USEFUL BUDGETING TIPS FOR 2023

Hi all,

Something a little bit different from me this time, I thought it would be good to hear from people with tried and tested ways of maintaining their finances and allow them to share their valuable tips. Thankfully I managed to persuade Pauline a.k.a ‘P’  to share just a few of her tips. If you have any tips or ideas you would like to share let me know.

Thank you very much ‘P’ over to you now.

Hi here is a few tips that I hope you might find useful, these are tips that I currently use so here is my story.

‘During my younger years I was a single parent, living off an overdraft and having untold bills. When it came to Christmas time, I would run up my credit cards to ensure my child had the most presents.  My family; brother’s, nieces & nephews, would all come to me on Christmas Day, this meant putting on a big spread. (This was all bought on what I called borrowed money).

When Christmas was over and January kicked in, I would be in debt for the rest of the year. This meant trying to pay back the borrowed monies to the various credit cards.  One day I sat down and had a chat with myself. I decided that my current financial situation couldn’t continue. As well as being a single parent, I was working, paying a mortgage, paying all the other bills that come with running a home and providing for a child so, I decided to do the following.

• I had a large vodka bottle and from the start of January I started collecting £2.00 coins 5p 2p & 1p. Every coin I got went into the bottle. This became a mindset. I would not spend a £2.00 coin if I had to make a purchase, I would rather break a £5.00 note. This past December 2022, I collected in total £475.23 this was my spending money for Christmas, I was able to buy, food and presents. Furthermore, when I received my December salary, not a red cent (was) used on Christmas. You all might say that is easy for me, but it was not in previous years). I had to take action to make it happen.

• I am a shopper of Tesco & Sainsbury and I collect the points, again I would start collecting from January and would not cash them in until December. In December 2022 I had collected £37.50 in Tesco vouchers this went towards the Xmas shopping.

• Another example is, I was going on a cruise in June 2019. The holiday was booked the previous year. I’m now looking for pocket money I started collecting £5.00 notes, I even put them in serial number order Mad I know!  However, by the time we were ready to go on holiday I had saved just over £500.00 pounds, which helped towards my spending money.

We are now in a cost-of-living crisis when everyone is struggling.  We now must help our self and make changes to how we shop and still save a few pennies; we do not have to spend a fortune on food.  One more example to reduce your outgoings for anyone who enjoys cooking below is a low-cost way of making chicken soup.

So, you roasted a whole chicken for your Sunday dinner make use of the left-over chicken carcass, put into a big soup pot and add all your vegetable carrot, chow chow parsnip, pumpkin, leek and any other veg of your choice. Cook slowly for 1 ½ hour then add your food and chicken cube, thyme and spring onions job done!

This is two to three days dinner dependent on the number in your household. This works especially, for the senior person who is struggling, you don’t have to cook every day and it’s nutritious too.

This is the end of my story wishing everyone all the best for 2023 remember Start Saving.

Pauline ‘P’ to my friends