Since opening the Sealed Pot on the 10th December the money has been sat waiting to hear of it's fate. We were going to spend it on Christmas treats, but with our gift of a lovely hamper. lots of foodie goodies off visiting family and a couple of bags of chopped kindling off my eldest son, which has been very appreciated ...... they've saved me a couple of chopping sessions in the rain this week ...
we've been thoroughly spoilt.
We think it's lovely that our family know just what to get us, but between all these gifts and the things I had been buying week by week ready for our couple of relaxing weeks off work we simply did not need to spend any more money on things for Christmas.
So all that lovely cash is available for spending elsewhere, and in time honoured tradition it has spawned a Challenge for the next few weeks. I think it will be a mini Challenge this time as there is only £61.21 (I don't know where the one pound coin is in the top picture but we definitely had one!!).
This Challenge fits in nicely as well with our new 'needs not wants' way of life, as we are going to spend the money on food for as long as it lasts. As is my usual (but not for much longer) way there is foodstuff galore in the fridge, freezers and cupboards so before we spend any money on food we will be eating up what we already have in store.
I will only be buying what we need, ie. milk, bread or any fresh foods that we require. I will also only be buying the foods on my Capsule Kitchen list as this is something I have decided to go ahead with. Things not on the list will not be replaced once they are used up.
Using up the foods in the fridge has been no hardship, in fact the other morning we had some freshly baked croissants, made using one of these 'ready to go' packs. How easy and yummy was that, it made for a very special new years breakfast :-)
There is still some Christmas foods left in the fridge, a couple of large wedges of Stilton for example and all of these will be cut into usable sized smaller wedges and frozen for future use. Many, many times as I'm sure a lot of you will remember I have made an effort to eat our way through the cupboards and always after a few weeks or months of serious effort things go back to how they were before, when bargains are spotted or mass baking sessions happen.
Not that there's any harm in that it's just that this time I intend to get right back to basics, evaluate what we have and what we need and only keep in store in future a core stock of the real base commodities that will supplement and enhance our own home grown fruit and vegetables.
Back with more about my Capsule Kitchen tomorrow.
Sue xx
We popped into a friends the other evening just as they were sorting out their Christmas goodies, they were going to get rid of them at work but we grabbed them for the kids instead. I now how a few tubs of chocolates and a few boxes of biscuits shouting at me through the cupboard door.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if they have less calories when your given them? .........just asking ;)
"I now have" .........trappped my finger earlier and struggling to type, my excuse and sticking to it!!!
DeleteIf you snap things in half the calories leach out .... or so I've been told ;-)
DeleteYou didn't trap your finger in the cupboard door where those biscuits and chocs are? Haha LOL
DeleteHope your finger is better. I
Julee, For future reference, when goods are Reduced For Quick Sale the calories are also reduced, and as Sue says, the calories fall out of broken biscuits. Fact
DeleteI love that! I'm going to tell my hubby about these halved calories in reduced food and snapping thing is half too.
DeleteBrilliant ladies x x
Do you just put your lose change in at the end of week ect. I really would like to start but not sure best way to fill the jar up. Don't want to leave myself short.
ReplyDeleteI empty my purse of anything smaller than a 20p whenever I get home from any outing. It helps keep my bag light and means the savings add up without me even noticing.
DeleteThank you Sue. That's the approach I will use also thats a nice little amount you saved up there.
DeleteWell done on the savings - I must open my pot as I had forgotten about it!
ReplyDeleteHi, Sue...I love your need not want attitude about spending. We all need to take a lesson. I have to be really careful to not overbuy food, as we just don't eat as much as we used to. I hate to throw away anything, and if you buy too much you end up pitching it for being out of date. Nice little amount from your pot to use carefully.
ReplyDeleteIs the idea behind the pot to put in it your loose change each day/week? I am looking forward to hearing about your capsule kitchen.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear about your capsule kitchen.
ReplyDeleteJean
x
Love the sealed pot. We ended up with $95 .we were going to use it to go to Santa Barbara and we have the $ for gas food, etc, but the hotels are too expensive so we'll have to wait a bit.
ReplyDeleteWell done Sue, I love to read about your New Year Challenge, the Kitchen Capsule sounds intriguing. My sealed pot is getting little treats of change and my 365 challenge to save £1 a day is also underway. X
ReplyDeleteMy sealed pot challenge resulted in £430!! Exactly the same as last year's total!! I save £2 coins and any lottery winnings (I rarely do it now though!!). It all goes in the pot. I physically CANNOT spend a £2 coin!! Last year I put the money in the Building Society for anything 'special' that was needed by the family, I think we dipped into it once. This year is different. My No.1 son is doing the Reading half marathon in March. I can't tell you how proud (and amazed!) I am of him. Life does not come with out its problems for him, but he has the biggest, loving heart ever and to do something like that is just incredible. So I am donating £400 to his charity, as he deserves every penny he is sponsored. The other £30 will go to his friend of many years who is also doing the same half marathon, but for a different charity. Will your kitchen capsule go with a bang?!! X
ReplyDeleteI have had a sealed pot these past two years. In Canadian coins I throw in 1, 5 and 10 cent pieces. The 25 cent, $1 and $2 coins I also save separately and I deposit them in the bank whenever I have a roll of each (which adds up to $85).
ReplyDeleteI am actually having sealed pot for this year, it will be the first one I will have done. we usually save our 1 and 2 pence pieces but I will be actively adding to the tin through to the year.
ReplyDeleteLike you we still have "Christmas" food left, not that we brought excess, we just didn't get through it all as we usually do. We have been eating really well with tiny shopping bills. It has definitely made my purse happy.
x x
I admire your plan of using up all the pantry food before buying more. Fun to have that money to spend on food when you do go shopping.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, love the blog and just wanted to say I sort out all my small change each week to pay for our Sunday papers. I use the self service till purposely for this and last week used 40p in copper 30p in 5ps. I now do this instead of having to pay a percentage to the cash generator machiene x
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good idea :-)
DeleteI had a savings pot going when I started my 'new life' in November. I now realise my school boy error - I didn't seal it!! I'll try that now though. I always imagine my will power to be greater than it actually is!!
ReplyDeleteFor the very first time we have started a seal pot, can't wait for next christmas,
ReplyDelete