Saving Money

The Break-Up

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The Break-Up

After much consideration over whether this was the right time to share this with you all…I wanted to announce that we have broken up. We have broken up with Sky TV and we haven’t looked back since… 

In our house, we watch TV! We have it on in the background, we catch up on favourite programmes, we keep up to date with what’s going on in the world. Getting rid of TV in order to save money was never going to be an option for us. But getting rid of monthly fees and still watch all the TV we like, well sign me up!  

We were previously paying €70 a month, which works out at €840 a year. When we started to look at different ways to reduce our monthly outgoings, we reduced this to €54 a month by dropping some of the features that we didn’t really need. However, this was still working out at €648 a year and in an effort to further reduce this, we looked into other options. 

That’s when we came across Free-to-Air satellite television, specifically the FreeSat service. With over 90% of the most watched channels (and 100% of what we need) available to watch for free, it was the perfect replacement for us. I’m not at all an expert in this area, but what I know is that we still have all the channels we want, with no monthly fee. We paid a once-off €200 to get a Freesat box, it’s made by Humax, we got it on Amazon and it’s completely legal 😊 We have over 200 channels, a really easy to use TV guide, we can record/pause/rewind/forward, can control it using their mobile app and we’ve access to various Catch-Up and Players through the box.  

As the FreeSat service provides the UK channels, we just needed to pick up an aerial so that we could receive and tune in the Irish channels, you can pick these up for less than €20. We haven’t missed anything from Sky, in fact aside from getting rid of a monthly bill, we haven’t noticed any difference! I really do recommend it for anybody looking to save money on their TV bills, we’ve been using it for 3 months now and I’ve no complaints at all – we’ll be saving almost €650 every year and that makes me happy! Take a look and see would their program offering suit you and your family! 

Like I say, I’m not an expert on this by any means, but do let me know if you have any queries, I’d be more than happy to help out if I can! 

Shop & Scan

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I must have been on the Nice List one year when Santa very kindly brought me a Supermarket play set – complete with basket, till and conveyer belt. I would spend hours and hours putting through “my customers” (harassed family members!) shopping, always making the ‘beep’ sound as I put each piece of fake food through the scanner. I took such good care of that toy, and my nieces and nephews still play with it today in my parents’ house.  

As I got older and started college, I got a part-time job in a supermarket and got to make the ‘beep’ noise for real – and get paid for it!! As my career changed over the years, I haven’t had much opportunity to beep, scan and play shopkeeper. Until now….! 

I’ve been using Shop and Scan for a few months now, but didn’t want to share anything with you all until I was fully familiar. I have to say, I’d recommend it to everyone – you receive points for scanning in your shopping each week, and those points can be exchanged for gift vouchers for places like Currys, Brown Thomas, Argos, Amazon and charity donations. It’s not exactly money for nothing, but scanning in shopping takes only a couple of minutes, so it’s next to nothing. 

You can find all the info on the Shop and Scan website, but basically you sign up for an account and they send you out a small scanner, a reference book and instructions on downloading their software to your laptop. Each week you then record your shopping; scanning each item, letting them know where it was from, how much you paid and sending a picture of the receipt. Each week I’ve been getting 200 points, and there are also bonus points to be earned also. 100 points is equivalent to €1 for the majority of their rewards, so you can look at it as at least €2 each week. The points do add up, I’ve been doing it for a few months and I have €36 available to redeem. It’s not going to allow me retire or jet off to The Maldives, but it’s better than nothing! 

It’s worth looking into if you’re looking for some ways to make a little extra money – this one definitely doesn’t require much effort and gets a thumbs up from me! 

Do it when things are good!

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Do it when things are good, to protect you when things are not so good…

Admittedly, I heard this quote while watching an episode of Jane the Virgin on Netflix recently, but it really stuck with me! It can apply to so many scenarios, especially if you’re switched on to saving for your future….

It can be relevant to Paying off Debt … For so many years I have been in the fortunate position of being able to pay good chunks of money off my debt every month… But did I? Simple answer is NO. I paid minimum payment, saved when I needed to, but for the most part – wasted money. Wasted money on food, on clothes, on shoes, on “things”. This extra money, money that was not being spent on necessities, was going down the drain. Had I been making a conscious effort to pump this money into debt, I would be much further down my debt-free path. Now I am focused, and I have a solid plan in place to pay off all of my debt – I am tackling the debt while things are good.

It can be relevant to Saving Money… It seems so obvious to say it, but save money when you have it. If you set a budget for something, and come in under budget – save that extra money. It could be going €10 under on your grocery budget, it could be that you budgeted €80 for the Electricity bill and it was only €65. Whatever extra money you find yourself with, just save it. If you’re given a refund on something, given money as a birthday present, a bonus from work – whatever it might be; just save it. I can’t get over how obvious this sounds, but trust me this is not how I used to behave. It was almost a monthly competition to make sure that I spent every last cent every month before payday. As crazy as it sounds now, my future financial stability was so far down my list of priorities, that saving was just never my first choice when it came to money. Now I am focused, and I have multiple savings plans – I am saving money while things are good.

It can be relevant to Pension Plans… Perhaps the most fitting for this quote – pay into your pension while you can/are still working, until you can’t/retire. In the last census in Ireland, the figures showed that only 56% of employed people have a pension, outside of the state provided offering. No matter how small or large an amount you can afford to set aside each month for your future, put it into a pension. If you contribute to your employer’s pension scheme, your employer will likely (in most cases) match what you are putting in, up to a certain amount/percentage. If you are not joined up to this, you are essentially turning down extra pay. Not only that, but you will also get tax relief on what you contribute. This means that if you are on the higher tax bracket and pay  €100 into your pension, your salary will actually only reduce by €60, with the other €40 paid by the Government. If in this example, your employer was matching your contribution – €200 would go to your pension, still with only €60 coming from your salary. We’ll talk more about pensions another day, but as I reflect on this quote – pension contributions really are one of those things that we need to do while things are good. 

It can be relevant to Budgeting… Tracking your spend is great, but planning your monthly budget before each month begins is going to help you a lot more. By taking some time to sit down and plan all of your bills, expenses, savings, debt payments and upcoming events for the month, you will have a clear picture of where your money will go that month. You will be less likely to overspend, when you have taken the time to allocate your money to each ‘bucket’. So work on your budget when things are good; i.e. when you receive your income, so that you are protected when things are not so good; i.e. the end of the month. 

So really, this innocent quote, picked up from watching a tv show, can apply to so many things that I am working on in my life at the moment. I plan to go into more detail on a lot of these topics in future posts, but while that quote was playing in my mind I wanted to share some thoughts.  

My Super Valu Voucher Challenge

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I discovered that I had €7.50 worth of Super Valu Real Rewards vouchers to use so I set myself a challenge. I only recently downloaded the Real Rewards App to my phone and discovered that I had three money off vouchers totalling €7.50. I don’t currently do my big shop in Super Valu so was pleasantly surprised to see them. I decided to put that money to use by challenging myself to getting Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Dessert – all from the €7.50!! 

My vouchers!

I was very successful in my challenge and was even able to sort breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert for the next day by using the leftovers! I did my prep work – checked what was on offer using their app and made a list. So these are the items I purchased, and the price for each. *Note that I purchased these items on September 7th.  

  • Whole Chicken: €3.00 
  • Bag of Baby Potatoes: 99c 
  • Bag of Carrots: 99c 
  • Turnip: 49c 
  • Cabbage: 49c 
  • Brown Soda Bread: €1.25 
  • Custard: 39c 

My total bill came to €7.60, so I only needed to contribute 10c! I’ll take that any day 😊 

My haul!

 
€7.50 for 2 days worth of meals – definitely helping my budget this week! Try it yourself!! 

Added an Egg (I already had) for Breakfast
Lovely Homemade Vegetable Soup for Lunch
Roast Chicken Dinner with all the Trimmings
My brother in law gifted us some rhubarb so paired this with the custard for a tasty treat
Just 10c added!!

All the Small Things

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Saving money and watching it grow is such a great feeling. Whether it’s saving towards paying off debts or saving for your next holiday – there is something so satisfying about seeing the amounts add up. There is no better feeling than being able to pay for large items or expenditure with money you have saved. Compare that with the feeling of adding more debt to the credit card, or taking out another loan.  

Of course saving money is not without its hardship. Believe me, I know – that’s why I’m on this journey! I’ve been managing to ensure all my bills are paid, managing to over spend in the supermarket, managing to treat myself (a lot!); but not quite managing to save and invest worthwhile amounts on a regular basis. However, that’s all in the past and it’s time to move on, make changes and start saving and investing in my future. 

The one major thing I realised when I analysed my spending is that there are quick and easy ways to save a lot of money. I’ve talked about cancelling subscription services, switching providers and meal planning. Now I’m here to tackle the small things – the small things that become big money. What seem like small purchases at the time, do add up – and simply by taking a few of those and being more conscious about what I buy, I am able to save a lot more towards my future. 

Lunchtime 

Buying your lunch at work or school can add up to at least €1680 a year. This is spend that can be easily saved with a little planning. Make your lunches the night before, make something that will last the week, bring leftovers – endless possibilities here to save money. I’m not at all suggesting that you have to deprive yourself, sometimes going out for lunch on a Friday can be a treat you look forward to. If that’s the case, then keep it as a weekly treat. You’ll still save at least €1344 by cutting back from lunch out 5 times a week to once a week. 

Supermarket 

I have switched to so many store brand grocery items to make significant savings on my grocery bills. I know which ones are good, the ones that are worth the savings, the ones where there is no difference and indeed the items to avoid and stick with the branded version. These changes are quick and simple, make little or no difference to your breakfast/lunch/dinner, yet make a big difference to your weekly shopping bill. Here I’m suggesting to switch to only 5 store brand items to make a saving of at least €624 a year, this is only 5 items. It’s easy to make 20 or 30 switches, saving at least €3500 a year! Examples of items where I have switched to store-brand are Rice, Pasta, Tinned Tomatoes, Cereals, Milk, Butter, Herbs & Spices, Crisps and Frozen Veg. If you don’t already, introduce some store-brand products into your trolley and notice the savings. 

Coffee 

There’s no need to go into too much detail on this one – the inevitable ‘stop getting takeaway coffees’ advice on a money saving post! But I really was guilty of spending way too much on coffee – on the way to, during and home from the office, going on a long drive, grabbing one after a lunch out. It is simply this and nothing more: a waste of money and an environmental disaster.  Find a coffee you like that you can make at home, get a good travel mug and stop paying extortionate amounts of money for hot water and beans. Even if your most favourite thing in the world is a takeaway coffee, limit it to once a week; and for extra eco brownie points, please bring your travel mug and don’t take a cup that will end up in the bin. Even if you change to one coffee a week (from five) you’ll save €576 a year.  

Eating Out 

We all have busy lives and we have to enjoy ourselves from time to time. We work hard enough and there is no better feeling than having your meal handed to you – you don’t have to plan the menu, spend the time cooking, and perhaps more importantly, somebody else does the washing up! But personally I am very often less than enthused with the actual food. I love cooking and trying different dishes, and I suppose now that I’m switched on to my saving journey, I just find it harder to hand over money for mediocre food. When you’re not making conscious efforts to save money and spend less, it’s extremely easy to spend €400 a month eating out. But with careful planning, it’s easy to decrease this to €100 a month. You don’t have to completely cut it out, you can still have at least 1 or 2 meals out a month, but you can save yourself at least €3600 every year. 

Car Wash 

Provided you are logistically able to do this, paying for car washes needs to become a thing of the past if you’re on a journey to cut back on unnecessary spending. I can’t remember the amount of times I have brought my car to get washed, and been completely unimpressed with the service provided. As long as you have the space and access to wash your own car, you can save over €100 a year. For those living in areas with hard water, it’s a good idea to collect rain water for washing the car. It’s also a bit of exercise, a chance for some fresh air, even something the kids can do or help with; and gives you a good feeling when you can look out at your shiny car! 

So these are just a few areas where we can make small changes, that can actually grow into huge savings. Even trying one of the above, if only for a limited amount of time, will help you to have more money to save or invest. Try it! 

Subscribe to Saving!

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Let’s do a quick recap on some of the things that I learned by analysing one month of my spending: 

  • I have multiple monthly subscriptions, some of which I could likely live without 
  • The miscellaneous/once-off and fast food spend can quickly add up and are not required 
  • I am spending far too much on grocery shopping 
  • I don’t have any sort of ’emergency’ fund 
  • I am not contributing anything worthwhile to Savings for future-me 

In this post, I’d like to talk about my review of my Subscriptions, and the changes (and savings!) I have made in a short space of time, without even leaving the house! 

The 5 monthly subscriptions that I have are: 

  • Netflix 
  • Audible 
  • Kindle 
  • Dropbox 
  • Spotify 

First thoughts – what is that Kindle subscription for and when was the last time I used Dropbox for anything… There’s two that should be able to go immediately. Though I do regularly use the other 3, I’ll also have a look into those. 

On checking my Amazon account, it looks like the Kindle subscription has been ongoing since July 2018, and likely something I signed up for prior to (or during) a lot of business travel last year. At £7.99 (€9.34) a month, as frustrating as it is to discover I have already spent over €120 on something that I have never used, I can fix that going forward. So with an extra eager click of the mouse, I have chosen the ‘Cancel Membership’ button. And while €9.34 a month might not sound like much, that’s €112.08 a year that was going down the drain and will now be mine again. And you know what – it feels good! 

Staying put in Amazon, I took a look at the Audible subscription. Now, I absolutely love Audible – I think it’s a great app – listening to the latest books, narrated by some wonderful authors and actors. Living in the midlands, with frequent long drives, I find the time flies when listening to a good book. I have a subscription that costs £7.99 (€9.34) a month and gives me 1 credit each month: 1 credit = 1 book. With some of the books priced at €20+, this is not too bad, considering I actually use it. However, on review of my account, I currently have 5 credits to use up, along with some previous books that I’ve bought, but haven’t yet read. As I really am committed to heading towards a lifestyle where I save more and waste less, this is another subscription that can go. I’ll choose 5 good books to use up my current credits, then cancel that membership. I won’t lose the books I’ve already purchased and I can always buy a book as a once-off treat without the need for the subscription. So there we go – another €9.34 a month, adding up to €112.08 a year. There’s that lovely “saving money” feeling again! 

Again staying in Amazon (seems I really like to give these guys my hard earned cash!), I take a look at my Prime Membership. This is an annual payment of £79, and amongst some other benefits; gives access to Prime Video (streaming service), Amazon Music and Faster/Cheaper Delivery. Now I’ve had Prime for a few years now, and really I don’t know why I haven’t cancelled it until now. I really don’t find it that beneficial for people in Ireland as we can’t use the Pantry for grocery items and we can’t avail of the next day delivery, though we can save money on delivery fees for most Prime eligible items. Personally, I don’t rate the offering of TV shows and movies available on Video and I don’t have a need for Amazon Music. So while I’m logged in to Amazon and on a money-saving roll, I’m going to go ahead and cancel this. It’ll also help me stop the frivolous purchases from late-night Amazon browsing. I’m paid up until the end of the year, and won’t lose the benefits until then, but at least it’s another step in the right direction for financing future-me. It’s £79 a year, and last year this worked out at €90.57. There’s another prime saving, excuse the pun! 

Spotify was next on the list, and this is one I use almost daily and at this time, don’t see the need to get rid of it. I pay €12.49 a month for the Premium Duo plan and this means both my partner and I can listen ad-free at the same time – can create and manage our own playlists, while also being able to share playlists with eachother. We both use Spotify a lot for music and podcasts – in the car, on the phone and on the speakers in the house. We don’t stream or buy music elsewhere and I feel it’s worth the monthly cost. Don’t get me wrong, if, God forbid, I was ever in a situation where I needed an extra few quid – this is not a life-essential and I would gladly pause the subscription until I was back on my feet again. But thankfully for now, I am happy with keeping this one and enjoying the great benefits. 

Next up is Netflix. We are definitely fond of an ol’ Netflix n chill in this house, and have so many box-sets and movies that we haven’t yet seen. I find the content is great, they’re consistently adding new series and movies and (once we both reach agreement!) will always find something to watch. We use it on so many devices – on the kitchen tv while making dinner, on the iPad while running on the treadmill, living room for movie nights and bedroom for a quick Ozarks/Black Mirror/Peaky Blinders fix before bed. I also find the Download feature really handy while travelling. So I know that Netflix isn’t something that I’d easily want to get rid of, but nevertheless it’s worth taking a look at my subscription. I am on the premium plan; this allows watching on up to 4 screens at a time, along with Ultra HD and is €13.99 a month. The next plan down is Standard; allows watching on up to 2 screens, and is €11.99 a month. The basic plan allows watching on 1 screen at a time and is €7.99 a month. Now, I know that this is a blog about saving money and I do want to (and need to) cut back where I can. However…we often watch at the same time (me cooking dinner, him on the treadmill!), and I stay signed in at my parents’ house to allow the grandchildren to watch when they’re over. So at this time, I’m not going to make any changes to my Netflix subscription. Though it is good to know the information on the different plans, and again, if I need to make changes in the future I know what my options are. 

Last on the list to review is Dropbox – the cloud storage service. I have had Dropbox for approx 3 years now and I signed up when I was making the move from iPhone to Samsung and wanted somewhere to store my photos rather than transfer them all across to the new phone. So over 3 years later and I haven’t yet taken the time to do anything with the photos, and I also haven’t found the need to use Dropbox for anything else. I am paying €11.99 a month for this. It pains me to realise that I have spent over €450 on something that I really could have done without. But this is all about learning from my mistakes, and now I can do something about it. The plan I have gives me 2TB of storage and I found that I was only using 15GB – and all photos. For now, I deleted a good few photos and copied the rest over to my laptop. Someday when I have some time, I’ll go through the photos in more detail and organise them better. But right now, I have cancelled the plan and will get a refund for this month. €11.99 a month adds up to €143.88 a year so this is another great saving – in just a few clicks! 

So there we have it – I was paying for services that I simply wasn’t utilising, some I didn’t even know I had. I haven’t dropped everything and the changes I have made here won’t dramatically change my life – yet I have just saved €458.61. This is simply by reviewing what I am spending, and comparing that with what I am actually using. This is a really positive start for me, and I’m so glad I’ve started on this journey! 

Why don’t you have a review of your own? Are you paying for monthly or yearly subscriptions that you don’t use or don’t need? Maybe you too can save over €450 in just a few minutes! Let me know how you get on, would love to hear. 

I did my Homework!

Emer Farrell1 Comment

So as promised, and unlike when I was in school all those many moons ago, I did my homework. I reviewed every single debit over a one month period. And boy, did I learn a lot…  

Firstly, if you are going to do this – don’t worry about the timeline you choose to examine. I looked back over the past few months and saw large “once-off” transactions in every month. Originally I was thinking ‘no, this won’t be a “typical” month, but realised that’s just it – there will always be something. House Insurance one month, car tax, car service the next, dental treatment etc. So there’s my first lesson from this review – I need a money reserve for these once off/annual/ad-hoc payments. What if there comes a month where I need to pay the dentist, get the car looked at, buy birthday presents etc – all from the one paycheck along with the usual bills. I would be up the proverbial creek, without being able to afford a paddle!  

So I chose the period from June 25th to July 24th as I am paid on the 25th of each month. I logged into my online banking and listed out every single transaction for that period. I then split these into appropriate categories. The categories that were relevant to me are below. You may have other categories such as childcare, sport or education expenses, travel expenses, medical needs etc. Hopefully the categories I have used may be a good start for you too. 

  • Credits (Salary and any other credits to your account) 
  • Loans & Insurance 
  • Mortgage 
  • Grocery Shopping 
  • Annual Payments (House Insurance, Car Tax etc) 
  • Travel & Entertainment 
  • Eating Out 
  • Misc/Once Off 
  • Health & Beauty 
  • Savings 
  • Utility Bills 
  • Subscriptions 

I simply put all of these expenses into an Excel spreadsheet and totted up the figures. I compared all of the outgoings against the incomings. As shared in my previous post, apart from a very small amount going to an online savings account, there was a grand total of 60c remaining before the lovely payroll people at my company came along with my monthly salary for July. This is dangerous territory and not at all sustainable at this stage of my life. 

I then created a graph to better display the spending pattern for comparison, and I suppose – shock factor! Using the total for each category as a percentage of my overall monthly salary, I was able to see exactly where my money was going. And it’s safe to say it’s not going towards an early retirement… 

Here are some of the cold hard facts of the initial observations: 

  • I am spending almost the same amount of money on groceries as I am on my mortgage <insert shocked face here peeps> Quick reminder that there are 2 people in this house! 
  • The Annual and Once-Off payments I needed to pay over this period were 15% of my entire monthly salary. 
  • While Eating Out does not appear to be a large percentage of my salary, I can assure you there was no fine dining or Michelin stars to be had… So there’s 4% of my salary going on bags of chips or grabbing a quick sandwich. 
  • Savings is right down there at the bottom, with only 3% of my monthly salary going towards future-me. Confession time here too – this goes to an online saving account and is very easy to quickly transfer as needed. So you can imagine where that ends up in the few days before payday… 

So though I haven’t yet made any changes, I am now better acquainted with where my hard earned money is going each month. This will allow me to focus on a few key areas and identify where I could be making savings. 

Try it too guys – list out all your spending over the last month. I’m sure there’ll be some surprises and hopefully even help you to also identify where the quick savings could be made. 

I’ll be back to you all soon with updates on how I get on with my deeper analysis on my spending.  

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning…

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…It’s a very good place to start! So, here I am – I’ve made the decision to take ownership of my finances and reduce waste – step 1 done. However, now it’s a matter of putting that into action and I’m learning it’s easier than it sounds. It’s rather easy to simply say “stop spending money and save it instead” – but when you’ve a lifetime of bad habits to change, starting off with a solid plan is going to be key to my success. Sure, I’ll make some mistakes along the way – but hey, nobody’s perfect… 

So first things first – where is my money going? I know for sure that I am spending far too much at the supermarket, we are a 2 person household and could easily host a banquet at any given moment. One thing I recognise is that this is simply not necessary and I don’t need to keep an Armageddon-style stock of fresh food in the kitchen. This will be a huge area of focus for me in my journey. One that I hope we will all take some tips from. But where does the rest of the money go to and why do I struggle to make it safely to payday every month…? 

Taking a brief look at the breakout of my spending on my banking app for last month (AIB’s app has a great way of breaking down your spending behaviour over various periods of time) – I am initially amused, then very quickly annoyed. There is only a 60 cent remainder when comparing the Money In with the Money Out. So, with the exception of a very small amount going to an online savings account, a grand total of 60 cent was saved last month!!! If I keep this trend up, I’ll be just about able to afford a cheap tent from Lidl to enjoy my retirement. If that’s not the wake up call I needed to see, then I don’t know what else could do it! 

So, though it may not seem like I am making great progress, I am now a lot more aware of how dire my saving habits have become and even more determined to make some serious changes. My immediate next tasks I am setting out for myself now are: 

  • Review every single debit from my bank account to actually see where it’s all going 
  • Using the knowledge gained from above, identify where I can make cutbacks 

This is obviously the start of a huge journey for me and I’m hoping to learn some really great tips and tricks to help me, and all of you too, along the way. In some ways, deep down, I know those tips and tricks already – it will be more about putting them into practice, setting my savings goals and cutting out waste. 

Stay tuned to hear how I get on with my tasks! I really hope to keep you all on this journey with me! 

My First Step from Spender to Saver

Emer Farrell2 Comments

So let me start by introducing myself, along with a quick home truth! My name is Emer and I’ve become a terrible saver, but rather good at wasting. There – I’ve said it. Now to do something about it…. 

I should, I suppose, elaborate a little. It’s not that I’m running up huge debts, or can’t afford to buy the things I need. But, like a lot of us, I’m living paycheck to paycheck and it’s something I’d like to change. Who doesn’t love that elated feeling the week after pay day – when you feel you can afford to splash out. But then come two weeks before the next payday – that feeling is long gone and it’s time to tighten the purse strings. 

I have read about some folks in their 30’s and 40’s who have managed to live a frugal life, make sound choices, take early retirement and travel the world. Given that I’m in my mid-30’s and have no plans (or means!) to retire in the next ten years, I don’t see this as a feasible goal for me. However, after a recent review of my pension pack, noting the retirement date of 2048 and picking myself up off the floor; I have decided I can at least try work towards a goal where I am not going to the zimmerframe store on the way home from my retirement party! Or at least be in a position to buy the fanciest zimmerframe there is!! 

I want to work towards making changes to my life that will result in me having a rainy day fund – a financial comfort blanket if you will. I no longer want to waste money and I want to get out of the pattern of overspending at the start of the month, leaving me scrimping in the week (or often weeks) before payday. 

Along with saving money, I really want to reduce my waste. I don’t enjoy having to throw away uneaten food, see items go past their sell by dates or have a kitchen full of food with “nothing for dinner”. I also want to use what I have – I have a skincare & makeup stash that would rival any Boots pharmacy. And lastly, I need to start wearing what I have. Thanks to social media and it’s many fashion influencers, along with the ease of buying online, I have bulging wardrobes with enough clothes to dress an army. Albeit, a rather stylish army! 

So I’m starting this blog as a way of helping – helping me stay on track towards my goals and hopefully helping some of you as I share my tips and tricks along the way. I’ll have money saving tips, bargain finds, recipes, reviews and lord knows what else. So stick around, say hello, follow my pages and enjoy our saving journey together! It’s not about perfection, it’s about making better choices!