Gas Bill - OMG!

OMG! WTF! and all that sort of thing. Is it just me, or have gas bills gone up LOADS in the last few years? I was just looking at our utility provider, as I do every month when I do the meter readings, and I was shocked to see the proportion of the bill that goes to paying the gas. I was also shocked to see that we are in debit by a couple of hundred quid, argh! It turns out that the new, lower, DD they changed is not covering the amount of gas we actually use. Meanwhile, our electricity usage is bizarrely low...

So, we need to figure out a way to get the bill down, because if it's already this bad in the Summer, what are the Winter months gonna do to us?! We came up with some ideas...

The Plan:

1. Do meter readings (even though I do them monthly on the1st anyway);
2. Use the dishwasher instead of washing up 3+ times per day. (This is an experiment, as we don't actually know how efficient the dishwasher is, or whether it heats the cold water or takes in hot water);
3. Just wash up non dishwasher stuff once in the evening;
4. We used to sometimes have a bath with our son, which was fun as he has loads of rubber ducks and whatever, so when he has his bath 2-3x per week, we can have a bath at the same time. We will have our normal showers on the other days. This is cool, because it helps us bond with our wee one;
5. Don't cook 3x per day (I've got into a bad habit of this). I love cooking, but the gas really does cane it! My slow cooker is on RIGHT NOW with beef skirt (bought on discount from Waitrose no less), barley, and vegetables;
6. Do meter readings after a month of trying the plan to see what difference it makes.

Fingers crossed, the dishwasher is as energy efficient as our friend Tim claims it is.

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Control Your Grocery Budget

I always seem to go over on my grocery budget, but reading about fellow blogger's decision to go back to a cash system reminded me that I never went over in the days I ran cash! So... we have also moved back to a cash system. I am losing out on a bit of cashback from the credit card, but I will gain more in terms of not overspending. It's good to be self-disciplined.

So, there are two adults and a very small child. I have a veg box and fruit bag for £23.20 per week and about £100 extra for other grocery, so basically am trying to achieve £200 per month. This also includes money we spend on dinners when we're entertaining e.g. hosting a BBQ or having a few people over for dinner.

We started on the 25th of July, and so far we are UNDER budget, YAY!

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A (hopefully) bright future for my child

It's not about money. It's about opportunities. Especially the opportunity to learn. My parents weren't able to save for me, but they did give me pocket money. Unfortunately, I was undisciplined and even though I tried to save, I spent it all very quickly on useless things like sweets and pop!

I want my child to grow up with a good savings habit, to also enjoy those things I did, but to learn to understand, over time, what is valuable and purposeful. I hope that he will learn to think about all his interactions - be they relationships to people or objects, or how he relates to money, time, and other resources.

I want him to have opportunities in life to explore and discover who he is and a strong sense of purpose, maybe even destiny.

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