Watching the pennies

It seems to me that so many people are "watching the pennies" these days but so many have different ideas of what it means to them - for some it is still buying the things they want to have but shopping around for the best deal, for others it is finding ways to stretch the budget further and for far too many people its trying to find a way to feed the family with what little you have.

Here in the Smith household we are no different to everyone else, we have certainly been feeling the pinch and with Winter and expensive heating costs around the corner I'm feeling the need to overhaul the finances once again.

Some of the things we already do are:

Use Quidco.com - it's a great way of getting cashback for things your already going to buy.
Mend rather than purchase new where possible.
Shop from the cupboards first and then do a shopping list for what we actually need.
Bake most of our treats
Cook most meals from scratch (we do have a bit of a takeaway fetish ad this is on our to address list!)
Shop in Aldi at least a couple of times a month, we have found we get a lot more for our money but we do need to supplement from the other supermarket too.
Go to car-boot sales (and sell our old stuff at them or on ebay) Kids toys and books can be a great find at car boot sales.
Shop for the cheapest Electricity supplier and change.
Use boilerjuice.co.uk to shop around for the cheapest heating oil.
Use blankets and jumpers in the winter to cut the cost of oil down.
Have a fire on weekends and evenings we are at home.
Purchase some of our clothes from charity shops
Have a camping holiday and cheap / free days out with the family.

We are however going to need to look at some of our non-essential spending and cut that down even further which I'll update you on as we go.

Does feeling the pinch make me cross? well er yes, a little! both my husband and I work hard at full time jobs and yet we cannot even afford a new(er) car, we cannot afford a holiday either abroad or in a carvan / cottage, I cannot learn to drive. However I know of people far less fortunate than us and I thank goodness that we can have hot healthy meals on the table, the children are clothed and we can have some treats like the odd takeaway and day out and buy newspapers and watch Now TV.

Watching the pennies is making us appreciate completely different things in our life, the gorgeous sunny days where we can go for a walk as a family, the smell of biscuits that my 12 year old daughter has baked and sitting cosily and warm in front of a roaring fire. All things I doubt I would have paid any attention to a few years ago. Would I change it? well yes there are things I'd really like to find the money for such as the odd nice holiday and driving lessons but the living simpler and cutting back on material things in our lives - no I wouldn't change it for the world!