The Pricebook returns - can it help me pay down the mortgage?

Well as you know Evernote is now firmily in my life (see last post) and I can honestly say I love it and it's really got me organised!

This morning was the time to get back into my pricebook mode. This first year with baby has meant I lost my mojo on this sort of thing - tidyness, the blog, batch cooking, pricebook all went out the window pretty much. But no more!

How do I do it?

I have a notebook inside Evernote called 'Pricebook', and it's easily editable both on my pc and my phone. So when I am in the supermarket, I can edit prices, and it's all synched up with my pc.

Here is an example of the work I have done so far - some data is missing but I will fill that in next time I find that product:

Butter - Olive oil type £0.89p ALDI

Cheddar cheese 400g £2.39 / 5.98 per kg ALDI

Coffee (instant) - £       £0.72 per 100g / £7.20 per kg ALDI

Ginger (ground) 50g £0.50p / £10 per kg
Marmite £      £2 per kg ASDA

Mayo Squeezy 475g £0.89 / 1.80 per kg - ALDI

Nappies Size 4 (56) £0.10p each ALDI

Oregano fresh Mexican £3.50 per 100g / £35 per kg - Ebay

Paprika

Peanut Butter (Special) £1.29 / £3.58 per kg - ALDI  

Rice basmati 5kg - £6 / £1.20 per kg  Amazon

Teabags x 440 £1.49 / £0.01or less each - Approved Foods

Tinned tomatoes 400g £0.31 / £0.78 per kg ALDI

Toilet paper x 9 rolls Saxon - 1.99 / £0.22p per roll - ALDI

Tomato concentrate puree 200g 0.35p / £1.75 per litre ALDI 

Toothpaste 75g - £0.20p / £2.67 per kg - Approved Foods

Washing conditioner 1500ml £0.99p / £0.66 per litre - Approved Foods

Washing liquid bio Time £0.75p / £1.02 per litre / £0.03 per wash - Approved Foods

Washing Powder Radon non bio 800g £0.99 / £1.24 per kg / £0.08 per wash - Approved Foods

Washing Up Liquid - Magnum - £1.00 per litre ALDI

So I'm really happy with how it's working for me so far. Much better than a piece of paper, or a notebook - this is virtual and I will not lose it because it's 'in the cloud'.

What products are on your list? What are your secret weapons to save money on shopping?

I can't wait to add more to my list, sad but true!  Would much rather be saving that cash for baby or putting it against our mortgage. In fact, that may well be a challenge to myself now we are at the start of the month!

 

Evernote... everynote... ever simple!

Ok, so I have found *the* tool I needed. No more searching, no more scraps of paper, no more losing stuff. That's right, I am excited!

You have to see it: http://evernote.com/

It synchs with your phone, so whatever you do on the computer or on your phone, the other knows about. Sraps of shopping lists? No more. Too many bookmarks to even find what you wanted? Not an issue.

My dream of having an up to date pricebook is so much closer now. I also use it to clip recipes from the web.

Everything is searchable, so it's even better than Pinterest in that respect, plus everyone doesn't have to see what you are doing this way, especially if you are planning a birthday or event you want to keep under wraps.

A bonus? You. Can. E-mail. Directly. To. It.
So that important e-mail you got relating to the party you are arranging? You want it to quickly go into the Party folder, you just e-mail your unique address at Evernote and put '@ Party' in the subject line. Because @ pops it into whatever folder you name.
And it tags beautifully. You can tag to your hearts content, each note then gets tagged. Then just click the 'car' tag to see everything you have ever saved relating to your car. For me, it's will be the last MOT certificate, the last price I paid AA, when car tax is due...

And for me, I love the fact that... it has checkboxes... and bullet points... and you can change font size and colour. I am very visual so it helps hugely. Already I have build up several recipes, logged key household information, shared it with hubby... and now I can relax because between dropbox and Evernote, things are going to speed up alot in our household. Especially the recycling... as hubby is shared on that folder now! Do you use it? What tools do you use to stay organised? Would love to bounce ideas around as to how you do things.

Bulk Buying Bonanza - Saving on shopping

Ok so here is a short but hopefuly useful post on what I have achieved so far!

I bought 10kg of (broken) dishwasher tablets on ebay, 2p per wash this way. I will also carefully monitor the salt levels and use soda crystals so that the machine runs well and is happy overall.

I am keeping an eye on Amazon Grocery as they can have good deals too, never bought food from there before but when the have deals and also offer discounts for regular orders, some golden deals may be had there.

I'm going to use www.mysupermarket.co.uk more to compare prices and see deals, then if need be do my weekly shop in the best supermarket to bulk buy. It may involve slightly more petrol, but if we can bulk buy and make a family day out of it, it may work out!

Will keep an eye on local boot fairs and markets as they often sell boxes of veg very cheap, so I can make more pasta sauces, casseroles etc and get that slow cooker working for me again...

I will keep my Pricebook up to date, so far I know that 2p per dishwash, 10p per nappy (when I buy some, only buy 1 pack at the moment per month), 6p per clothes wash are best prices to aim for. Next ones will be things like toothpaste, loo roll (can I beat 22p per roll at Aldi!) and olive oil etc. None of them run out, so no danger of wastage - if you have any ideas please do share!

Fast tip for an easy breakfast, yummy!

With a need for quick and easy food, I've loved this idea for a fast ready breakfast - Night before, put porridge oats in a bowl Dollop on some greek yoghurt (other kind would prob do, but Greek works really well) Add chopped banana and strawberry Top up with some milk (enough that it will all soak in) Stir and leave in the fridge to soak overnight That's it! Next morning you will have breakfast ready, and your baby can share it too if you have one. One bowl to wash up! You can vary the combo, I like to have honey and chopped walnuts (for me), or crushed blueberries and grated apple, jam and extra strawberries, chopped peaches and banana... in n fact, that's the one we had this morning. Plus it keeps you fuller for longer, and works out at pennies per portion. We buy the 2kg Mornflake porridge bag at Tescos, excellent value and I find it's always very smooth. My next musings will be on bulk buying - I am investigating reducing the cost of staple items, so stay tuned. Enjoy the sunshine out there today and have a great bank holiday weekend!

Stay on top of those pesky tasks...

Well this week had been a near disaster, so many things to keep on top of! My daily list of things to think about, plan, and action goes something like this: - Start researching nurseries for early next year and maybe visit some - Renew cat insurance - Get new wheel for car - Finish tiling lobby (hubby is mid-tiling, due to finish on the weekend, dead handy when I need to get the pram in and out now... not!) - Re-design office layout at work and plan purchases accordingly - Research family tree and join some sort of website so I can create a proper tree - Finish decorating bedroom - Think about garden design for front of house (because the back is a jungle, scary for even a professional - I kid you not!) So... someone at work recommended www.remindersetc.com, and I have been using it fairly sucessfully. It won't automatically recurr on tasks but thats fine, I spent nearly an hour entering things and then it e-mails me reminders... it can even text you them. I'm sure I have divulged my Moleskine notebook addiction, and in there I do have a project list, a short and basic to do list, diary etc, but reminders etc is my nagging helper! So we now have a 1 year old little boy, costs are starting to get steeper, but we're trying to fight against it... I will write a separate blog about that though, lots of topics to cover! If you have any tips on how to stay on top of tasks, I'm all ears, as I manage all household finances, most of the meals, birthdays, planning a social life (ha ha!) and events for baby too...

Summer is here!

Hi everyone, get the suntan lotion out, Summer is here - at least for a few days, knowing the luck we've had so far with weather! To celebrate the Summery feel, I have made Pimms & Lemonade (OK, Aldi's Austin's & Lemonade, so much cheaper and almost no difference)... and spicy potato wedges with turkey grills. More excitingly, I got a fab book called Gifts From The Kitchen from Amazon as a gift, and am making one delicious berry vodka present for a friend - she's moving next week and I figure she'll need it! It has fresh strawberries and raspberries in it, and looks yum, just one week to go before it's ready. I also plan to make a ginger and lemongrass cooler from the book too, sounds delicious, and I know if I don't enjoy it's Summery taste, the clouds will come right back before I know it. It's why we've had a BBQ, used suntan, finally used the new garden furniture, cleared half the garden, and popped bubs into a bucket of water for a splashabout - all in 3 days! I have alot on at the moment but luckily my work is flexible as to hours, so within 1 week or so it will all calm down... Hope you are all well!

Summer and new posts time!

Hi everyone, I'm sorry the blog has been so delayed, our little one is nearly 1 - crazy how time flies! Anyway, we're more back to normal now, I'm back at work, and money saving is definately something we need to re-focus on. So I aim to at least write one blog a week, maybe more, as and when I have any ideas or deals that you guys might like. I do hope you will subscribe and continue to support the blog, and can only say that normally my money saving drive is un-swayable - but a small baby does have a way of over-running that - and money literally drains through your hands! My first money saving tactic for July has been to place one large order with Tesco online for delivery. i got some great deals for his birthday party, plus could see the total as it went along. Then I got £10 off using a voucher - great result. Even better? I didn't have to go out in the rain to get it, it all arrived with us - no petrol, no temptation in the aisles, no chicken grilling or deli samples- just what we *needed* went in the shopping trolley. Do you spend too much on food? What tips do you have? It's definately our 2nd highest cost each month and I can't wait to save some money in this area.

Bouncing into Autumn

Hi everyone,

Many apologies again for the delay, things are getting into a rhythm of sorts now so I do hope to be able to chat to you more about what i am learning and how we are coming along.

Lately we have continued to save money by using washable nappies, just terry squares with good quality outer wraps. I have also bought 'pocket' nappies on ebay quite cheaply but these do not seem to have the absorbency of good old terries - if anyone has nay tips on the best inner boosters to use I would be most grateful as the pocket nappies are certainly easier to use.

Sainsburys have a third off baby stuff, so have bought some nappy rash cream and value wipes. I do use washable wipes but the disposable ones always come in handy.

I have been batch cooking things like Cottage pie - plus today have a lasagne ready to part cook and freeze (bit naughty as it was frozen mince but there you go). Also planning to cook some macaroni cheese, naughty but nice in this cooler weather...

We bought lots of clothes for little one at a Sunday bootfair, around £0.20p per item, some of which I will be able to resell on ebay as they are branded. Every penny counts!

I am now keeping an eye on freecycle for any items that we might use over the coming few months or even in Spring. Baby activity centres, garden tools, things like that.

We also want to sell our car for something more practical now the little one is here - first we need to find a new car, so that will be our next mission as I am getting fed up of getting into the back via folding the front seat to get his baby seat in.

Also have bought my first Christmas pressie, couldn't help myself, it was a bargain on Amazon and I know hubby will love it.

How is everyone, and what are your favourite money saving tips this month?

September update

Hi everyone,

Well our little bundle is now 7 weeks old and growing massively every day. Not to mention the changes in his personality and how much more alert he is!

I guess our money saving efforts have been slightly less, but, our focus has been on bulk cooking food, then also using washable nappies. These 2 things are the main ones I have time for right now and do save us some cash.

We buy things like mince meat, eggs, fish etc in bulk, then try to bulk out the meals. Jacket potatoes are easy, batch cooking soup then freezing it helps, plus making muffins that can be healthy snacks for example is useful. My last batch was 12 banana walnut ones, I should have made 24 though to make best use of the oven being on...

Enjoy the last rays of sunshine everyone, seems Autumn is already round the corner!

How to save money on Summer cooking!

Hi everyone,

Well I have started maternoty leave now! So this has inspired me to have a big week of cooking next week, and I am looking for inspiration from you folk and online generally.

What can I cook now that will be easy to freeze and make for easy meals once the baby arrives next month?
Of course there are things like spaghetti bolognaise, cottage pie etc but they are not very summery... I will make some as back up meals though.

Also on my mind recently has been saving money on bills even more than normal in preparation for the year ahead.

Here is what we have done so far:

- Paid our tv licence bill in advance until September 2011
- Paid our water bill in advance until March 2012
- Fixed our gas and electric tariff onto a fixed tariff that ends in 2013

That's about as much as we can do on bills, apart from save money on usage, food, petrol etc.

So as to the cooking, here are some of the items I have come up with:

- Quiche - could be frozen in portions - not as good as fresh but still nice
- Pasta sauces - can be put into sterilised jars, or frozen, either way super quick with pasta
- Macaroni cheese - can be half cooked then frozen, then popped in the oven to finish and crisp up
- Pizzas - buy basic bases then add our ingredients on top and freeze. Super easy to chuck in the oven, plus handy to eat with one hand if needed!

So over the next few days I hope to come up with some more food ideas - generally some light items that can be quickly heated up, any suggestions you have are much appreciated!