Month: January 2018

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Week 2 Day 5 Budget Update.

 

budgetjan10

This weeks budget is going well. Probably eased somewhat by the fact I had some Christmas Vouchers which I used for replacing used up make-up and some nibblies for my birthday tea last Monday.

I’m trying very hard to not spend mindlessly and paying for everything in my weekly budget in CASH is REALLY helping!

So just a refresher for anyone who hasn’t read any of my previous budgeting posts, essentially I have set myself a weekly cash budget to pay for food, car/petrol, and household (toiletries, clothing, batteries, loo roll etc).

Those weekly amounts are:

Food: £25
Car/Petrol: £12.50
Household: £20
TOTAL BUDGET £57.50 PW in CASH

In addition I have a payment in the food category that comes out every week from my bank for a small organic vegetable box for £11.50 (I allow myself £50 per month in organic veg boxes). Some people may ask well why don’t you save yourself a bunch more money and get your veg from Aldi’s? My organic veg box gives me such pleasure every week, it’s something I look forward to, it’s like my treat and I feel good about supporting smaller, independent growers in our country. To me it’s just a way of giving back a little.

This weeks cash budget is once again going really well! I’m on ‘Week 2 Day 5’ and so far my total weekly cash spend is only £14.24.

I’m pretty proud of myself!!! However I have to travel 200 miles down South on Friday and I will have to take money from the household budget to pay for the extra petrol I need. BUT DESPITE THIS by Friday night there is STILL GOING TO BE MONEY LEFTOVER. Hopefully about £20!!

I’m also glad I set myself what I perceive to be a doable budget, not too severe, not stripped back to the bare bones. I have space to breathe. To me its still about enjoying living but not wasting, being more mindful and trying to make do. My next debt on my ‘debt snowball’ list will set me back £317.68 and I hope to pay that in full at the beginning of February.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!

C xxxxxxx

PS: How are you doing?

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EcoEgg Review: I’m going to save £57.39 per year.

ecoegg review

In my new drive towards getting my financial life in order in 2018, I’m looking at as many ways as possible to make changes that will save me money and maybe even improve my mindfulness towards our environment by taking more responsibility.

I’d been reading about the EcoEgg. I read several articles and watched several videos on the product. I found it intriguing and decided that I was willing to use £9.99 of Christmas money that had been gifted to me, to buy an EcoEgg and try it out. At worst I would lose £9.99 if it was absolutely rubbish and at best I’d save quite a lot of money throughout the year and not continue to send 4200 gallons of water with laundry detergent in it out into our environment. It was worth a shot..

How much money would it save?

I worked out what financial savings the EcoEgg could give me based on my own usage and how much I spend on detergent and softener. Based on using the washing machine as a family 4 times a week (210 ish times a year) here is what I found

Tesco Non-Bio Capsules – 1 capsule = 1 wash = 15p x 210 = £31.50

Tesco softener– 1 bottle per month at £2.99 (yep I used way too much) = £35.88

TOTAL LAUNDRY SPEND = £67.38

Replacing detergent and softener with a 210 wash (£9.99 EcoEgg) will save £57.39 per year!!

 

The egg arrived today. I was excited. I’m not sure why, does that make me sad?

It came in a cardboard box, no thick plastic sealed covering. The egg itself is a type of plastic and also inside the box were 5 small plastic bags of mineral balls (that slowly dissolve over time) and 1 small bag of agitator balls (which won’t dissolve)

EcoEgg states on the back of it’s packaging that it

  • Lasts for 210 washes (the £9.99 size)
  • Replaces detergent
  • No harsh chemicals
  • Hypoallergenic
  • Eco-friendly
  • Colours stay bright
  • Easy to use.

Setting up the egg for use involved pouring three packages of the mineral balls into the larger part of the egg plus the packet of ceramic agitator balls. I then twisted the egg and locked it into position and placed the egg on top of the washing in the drum. It does recommend that for best results to not over fill the machine ( so that the egg reaches the water and can move around freely.)

The EcoEgg does thump around a bit in the machine when the drum is turning slowly. When it speeds up I didn’t notice any difference. The egg is quite light so will not do any damage.

After the wash had finished I removed the egg and set it on top of the machine. I then used the tumble drier.

When the clothes were dry I inspected them. The clothes looked as clean as they normally do. I didn’t notice any difference either way. I did however notice that the clothes felt nice and soft which I wasn’t really expecting as I hadn’t used conditioner like I normally do! The one difference was the smell. The clothes smelled clean with the tiniest hint of fragrance, hardly noticeable. Previously I was always using a lot of highly perfumed conditioner so the contrast was very noticeable. I am happy to do without the highly perfumed pong knowing that I am saving money and probably being a bit kinder to the environment in the process!

I will definitely continue to use the EcoEgg everytime I do the laundry and so far I am very happy with my purchase. I’ll let you know how I get on!

C xxxxxxx

CLICK HERE for the EcoEgg on Amazon UK – all sizes

I do have an affiliate link code in the link to this product. This means I will get a very small percentage if purchased. I will only ever include an affiliate link in anything I personally use or like. C xxx




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How did I save money and eat better today?

Today I’ve been trying very hard to eat ‘NORMAL’ sized portions and eat non-processed foods. Not only are wholefoods cheaper but healthier too! So far, so good and the cost of feeding myself today will work out to be less than £1 so I’m doing pretty good!

The things I have done today to save money and live frugally are

a) Made a huge protein rich, red cabbage, carrot, kidney bean and red lentil stew (20-25p a large portion)
b) Made a nice tasty homemade malted loaf of bread perfect with the stew! (50 p a loaf)
c) Changed completely the way I am going to do my laundry in the future. (save £33.51p per year)

I’ve recently been looking at longer term ways to save money and be kinder to the environment and decided that I would spend £9.99 of my Christmas money I got given by family (I now have £40.01 left) on a practical item and try moving over to the chemical free and more environmentally friendly ‘Eco Egg’.

As a family we probably do 200+ laundry loads throughout the year. Our washing machine has a smaller drum so our laundry loads are smaller so we use it more frequently. The ‘Eco Egg’ I bought is said to do 210 loads which would roughly be about a years worth of laundry. I did a price comparison.

  1. Regular store brand laundry capsules 15p per capsule that we currently use = £31.50 for 210 washes (1 year)
  2. Regular store brand fabric softener = £12 for 210 washes for the amount I typically use (1 year)
  3. EcoEgg replaces detergent and softener = £9.99 for 210 washes (1 year)

If I have my math right I make that a saving of £33.51 per year just making that one change in my household.

While £33.51 isn’t a world changing amount of money it is just one small change made and I do feel that if I can make other similar small changes throughout the year in other areas of my life then it does then become significant indeed!

I’ll let you know how I get on with the EcoEgg and I’d certainly be interested to hear how you got on with it if you’ve already used it!

C xxxxx

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Working it big time (the budget that is…)

In the spirit of our mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers, I’m working hard to stick to a good, honest and frugal budget this month. Infact I will be all year (and probably more years after that) as I really want to be in control of my income, to not be wasteful with it, to have a decent rainy day fund (I love that phrase) and become debt free. Further in to the future I also see retirement looming (in about 13 years or so) and that scares me. I need to create safety in my life…

So far everything is working out well and I’ve started 2018 positively with the attitude of ‘make do and mend!’ I’m using up everything that needs using up in the kitchen and looking for cheaper but healthy meals so the wartime recipes are quite useful!

I worked out my complete budget and accounted for every single £1 coming in and going out and even made some observations on what I could cut back on to free up more money every month which will all help to clearing debt faster and saving money faster too.

– I cancelled my gym and saved £47 per month.
– I cancelled Amazon Prime (I already have Netflix) and saved £8 per month.
– I cancelled Envato Elements and saved £18 per month.
– And finally I realised that I was being charged £17 per month as I had the Platinum Select Account with Natwest. I initially got this bank account as it gave me free worldwide health insurance which was great because 2 years ago I was hospitalised in the USA with double pneumonia and hypoxia to my brain (oh and an asthmatic episode during a visit to the Grand Canyon) and NatWest covered my $20,000 hospital fees. But my ex-partner and I split up so I don’t travel anymore so the insurance is not needed. So I converted to the basic FREE select account.

Just these 4 changes will free up an extra £90 in January which I’m thrilled about!!!

Not only that I’ve straight away used that money to pay off two small debts to Utility Warehouse and Nottingham Council Tax! I’ve also been working out what other debts I have and although I have one credit card  I only use it in an emergency and clear off immediately if it is used. However I do have student courses debts and over payment of child tax credits of larger amounts that need paying off so that’s what I hope to clear completely over the next 12-18 months.

In addition tomorrow is my last day of my first full cash budget week for food, household items, petrol/car and entertainment. My total weekly budget for all was £55. I’ve spent £17.56p which means tomorrow night I WILL be putting £37.44p in my cash savings jar!

As a single person there is definitely less of a safety net (and less income!) so to me living to a strict budget and doing without for a year is a small sacrifice I am willing to make to financially get ahead to a safer place… it will give me peace of mind.

PS: I’ve been watching Dave Ramsey videos and sort of following his ‘baby steps’. The guy is a bit blunt and I may not agree with some of his personal views but I have to agree with his basic baby steps to get yourself out of debt and create an emergency fund. Good sound advice. It’s certainly keeping me motivated.