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.

An Adventure to Costco

Do you know how to get this American all choked up?!  Put her in the middle of a Costco surrounded by huge packaging she has no idea where she's going to put when she gets home, somewhat familiar surroundings (like that in America) and the challenge of figuring out whether the huge package of whatever is a good deal.  Give her a voucher for £14 off at the checkouts and a three coupons for FREE products and she might just explode with joy.

So this trip to Costco started a couple of weeks ago when someone posted to an Facebook page I'm part of about Costco and whether a membership was worth buying for the American products.  It has crossed my mind a couple of times before that this may be a worthwhile investment because we always bring back so much from Ohio when we visit and if we could possibly buy them in the UK instead, it'd save us a lot of effort bringing things back with us every summer.  Comments to the question asked made me look into the membership, but it would cost about £36 for the membership.  Perhaps that wouldn't be worth it.

Then a few days ago, someone posted an update to the same Facebook page that Groupon had a deal on an annual membership for £28 plus a £14 off voucher and freebies.  Wow!  But wait... there's more.  I know there's usually a discount code for Groupon... so after a little search and a few attempts to find a discount code that works, I got a discount of 20% off the £28.  So we paid £22.40 for the annual membership.

Now one drawback is that our closest Costco is 35 minutes away in Birmingham, so I won't be able to go too often... maybe that's a good thing!  However, even if we just go once, it'd be worth it because of the coupons.

We had fun looking around the warehouse and sampling a few tasty treats.  I made sure to pick up my free rotisserie chicken (worth £3.29) and HUGE chocolate fudge cake (worth £9.99)... we'll get the batteries next time.  What else did we buy? Lots of toilet paper, 1L of maple syrup (the same exact one I bought my mom in Ohio), 6 boxes of Kleenex tissues for less than £1 a box, 3 pints of Ben&Jerry's cookie dough ice cream for £6 (my daughter's favourite), 44 packs of microwavable popcorn (this one is a gamble because I don't know if it'll be any good), a big can of coffee, guacamole, raspberries... and diesel.  Yep, Costco even has a petrol station that sells fuel cheaper than where we usually fill up.

I can't lie, I was slightly disappointed there weren't more American products there that I would usually bring back to the UK with me, but there are big bags of chocolate chips there that I'll get another time.  As always I went through the store scouting good prices. The only way I can do this is by knowing my prices, like I always say.

A Bowl Full of (Wonky) Lemons

There's something so "homey" about a bowl full of gorgeous yellow lemons resting on top of a kitchen counter... but I didn't buy a big bag of lemons to simply look pretty in my kitchen... oh, no... I already drink gallons of water throughout the day, but sometime last week, I thought, "why not add slices of lemons to my water bottle?"  It's supposed to be good for you, right?  I did consider the cost of a lemon, about 35p per gorgeous fruit, but I thought it'd be worth it for the "promised" health benefits.  

No, I didn't pay £3.15 (35p x about 9 lemons) for this bag of lemons... no... I paid £1.  That's right. £1.  Notice what the label says... "Wonky Fruit".... uhh... they sure don't look wonky to me!  Perhaps a little smaller than their 30p friends, but boy, what a savings!  

This isn't the first time I've bought less-than-perfect produce.  Each of the major supermarkets carry perfectly edible and oddly beautiful fruit and veg.  Morrisons offers "Wonky Fruit" and "Wonky Veg", like these lemons.  Tesco label their "ugly" produce as "Perfectly Imperfect" and Sainsbury's called "Greengrocer Value Selection".

This comes after a campaign to pressure the large supermarket chains to relax their standards on the appearance of fruit and vegetables, which would allow a greater - much greater - amount of produce to be sold in the supermarkets and not to be simply plowed back into the fields as fertilizer.  This in turn also helps farmers earn a greater profit on their crop yield.  Seems like a win-win situation!  Find out more in this article from the Guardian.  

You do have to search for the delicious gems a little, but they're there, and they'll save you a small (very small) fortune... but hey! We're finding the pennies, right?!

A Few of My Favourite Things: Aldi

I admit it - I'm a big fan of Aldi.  I have been shopping at Aldi almost every Monday for at least a year and a half in an attempt to save on our monthly grocery bill.  I love Aldi because, for the most part, everyday food items are cheaper and the quality is excellent.  I definitely feel that I am getting great value for money.

I'd love to share with you which products from Aldi I buy on a regular basis and the prices of a comparable product at my favourite "orange" supermarket.

As you can see, in this one "basket" I saved £9.00.  That's a lot!  This doesn't even include fruit and veg, which I mention below.

We love Aldi's Everyday Essentials Mature White Cheddar, but I couldn't find the price of it quick enough to include it in this blog and I don't have the package anymore to look at how much cheese this is.  However, if my memory serves me right, this is a 1kg block of cheese that costs about £3.50. When open this cheese, we cut it in half and wrap both halves in cling film/ plastic wrap.  We use up one half before using the second.  The second half has never molded before we use it either.

I included these cotton pads in the list above, but I have to say, they are so cheap and softer than the basic variety at the orange supermarket.  200 pads at Aldi cost 69p but £1.60 at the orange supermarket.  What a difference!

Ok, I'm just going to mention it: feminine hygiene products at Aldi are just as reliable as what you'd buy at the supermarket but WAAAAYYY cheaper.  Just a gentle nudge to try them for yourself (if you are a female, of course!).

A few more of my favourite things from Aldi are: frozen fish fingers, frozen fruit and veg, crisps, some cereal, biscuits (though my husband finds the digestive biscuits to be too sweet) and houmous.

In addition to the products listed above, prices on fresh produce is also much lower than the supermarket, especially the new-fortnightly "Super 6". These super-buys are 6 fruit and veg favourites marked down to an even-better price than usual.  I will write a separate blog post on the bargain fruit and veg at Aldi.  Some people say that Aldi's produce molds quicker than at the supermarket, but I have never found this to be the case. Oh, and quick a quick tip, Aldi charges per banana, not by weight, which I find can be more expensive than at the supermarket, but I will find out exactly when I post my fruit and veg blog.

There are a few things at Aldi that I don't like as well as the comparable products at the orange supermarket: toilet paper, tissues, bacon (it's too thin), body lotion and jarred pasta sauce.

BUYER BEWARE!  Aldi does sell name-brand products.  Just because it's being sold at Aldi doesn't mean it's a good price.  Quite often I've found that name-brand products are more expensive than at the typical supermarket. Please make sure you're getting a great price on an item before you automatically put it in your trolley/cart.

Just like anywhere and any time you shop, you have to know your prices.  Learn whether your favorite item or brand is a good buy by keeping track - either simply by remembering or by writing it down - of the quantity versus the price. You don't have to shop at Aldi but if you want to spend less on your supermarket shop, I want to encourage you to figure out whether what you're buying a good deal or not.

Quick Tip: Snap a Pic of Your Voucher Codes

I just got home from an evening out at TGI Fridays with some mom friends.  I'm sure you know me well enough by now that I don't go anywhere without first looking for a voucher code of some sort for the restaurant or store that I'm going to.  Of course I make sure it's valid for the day and time I'm going to use it and it's actually for something that I plan on ordering.  

Fast forward to actually using the voucher code... I'm talking about the kind that are on mobile apps... whenever I hit "Claim" or "Use It Now" or similar on the voucher to get the code, I snap a quick picture of it just in case the voucher code somehow magically disappears between the time I hit "Claim" and when the waiter or cashier is able to enter it into the register.  

I learned this the hard way a couple of years ago when I lost the data connection before the waiter could take down the voucher code.  Tonight would have been a similar situation when the waiter could only enter in 5 voucher codes that the other ladies had - I had the 6th - and my voucher code disappeared when he was trying to sort it out.  Thankfully I had taken a picture of voucher code and he was able to use the photo of it unbeknownst to him to take 6th appetizer from our group's bill.  I hope you found that Quick Tip helpful!

The True Cost of Stuff

My family and I returned earlier this week from our wonderful annual trip "home" to Ohio.  We spent lots of time together and with our extended family, visited fun places, ate some really yummy American food and helped my mom and step-dad prepare for their move in a few day's time.  This house move preparation mostly took place in the evenings; instead of enjoying time with my husband, reading or going for an evening walk, I posted Barbie toys and New Kids on the Block memorabilia... I was head-over-heals for Joey... to different selling sites and sorted through boxes of papers from my school days. Fun! (Not.)

My mom and step-dad have graciously stored what seems like every toy and school report from my childhood for almost 14 years - the time I've been living in Europe.  This means many, many, many boxes containing My Little Pony toys, Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and clothing, love notes and poems (yes! poems!) from a high school boyfriend, report cards from elementary school through high school and school music programs among many, many other things.  Do you get the picture?  All of this stuff has been taking up space in my parents' garage, basement and closets for all this time.  I'm even more amazed to think that the toys from my early childhood have also been moved to other houses at least 3 times before this.

The decals weren't ever put on the toy!  

I vaguely remember playing with this toy but we never made ice cream in the ice cream maker.

Here's the thing though.  These things could have been played with then sold, given away or thrown away a long time ago.  But they weren't.  Why?  A big reason is that I have a tendency to form an emotional attachment to things, not really use or play with it and just simply leave them on a shelf or squirrel them away.  Of those Barbie toys, I think I played with... exactly... NONE of them.  Nope.  The decals weren't even put on toys!  So my parents (or Santa) paid for them, they were put somewhere in our house, then moved many times, then stored for many years...

.... until a month ago when I promised my mom and my step-dad that they would never have to move my unnecessary things ever again... and this meant committing my evenings to figuring out what to do with stuff.  To make a long story short(er), I tried to sell this stuff on eBay, different Facebook selling pages, letgo and Shpock.  Oh, the toys, not the love poems ;o)  Those I put in the recycling bin.  Some of the items did sell, but for far less than I was hoping.

Was it worth it?  Was the $100ish that I earned from selling all of those toys, spending all of those evenings with the stuff instead of with my family, storing those forgotten things year after year and moving them from house to house numerous times worth it?  I think you know the answer: No.  Oh, yeah, and this isn't the first holiday/vacation I've sorted through boxes of "keepsakes" from my childhood during the time in Ohio, either.

The emotional stress of having too much stuff is draining and being surrounded by unwanted stuff is imprisoning.  The cost of stuff isn't just what  is printed on the price tag; add to it the effort it might take to maintain and keep that item and the emotional strain that item places on you, too.

I want to encourage you to simply pause a few seconds before you buy something and ask yourself whether you really love what you're about to buy, will consume it in the near future, use it on a regular basis or add real value to your life. If the answer is "no" to any of these points, simply put that item back on the shelf and walk away. It'll be ok. More than likely, you'll forget about it or simply reflect on how proud you are of yourself for not buying yet another "thing", and as a result, save money and save yourself from future emotional torture.  

I've promised to take a new approach to the stuff in my own house.  I'm still a "squirrel" at heart, but I promise to strive to, little by little, either use, sell, donate or recycle unwanted things in my house - and believe me, there's plenty!

Join me for a 6 Week Summer Mum Challenge!

We all know that soooo many goals are set at the beginning of the calendar year... but what about at the beginning of the school year?  We've just passed the half-way mark for 2017.  How are your financial goals coming?  I truly hope you're well on your way to accomplishing them.  Maybe, like me, you've made some health or fitness goals but haven't quite made the progress you've promised yourself you would this "far" into the year.  Don't despair!  I'm not.  I'm taking ACTION.

"Hey, Lauren! This is a blog about saving money and finances! Not one about losing weight or fitness!" Bear with me for a few moments. There are so many parallels between the mindset necessary to accomplish your financial goals and the mindset to accomplish your health goals.  One of the most important things I have learned on my weight loss "adventure" (I'm not a fan of the use of "journey" here, but that's another story) is that small, consistent changes can lead to BIG results - hence my finding the pennies approach to finances.

https://www.mumologyblog.com/6-week-summer-mum-challenge

Just like I encourage you to "find the pennies" in your everyday life to save money in order to win at your finances, Michelle Bailey, Director of Fit4Training and Founder of Mummy Movers, teaches the same small changes and consistency approach to her clients who want to "smash" their fitness and health goals.  Michelle qualified as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor at 18 years old! Later she achieved her BSc (Hons) in Exercise Science from Coventry University, specialised in Pre- and Postnatal Exercise, Fitness for Children, Pilates, Yoga and earned a Diploma in Sports Therapy.  She started her own training company, Fit4Training, with her "now" husband 7 years ago, then founded Mummy Movers in 2013 to encourage mums to workout with the ability to bring their babies along.

How neat would it be to begin the second-half of the year with Michelle's guidance, encouragement and expertise?  Well... Michelle is offering her 6 Week Summer Mum Challenge, a nutrition and fitness plan to help guide you to your new you for the new school year for only £9! Yep.  A £60 value for £9.  You're worth £1.50 a week to make some great progress for your health goals, aren't you?

"Ah... but Lauren, I don't have time over the summer with the kids being out of school."  We all have the same 24 hours, it's up to you how you choose to spend it.  If you spend an hour a day exercising, connecting with the other mums on the plan on the designated Facebook page and planning some healthy meals (again, small changes to your lifestyle already), you're only spending 4% of your day technically following the plan.

"Ah... but Lauren, I'm going on holiday and I want to have fun and relax while I'm away."  So am I! For three of the six weeks!  So what?!  You can have fun while committing to a healthier lifestyle and find plenty relax!

"But Lauren, I don't belong to a gym and have no idea where to start!"  No worries. Michelle will provide home-based, equipment-free workouts with the help of videos.  Cool!

"I don't know, Lauren, I'm still not sure this is something I want to do."  Why not?! What do you have to lose but some pounds... and this time, I mean pounds as in weight.

I encourage you to check out the 6 Week Summer Mum Challenge and, hopefully, sign-up to join me, Michelle and other mums for the next 6 weeks!  The challenge begins 24th July, so act quick to begin your fitness and nutrition adventure.