Our Month in Review: January

Hi Friends, I'm not feeling very well this evening, but I wanted to touch base with you before I hit the hay (I sound like my grandma!).  I want you to take the time to reflect on your January, and I want to let you in on some of the things that have gone well this month.

How has the first month of 2018 gone for you?  What has gone well for you?  Where is there room for improvement?  There's always room for improvement! 

Before I go any further, you're probably wondering what this protein bar has to do with our January review.  Answer: nothing.  It was a freebie worth £2 that was delivered with our meat order from UKFreshMeats this evening, which, by the way, I used a voucher code and got 10% off my order.  Score! 

Where did things go well for the Boltons (that's us) this month? 

I set myself a goal of spending at least £50 less on food from the shop this month, and I not only achieved this goal, I saved an additional £83 on top of this!  Yeah! How did I do this?  The usual meal planning, stretching meals by having slightly smaller portions at supper to have enough for either or both of our lunches the next day, and adding in an extra meat-free meal each week (usually breakfast for dinner).  I also used about £50 worth of Nectar points over a few shops at Sainsbury's.  I could do better by planning our meals slightly better so that I make fewer trips to our local Morrison's.  I have probably shopped more at Morrison's this past month, because of the convenience of it being so close to home, than ever before. 

My US passport was due for renewal next month, so I had to factor in that pretty big cost into the budget along with the delivery charges this month.  I should have budgeted for this monthly since I realised in the summer that it would expire, but I was in denial and had to fork out the money for it all in one month.  Ouch.  But hey, we cut back in a few areas in order to pay up front for my new passport.  I will also probably have to pay for a new "Indefinite Leave to Remain" put in my new passport, so my goal is to figure out what I need to do for this in the next week.

Eating out/Restaurants.  I enjoy eating out... sometimes.  Honestly, I struggle to get over the cost of mediocre food often served by miserable waitstaff.  However, our girls enjoy going out... kids meals are usually great value, because they often include a drink, a starter, a main meal and a dessert.  I seriously wish I could order from the kids meal!  This month our restaurant budget had to be reduced £10 to be put toward my passport, which meant one meal out.  Since my husband's meals at the canteen go into our restaurant budget as well as coffees out - neither are often - it didn't leave much for our meal out.  I let the girls choose between McDonalds and a pizza restaurant - no surprise, they chose McDs.  We were still under budget by £2.03 in our restaurant budget this month... yippee!

We were slightly over budget (by £1.05) this month in our "play" budget due to treating our friends' children to soft play a couple of weeks ago... but it was TOTALLY worth it.  The £1.05 I'll carry over into February's budget so that it balances out over the two months. 

Not everything went according to plan... hey, that's life, right?!  We decided to book our flights "home" to Ohio.  I had been carefully watching for price drops for a few months, but there wasn't much change. However, I know that prices tend to increase, due to basic economics, in the winter months because people long for their summer holidays.  I was having difficulty using my credit card to book the flights, so I asked my husband to.  I won't go into detail, but one tiny error on our reservation resulted in a correction fee of £50.   All in all though we saved about £400 over last year's flights due to a new route on Iceland Air between Reykjavik and Cleveland.  So, we'll fly a different way from Manchester into a different airport, Cleveland, but £400 is definitely worth it!  (At least I hope so.)

Other than those things, nothing was too different in January.  We were even given the opportunity to bless an almost stranger with a small financial gift, which I feel absolutely blessed by! 

I planned ahead for February yesterday and this evening by preparing our budget for the next month.  Honestly, I LOVE to update my budget.  *Weirdo alert!*  It allows me to have a sense of control over our finances, which is completely freeing!  I do, however, know that everything is in the Lord's control, not mine.

How We "Spent" Our Day: Child's Play

Today was basically a kids' day - swimming, McDs and a soft play birthday party.  Yay! Right?! Earlier this week, we gave the girls the option of going swimming - which they've been asking to do for about a couple of months now - and going to the cinema.  The cinema would have been cheaper, but it was their choice this time.  I'll let you in on a bit of a Bolton budget secret - we budget £20 per month for "play".  A friend asked me recently whether this is enough.  It is for our family, for the most part, anyway. We are finding, however, that our girls are reaching the age that they are no longer free and we actually have to pay for them... bummer!  

We've been going swimming at the same pool for years now, but recently they increased the price for an adult to swim 50% - from £5 to £7.50 each.  Now that Ellen is 5 we have to pay £5 for her, too.  So what used to cost us £10 for the family to go swimming, now costs £20.  Grrr... Jeff even rang around to other pools, but there were either swimming lessons going on, the pool didn't permit non-members access or it would have been actually more expensive.  So, off to our usual pool we went.  It is a lovely place... clean.... and very few other people...plus there's a Jacuzzi that I always take advantage of.  I like to think of it as a cheap spa break... as long as I drown out the sound of the girls' voices talking to me... the... entire... time.  Never mind.  We did end up swimming for an hour and a half.

We also treated the girls to McDonald's on the way home. Of course, it wasn't spontaneous and it fit into our "Restaurants" budget.  We ordered two Happy Meals, 2 Big Macs, 2 medium fries and a "festive" coffee.  It cost us less than £10 for all of us to eat at McDs.  I must say... I was pretty impressed with myself.

The Happy Meals were the usual price £2.79 each.  Jeff and I each had a Big Mac and medium fries for £1.99 having used two receipts with codes; a thoughtful colleague of Jeff's actually gave him two receipts with the codes from the online feedback surveys that we could use today.  

And what about the large "festive" coffee?  It was free.  Imagine my excitement when I finally had six stickers to fill the coffee card above.  And no, of course, I didn't buy the six coffees to get the stickers... okay, I did buy one coffee in July... I found them... on cups... on the ground.  Eeeewww?!?! "Lauren, that's really weird."  Yep, I'm weird... so what.  I also pick up loose change... and the £5 note on the ground on a recent short stay in London... so what's the difference?  Not much.  I've actually tried to fill a card the past two years and haven't been successful, but this year I finally achieved my goal. YES!  I was even more excited that I could use this free coffee card on a fancy, whipped cream-topped coffee.  I did share it with Jeff, in case you were wondering.  I also asked for a cup of water, rather than paying for a Coke. So, there you go... McDs for a family of 4 for £10. Not bad.  

I spent a few couple of hours baking this afternoon - peanut and chocolate granola and cinnamon streusel pumpkin cake.  I added a couple of spoonfuls of this granola to natural Greek yogurt and Brenna loved it.  Mommy win!

Later this afternoon, we had a fun time at a friend's birthday party which took place at a indoor play area.  We spent £1 on a ride-on game that Brenna then abandoned halfway through.  

All-in-all we had a fun family day.  Totally worth the £20 to go swimming and the £10 for lunch at McDonalds.  Now that we've spent the allocated £20 in the play category of our budget, we may not be able to spend money on "play" until December, but that's ok. I'm sure we'll find other way to have fun for free!

Find Pennies on Your Receipts

Let me ask you something - do you check every, single receipt you're handed to make sure that you were charged the correct price for what you bought?  If you honestly answered "no" to this question, then you may be losing out on your hard-earned money. 

Far too often shops, restaurants and service providers unknowingly, or even knowingly, charge you a different price for a product or service than what you expected to pay based on the offer advertised or the price sticker on the shelf.

This happened to us this evening. My lovely in-laws offered to pay for our meal out; when the receipt came after my mother-in-law paid, I reached for the receipt (I hope she didn't mind!) to check that we were charged the correct price for our meals.  We went to a pub restaurant that a friend had recommended that had select £6 meals Monday-Friday all day, which my in-laws took advantage of. My husband and I ordered a curry meal "deal" that included a drink.  So we were being careful with the meals we purchased.  When I reached for the receipt, the first thing that caught my attention was that there were too many items on our bill.  I scanned down the list of foods on the receipt.  Ok, actually we did have all of that.  But something still didn't seem right.  Then I spotted something suspicious: my daughters' children's meals were itemised instead of just saying something like, "Kids meal £5.99". So out came the calculator on my mobile.  I added up the prices of each of the items on the kids' meals, and just as I thought, we were charged £1.06 more for each meal.  Whoa!

Of course, I went up to the till... waited until someone was able to help me... she blah blah blahed about how something was taken off but they had forgotten to take off something for the kids' meals... blah blah blah... just give me the £2.12 you overcharged my in-laws already!

I did walk out of the pub with a huge sense of pride knowing that I hadn't let the restaurant get away with overcharging us.

So, what can you do to find some extra pennies?  Ideally before you pay for something, check over your bill to make sure that all of the prices/charges are as you expect them to be.  If you aren't able to check your bill before you pay, such as at the supermarket, step to the side after paying and quickly check that you were charged the correct prices.  If you are in a hurry then, at least check the receipt when you get home... and add it to your budget.

Oh, and do speak up.  It is worth it.  Try not to be embarrassed about asking for your money back or a price check.  They sure weren't too embarrassed to take your money or wrongly charge you! The more you practice checking your receipts and, if need be, getting some money back if you were wrongly charged, the sooner it will become a habit and you'll be finding the pennies to put back in your pocket.

Small Decisions En Route

A big part of "finding the pennies" is about slowly creating a mindset that makes saving money a habit - something that doesn't require much thought and effort.  It's about thinking about the day ahead, when money will likely be spent, looking for opportunities to save money, and putting a plan into action. 

I'm writing this blog from a lounge on a ferry crossing the Irish Sea on our way home from our 10-day holiday/ visit to my in-laws in Northern Ireland. I simply want to share how we've saved at least £25 on food alone by making a few simple changes to our normal routine for the journey home. 

The drive from my in-laws is about a 2 1/2-hour drive to the port in Dublin. Of course, like any parent, I had the bag of a few snacks and drinks in the car. No biggie. An easy savings of maybe £5 not having to stop at a petrol station for drinks and snacks. No news there. 

Our first change of the day, though, was lunch. We always aim for the service station just over the boarder in Ireland before stopping. Usually we get Burger King. Two adult meals - or at least two burgers plus chips and drinks to share as we usually do - plus two kids meals could easily cost £15, if not more. Yesterday, Jeff and I agreed that we could pack a lunch of sandwiches, crisps, grapes and drinks for our lunchtime stop. Ok, yes, our packed lunch would have cost maybe £4 to make... but thanks to my generous in-laws, we just took what was in the kitchen already. 

Once on the ferry, I went to buy a coffee - with free refills!!! - for £2.70, but the queue for food was too long, I decided the wait wasn't worth it. I guess the novelty of having free refills on coffee was drawing me to the coffee than the coffee itself anyway. 

When it was time for dinner, we could have each had a meal, but I just as I was ordering, I realised I wasn't very hungry. The rest of my family was, and I reflected on a lesson learned a few days ago when we were at a restaurant - my girls rarely eat all of their meals, so I should sometimes just eat their leftovers, instead of ordering my own meal. This decision saved us £7.30 - the cost of the meal I was planning on ordering. I was right, too, my girls only ate half of their meals, so I still had plenty to eat. I admit, I won't do this in every occasion, but today, with ordinary ferry food (nothing special), this was a chance to put a lesson into action. 

Finding the Pennies in your life doesn't have to be huge amounts of money or making huge decisions. It's about taking small steps and making small changes in your life that will "snowball" into a money-saving mindset. 

Eating Out: Zizzi

Yes, this gorgeous butternut squash, caramelised onion and goat's cheese pizza was all mine at Zizzi tonight :o)

Just like most people, I, too, enjoy eating out. The girls enjoy pizza restaurants the most (and McDonalds, of course), and we enjoy not having to cook and wash up!  I don't need to tell you that eating out is mega-expensive, no matter what you pay. The markup on the food and drink is HUGE, but it's still fun to go out every now and then... and if I've budgeted for it.  So, this evening we went out for our dinner to Zizzi.

A simple meal for a family of four can easily cost £40-£50 for two adult meals, two kids meals and drinks.  So we cut corners without compromising the "fun" of going out.  We may still be able to get away with only ordering one kid's meal, but that is becoming a thing of the past since our girls are getting older.  Of course, we all know that the easiest ways to cut corners eating out is by not ordering appetizers and desserts, saving £4-£6 each.  Simples.


A somewhat "harder" way of cutting corners is simply by asking for tap water instead of a beverage, saving you another £3-£4 per adult for soft drinks and £5-£7 per alcoholic beverage.  Tonight Jeff and I asked for tap water and were brought a really pretty jug of water with ice!  How fancy ;o)  We asked the waiter how large the kid's glass of milk (50p) and he suggested splitting the glass between two cups... perfect.  50p for the girls drink.

So, how did we make this more affordable?  With a 50% off main meals voucher code from the vouchercodes.co.uk app.  We purposely chose to eat at Zizzi over other pizza restaurants in the area because we could save 50% on our main meal bill... food only, which is another reason why we didn't order drinks.  This even includes the girls' meals.

I have two suggestions when it comes to using voucher codes at restaurants:
1) Always read the entire voucher, even the small print, before going to a restaurant. Make sure it's valid on the day and date that you go. Make sure it's valid at the restaurant you go to. Make sure it is valid on the food that you order.
2) Always mention the voucher code to the waiter before you order so that he/she can make sure that the food that you are ordering works with the voucher code, in case there are exclusions, like appetizers and desserts... which ours was.


AND there's one more way we saved money this evening... "seriously, Lauren?!"... yep.  We bought a gift card for Zizzi from a website that sells gift vouchers at a reduced price called Zeek. There are actually quite a few of these kind of websites out there and I will definitely post on this later this week. Promise.  So, we bought a £20 gift card for Zizzi from Zeek for £13.  Our £37.95 bill with the 50% off came to £17.70.  I know this doesn't quite add up. Well, the we were given a £4 credit on our bill because our girls didn't receive the starter that was supposed to come with their meals.  We were asked whether they still wanted their starter when their pizzas arrived or credit on our bill; we chose the credit, since the girls were already interested in their pizzas. We used our £20 gift card that we paid £13 for and still have a balance of £2.30 towards our next visit.  Our supper out for a family of four essentially cost £10.70 plus tip.

"Come on, Lauren, I know you like to save money, but you wouldn't be stingy with the tip, would you?" No, absolutely not.  As long as we have had great service, which we did for the most part, the waiter earns his/her tip... oh, and I base this on the amount on the bill before any discounts.

I may as throw in one more tip while I'm at it.  ALWAYS check your bill over before you pay. Make sure everything you consumed is on the bill and is the correct price.  Make sure that you haven't been charged for something you haven't consumed.  And speak up. If something isn't correct, like the £4 discount that was promised when our girls' starters weren't served, make sure the bill is corrected before you pay.

Although you are following a budget, doesn't mean you can't go out to a restaurant every now and then.  With a little planning and a savvy spending, you can go out for pizza and eat it, too.