Monday Check-in 11th July 2016

Hello and welcome to another blog. Posting on my Monday Check-in page which I haven't done for a few weeks. If you have been following my blogs you would have seen that I am now be very tight with my money as I am trying to be the supersaver I once was. I think I am finding her because by now my account would be almost down to zero, which it isn't and I have money still to spare. 

This spent this week £40.12, but this was due to the items I bought online. Some items are a better price when bought online than when  you buy them from the high street. I do have a separate budget to what I spend weekly to what I pay online but even when I was purchasing items from Amazon, I was being very cautious as to what I bought and how much. If I go by just my weekly budget I actually only spent £16.80, which is good and feels great.

There have been a lot of things I was already doing to save money, but by my splurging on items I didn't need, was counteracting against what I was saving.

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Charity Shop Monthly Challenge

Friday Feeling

Blog Tuesday

Fitness & Wellbeing

Tales Of My Travels

The Parenting Adventures

Ways I have already been doing to save money:

• Using one teabag for two cups of tea. You may not think this makes a huge difference but if you add up how much you spend on items such as teabags, coffee, that regular cappuccino you have at Starbucks it all adds up. Making little adjustments like using your teabags for more than one cup can make a huge difference to your purse strings. ​
• Checking the prices of each item you have written on your shopping list. For example I have now changed my eczema cream from being E45 cream to Neutrogena, same size tub, but instead of paying £7.99 which the large tub of E45 cream is now in Boots I only paid £2.99 for the Neutrogena tub and does the same job.
• Using what I already have. That can be tricky when you can get easily bored like I can, but if you take out every single piece of make up (for example) you have and it is clogging up your draws and looks cluttered, and makes you feel overwhelmed then it is time to look at it from a bigger picture. Before you buy any more make up, if you don't want to throw any make up away then use it. Once you have finished an item if you don't have the same product, then buy another item.
• Buying second hand. If you have been visiting my website and watching my YouTube video you will see that I do a monthly charity shop challenge. To show people what they can buy from a goodwill shop. Books, CD's and even clothes don't all have to be brand new and you can get these items for half the price. (See button at the top left which will take you to my Charity shop Challenge page, which has all my recent Charity shop monthly challenge videos).
• Re-using my Filofax inserts which were never used. If you have a Filofax buying the inserts each year or half a year, can add up and be very expensive. So now I either make my own or I use the inserts I already have that were never used. I use stickers which I created myself or bought from low cost shops on Etsy, Amazon, Works and Poundland to decorate them.
• Make your own diary or planner. If you watch on YouTube you will see that there is a huge planner community out there. There are some great, inspiring videos of people making their own planners. Such a cost effective way of saving money. You may have to pay for a notebook in the first place, but these can be purchased at a low price and then you can make your own pages on your printer or using pens and pencils. The good thing about dong this, is that it makes it more personal and you can use it as you want to.
• Using candles instead of lights. If you see your electric bill going up, then in the evening by using candles, putting them in safe places, away from electric or any items that can catch fire, like a empty shelf, a fireplace that is high so children can't reach it, or sideboard is a great way of saving money on those utility bills.
• I no longer use a gym instead I have bought the gym into my home. I am lucky that I have a summer house to put fitness equipment in, but even if you don't then a set of dumbbells, a workout mat and a chair, you can still work out. If you pay for sky then check out the Fitness and Beauty channel. There are workouts you can do for free.​ (Please click on picture below to see more).
• ​On that note if you don't want to spend money on dumbbells or other equipment then just use your own body weight to do press ups, to tone the arms and walking or running to tone those legs.
  
• ​Free APPs. So many available now check your Play Store APP on your Android Device.
  

Sorry that I have sent this twice, but first time it didn't include the extra bits I had added. Talking about going Digital when planning and doing To Do lists. I wrote a blog on this a few weeks ago. I did this for about a week, and reverted back to writing it all down. I find that, writing it on paper is the preferred method for me, I am a bit old fashioned in that way. I have to have it written for it to go into my head.

To those who like to keep it all stored on your phone, then there are some great APPs to use, but I would always recommend a back up. Have it written somewhere or kept on your computer or tablet aswell as your phone, just in case you lose your phone or your phone decides to ​brake.

Anyway going to end blog here. Have a good week ahead and I will blog again on Friday.

Many thanks for reading,


Carrie X ​​​