Grow your own

So my green fingers are pretty much blue fingers. I'm not fantastic at gardening.

That said, I grow my own Basil. Basil is easy, if I can grow it then anyone can. It's lovely in any tomato based sauce. Once you're growing your own you don't have to buy it and that's the aim these days.

Watercress is another easy peasy one to grow, it's lovely in a sandwich.

My Dad is growing his own potatoes and has his own chicken coop - if you have the room then you have eggs every morning and chicken feed doesn't cost much.

A friend of mine is growing tomatoes and lettuce, she makes it look so easy...

So - mission for this week, grow something, it doesn't have to be as room consuming as potatoes, try basil or watercress to start :-)

The weekly shopping

Going grocery shopping without a list is like baking a cake without a recipe, you'll probably forget something. 

I've been known to wander aimlessly down the aisles trying to work out what nights we'll both be home early enough for dinner and which nights we should have a ready-meal. A baby in the house really changes things...

These days I make a meal plan. I need to know what I'm cooking and my evening plans have... let's just say life is pretty different :-)
I wish I had discovered this in my single days or in the pre-baby days because I'm saving a fortune. I do a quick list Monday to Sunday and mark any days we have plans to meet friends or family for dinner (factor it in if I'm hosting). Then I jot down a breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day. Transfer the ingredients to my shopping list, have a quick check to see if I need cleaning products, toiletries, nappies or loo roll and that's my grocery shopping list done. 


I only buy what's on the list and I'm never stuck for a meal. I don't have to throw away gone off food and more importantly I don't end up ringing a take-away in desparation when my tummy is grumbling and there is nothing to eat.

New Years Resolutions

We’ve all done it. I used to swear blind over my New Year’s Eve vodka that this year I’ll stick to my resolution. They have included:

            “Starting tomorrow – no more chocolate”

            “I’ll go to the gym four times a week and I’m going to drop a dress size by Valentine’s Day”

            “No more buying crap, I’m sick of being broke”

Most years, by the 4^th of January, I was left with about 37cents in my purse because I’d spent the last of my cash on a family sized box of chocolate biscuits and a bottle of wine to wash them down with. That was the old me. Having a baby made me surprisingly money-conscious. I’m slowly but surely weaning myself off my Visa card and I’ve discovered this new thing called Saving that did not exist in my pre-baby vocabulary.

I can’t help anyone drop a dress size, turn down a glass of vino with the girls to hit the gym or stop watching the soaps on the Telly. What I can do is help make sure there is more than a cobweb in your purse the day before payday.

All you need to do is make a small change every week and this time next year you’ll have enough cash to cover the Christmas shopping without panic and maybe even something left over for the January sales…

This week – Write it down.

If Santa didn’t leave a pocket sized diary in your Christmas stocking this year then treat yourself to one in the January sales. Mine lives in my handbag and I write down everything I spend. Yes, everything, even if it’s only a euro. 

Think about it, you pop into town for an hour to grab something for dinner. You park your car in the pay parking car-park, lets estimate parking at €2, go to the supermarket to get groceries, throw in a magazine for lets say €4, at the till pick up a chocolate bar for another €2. If your meal ingredients cost €12 then you’d probably count in your head that you spent €12 on dinner. You actually spent €20.

Before you jump down my throat, there is nothing wrong with treating yourself to a magazine or chocolate and sometimes you have to park in a pay park area if there isn’t any free parking available. Just be honest with yourself, write down everything so you can see exactly how much you spend in a week on treats or non essentials. It might be better to do a big shop once a week and save on the trips to town or buy a multipack of chocolate bars instead of grabbing a bar or two at the till…

Next week – How to make extra cash in January