Scroogy September

Well as the titles suggests September is going to be more than scroogy, i am determined to try and spend as little as possible. The bank is way past the black and in the red. CC's are maxed out and can't be used.

Part of the deal is  the bills  will be paid as well as transport costs etc but general spending will be a big no no. Can't stop the transport costs. My eldest needs £15 a week, youngest  £10  and me a whopping £20, so £45 a week just for that. School meals are £20 a week for two children, so youngest is straight on pack lunches no choice in the matter. Eldest well, we'll see how it goes.
My partner and me pack lunches, and the business pays for the vans fuel.

Decided our grocery budget for the month will be £200 for a family of four, three cats and guests. 

Whilst at the same time keeping the store cupboard filled to a reasonable level.
the idea is that hopefully by the end of the month i will have been able to save up some holiday money for our first family holiday with my dad in October. As well as fingers crossed save up enough money to buy a new freezer. Ours went kaput about a month ago, its really hard adjusting to life without one. I've just realised how much we rely on one item. but also how much we waste :(

The fridge is bare and the veg is past its best but lets see how far the fresh stuff goes.

Wish me luck and lets see how it goes

kez xx




Grocery Spends £2.26

Items:  £2.26 on 2 x thick loaves of bread, 2 x tins of garden peas, single cream, 4 large onions and 10 satsuma's.

General: 0

Pantry / Store Cupboard

Today i received an email from a concerned reader who was afraid of my financial circumstances with two children.But also from another reader who asked what kind of things do i have in my store cupboard.
So i thought to make it easier i would just post pictures up.

                                                               Top of the pantry

Middle and bottom

The floor of the pantry

As you can see i have tons of spices, tins, pasta, dried noodles, flour, bag full of potatoes.
So don't worry my children will have protein, vitamin, iron filled tummies.

My basic essentials i try to always have in are:

Non-Fresh
Baked beans
Tinned tomatoes
Chick peas
Tuna
Tinned Fruit
Kidney Beans
Dried Noodles
Pepper 
Salt
Chilli Powder
Pasta
Oats
Lentils
Rice 
Bread Flour
Plain Flour
Self Raising Flour
Yeast
Jam
Sugar
Stock cubes
Diluted Juice
Tea Bags
Coffee
Vegetable Oil

Fresh
Carrots
Onions
Milk
Garlic
Cheese
Eggs
Butter

Pets
Cat food dry and tinned
Cat Litter


I find if i have these basics in, i can make anything from soups to curries, from flapjacks,porridge to pancakes.

Its hard to start off a store cupboard of any kind, its expensive to buy everything in one go.
So instead i buy say an extra item every week.
For instance today i saw 4 tins of chopped tomatoes for £1 so splashed the extra £1 and bought them. Now i already had four tins in the cupboard but thought its good deal, works out 25p a tin instead of 37p.
Its little things like that really help you out in the long run.

I must admit most of the non-perishable items we eat are the supermarket basics.there is nothing wrong with this as generally the food has less in than brand names.


Hope that gives you some ideas :)