Me again!!!

I cant believe it has been over two years since I last posted to this blog! Well, if anything, the financial situation of the country, and subsequently, my purse is worse, so I think re-instating this blog would be a grand idea!!!
Here is my biggest tip for saving money:- budget for everything! I sit down every month on payday, with the amount of money I have decided it will cost me to do everything I need, and can afford, to do that month, and I put amounts in each purse. I worked out this total figure by sitting down, probably a year ago now, and working out how much I spent on each area per month, as an average over the year. My categories are:-diesel (by far the most expensive), ice skating (eilidh's hobby), Home improvements, General, Pocket Money, Clothes, School, Hairdresser, Shooting (Lochlan's Hobby), Presents, Herbalife, School lunches. Then, when I go shopping, I only buy things if I have the money for them, I never use my debit card, (I haven't used a credit card for years).
In the bank I also have a direct debit which goes to a savings account for holidays, heating oil and car repairs/mot/insurance. I also put a seperate amount into a bill payment account, and all my bills come from there.
One good thing from this system, is that even if you are having a skint month, there is still a purse with some money for clothes, or home improvements, so you can still get a little treat!!
It works for me.......

Bargain at Tesco today

Went to Tesco for this weeks shopping, managed it for 83.00 which was ok really for Tesco, and I bought enough meat for about 10 days, however, on the way in there was a display of energy saving bulbs with a notice saying 5 bulbs for 40p!!!!!!
I could not believe that we could get them at that price, they are normally 1.00 each, they had bayonet and screw fitting ones, with three different wattages however, the sign was correct, so I bought 15!!!!
As most bulbs are advertised as lasting for 10 years, I may not need to buy another bulb for quite some time!

Food shopping today

Managed to buy the whole week shopping today at Aldi for less than 50.00!!!! I got enough meat and veg for all 7 meals, and enough for breakfast and lunch too. Didn't have to buy washing powder, loo rolls or pet food today, so that would have added a bit more to the bill, but it was still a good haul.
sitting down with the recipe books and making a shopping list is really knocking pounds off the bill each week mind you, and sticking to the shopping list and counting it up as I go round helped too.
Getting quite good at saving money now!!!

Changed billing details with mobile

it costs me an extra pound to receive my mobile bills on paper, and isn't very good for the environment either, and to be honest I rarely look at them, other than the cost, so I finally got round to going online tonight and changing to online bills.
A little cross with myself for leaving it so long, as I could easily have changed months ago, the company gave plenty of warning about their charges, but at least from now on I will save another pound a month.

Cheap coffee!!!!!

We were in Galashiels today to meet with Helen, and popped into Asda whilst we were there, we found tins of coffee (500gms) for less than 4.00!!!! The large jars (200gms) of Nescafe were 3.00 so we think we bagged a bargain!
We were a little worried about buying such a large amount incase we didn't like it, but have tried it and it tastes the same as Nescafe! We will definately be buying that again, although getting to an Asda might be a challenge, I will have to get Helen to bring some over whenever she comes over, and will stock up in Hamilton whenever we are there too, the large tins of Nescafe were more than 10.00 so getting the Asda tin for less than 4.00 was a bargain! It didn't appear to be on special offer either!!

Cheap dinner

Tesco had value stewing steak at 1.60 per pack so bought some of that and made a casserole with that, onions, tinned tomatoes and garlic, hoping to serve it shortly with pasta and keeping fingers crossed that it will be well received, as we will be eating it often at that price!!!
Also put the curtain up last night over the front door and was very impressed by the heat which was kept in overnight, Eilidhs room was noticeably warmer this morning when I went in.
Got all the curtains shut earlier today, it has been frosty all day and once the sun disappeared at about 3 it really started to cool down, so I shut all the curtains and lit the sitting room fire. Sat in the sitting room now and it is lovely and warm, then heating hasn't even come on yet!
Also used the new breadmaker to make raisin bread, which went down well with the kids for lunch, quite nice and light, so will make that again, plenty left for Breakfast tomorrow, will need to make a proper loaf then too as nearly out of bread.

Savings at tesco!!!!

really chuffed today, been cutting vouchers off the backs of the kids mini cereals which they got for Christmas, the vouchers were 25p each and I had 11 of them, I went to Tesco and bought a box of golden nuggets for 1.88, but the assistant scanned all the vouchers, so I managed to get a packet of sausages for next to nothing too!!! (the sausages had been reduced to 99p as they needed eaten today) I bought some other bits and bobs too, but managed to get it all for less than 4.00!!!
Will be looking out for more money off vouchers I think!!!!