I was recently contacted by Scottish Friendly, a UK based finance company specialising in savings and ISAs. They set me a challenge to make a diary of my spending over a period of time, look back at it to see where I am over spending and where I can save money.
I was someone who had their children at a young age, before I had a bunch of savings behind me and a mortgage already secured. It wasn’t something I really worried about then, now as I get older I want a home that I own, I want that stability and I want to show my girls how despite not doing things the traditional way, hard work and determination will get you where you want to be.
Naturally I am a spender rather than a saver. I enjoy spending money, buying nice things for the kids or the home makes me so happy but it’s not going to get me the house is it! So I took on this challenge, for three weeks on I recored what it was I was spending and what a wake up call it was..
Week 1
Week one I spent as exactly as I normally would; I didn’t get around to doing a big food shop as we were just here there and everywhere so with far to many runs down to the local food shop that week I spent a whopping £117 on food!!!!! For just me and 3 children that is wayyyyyy to much. That wasn’t including the trip to costa with Lottie which was an additional £12. I instantly saw that food was burning a big hole in my pocket. I did a little bit of pre holiday shopping and brought some bits for the home that I probably didn’t need but at the time £75 didn’t seem like a big deal.
Week 2
Week 2 I realised I needed to do one big food shop with all the essentials. I did okay – £60 in lidil, the cupboards bulging. The mistake I made was not meal planning I had all the food and not really an idea of what I wanted to do with it. That week despite having a food shop done we still ate out twice costing over £50. Damn it.
It was lovely weather so I found the girls and I getting out and about loads more; I spent £10 more than usual on petrol and an additional £22 on car parking and ice-creams.
Week 3
By week 3 I realised my downfall was organisation. I started off the week by writing a meal plan – I took into account what we had on during the week and made sure we had convenience food in for busier nights and picnic food to hand for days out. I brought a big pack of ice lollies for the freezer for a couple of quid. I spent under £50 and we ate so well all week.
Bar one coffee stop at the petrol station I didn’t spend any additional money on food or drinks. The girls knew they had ice lollies waiting at home so the extra £5 spend when ever we went to the park/beach etc was gone!
Final thoughts
So what I suspected was true – I waste money and the main thing is on food! Organisation is key to saving money and this little experiment has shown me I can easily save around £50 a week in that area alone. My other realisation is that I need to leave the card at home, I have very little will power and if it is on me I will stop off and grab a drink or get the kids an ice cream. I have gone through all my income and expenditures and after bills/food/petrol I have given myself a budget each week of £40 to spend willy nilly. This could be to eat our as a treat, buy some new jeans or a day out with the kids. Some weeks I know this will be more but I am trying to with draw that money and just spend what I have in my purse. So far so good!
It means I now have roughly £200 to put straight into savings each month – not a huge amount but it is building towards the end goal and I am excited to be making steps towards it!
The small savings add up, but the one that actually moves the needle is energy. Generation Green fit solar across the Wirral and can tell you what your roof would realistically save.
Disclaimer – This post has been sponsored by Scottish Friendly, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
