A Snowflake Challenge for September

I'm kicking off a new challenge for September: A snowflake challenge.

Snowflakes are a spinoff of the snowball method that is used to pay down your debt faster; they are the little bits of money that you make, extra to your snowball, that speed up your debt free day; if you are debt free then you can also use any snowflakes to increase your saving rate.



My challenge for September is to make an extra £300/$460 in snowflake income.  Every Wednesday I will be blogging my progress....let's hope there is some! :-)

So where am I going to make an extra £300? At the moment I'm banking on selling some books on Amazon, some stuff on eBay and some clutter at a local car boot sale. I'm de-cluttering and purging {again} in earnest.

I often wonder where I find all this stuff, but somehow it accumulates...I'm sure the children bring it in :D

The lovely Serendipity from Serendipity's Guide to Saving is joining me in the challenge, which is open to everyone, and I wish her luck in reaching her target.

Further reading:

• Extra Income Challenge at No More Spending.net
• Snowflaking - A Primer at Paid Twice
• 52 Ways to Make Extra Money at PT Money

This is an ideal time of year to make a little extra money, with Christmas coming, so why not join me and attempt your own snowflake challenge.

{photo source}

Menu Plan Monday: Grocery Spending Update

This month {18th August - 17th September} I'm trying to keep within a grocery budget of £230/$360. 

At the beginning of my month I did a large shop to fill my freezer {3 drawers in a fridge freezer} and now I'm doing small top ups along the way; I've spent £144.75 of my budget so far, with my last shop being at Aldi where I spent £19.25 on milk, bread, fruit, vegetables, ham and raisins.

This week's menu:

Monday: Homemade Quiche, Jacket Potato and Salad
Tuesday: Sausages and Mash {make twice as much for tomorrow}
Wednesday: Beef Bourginon and Mash
Thursday: Something with eggs {I have loads!]
Friday: Pasta with Tomato Sauce
Saturday: Pizza and Salad
Sunday: Vegetable Balti {like this but less spicy!}

The vegetable balti serves 8, so I'll be freezing half of it; this is my first time making it so I'll let you know how it goes.

For more menu plan ideas visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.



If you live in the UK then I wanted to let you know about a new, free to use, meal planning website: The Resourceful Cook. I'll let them tell you about it -

From the website:

It only takes a couple of minutes to plan your meals for the week and then print out a shopping list that shows everything you'll need to cook them.

Our meal plans only ever use fresh ingredients in amounts that match the pack sizes available in the shops. That means no waste, ever — which could save you hundreds of pounds a year

I love any site that can help you to cut down food waste and reduce your shopping bill.


What's on your menu this week?

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

Saturday Link Round Up: 28th August 2010

Hello and happy Saturday; here are just some of the articles I've enjoyed reading this week;

• Where Do You Put Any Monthly Extra? at Sweating the Big Stuff {guest post}
• Do You Put Your Emergency Fund to Work - Part 1 at PF Firewall {includes Part 2 & 3}
• Make Organic Food Affordable at Money Ning
• Pre-Assembling Meals at I'm an Organizing Junkie
• How We Invest at Frugal Babe
• Investing in Your Life Pays Off in the Long Term at Get Rich Slowly

and at Move To Portugal this week:

• Be frugal, be green {er}
• Preparing for a car boot sale

Have a great weekend!

A Little Life update

What I've been doing in August;

Haircutting: The clippers have arrived and I've cut hubby's hair twice now; it's quite easy and he's pleased not to have to go to the hairdressers.  I've cancelled my haircut at the salon, which was due next week and I'm getting it cut sometime in the future by the mum of one of my daughters friends {she's a hairdresser} This will save £25, which I'm really pleased about.

Christmas: I've done a list! I want to do all my shopping online this year, so I'm starting early.

Holiday: We're going to Vancouver {on a budget} in October so I'm doing a little research. Our vacations generally involve us just walking around for hours looking at the sights! 
If you have any suggestions for frugal things to do there, then please let me know. :-)

Side Business: You've probably been wondering where the updates are for this; well there isn't a side business at the moment! Life sort of got in the way. A family member became seriously ill in August, and that, mixed in with school break meant that the business took a back seat.

Mad Men: I'm obsessed with it! I love Christina Hendricks. We borrowed seasons 1, 2 and 3 from a friend and have nearly watched every episode; Season 4 starts on UK TV in early September so soon I'll be all caught up.

Is it me or does this year seems to be flying by!

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A Snowflake Challenge

How are you doing on making some extra money this month? I hope you're doing better than I am! 

I had grand ambitions to make £500 in August, but it's just not happened; a family emergency and school holidays seem to have taken up most of my spare time.

I was planning on doing a car boot sale this weekend, but it's rained every single day since I started to accumulate 'stuff', and I'm not holding out much hope on it taking place.

So I feel a challenge coming on.

Would anyone like to join me in a snowflake making challenge in September? You can set your own target and we could all encourage each other.  You could use your snowflake money to boost your savings, pay down some extra debt, or even for a treat.  Anything.

Please let me know in the comments if you're interested in joining in, I know it's always much easier to do these things when it's a group effort :-)

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

De- cluttering: Why not de-clutter your weekly shop too

I'm at a family event today so this is a post that previously appeared on Move To Portugal back in April 2010:

In the past I’ve bought items because I’ve always bought them. It wasn’t until I started to really analyse my spending to get consumer debt free, that I realised how much stuff I was wasting money on, and how much of it I really didn’t need; stuff that was just cluttering up my trolley, and my cupboards.


We {I} often think of de-cluttering in terms of our living space, but why not apply the same principles to other areas, like your food shopping? Why not de-clutter your grocery shopping?

Here are just a few of the items I’ve removed from my shopping trolley:

• Paper towels
• Fabric conditioner
• Bleach
• Cream cleaners
• Ready meals
• Biscuits
• Pre packed vegetables
• Pre packed anything
• Sugar coated cereal

Why not do this today, think about what you buy and why you’re buying it. Do you really need it, or is there a better option?


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Menu Plan Monday: Using up tomatoes edition!

This week is all about using up food.  I really don't like wasting food and so anything that needs eating up gets incorporated into the menu plan. 

This week it's tomatoes, some given to me from a family member and some from the supermarket, that need to be eaten up, so tonight it's bruschetta and tomorrow a tomato salad; hubby is working in London today and will be home late so bruschetta and pizza will be easy to make after I pick him up from the train station!

Monday: Bruschetta and Pizza
Tuesday: Pasta Bolognaise and Tomato Salad
Wednesday: Salmon and Broccoli
Thursday: Mushroom Omelette, Jacket Potato and Salad
Friday: Chilli Nachos
Saturday: Mushroom Burgers and Salad
Sunday: Leftovers

Grocery Spending:

Budget for the month £230.
Spent so far £88.94

I did a large monthly shop last Monday and the freezer and cupboards are stocked; I'm yet to go again this week so this total will increase before next Monday.

*For more menu plan Monday posts please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.


What's on your menu this week?

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

Sunday Link Round Up: 22nd August 2010

Hello, I hope you're having a great Sunday so far; here are just some of the posts I've enjoyed reading this week;

• Improving Your Personal Financial Health at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
• How I wasted $300 {At least} at Bucksome Boomer {good advice from Boomer}
• Living in a Hotel FAQ at The Everyday Minimalist
• Paris, France: The Major Attractions at Fabulously Broke in the City {I'm gearing up to my Paris day trip in September}
• How I Went 99.9% Paperless at Home at Simple Organized Life {what I'm aiming for!}
• I need it at Saving For Travel

and from Move to Portugal this week;

• Could you increase the amount your saving
• Reader Question: Do you make your own bread

That's it for this week, thank you for reading; back tomorrow with my menu plan.

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

My Top Ten Personal Finance Books

I've read countless books on personal finance, frugality and paying off debt in the last five years but here are my favourite ten, in no particular order:

• Your Money or Your Life by Dominguez and Robin
• The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
• Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• The Money Diet by Martin Lewis {UK}
• Debt is Slavery by Michael Mihalik
• The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach
• Love is Not Enough by Merryn Somerset Webb
• America's Cheapest Family by Steve and Annette Economides
• Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki

All of these books have helped me in some way to gain more knowledge about money, frugality and personal finance.  They say knowledge is power and they are right, it is.

Is your favourite book on this list or do you have another one to recommend? Please let me know in the comments and I'll do a readers favourites follow up :-)

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Small savings really do add up

There's been a lot of talk about budgets and spending less around here lately; I can't seem to stop, it's becoming addictive, lol.

@nomorespending Electric toothbrush heads half the shop price on eBay; now why didn't I think of that before!

Take this tweet above; why didn't I think to look on eBay for electric toothbrush heads before; they are at least half the price of buying them in a shop. D'oh. A small saving, but a saving none the less.

The other day it was haircuts; we now have clippers for hubby's hair and for my hair, I've found someone to cut it at home for £10, much cheaper than my usual salon £35.

Just these three small things will save us approximately £20 a month, or £240 a year.

I'd love to hear your ideas about making small savings: what do you do that saves you a little amount every month?

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A new budget for September

This is our joint account budget that starts in September; I'm not sure if we've got it right yet, but we will work this until the end of the year and then make any necessary changes.

Savings rates:

At the moment by analyzing our costs I've been able to increase our savings rates; £257.66 is going towards our long term future {£200 + £57.66 Mortgage overpayment*} and £218.92 is going towards our travel plans {Bucket list}; there is also a £135 pension contribution taken every four weeks from my husband's salary payment.

*The current mortgage overpayment will take just over 2.5 years off of our mortgage term.

Our money goals have been all over the place this year, however it's never too late for a re focus.


How are you doing with your financial goals this year?


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Menu Plan Monday {New grocery budget}

I've noticed that since I started adding more vegetarian meals to our menu plan the grocery budget has become easier to stick to.  I went pescatarian back in May and so there was an added incentive to change things a little as I didn't want to be cooking different meals for everyone.

My current budget, for 4 people, is set around the £250 {$390} mark and I'm going to try and reduce it to £230 {$360}without sacrificing our food quality; I know I could do a lot more with beans and pulses. 

My budget runs from 18th - 17th monthly, so starting next week I'll be reporting my grocery spending alongside my menu plan.

Anyway this weeks menu plan:

Monday: Chickpea Curry/Rice
Tuesday: Sweet Chilli Noodles {a family request as they loved them last week}
Wednesday: Baked Salmon, Mash and Broccoli
Thursday: Chilli and Rice
Friday: Out for the day
Saturday: Sausages and vegetables
Sunday: Pizza, Jacket Potato and Salad

*For more menu plan Monday posts please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What's on your menu this week?




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Sunday Link Round Up: 15th August 2010

Hi and happy Sunday; here are just a few of the posts I've enjoyed this week;

• Do you subscribe at Shopaholly
• My New Savings Goal at Budgets are Sexy
• Tips for Setting up and Running a Garage Sale at Eliminate the Muda
• Advice for Living at Shopaholly
• Auto Insurance - once a year vs monthly at Shaking the Money Tree
• How to Combat Extra Budget Expenses at The Grass is Greener

and at  Move to Portugal this week;

• Essential Living Costs {Updated}

That's it for this week, thank you for reading; back tomorrow with my menu plan.

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

Is my gift budget too high?

I'm having an ongoing discussion with hubby about the amount of money we budget for gifts; I think £840 a year is far too high, he disagrees.

I come at the whole gift buying thing from an anti consumerism point of view and would really like to a) reduce the amount we spend and b) mainly buy Charity gifts.

I'm sure that if I had a conversation with other family members they would happily agree to a limit on gift cost as I'm sure most of them are thinking exactly the same as I am, however hubby thinks we will look mean!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this? :-)

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How many bank accounts do you have?

I'm asking this question because I somehow got to thinking about how many bank accounts we still have despite my quest to streamline and simplify everything.

There's {between us} 3 checking accounts, 6 e-savers, 5 ING sub accounts, 3 credit cards, and 2 ISA's.  19 accounts, too many for our one income family.

We each have a checking account and then there's joint one; each checking account automatically has an e-saver attached to it. We both have an Amex card and my husband also has a visa card {Amex is not always taken}; one of the ISA's has an e-saver attached to it {condition of the account}. There are also two more e-savers attached to our joint account.

Now I'm not sure if I or my husband is ready to give up our personal checking accounts.  It's a difficult one, but this would sure reduce the amount of accounts we have.  We could also joint up the Amex cards.

I'm interested in your opinion on this, do you have your own accounts or do you and your husband/partner have joint everything?

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Menu Plan Monday {Noodles and Pasta}

Monday again and time for my menu plan; it's mainly food from the cupboards and freezer {again} this week; I'm finding doing a 'big' monthly shop and then a weekly fresh food shop, works well for our family.
I have tons of pasta in my pantry so three of our meals are based on that.

Monday: Steak Pie, New Potatoes, Broccoli, Carrots
Tuesday: Tuna Pasta Bake
Wednesday: Noodles with Sweet Chilli Chicken {similar to this recipe}
Thursday: Jacket Potatoes, Veggie Pizza and Salad
Friday: Pasta and Tomato Sauce with Ciabatta
Saturday: Leftovers or eggs
Sunday: At parents for dinner {Yay!}

For more menu plan Monday posts please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What's on your menu this week?

PS; this has been my most consistant run at menu planning and I'm liking it; it saves so much time and so much money.

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Sunday Link Round Up: 8th August 2010

Hello, I hope you're having a great Sunday; here are just some of the posts I've enjoyed reading this week;

• Facing Debt Trouble? How I Deal With Debt Stress at The Digerati Life
• Going to apply the Dave Ramsay ''Debt Snowball Plan'' at Gather Little by Little
• The High Cost of Modern Living at Get Rich Slowly
• 6 Great Reasons for Paying off the Mortgage on Your Home at Wise Bread
• New Beginnings at Fabulous Financials
• The New Abnormal: Pinching Pennies to Justify Splurges at Well Heeled Blog

That's it for this week, thank you for reading; back tomorrow with my menu plan.

:: You can subscribe to this site here and my other site Move To Portugal here. It's free! :-)

Household monthly budget items: costs and reductions

I started out by listing every single thing we pay for {I'm sure that they'll be things I missed, but I'm hoping not}.  I then I took a decision on the possibility of reducing the cost or eliminating the cost.  Some things I left well alone, like hubby's golf fees etc; he has a personal allowance every month and it's his to use as he wishes; this is how we work our finances and it works really well for us.

Here's the list of items left to budget for {with reductions, if any}; next week I'll post about the stuff I've eliminated.

£542.34 Mortgage
£57.66  Mortgage overpayment
£107.50 Council Tax
£32.00 Water rates
£12.00 TV Licence
£21.08 Life Insurance
£15.00 House Contents and Buildings Insurance
£12.00 Telephone Line Rental
£88.00 Gas and Electric
£64.00 Cable TV
£5.00 Cell Phone £2.00
£2.75 Dental {L}
£10.00 Optician/Glasses {L}
£9.00 Window cleaner £4.50
£250.00 Grocery £230.00
£15.00 Daughter Bus Fares
£20.00 Daughter College/Sports Football
£30.00 Entertainment £20.00
£26.54 Haircuts £5.00
£20.00 Clothing {L} £10.00
£70.00 Gifts
£250.00 Holidays £150.00
£8.00 Website Hosting

Totals £1,667.87/£1,498.83 {£169.04}

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Try not to miss things right under your nose

I mentioned last week that I've been reviewing all the items/services that we spend money on and deciding if it is possible to make savings anywhere. 

So far, most things have to stay, however one thing we realised that we could easily cut out is hubby's haircuts.  He keeps it quite short and is/was paying £7 every four weeks to keep it that way.  £91 a year to keep his hair short when we could buy clippers for £20 and save that money over and over again.  I'm not sure how long clippers last, but it has to be more cost effective

I can't believe I didn't think to do this before!

Do you have a small thing you're missing that could save you a little money every month?

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Extra Money Earned: July 2010

Overall from different sources my goal is to generate at least £2,010 of extra income in 2010; this money can either be passive or alternative.

July earnings:

£13.05Amazon
£13.11 eBay
£24.07 Interest
£4.03 Cashback
£54.26 Total

Total so far in 2010 £1,182.60/£2,010

Not so good this month; having a week away doesn't help because everything has to stop before and after the holiday. I'm determined to make up for this in August, so I'm setting a target of £300.

My long term goal is to make £500 a month in alternative and passive income.

Let me know, do you have passive/alternative income goals? If so, how are you doing?

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Net Worth August 2010 +£841

I'm trying to achieve a six figure net worth by December 2011 {£100,000k = $158,410k on today's exchange rate} Last month we took a drop of £862, this month an increase of £841.


Assets:
£12,635 Cash.
£180,656 House value{Source: Zoopla}
£3,125 Personal
£1,009 Old Pension
£197,425 Total

Liabilities:
£117,298 Mortgage
£117,298 Total

Net Worth: £80,127 {$126,885}

Our cash holdings went up by £340 and our mortgage debt down by £501; to reduce the term a little we are making a small mortgage overpayment of £57 every month.

Pension funds are not included in this amount, further details of these can be found here.

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Menu Plan Monday {The freezer is my friend}

This weeks menu plan is straight from the freezer, which should save me some money; hubby is away working for two days and my youngest is a football {soccer} camp for a couple of days, so it's an easy week.

Monday: Fish & Chips
Tuesday: Pasta and meat sauce
Wednesday: Scrambled Eggs {just me for dinner}
Thursday: Soup & Roll {just me again}
Friday: Veggie Pizza and Salad
Saturday: Bacon Clubs {BLT's}
Sunday: Vegetable Curry {Jamie Oliver}

Nothing fancy this week!

Last weeks Macaroni Cheese was a bit hit, although I will be trying a different recipe next time.

For more menu plan Monday posts please visit I'm an Organizing Junkie.

What's on your menu this week?

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Sunday Link Round Up: 1st August 2010

Hello and happy Sunday; here are just some of the posts I've enjoyed reading this week;

• How quickly could you replace your income at Punch Debt in the Face
• How far have I come at Paying Myself
• $150 Challenge Final Tally at The Path to Frugality {I love spending challenges}

I also wanted to direct you, if you haven't read it already, to one of my favourite ever blog posts.  The journey towards your goals, to simple living is not always easy, and at times can be frustrating {especially if you are impatient like me!} however this post is a gentle reminder to live in the now and not wish your time away.

• Bloom where you are planted at Down To Earth

On my other blog Move To Portugal this week I've been talking about My Dream Budget and my August Mini Goals; if you're setting mini goals for August why not go over there and add you post to the Mr Linky gadget, we can all support each other :-)

That's it for this week! Have a great week, back tomorrow with my menu plan.

PS: Nearly forgot; good luck to Maureen and JPKittie who are doing a spend less challenge in August!