This parenting reality has never seemed so strange.
We are in the worse period of inflation since the 1970's and literally every penny counts be it towards food or the dreaded energy bill. It will be doubly important to make good savings escpacilly when the energy hike further bites in October and despite the council tax help for those in bands A -D and the £200 loan ) that you will pay back over 5 years ) it still isn't enough without people literally watching every penny that they spend.I am a great fan of the yellow sticker item and freezing what I can and this is where meal planning can help as well. So what are the ten top things you can do to make your money go that much further and robbing a bank is I am not afraid in the list.
1. Meal planning can really help and help stretch those meals for a couple of days , meal plan if you can especially if you pick up those yellow sticker items from the supermarket.
2. Haircuts go to your local college and see if they do special training days or even ask your lcaodl/ town hairdressers , the students are always supervised and observed and you will get a free cut or a heavy reduced one.Liek today I had my hair coloured for the fraction of the cost and a few weeks ago I had a free cut saving myself at least £50 . I don't usually go to the hairdressers for a colour but it is my sons graduation soon and so as it is a very special occasion I thought it was worth it.
3. Clothes check your wardrobe to see what you don't need and wither charity shop it or sell it . And if you do need clothes do check those charity shops you'll be amazed what you can find , I found my husband a new winter coat for this winter that should have be £79.99 and instead was £19.99 and it was a good M & S one as well.
4. Ditch the gym membership and exercise from home or perhaps start the couch to 5 K or if you have a nintendo switch then look for a cheap ring fit game and related accessories this in the long run ( see what I did there ) be cheaper than year in year out gym membership.
5.Use food apps such as Olio and Good to go , tonight for instance I picked up a roast dinner for £3.99 and the meat was carved fresh in front of me and included a Yorkshire and veg as well as gravy. There is enough for 3 meals from how I loaded the box.
6. See if your work has shower facilities like my husbands does as he cycles to work or set a timer at home to cut down on your length of shower.
7. See what you can see around the home from using Facebook market place, vented or ebay , you will be amazed as to what you can find round your home to sell. Currently when I sell something I am using it to chip off what I owe on my energy bill or even put to towards it.
8. Check you are your best deals for your home and car insurance especially when it comes up for renewal.
9. Check your mobile phone contract and see what benefits it can get you , I am with O2 and yes I know there are cheaper mobile providers but currently the freebies I am receiving from O2 far outweigh changing to another provider.
The first freebie I use from O2 is from Caffe Nero and did you know you can get further free coffees and other drinks just from downloading the Cafe Nero app , you scan the Cafe Nero App before scanning your O2 drinks code. I have already got a stamp for a free drink and I am saving them up for summer when I am can have a nice cold drink in the searing heat of the Uk ! Update the CaffeNero is only now one free drink a month ( boo) .But the good news is you can ge a weekly drink from Greggs of a tea, coffee or hot chocolate.
10 Make sure your boiler is serviced each year as this will help your boilers economy.
My boiler has broken the utter cad , it decided to break when I got back from a night away in Ludlow and the plumber said there is never an ideal time for a boiler to break down , though I think summer might be just perfect! The plumber came and scracthed his head so we have to get the manufactur of the boilers out. They are sending their engineer out on Wednesday so fingers cross so in the meat time I am following my own top tips for keeping warm.
1. Add Layers I am layered up and you'd be forgiven for thinking I am going on a Arctic expedition . And get that bobble hat on and that includes your cat !
2. Close those curtains to keep the head in , I am getting to the point where the neighbours will probably think I am a vampire.
3. Close those doors ! I keep closing the doors behind me , it all helps.
4. Watch warm films anything with fire in Lord of the Rings is perfect for this , I do love Mordor at this time of year it is my top holiday destination.
5. Drink warm drinks , I am drinking tea like it is going out of fashion and of course tea will never ever go out of fashion.
6. Use electric heater , use electric heaters when you need to and warm your bedroom especially before you go to bed.
7. Stick to one room during the day and this is a great way to make use of tip 4 !
My boiler is only just coming up for three years old and has always been serviced so I am lightly annoyed with it and I have let it know in no certain terms that this is not acceptable behaviour.No being warm does make one miserable and I am feeling like Captain Oates at the minute " "I am just going outside, and may be some time"
