge jab sales and also make chutneys and jams that we can give away as gifts. I also make my own hampers for gifts and put gifts together eg for fathers day my dad will get a BBQ apron with three nice looking marinades in tge big pocket and some tongs. Total cost less that £7 but looks really good when put together. I will also reuse the basket from a gift set I got for Xmas and put in a bodyshop hand cream (bought with the joy card I got in a magazine), a nail file and buffer cube (poundshop). A no7 nail varnish (bought with the voucher boots sometimes give out), White cotton gloves to put on after slathering on the handcream. Looks really good and expensive but cost hardly anything.

Would love to hear more tips for saving money

 

[MissWaiting]

they are awesome ideas we buy the 90p fabric softner from tesco the big tesco own brand one as we do use alot of it it hasnt got a smell with sucks but saves us a good bit xx

 

[topsy]

yer i agree with u there like my OH has like a saveing thing with work that they can take out his wage before it even hits his pocket so thats good but we were discussing how much we could save in a year if we only put 100 into it a month so we are looking at budgeting and trying to put more into it because i work aswell part time now due to my diploma and our dog so we still have my wage and his to save so i think we can get alot saved in a year if we behave ourselves

Sounds like you are heading in the right direction. That`s great that your OH can save before it gets taken out. Whatever you both save you will be going in the right direction to get towards your goal

Our Goal is boring at the min-we need a new driveway, and I want it brickwaved, we have been saving since we got back from honeymoon and hope to get it done this year then next we need new windows ours are rubbish.

xxxx

 

[MissWaiting]

yer im sure we will be saving for boring things like that soon aswell lmao but i told him i want baby 1 then once baby 1 is 2yo i want baby 2 then when baby 2 is 3 ill go to uni and do my nurseing then and only after i have qualified and have been working a year in a hospital then we shall look at baby 3 thats my plan as dont really want anymore then 3 lol

 

[topsy]

Ooh what a great thread, we have had a massive drop in income in the last 6 months so have had to get on top of out budgeting or delve into savings. I find that meal planning is really useful and batch cooking so there is always something homemade in the freezer. I'm vegetarian but DW now also eats veggie with me to save money and by grating a couple if carrots into a bag of quorn (300g) I've found I can stretch it to 9/10 portions. To save money during the year we bought lots of stuff in tge jab sales and also make chutneys and jams that we can give away as gifts. I also make my own hampers for gifts and put gifts together eg for fathers day my dad will get a BBQ apron with three nice looking marinades in tge big pocket and some tongs. Total cost less that £7 but looks really good when put together. I will also reuse the basket from a gift set I got for Xmas and put in a bodyshop hand cream (bought with the joy card I got in a magazine), a nail file and buffer cube (poundshop). A no7 nail varnish (bought with the voucher boots sometimes give out), White cotton gloves to put on after slathering on the handcream. Looks really good and expensive but cost hardly anything.

Would love to hear more tips for saving money

I sometimes add oats to veggie or meat bolognaise to bulk it out the quorn mince was half price in tesco a week or so ago, not sure if it still is.

I also add lentils or a tin of beans sometimes to Shepard pie.

I love the idea of the hamper, thats sounds good, will do one for my mum for motherday

xxx

 

[topsy]

yer im sure we will be saving for boring things like that soon aswell lmao but i told him i want baby 1 then once baby 1 is 2yo i want baby 2 then when baby 2 is 3 ill go to uni and do my nurseing then and only after i have qualified and have been working a year in a hospital then we shall look at baby 3 thats my plan as dont really want anymore then 3 lol

Sounds like you have a great plan so you know where to start

Anyone have an points cards? I have nectar, boots and tesco clubcard and save up the points till the sales and then spend on pressies for the year ahead on boots and sainsburys saves a bit.

xxxx

 

[MissWaiting]

we have boots and tesco also holland and barret as pick up points for my pepermint oil tablets i use to control my IBS

 

[topsy]

Oh I think I have a Holland and barret one somewhere! I love your dogs name and your new signature

Lo has just woken up so off to do him a late lunch

xxxx

 

[MissWaiting]

thanks admin got rid of my last one i didnt realise it was over the amont im allowed as im not really a tech person i jsut about put the links in and got them working lol never mind knowing how much memory they took up lol but tottaly lost my picture that i had before of me and the mr with the irish and welsh flag kinda gutted but trying to get a new one made and milo suits him coz its kinda a im cute and innocent but a trouble maker sort of name lol

 

[Kess]

We save, about a fifth of our yearly income. We prioritise it in every budget, it takes something very dire to make us not save that month. We're saving for a house move in 2015, and TTC is dependent on that move too so we're keen it happens no later than then.

We use a lot of the techniques other people have mentioned. I have just made a big pot of stew and frozen loads. It used a little stewing meat but bulked it out majorly with pearl barley (v filling) and loads of veg. We menu plan for cheap meals like stew, corned beef hash, jacket potato, etc. - meals with meat chopped up in them (say pasta in some sort of sauce with quite small-y diced chicken in it) use less meat than say a chicken breast each with pasta and sauce on the side.

Regarding weddings:
We got married in 2010 for less than £5000, which was a Church wedding (with bells and organist) then a reception at a country house hotel with hot buffet and wine for 80 people and DJ and fire display.
We saved by booking late - we planned the whole thing in 7 months, and we got a huge discount on a spectacular reception venue by booking for out of season (April) and for a Thursday with less than 6 months leadtime: they waived the room hire charge, worked with our budget for the food, and threw in the bridal suite free. We had a plain iced cake made with a dummy layer and decorated it ourselves. I had my dress made direct in China (though they messed the measurements up and we had to get it fixed, but it was still cheaper than buying through a middleman by hundreds and hundreds of pounds). My Dad drove us from Church to reception as neither of us were bothered about a wedding car. As we got married near Easter the church was already decorated, so no flowers there to pay for.

 

[MissWaiting]

thats awesome only thing is we want a church ceremony for him and a handfastening for me :/ lol im sure we will be able to sort something i could ask a friend to do the handfastening