Making do with two

I've heard three is the magic number, however I've found two to be more than ample.

I'll explain what I mean. I've been getting interested in brewing recently.

I haven't quite taken the plunge into buying a barrel and some yeast yet. But for my birthday my significant other bought me a book on the subject. I had a great time reading through it and feel much more educated and ready to take the plunge.

There were various helpful hints in the book, I now know what a mash is and that getting bladdered isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The best tip I got from the book was contained within a sloe gin recipe, as a lot of good things are, as you can imagine it went through the process of making the sloe gin (basically adding the sloes to a jar, covering them in some gin and leaving it to steep for a year), it was the last part that caught my eye. You have to leave it for a year!

This is where it added a handy tip, if you can't wait that long for your sloe gin, why not make two, then you can leave one to steep for the year and drink one pretty quickly to alleviate the pain of waiting.

I know this seems dumb, but I'd never even thought of doing this and then it hit me, some kind of internal revelation rushed through me, a resonation of sorts. This tip could be applied throughout life.

Looking to build up a handy store cupboard / freezer stock? Cook up double the amount for dinner one night, it's no more hassle than usual, then freeze/store half of the finished product.

Looking to create a savings pot, every time you go shopping for something, put the same amount into a savings pot (maybe it falls down a little here, as it's probably a little too aggressive, perhaps putting the change you get from the purchase into savings is more likely).

Looking to get ahead at work, create your monthly reports in one batch, then simply fill in the relevant data when you get to that period, rather than completely recreating the report each time.

So I'm going to look to put this into practice in other ways.

Any others you can think of just whack them in the comments, I'll admit this is not an exhaustive list!

if you'd like to pick up the book I got this from, it's here on amazon - but I think you can get it cheaper in your local  "The Works" bookshop.

Enjoy!

Pic by Malcom Murdoch

Turn it up a notch

It's time to turn it up a notch!

I don't know how you've been feeling recently, I've felt like life is passing me by a little. Who's fault is that, mine of course. So time to take the reins Muchachos!

Let's get started, my budgets all in a mess.

We've recently moved from budgeting separately to budgeting as a couple due to our beautiful addition to the moneybeta family. He's brilliant and I wouldn't have it any other way. but it has meant I am now the main bread winner. this is all well and good, I am earning enough to cover all the bills with a little left over but its really affected our saving rate.

I'd been tracking it in the upper 30-40% of gross income which was the highest it had ever been at the start of the year, then bam, maternity pay. I'm not complaining that it's low in fact its probably massively too high. Considering our situation with one person earning enough to cover all the necessities, the maternity pay has become more of a "wants" money pot.

This is where the budget has fallen down, with boredom setting in after a few months of being stuck at home and a lot of stir craziness to boot (!), I completely understand why this has happened, however I like to be in control of the cash and it feels like a massive leak is forming one drip at a time.

Not to mention that in the next few months the maternity pay will end.

So what to do, what to do. Well as I said earlier, take the reins dear hart and off we go. We have to trample this budget into a small enough pile to fit our requirements. This means unfortunately putting an end to a lot of the fanciness that has crept in.

Our meal plan will have to be carefully considered after the monthly costs have risen from a budget amazing £275 per month to a belly bulging £350 per month. This is an easy win here, if we get back to the usual weekly food plan and go shopping AFTER having eaten (true fact: if you're hungry you buy more, doesn't everyone know that by now?) we can easily cut this down, possibly even further than what we had done before.

Cancelling TV services. Again an easy one, tried to cancel SKY but am tied in til December, so netflix will have to be cancelled, that's a paltry £6 a month saving, but every penny is a winner in this game.

Clothes shopping, with the change in seasons almost upon us, it's time to stop nipping to the shop and look through all those old winter clothes, get them clean get them washed, chuck out the ones with holes (armholes are ok), this will have a two fold affect. Our wardrobe will be a little emptier, our bank will be allowed a rest from all the clothes buying. This goes the same for shoes, does a man really need two pairs of flip flops? Ebay I hear you calling.

Lunches out / weekend shenanigans, this is probably where we've fallen down the wayside the worst, driving around especially on the weekend, then getting expensive lunches out whilst we're there. It's a killer, real killer. E.g. a 150 mile journey we took not too long ago to see some friends, in my (low mpg) car, almost cost £100! freaking Nora, that's a massive potential contribution to a savings pot that has been negleccted for far too long.


So with these 4 simple plans I'm hoping to slice ooh maybe, £250 into a savings pot, what's that I hear you cry, luuuuuurrrrvvvveeelllllyyy, that's what I was about to say!

Stay well.

Dom

Pic by Gnome icon