Christmas & Plans for 2009

My thoughts are now turning to the Christmas break, a lovely time to relax, spend time with family and just enjoy the time off from the 9-5.

There's wrapping to be done, mince pies and mulled wine to enjoy, friends to see - so much on! Yet I still try to find time to plan my ideas for the year ahead.

My plans at the moment are as follows, just whilst they are fresh in my mind. 2008 has been a year for 'homemade' and I have learnt so many skills. From lemon curd, rice pudding, chutneys etc, to more usage of my slow-cooker and spending more time planning ahead. In 2009 I am hoping to:

- Fine tune these aspects even more - this includes: Shopping for more items in the 'Reduced' section, whereby I will freeze more items to slow cook with. My husband loves cooking bread so hopefully we will experiment lots of new and tasty varieties in the new year.

- Make my own liquid soap (easier than making normal soap, which seems far too scary for me!)

- Make my own washing up liquid (more natural and less expensive than shop bought).

- Only buy new if really needed - otherwise search the Freecycle site, local second hand markets and re-using items we already have if they can be repaired.

- Save all coppers into a 'Food for Christmas 09' pot - and the same for silvers. We did this this year and it's great as December is so much cheaper then.

- Save all vouchers earned from surveys etc for Food & Drink next Xmas. We have done this for 2 years now and December is actually our cheapest month of the whole year as a result.

- Do even more 'Free Clicking' online - see right hand menu for details - as this earns me over £350 per year, for a few clicks a day in any spare time I may have.

- Eat less processed food - we make most of our own food as it is, but to cut out what we can in terms of 'lazy' eating when in town shopping.

- Buy second hand clothes if they are good quality, rather than new. I am a petite size, so this is hard for me but I have found a few bargains here and there. Whereas I was spending £15-£25 on a top, I have found items for £5 for example. It does not need to be on every item, but at least where possible.

- Make more chutney, learn how to make jams and jellies, cordials etc. These add such a fantastic element of luxury and cost so little compared to processed store bought.

- Buy more good quality bedding items that may last 10 years rather than one or two and try to choose items that will wash/wear well no matter what.

- Grow more of our own herbs and vegetables. Learn about seeds / best tiems to plant etc.

These are just what I can think of so far.

What are your ideas for the coming year?

Home Sweet Home

I am hoping that 2009 will be the year we can finally buy a place of our own. I guess we hanker for the responsibilities that so many already have but don't enjoy... The possibility of having a space you can call your own, place things where you want, rent out to others if you like and generally take responsibility for. I used to own and then sold, so I am fully prepared to do it again.

This time round though we are in a position of power, as FTB generally have such a better outlook right now. *However* what is different this time is that the banking sector not only caused this crisis, but now fails to help FTB get onto the ladder to begin to solve it. OK, so some may say this is a simplistic view, but consider this: Have the banks lost out? They earned billions over the last 10 years and paid themselves fat bonuses and large share dividends. Then the tip of the iceberg hit with the credit crunch and bad mortgage debt. Now we find they are going cap in hand and getting handouts from the government as well as interest rate reductions.
The governments round the world have bailed them out. However, none of these benefits are passed on by the banks us. Instead they are lining their coffers and 'preparing' for a time when they can pass the money on, presumably a good 6 months from now.

Savers are seeing their rates fall with immediate effect, and yet mysteriously mortgage holders are seeing a 'delay' or even most times no saving at all as their mortgage 'doesn't apply' to the falling rates. Yet again more cash in this 'gap' for the banks to save up and keep.

So what can we do? The banks are clearly protecting themselves at this point, and claiming no responsibility for what has happened in these past 12 months. Following on from bailing them out, the government is on one hand asking them to pass on the savings to us, and on the other, forcing them to be far more careful and accountable with transactions.

Time will tell, but at this point I imagine that 2009 will all be aout 'Cash Is King'. as the old saying goes. With the likelihood of more job losses and the much heavier stages of recession, we all need to reconsider our priorities. Will that new TV be feeding us next year? I know I look at purchases differently, with a 'what if I have no job this time next year' angle.




So my point is, we're saving like crazy for a place to buy, yet if that doesn't happen at least we will benefit from a cash cushion which will be far better for us than any new items we may buy, or expensive trips/meals out. I will sleep better at night knowing we are doing all we can *now* to prepare for the coming storm.

If we are however lucky enough that for us there is no storm, at least there will be a nice cold Gin & Tonic in the garden we can call our own...

Christmas Madness or sanity?

Well the season has truly begun! Time to set up trees, get the bulk of Christmas present shopping underway and even start giving some thought to the Christmas meal. We’re looking forward to the break and all the festivities, however this year we have agreed to have a limit to what we spend on eachother – this way we both know there will be no overspends! Amongst family we agreed no presents to save us all some money, but for children etc of course there’s no limit.

Our Christmas food and drink will again this year be courtesy of cashback sites (click the links on the right hand menu if you would like to know more). I believe I have beaten last years amount made – and remember this is all made entirely free, from simply clicking on internet sites. My estimate will be £360 made from free clicking. Next year I will up the limit and hope to make more but it all depends on how much time I have to dedicate to it.

In addition to cash made from clicking, we have received over £100 in vouchers throughout the year, from Pigsback, stationery companies and also from competitions etc. We chose to receive these in Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Next and the Burtons group. This will be spent in Marks & Spencer (£50) and Waitrose (another £50). I will buy Xmas bits and pieces but as we are away for most of it this year, I will try to buy staples with this cash too, such as tea, coffee, marmite, rice etc. Personally, I then also received approximately another £50 in vouchers which was used for birthdays and clothes etc.

Overall, from money saving activities and ideas, we have been able to give ourselves a £600 raise in vouchers and cashback, plus approx £1,500 in other savings, meaning that over £2,000 has stayed with us, rather than being passed on to other companies or being wasted! Food waste has been a big thing for me the last 4 months or so and it really has made a difference.

Plus as you can see from this blog the following steps have helped me a lot:

- Making chutneys, curds etc
- Batch cooking to freeze various portions
- Shopping last minute in supermarkets to get reduced items
- Creating and using my PriceBook (see right hand menu)
- Using cashback sites and Free Clicking to the maximum (see right hand menu)
- Buying presents as and when throughout the year so that I don’t pay high prices at Christmas or on last minute impulse birthday gifts for example
- Re-using wrapping, getting creative round the house by recycling rather than buying new
- Buying clothes and items for the home from charity shops. This applies only to very good quality items and has saved us a lot of money.
- Buying during sales, and planning ahead.
- Using a cashback credit card then paying it off in full each month, gaining cashback at 1% on everything I buy.
- Getting a free Orange SIM card so I can go with a friend to see half price movies on a Wednesday. I loaded it with £10 over a year ago and I still have lots of credit as each text costs pennies and I go perhaps twice per month.
- Using discount vouchers for meals out etc – almost all restaurants have begun to offer these this year in a big way and this has influenced where we eat out at least 50% of the time.
- Using discount vouchers for clothes, homeware etc.
- Work extra in self-employed capacity – a few hours per week can really add up and is well worth it for anyone who can do this

All of these steps have made a massive difference which we will definitely carry on in 2009 in a big way.



If you have any suggestions as to what we can all do, or special steps you are taking, please do leave a message as we could all do with more ideas in these credit crunch times!

Making Liquid Soap

I'm on a roll! Yes, a couple of nights ago I used a £0.20p bar of soap, to create 2.5 litres of handwash - and it worked!

- One grated bar of soap (I used Castille, from the £0.99 store - 5 bars for £0.99)
- 2.5 litres of boiling water (maybe more, add if needed)
- Aromatherapy oils
- Jojoba oil or olive oil (if desired)

Pour grated soap into water, melt. Check next day and if still not liquid enough, remelt and add more water if needed. I used a potato masher to mash the liquid get it quite smooth!

At the point when it's cooled down add jojoba (or oilive oil, which you may already have), as well as some drops of your favourite essential oil. Do not do this whilst still hot as the oils will evaporate.

I used lime which I love for a handwash smell. I have also purchased soearmint, grapefruit, tea tree, jasmin and honeysuckle oils on ebay for my future projects involving soap and washing up liquid etc.

Next use a funnel and pour into handwash pumps or squeezy bottles (if you intend to use more as a shower gel)...

Might be a little messy, but for the same of some time, you can make enough for yourself and friends and family too. I found a nice bottle in a charity shop for £0.99p which I will fill and then seal with a cork and nice ribbon and a tag. The handwash will have to be quite liquid for this to work. Alternatively you could buy or re-use a squeezy bottle and put a homemade plastic label on. Might be a nice gift for someone, and saves them £2-£3. Plus less plastic, and less chemicals too - everyone wins!



So for £0.99p you could make 12.5 litres of handwash - makes you realise how much money and plastic is wasted by buying storebought all the time!

I also use this as shower/body wash - you could add jojoba oil or olive oil for extra luxury moisturising qualities.

My next project will be to make some washing up liquid - anyone have any deas? Do drop in and comment x

Clean, Clear and Crystal!

Today I’d like to focus on saving money on household cleaning. We used to use liquid tabs in each wash, without even thinking about it – very expensive! I then started to read up on reverting back to washing powder after reading a few posts on MoneySavingExpert and thought I would give it a go. The reason I had stopped using washing powder was the fact it left white marks, and I guess, the marketing for cute liquitabs had worked on my feeble mind… so pretty, so easy, no mess!

Once we switched back, I thought our savings stopped there – but after more reading and research, it seems folks cut their washing powder in half and top it up with half of soda crystals. I knew nothing of this but started to buy the stuff too – and it’s saved us a fortune! We now add half a measure of washing powder and half of the SC, this works a treat. As we live in a hard water area, it also softens the water which is good for the washing machine too.

More info can be found on the DriPack site:
http://www.dri-pak.co.uk/soda-crystals-for-laundry.html




I buy mine from Tesco online for roughly £0.50p for one KG and it lasts a long time, although this will vary of course as to how many washes your household does per week.

An excerpt from the above DriPack site:

“Soda Crystals should be used in every wash. Simply add the required amount to the detergent drawer, along with your usual washing powder, or directly in to the drum. Soda Crystals soften the water, so that less of your detergent is needed to do the water softening. This not only saves you money on detergent, but it will also help remove stains from your clothes and fabrics.

But the benefits don't stop there. Soda Crystals will help prevent limescale and other build up in your machine and hoses. Using Soda Crystals instead of biological washing powders, also helps minimise the impact on the environment.“

You can use SC all around your household from the washing machine, to cooking (!) and preserving colouring in your veg! And all for £0.50p – who knew! So get out there and spend (under) £0.50p for your wallet and the environment too…

Comfort food - make some & feel the warmth!

That's right - make some yummy homemade treats to celebrate Autumn! I discovered how easy lemon curd and rice pudding are to make, thought folks on here might like to try making some too!


Homemade Lemon Curd

• 1 large juicy lemon, grated zest and juice only
• 75g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 50g unsalted butter

Put sugar and grated lemon zest in a bowl.

Whisk the lemon juice together with the eggs, then pour this over the sugar.

Then add the butter cut into little pieces, and place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.

Stir frequently till thickened - about 20 minutes.

Pour into sterilised jar and lid (washed glass jar then carefully dried and placed in a warm oven upside down for 15 minutes - lid can be boiled in water).

Store in fridge – lasts around 4 weeks if you can get it to stick around that long!

Costs: Lemon: £0.20p, Sugar approx £0.25p; eggs approx £0.30p, butter £0.26p.

Homemade jar of lemon curd for around £1 - can't beat that!

How about making some for relatives this Xmas as inexpensive gifts? Just save some pretty jars and enjoy the look on their faces when they have some freshly made lemon curd on toast!


Another favourite for me has to be delicious creamy rice pudding. I made this yesterday afternoon for us to have after a Sunday roast and it's amazingly easy and so tasty you will want to make lots! It can be frozen as well, or if you can bear it, given to friends and family!



Slow cooker rice pudding

For a 2.5 litre slow cooker:

• 25g butter
• 100g pudding rice
• 100g sugar
• 1 litre milk
• grated nutmeg


For 4.5 litre slow cooker:

• 40g butter
• 150g pudding rice
• 150g sugar
• 1.5 litres milk
• grated nutmeg

My slow cooker is 3.5 litre so I followed recipe #1.

Butter inside of the crockpot
Add all ingredients
Cook on low for 4 or 5 hours depending on how thick you want it
Stir halfway through cooking time

For added yummyness, put your portion under a grill with some brown sugar on top. If desired, add some homemade lemon curd for that extra touch!

Cost:Pudding Rice: £0.10p, milk (longlife semi skimmed) £0.55p, sugar £0.50, butter £0.13p, nutmeg £0.3p.

£1.31 total and made us 5 portions @£0.26p per portion approx.

You could make it more luxurious by adding clotted cream or evaporated milk but I loved it naturally creamy. The longer you cook it the creamier it is.

Again this could be cooked for relatives or friends for Christmas... start looking for and saving pretty containers!

Enjoy!

Dropping temperatures and the Icelandic Freeze

I don't know if any of you are affected by the drama in Icelandic banking right now, but we have been. These past few weeks have been a stressful rollercoaster ride, with hopes high for updates from the government, hopes low when we have found there are yet more delays. Yet now things seem to be moving faster, with the latest update on Friday 24th from the FSCS that by the end of November, everyone should have their cash back via electronic transfer. I breather a sigh of relief for now and can turn my attentions back to this here blog...

Seems this week temperatures are set to drop below double digits - so it's time for the yearly hunt for scarf, gloves (will I find the set of 2 this year?)and even the big ol' coat in the cupboard... I have resisted the urge to fish it out from the depths of 'Winter Clothes', but I can see that this week I will have to. This coat is warm, and made even warmer still by the fact that I bought it with proceeds from Cashback Sites - see the right menu - so it was totally free! My Autumn boots were also free, both items to last a good 3 years each.

You may think - 'What - how can I do that?'. Well it takes time and effort to start off and get used to it, but I do recommend you take a peek at my articles on Cashback, as most things you buy online can give you cash back via special sites. You can also even get cashback for your time - clicking away, to earn free cash.

This is the perfect time now that nights are drawing in and the temperature is dropping - why watch TV when you could be counteracting this credit crunch madness? In 2008 I will have earned at least £400 from this, a nice payrise especially if you save the cash and let it work extra interest for you.... just don't put it in an Icelandic bank! But still, Christmas is made easier as I save up all the cash and in December decide how it will be spent. A great time for some luxuries and then also to spend in the January sales (mind you, sales seem to be at any time these days).

So what are your plans for the months leading up to Christmas?
Do you have any money saving tips you want to share?
Let's all think of how we can save cash and protect ourselves against further price increases and tumbling stock markets.

Wrap up warm and look for those chunky toasty clothes!

Autumn now, Xmas next - scary!

Well the cold is definately settling in now, and in our household we had held out until 1st October to put the heating on... it finally happened on the 4th, this Saturday, as it was quite chilly. Here are some points we have been talking about which may help you...

In August we called our energy supplier and switched to a fixed tariff for gas and electric, I guess for us it's worth the peace of mind. I have also made sure they are going to take a bit more from my Direct Debit every month, to cover the fact we will start to put the heating on more now. Could you benefit from switching suppliers? Even if not, what about a fixed tarff so you get no nasty surprises? Also to avoid some of those, why not set up or increase your direct debit, so you know you will have enough for gas/electric when the bill comes? Paying by DD saves money as they usually give you a discount, and it also allows you to save paper/postage stamps/ envelopes and those horrible big bill days. I love DD and wouldn't go back!

We also decided this weekend we would look at our goal for the next 6 months, which is to really bolster up our savings, as we are hoping to buy a place next Summer. We keep our eyes peeled on the markets but for now we are waiting and seeing, like so many other millions out there. For now we are holding fast with our Icelandic bank called IceSave but we're glued to any news about the Icelandic economy.




In September was interviewed on a local radio station as a first time buyer and what my thoughts were - and in a nutshell, I explained that whereas family and friends used to look down at us for now being 'on the ladder' yet, now they see it as a wise move that we are renting and saving, waiting for more sensible prices to come along. We have friends who bought last summer and are probably now in negative equity - not a pleasant prospect for anyone. In time we will hopefully see some more acceptable prices that reflect people's real wages and with some luck, a balancing of the current market turmoils.

We also took the opportunity last week to cancel our joint gym membership and buy a second hand cross-training machine, which just barely squeezed into our flat. At £60, this is the cost of our joint membership, so in October it has already paid for itself. I have also sourced some free weights for my husband from FreeCycle, which he is happy to collect as there was no spend involved. This has saved us £720 a year and even if I join again in Spring, it is still worthwhile. For now I am using the machine almost daily, sometimes twice a day, because the weather and effort of travel are no longer an excuse!

We bought a counter top freezer for £20 too, which again, just about squeezes into our kitchen, but we feel for the cost will easily pay for itself and much more. We can now batch cook and obtained some free containers from a recent work take-away meal. This means so much to us - and easier dinners from now on. It would also allow us to make homemade pizzas for example in advance and then pop them in the oven which is extra lazy as making them from fresh (pre-bought base) only takes 5 minutes... I can now take advantage of more Buy One Get One Free offers!

My husband agreed to buy a hair trimmer a while back so I am now designated hairdresser! Each time I cut his hair he puts the cost of a haircut in a savings tin, which is great and I have to admit, the first cut was scary but now it's not so bad!

So there you go - some ideas to keep you going as we head into Autumn - I would love to hear what you are up to and what tips you have!

Clearout for Autumn

With the UK weather treating us to wind, rain and flooding again, it seems a good time to admit that Summer is truly finished - I don't want to pin my hopes on September!

I have now collected some items round the house to donate to charity, and promised that we will not buy many new things for September and October unless we really, really, really need them. Given that we need nothing desperately, this should go ok, although clothes are excluded from the deal... in any case, we have cleared lots of old unwanted clothes too, to allow space for new items.

This the perfect time to review dvd's, cd's, clothes and books that may be sellable, and that we don't want anymore. It might even be taht we can make enough profit for example, so we can put this towards the cost of Christmas.

In saying that, I am also happy to buy items, if and only if, I believe I can sell them on ebay or Amazon. I recently purchased a £2 brand new terramundi ceramic piggy bank jar with tags, which sold on ebay for £7 plus postage. I made £5.20 clean profit right there... needless to say this has gone into my snowflaking account!

As I read recently in a book, imagine that the clutter you have at the moment is actually taking up valuable space and so it's 'costing' you £70 a month, which you could be making in food and gift savings on purchases, or ebay sales. That made me sharpen up my act pretty quickly, as we live in a small flat!

Anyway, my recommendation to you is that given the current weather, you take the time to make space for the new season. Space to start buying Christmas presents you might see at a good price, to stock up on food that may be on special offer, to buy items to sell on and generally get yourself some more value from space in your home.

Good luck!

Small steps, big payoffs

Well September has started without a hitch – new budget, new start.

Shopping wise, we are again taking part in MoneySavingExpert’s monthly grocery challenge and have set ourselves £120 budget for the month, covering 2 adults. This includes food, wine, any cleaning materials. However, as my hubby won lots of wine last month for reaching sales targets, we should be ok, and as I bulk shopped for quite a few things in August, that will also help. Cleaning wise we don’t spent much in supermarkets, as you will see below.

Small stuff we have started to do in the last 2 years, that doesn’t ‘hurt’ much:

Downgrading from brands – I have never been a brand lover but trying the supermarkets own has started to feel easier, we try bread, tinned items, and much more. I find that especially with tinned items there’s much money to be saved.




Using Freecycle and other networks – when you need something, you ‘put the word out’ on networks like that and you may find someone has it as junk that they need to get rid of!


Squirreling / snowflaking savings – At the end of each month, if we have any money left, it gets put into savings. Sometimes I even do this during the month and save as I go… makes a surprising difference, the odd pound here and there. I used to do it so that £53.89, would mean I would transfer £3.89 to savings. I have an IceSave savings account for this and keep tabs of what that total is made up of in a spreadsheet. For our joint account, anything in there at the end of the month goes to our ISA.

Printing vouchers – It’s true that so many more restaurants, bars, brands and leisure companies are trying to get our attention now. I have found more eat out vouchers in my e-mail inbox than anything else recently. So when I want to go out to one of our favourite eateries, we choose the place that has the best vouchers on at the time. This for us is Yo Sushi, Ha Ha Bar and Strada and you can’t turn around these days without at least one of them having an offer on. My friends are all into this as well now to save some cash, I like to think I have converted them! Of course there are also supermarket vouchers and other money saving opportunities on travel and more...




Household cleaning – A while back I discovered a) soda crystals and b) that washing powder is cheaper than liquid powder overall for washing your clothes. So by pouring boiling water into the tray prior to washing, and mixing half the normal amount of powder, plus half soda crystals, my washing is much, much cheaper, and with the boiling water treatment, no white marks.



I am also a huge fan of Stardrops if you can find it – around £0.70p for one bottle and as it is concentrated it will last you a long, long time. Use is sparingly diluted in water for most household cleaning. I like to add a little to a spray bottle with some aromatherapy oil, fill up with water, and use this for all kitchen cleaning. SD is also great used neat for stubborn kitchen stains and so much more. Just type in ‘Stardrops usage’ into Google and you will get the idea! Best £0.70p you have ever spent and I have even given it to friends and family!


I am also a convert to baking soda, now available in 500g boxes from Tesco for £0.99p. I order mine online and save on carrying it home…

Making your own – We have started to make our own bread and yoghurt, as well as keeping our own basil, parsley, thyme, a chilli and a red pepper plant. It’s a small start in a small flat, but we’re happy and will see what else we can do in time.

Top notch savings – We ensure we both have the best ISA account rates, so that interest is growing on our savings at the highest level it can. Once both our ISA’s are full, and we have therefore kept the taxman from taking any of that money, we then save to the best instant savings accounts. I rarely have the patience for fixed term deposits, the only exception being a deal that IceSave did recently, and my account matures in November on that one. I will then return to normal instant savings with them. By transferring money electronically each month, the transfer hits faster and so starts to earn quicker. I can’t recommend highly enough that you start transferring a small amount per month into savings, as soon as you get paid. ‘Paying yourself first’ is an essential building block in getting some money saved up for rainy days. You never notice it, and it should be a priority for anyone who has no debts to pay off.

I will add more tips as I can think of them but do drop your own comments here so we can share money-saving ideas!