I've been thinking about this a long time - how to buy, and eat enough food for one person for one week. £20, initially, I thought I would be a great and easy way to do it, but having reflected on this now and been trying to do this, it requires quite a lot of discipline.
But if you have the willpower and determination to do this, you can be safe in the knowledge that your food bills are down to a really good and manageable level. And in many cases, that £20 can almost be provided for if you have other income streams. The knock on effects on your life are marvellous.
OK here are some of my discoveries along the way:
- I was wasting a lot of money on takeaway food. Eating KFC or McDonalds is a surprisingly quick way to drain your budget. One meal here equates to almost a third of your weekly entire shop, and once you start cooking for yourself, you can see the value is not so good. The same goes for alcohol and meals out. Not saying you shouldn't do it, but multiple times in a week is not good.
- I was wasting a lot of money on bad buys at the supermarket. Bad buys would be termed things that offer little calorific value. Soft drinks, sweeties, cakes, foods you buy to satisfy hunger there and then (ie sandwiches, etc) can easily add up to £5 or more a shop, which is a fair proportion.
- Eating nicely but cheaply requires a bit of planning. Write out what you want to eat and budget this accordingly. You can immediately see that £20 needs to cater for approximately 20 meals. £1 a meal is a good round figure to have in the head.
- Try to go shopping as little as you can. Obviously with perishables like vegetables, milk you will have to go to the shop and do it. Otherwise, try and stay out of the shop.
- Be creative with nutrition. My diet already allows for fruit and veg - 5 per day is more or less there, but supplement with vitamin tablets. They are cheap and provide things you might miss out on.
- Only purchase special offers. Outside of my core list, I tend to only purchase special offers that offer great value. This allows you to keep the costs down.
- Make use of your freezer. Remember, the £20 is not an absolute limit, more of an average. If you see a bulk purchase that would reduce your costs on average, you can do it. Similarly, when you cook, if you make extra, freeze it - this can often substitute for a meal in a future week.
Here's what I purchased for a week:
Proteins:
1 x Chicken (£5)
15 x Eggs (£1.30)
2 x Tuna (£1)
1 x Ham (£0.85)
1 x Cheese (£1.30)
Total: £9.45. Amazing how much the protein aspect takes up of the budget. This also does not go too far. You can have 2 eggs a day + one left over. The chicken is the main part - that bird can be enough to feed you for around 3 days and also give you bones for broth (which is very high in nutrients).
Vegetables:Bananas x 10 (£1)
Salad (Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber): £3.34
Potatoes (£1)
Various tinned fruits (on offer): £1
Total: £6.34. The salad stuff is pretty pleasing: you get 2 x lettuces, 2 x cucumbers, 12 x tomatoes - that keeps me in fresh salad for 6 days out of the 7 (you could easily get to 7 if you stretched it a bit further). The potatoes are a good buy as well - filling and can be mashed up, saved for another time.
Miscallaneous:Milk: £1.50
Mixed Nuts: £1.10
Total: £2.60. Milk is obviously required, although I don't drink too much of it. The mixed nuts are poured into little tubs and are snacks - a fairly decent and healthy one too.
Total of shop: £18.39
The thing is, there are many other things that I eat but I don't have to purchase every week. These are:
Vitamins (1p per use)
Tea bags (1p per use)
Sugar (1p per spoon)
Coffee (4p per spoon)
Frozen veg (5p/serving)
Instant noodles (25p/serving)
Rice (5p/serving)
Those are the main ones. As you can see, it's probably quite possible to eat within the £20 a week barrier, if you are willing to forgo many of life's luxuries. I'm probably a shade over at the moment, but eating with two people might offer more economies of scale.
Monday, 8 September 2014
Friday, 29 August 2014
Bloggers: Do you really need your own domain name and separate hosting/
One thing that I've noticed in the years of having blogs is that I was always keen to get my own domain name (which also means hosting as well). This was borne out of a slightly macho element to my persona 'yeah I'm gonna create a worldwide brand'!
Times have changed now, and the world has moved on. There are literally TONS of free blogging software options out there. I'm gonna list the advantages and disadvantages of having your own hosting.
Advantages of own domain name/hosting:
You get to control your own branding. You could create a domain name of your choice. If you are taking up the option of a free blog, it's likely that your domain name would be gone.
Better customisability. The range of plugins on a full Wordpress account totally blows the free options out of the water. Whole websites are now created on Wordpress.
More professional look. It's beyond doubt that a self-hosted blog with properly designed plugins will look more professional than a standard Blogspot account - which will always have a 'blog' feel to it, thanks to the lack of skins that are easy to implement. However, the official Google blog looks quite nice.
Better search engine prospects. Arguably, Google knows what a blog is and the SEO options for standalone blogs carry more juice. The flipside of this is that if you are blogging great content, the search engines will pick you up irrespective of platform.
Disadvantages of own domain name/hosting
The cost. You have recurring fees every single year - one for the domain, and one for the hosting. Good hosting packages vary tremendously. There are packages that start real low but then get expensive after the initial period is up. There are then packages that are cheap full stop - but these use shared hosting which can inadvertently get your sites SEO penalties. A real minefield.
There is also the problem of domain name squatting - especially if your site gets big.
In the past, a good domain is everything, but today there are plenty of other free ways to build your presence which are free - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few.
That's all I can think of out of the top of my head.
Difficulty: 2/10. This depends on the stage of the website you are at. If you're a blogger like me, and your site is not monetising traffic, it doesn't matter too much.
Savings per week: £2.50
Savings per year: £120 - this is assuming you have a domain name purchased and are on a good, non-offer web hosting package.
Times have changed now, and the world has moved on. There are literally TONS of free blogging software options out there. I'm gonna list the advantages and disadvantages of having your own hosting.
Advantages of own domain name/hosting:
You get to control your own branding. You could create a domain name of your choice. If you are taking up the option of a free blog, it's likely that your domain name would be gone.
Better customisability. The range of plugins on a full Wordpress account totally blows the free options out of the water. Whole websites are now created on Wordpress.
More professional look. It's beyond doubt that a self-hosted blog with properly designed plugins will look more professional than a standard Blogspot account - which will always have a 'blog' feel to it, thanks to the lack of skins that are easy to implement. However, the official Google blog looks quite nice.
Better search engine prospects. Arguably, Google knows what a blog is and the SEO options for standalone blogs carry more juice. The flipside of this is that if you are blogging great content, the search engines will pick you up irrespective of platform.
Disadvantages of own domain name/hosting
The cost. You have recurring fees every single year - one for the domain, and one for the hosting. Good hosting packages vary tremendously. There are packages that start real low but then get expensive after the initial period is up. There are then packages that are cheap full stop - but these use shared hosting which can inadvertently get your sites SEO penalties. A real minefield.
There is also the problem of domain name squatting - especially if your site gets big.
In the past, a good domain is everything, but today there are plenty of other free ways to build your presence which are free - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to name a few.
That's all I can think of out of the top of my head.
Difficulty: 2/10. This depends on the stage of the website you are at. If you're a blogger like me, and your site is not monetising traffic, it doesn't matter too much.
Savings per week: £2.50
Savings per year: £120 - this is assuming you have a domain name purchased and are on a good, non-offer web hosting package.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
The start: Dysthymia on the NHS
Today was quite a big day. I managed to talk to the local GP about dysthymia, and the feelings I've been having. Man, this was difficult, for some reason or another. It was almost like a job interview, the way I was nervous.
I can't explain why that nervousness was. After all, if I were ill, I'd have no problem going in there and telling the doc I was sick. Perhaps it was the fact that I felt I shouldn't be in this position. I'm in the prime of my life, some would say, so to come in for this might seem a little frivolous.
Actually it wasn't too bad. And it wasn't too good either. The doctor was pretty understanding about it. I think I feared the doctor giving me the brush off with some kind of other meaningless quips. I had to fill in a questionnaire; this seemed to be quite basic. I get the overwhelming sense that the doctors are keen to cover their own arse - the depression clinics are self-referral, presumably meaning that no-one can ever be refused.
I've heard bad things about these kind of clinics on the NHS - huge waiting queues, inconvenient times, and so forth. But I'll have to clear my mind of the misconceptions. I don't have anything else to lose, well, that apart from a bit more train fare. I've browsed the website but I just can't shake off the feeling that I'm on another level from what they're used to. I'm hoping that the service will be complementary to the therapy, but I guess, beggars can't be choosers.
On another note, the doctor said I wasn't looking unwell enough for medicine. I wonder if I should have turned on the theatrics a bit more. Been on the St John's Wort about 5 days now but I'd be lying if I said I felt any different.
Didn't get to phone today, but I might tomorrow. In fact I will. Even if I get to talk to another person like the therapist I will have gained.
Meals Under £1 - The Basics - Rice
Welcome to this series of 'Meals Under £1', where I will share with you the basics of how I cater for myself extremely cheaply. Being frugal doesn't mean starvation, though. Far from it - being malnourished is a lose-lose situation as your health will suffer, making you less effective. We're interested in win-win - and one thing that becomes clear is that as you go cheaper, the luxuries are out - and it's often these luxuries that are bad with you in the first place.
Probably the only lesson you'll need:
Eating cheaply is definitely possible, but it needs some very good planning.
The reasons why will become clear; but here first let us view the first staple you'll need: Rice. I tend to prefer rice as my primary, go-to carb. It has the following advantages:
1) It can be bought it very big bulk, resulting in extreme economies of scale. I've seen 20kg bags, after which I couldn't carry them.
2) It's cheap. Very cheap in fact, and per meal, probably the best out of any of it's rivals.
3) It's quick to prepare. You can buy a microwave rice steamer and be done with it, safe in the knowledge that you'll have it perfect. Not quite the same for potatoes, which need a lot of preparation (depending on type) or pasta.
4) It has a long, long, shelf date. Keep this in a nice dark place and it's good for a couple of years. This is very important as it means you can make that bulk purchase pay. If you buy bulk of potatoes, they'll be bad after a couple of weeks.
5) No wastage. 1kg of rice means that, unlike potatoes where some is lost in peeling and so forth.
6) Versatile - any extras keep well, can be refried/steamed/microwaved. Very easy to work with.
Rice isn't perfect though, and there are some downsides.
1) It's very bland. It's difficult to eat this on its own without become extremely bored. It needs some things to go with it - preferably several.
2) There are several types to consider. Brown rice is probably the worst one of the wholemeal carbs - very difficult to cook and tough.
3) If not careful about the cooling, rice can develop bacteria which results in upset stomach.
That's it though. Remember that white rice is a staple for most people in the world. If it's good enough for them, it's also good enough for me.
Getting a good deal on rice
The general rule is the bigger you buy, the better value you get. At the bottom of the pile are those microwaveable rice packets (from 49p-£1.49). One serving, very convenient but hugely expensive weight-by-weight. Useful for emergencies.
Next up are the 'boil in the bag', 'Uncle Bens' type thing. These offer better value per weight, but the microwave rice cooker has negated any need for a bag, and still cooks in the same time. I wouldn't buy these at all.
Next we get into the mid-size range - bags which range from 500g - 2kg. The value gets bigger as you go up.
The last range are the massive bags of rice. 3kg - 20kg. Previously only seen at Asian supermarkets, you can now get these all the time at supermarkets. These offer the best value and often there are offers on them. There may be brands you haven't heard from before, but rice is rice. It's often like comparing different brands of bottled water.
Types of rice
Let's not forget the types of rice you can buy:
- Long grain: typically this is the Uncle Bens type rice and the cheaper domestic rices. Grains fall separately and are slightly harder.
- Basmati: most of the premium rices fall into this category, including all the Asian brands. Complementing Asian food better, rice is slightly more porous and sticky and soft, to allow combining with other ingredients.
- Jasmine: on a similar level to Basmati but with a different flavour. Both cost a little more than long grain, but not so in bulk.
Costs of rice
Bought in bulk, I'd be disappointed with a price of anything over £1/kilo for basmati rice. The cheapest price I've seen so far is 10kg for £6 in Tesco (special offer). Buy it, then store it in a dark cool place. Most of the big bulk packets come complete with a plastic scoop.
How does this translate into meal costs? 100g of rice is definitely more than 100g of pasta or bread. Perhaps it's the pure denseness of it all. Either way, 100g is a good serving. If you're paying £1 a kilo, that's 10p or less (depending on the deal you have).
Probably the only lesson you'll need:
Eating cheaply is definitely possible, but it needs some very good planning.
The reasons why will become clear; but here first let us view the first staple you'll need: Rice. I tend to prefer rice as my primary, go-to carb. It has the following advantages:
1) It can be bought it very big bulk, resulting in extreme economies of scale. I've seen 20kg bags, after which I couldn't carry them.
2) It's cheap. Very cheap in fact, and per meal, probably the best out of any of it's rivals.
3) It's quick to prepare. You can buy a microwave rice steamer and be done with it, safe in the knowledge that you'll have it perfect. Not quite the same for potatoes, which need a lot of preparation (depending on type) or pasta.
4) It has a long, long, shelf date. Keep this in a nice dark place and it's good for a couple of years. This is very important as it means you can make that bulk purchase pay. If you buy bulk of potatoes, they'll be bad after a couple of weeks.
5) No wastage. 1kg of rice means that, unlike potatoes where some is lost in peeling and so forth.
6) Versatile - any extras keep well, can be refried/steamed/microwaved. Very easy to work with.
Rice isn't perfect though, and there are some downsides.
1) It's very bland. It's difficult to eat this on its own without become extremely bored. It needs some things to go with it - preferably several.
2) There are several types to consider. Brown rice is probably the worst one of the wholemeal carbs - very difficult to cook and tough.
3) If not careful about the cooling, rice can develop bacteria which results in upset stomach.
That's it though. Remember that white rice is a staple for most people in the world. If it's good enough for them, it's also good enough for me.
Getting a good deal on rice
The general rule is the bigger you buy, the better value you get. At the bottom of the pile are those microwaveable rice packets (from 49p-£1.49). One serving, very convenient but hugely expensive weight-by-weight. Useful for emergencies.
Next up are the 'boil in the bag', 'Uncle Bens' type thing. These offer better value per weight, but the microwave rice cooker has negated any need for a bag, and still cooks in the same time. I wouldn't buy these at all.
Next we get into the mid-size range - bags which range from 500g - 2kg. The value gets bigger as you go up.
The last range are the massive bags of rice. 3kg - 20kg. Previously only seen at Asian supermarkets, you can now get these all the time at supermarkets. These offer the best value and often there are offers on them. There may be brands you haven't heard from before, but rice is rice. It's often like comparing different brands of bottled water.
Types of rice
Let's not forget the types of rice you can buy:
- Long grain: typically this is the Uncle Bens type rice and the cheaper domestic rices. Grains fall separately and are slightly harder.
- Basmati: most of the premium rices fall into this category, including all the Asian brands. Complementing Asian food better, rice is slightly more porous and sticky and soft, to allow combining with other ingredients.
- Jasmine: on a similar level to Basmati but with a different flavour. Both cost a little more than long grain, but not so in bulk.
Costs of rice
Bought in bulk, I'd be disappointed with a price of anything over £1/kilo for basmati rice. The cheapest price I've seen so far is 10kg for £6 in Tesco (special offer). Buy it, then store it in a dark cool place. Most of the big bulk packets come complete with a plastic scoop.
How does this translate into meal costs? 100g of rice is definitely more than 100g of pasta or bread. Perhaps it's the pure denseness of it all. Either way, 100g is a good serving. If you're paying £1 a kilo, that's 10p or less (depending on the deal you have).
So, what happened?
It's a good question. I recently discovered this blog again after a couple of years (2.5!!) and am going to post again on it as I lost a previous blog. But the tone of the blog will be slightly different, to reflect the changes in life. In a way, reading about this has been pretty cool because it's like an insight to the past.
What are the main changes?
I started the site as a way of saving cash. Back in 2012, I guess I was pretty skint. In fact, I was pretty close to oblivion. What I mean by this is owning your own house and having to sell because you cannot afford to pay the mortgage. At that time the housing market wasn't strong. Today, if it happened, this would not be much of a problem. But that's today. Tomorrow can be a different story, so this is why we all should stay vigilant.
I think that I was perhaps a couple of thousand quid away from biting the bullet and being forced to do shitty jobs to pay the bills. I probably sound like an ungrateful arse but the thought of me working for way below my worth is a sad one.
Anyway, in terms of money, the last two years have been good. I suppose I haven't had to 'need' the blog as much, although I am a natural money saver. Now, times are looking decidedly worse - the loopholes I have been working could be shut at any time. An adverse and unseen result over the summer had also cost me.
The real loss was at the cost of my own mental health. I decided to seek some treatment for affairs and whilst I could say I am not cured as yet, taking the first steps to combat depressive illnesses is the way forward. Writing in my own prose is helpful and going forward I'll dedicate a section of the blog to this. I'll try not to degrade this into mindless ramblings (as I have done on previous blogs).
So how did I do on my previous New Years resolutions?
I love finding lists. One list I found the other day was a list of things to do from 2008. I actually achieved most of them. Sadly this isn't the case for that list. Far too general and not enough detail meant that I floundered. Even the getting up one went by the wayside as my insomnia made some kind of comeback in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
What are the main changes?
I started the site as a way of saving cash. Back in 2012, I guess I was pretty skint. In fact, I was pretty close to oblivion. What I mean by this is owning your own house and having to sell because you cannot afford to pay the mortgage. At that time the housing market wasn't strong. Today, if it happened, this would not be much of a problem. But that's today. Tomorrow can be a different story, so this is why we all should stay vigilant.
I think that I was perhaps a couple of thousand quid away from biting the bullet and being forced to do shitty jobs to pay the bills. I probably sound like an ungrateful arse but the thought of me working for way below my worth is a sad one.
Anyway, in terms of money, the last two years have been good. I suppose I haven't had to 'need' the blog as much, although I am a natural money saver. Now, times are looking decidedly worse - the loopholes I have been working could be shut at any time. An adverse and unseen result over the summer had also cost me.
The real loss was at the cost of my own mental health. I decided to seek some treatment for affairs and whilst I could say I am not cured as yet, taking the first steps to combat depressive illnesses is the way forward. Writing in my own prose is helpful and going forward I'll dedicate a section of the blog to this. I'll try not to degrade this into mindless ramblings (as I have done on previous blogs).
So how did I do on my previous New Years resolutions?
I love finding lists. One list I found the other day was a list of things to do from 2008. I actually achieved most of them. Sadly this isn't the case for that list. Far too general and not enough detail meant that I floundered. Even the getting up one went by the wayside as my insomnia made some kind of comeback in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
Happy New Year 2012
Its about time i wrote. Ive got a new Samsung Galaxy tab which means i can blog from the comfort of my own bed. So instead of creating a new blog i will be using it to detail the resolutions i have made as well as keep a daily diary of progress that i have made, if you can excuse the lack of punctuation.
Here are my resolutions for 2012, i have more, but these are the main ones:
1) Get up at 6am in the morning
Currently I get up at 7am so therefore, one extra hour should be not that much more onerous. I will use this hour to go to the gym, and also study chinese while eating eat. This kills multiple birds with one stone, so am pretty happy with this. I need to pracrice getting up early for an imminent return to the workforce.
2) Take matched betting seriously
Last year, this proved to be pretty lucrative for me but gambling seriously ate into the profits. I will be dedicated this year and hopefully churn out at least a solid 500 a month, which can be used for living expense.
3) Watch finances
Need to take real good care of these. Cutting costs and boosting income is what i want to do.
4) Finish dissertation
Man, its been three years and i need to do it. By March, i will have done it.
5) Get a job
Initially i am looking at part time. I didnt realise just how hard it would be to actually find work. Its kinda like I am the invisible man.
6) Move out
Although I own my own home, moving out would allow me a new start of sorts. But for this, I would need a job, otherwise there is too much risk.
Maybe I could write for a longer period but I am writing on the Tab, which is not as pleasant as a real keyboard. But i will try to document things here on daily basis before I go to bed, almost a review of sorts.
For all those taking on New Years resolutions, good luck with it.
Here are my resolutions for 2012, i have more, but these are the main ones:
1) Get up at 6am in the morning
Currently I get up at 7am so therefore, one extra hour should be not that much more onerous. I will use this hour to go to the gym, and also study chinese while eating eat. This kills multiple birds with one stone, so am pretty happy with this. I need to pracrice getting up early for an imminent return to the workforce.
2) Take matched betting seriously
Last year, this proved to be pretty lucrative for me but gambling seriously ate into the profits. I will be dedicated this year and hopefully churn out at least a solid 500 a month, which can be used for living expense.
3) Watch finances
Need to take real good care of these. Cutting costs and boosting income is what i want to do.
4) Finish dissertation
Man, its been three years and i need to do it. By March, i will have done it.
5) Get a job
Initially i am looking at part time. I didnt realise just how hard it would be to actually find work. Its kinda like I am the invisible man.
6) Move out
Although I own my own home, moving out would allow me a new start of sorts. But for this, I would need a job, otherwise there is too much risk.
Maybe I could write for a longer period but I am writing on the Tab, which is not as pleasant as a real keyboard. But i will try to document things here on daily basis before I go to bed, almost a review of sorts.
For all those taking on New Years resolutions, good luck with it.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Don't Smoke: Giving Up Saves Loads of Money
This is one of the mindless, stupid things you can do if you're on a budget. Even if you're not, the money you save from quitting the fags can be put to superb use virtually anywhere else. The case for giving up smoking gets more and more compelling every year, as the increase in tax on tobacco makes them more and more expensive in real terms.
Nowadays in the UK, it's very rare that 10 cigarettes will cost below £3, which is probably almost double the price things were 10 years ago. And the fact that you smoke more than one a day compounds this. The ease of which you can give up - although it seems difficult at the time - far outweighs any benefits. After a while, you pine for one but can give up, and then after that you rarely think of it, and when you do, you don't even want one and wonder why the hell you did it in the first place.
For me, I was lucky and perhaps only smoked 20 cigarettes in a week. Still, those costs add up fast as you can see here:
Difficulty: 6/10: Sure, giving up is not the easiest thing in the world, and it takes a hell of a lot of willpower. Get Allen Carrs book if you're unsure. Having said that, there are more difficult things.
Savings per week: £6, and that is a light smoker, a heavy smoker may be spending £50 a week on cigarettes.
Savings per year: Anywhere from £300 to £3,000.
Nowadays in the UK, it's very rare that 10 cigarettes will cost below £3, which is probably almost double the price things were 10 years ago. And the fact that you smoke more than one a day compounds this. The ease of which you can give up - although it seems difficult at the time - far outweighs any benefits. After a while, you pine for one but can give up, and then after that you rarely think of it, and when you do, you don't even want one and wonder why the hell you did it in the first place.
For me, I was lucky and perhaps only smoked 20 cigarettes in a week. Still, those costs add up fast as you can see here:
Difficulty: 6/10: Sure, giving up is not the easiest thing in the world, and it takes a hell of a lot of willpower. Get Allen Carrs book if you're unsure. Having said that, there are more difficult things.
Savings per week: £6, and that is a light smoker, a heavy smoker may be spending £50 a week on cigarettes.
Savings per year: Anywhere from £300 to £3,000.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)