"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU Black friday

I have just dropped off the boys and every where is doing black Friday. I got confused has to when it was due to most people having previously black Friday deals in order to make a bob or two. For me personally if I do not need it I tent not to buy it. I have been trying to budget due to not being paid until the 18th December and having to work a month in hand. I am still not 100% use how this will effect my benefits so can not afford to spend money I do not have. I do not have an over draft or a credit card so I am already saving money I also do not pay for may account. What I will do is look at what I may needed and save for it so I can buy it in the new year.

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU Make your own gifts and Decorations this year 2017.

Making your own gifts and decorations this year.

This year now that both of my children are older I am looking at celebrating this year with them for the fist time and to try and teach them the true meaning of the festive season.

For me it is “The Gift of Giving” so we are in the process of doing this and celebrating Yule.

So this year their dad is already underway with making the boys their Yule gift and I am looking at decorating the house and what food and events that we are going to take place.

So it is the 20^th November 2017 and a month before I will be looking at decorating the house and the tree.

So where do I start.?

One of the things that I am looking at is what I have in the house and how I can use what I have instead of buying things new and also about what I can forage from the !!broken!!

One thing that I have been looking at is the following links fro inspiration and Facebook pages and group that I am in.

Cloves

one of the things that I am looking at for The festive season is buying Cloves.

What are Cloves?

Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, Syzygium aromaticum. They are native to the Maluku Islands in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice. Cloves are commercially harvested primarily in Bangladesh, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Cloves are available throughout the year.

Buying them “Fair Trade”

http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/what-is-fairtrade

Beacuse they they are from over seas I am looking at buying them fair trade and to also look at selling them whole sale when I set up my own business. I am looking at selling dried products for making things with in the future. Cloves can be brought al year and can be purchased form any supermarket so why use them them fro the Winter Holidays what makes them so important?

Health benefit can be found by following the links below.

Cloves are a good source of manganese, selenium, magnesium, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin K, dietary fibre and vitamin C.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=69#healthbenefits

http://www.antioxidants-for-health-and-longevity.com/benefits-of-cloves.html

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/cloves.html

What do they have to do with the Winter Holidays?

With cloves coming to the UK from places like Indonesia but the region with the largest production is Zanzibar in eastern Africa; most people know of Cloves being Used in Mulled Wine and Christmas Cake.

Now that the UK is so divested with culture, and traditions it would be nice to see Cloves used more and why not start by using them at this time of the year to decorate the home and in cooking.

Make Cloved Orange: A Regency Pomander

This is the art of using Cloves and Oranges to decorate the home and to give as gifts of family and friends at this time of year. For the history y of Cloved Orange: A Regency Pomander please follow this link below.

https://www.janeausten.co.uk/cloved-orange-a-regency-pomander/

One thing that Make Cloved Orange: A Regency Pomander look like are Chirstingles.

What is Christingle?

Chirstingles is a lighted candle symbolizing Christ as the light of the world, held by children at a special Advent service originating in the Moravian Church.

It is sally on the First Sunday of advent which is a Christian way of celebrating this time of year. You can attend a Christingle celebration at your local church and get a christingel as part of the services whilst collecting money for charity.

Useful Yule recipes./links

http://recipesforapagansoul.weebly.com/yule-dec-21-23.html

https://Wiccan/celtic/akasha/yule.htm

Use full link about Spices

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/grow-to-eat/where-do-christmas-spices-come-from/

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU "Please Sir Can I Have Some More!"

18^th November 2017

“Please Sir can I have some more!”

I know that it may sound silly hearing these words BUT now that you have looked at setting your self a shopping budget, sorted out your benefit entitlements and the best way to shop. IT is now time to think about what to buy.

SO IF you have looked at doing one major shop like most people will do once a month and buying the “stables” when required like bead, milk, eggs, butter and cheeses.

It is time to look at buying items that you should always have in that make up the main part of any meal.

On line shopping

So if you have looked on online shopping which is some thing that I how do it pays to shop around before doing so for the best prices. Know a lot of shops on line will do an online comparison and this is something that you can do when you go into the stores.

Most store's offer an online shop with offer you insensitive shop with them BUT read the small print, most shops will have a minimum spend limit in order to get “free delivery” or deliver at a discount price.

What I have found is that it would cost me about £4.00 to go shopping and use the bus so what I look at an online delivery I try to get my shopping delivered below £4.00 and when the children are in bed.

So at the moment I am using Iceland for all of my frozen and Tesco's for my main shop. I also use ASDA fro all my baby products, Lidi for my veg and fruit and other places when required to do so.

www.iceland.co.uk/

https://www.tescoplc.com/

So like most people I try to shop around and get the best bargains and have found that by setting a budget it as helped to do this.

SO if you chose to do it m=now or in the new year look at a budget and try to stick to it and also look at what shops offer the best option for the main food that you eat and buy,

What should be in your cupboard.

Now for me the following items should always be in the house at all times.

• Oats
• flour
• butter
• eggs
• cheeses
• tomatoes
• salt
• pepper
• sausage
• tea
• coffee
• pasta
• rice
• raisins/mixed dried fruit
• nuts/mixed nuts
• herbs
• spices

Now these are the main things that I always try to have in due to the fact that if you have all of these you can make a number off different dished and survive without having to buy and other food groups especially if you are on a budget and have allow income.

I will do a page of all of the above to say why I think that they are important to have in your home at all times.

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU Oliver! (The Musical) (1968) Food Glorious Food

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU Please sir, I want some more

Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/towjan15-2-issuu/14

Please read this page.https://issuu.com/mortons-digital/docs/towjan15-2-issuu/14

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU A Heathy Start!

7^th November 2017

Now that you have looked to see if you are entitled to Health Start vouchers, you can can a deep breath and know that you can start saving a little money on milk and vegetables which is something that everyone is encouraged to eat more of especially children.

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

Now it is is to think about not just not what to buy but when and where to buy.

Know what to buy but when and where to buy it.

AT this time of year a lot of people tend to spend money they do not have, the credit cards come out and we spend most of next year paying them off. WE buy way to much food and drink and things that we do not really need.

One way to avoid this would be to but gifts thought out the year and out them into storage, re-gift gifts from your re-gift box (we all have one) or just ask people what they would like, want our need.

You could also have a fixed spending budget for each person you are looking at buying for, so make a list or even do a secrete Santa.

This year both of my boys are 3 and 2 so they still do not know what Christmas really is, and so it is down to me and their dad to tell them.

Both me and their dad are not devoured Christians so we celebrate Yule instead of Christmas day. This is our choices and depending on what your family decide to celebrate should be our choice and not due to the pressure you are put on by society to conform and to celebrate Christmas Day.

https://g.co/kgs/TqHbL2

Before Yule we celebrate Samhain

So before buying any thing thing about when you need to buy the items for, when you need them buy and set a budget.

So with Christmas being the next most import day fro people, I lot of people are worried with only two pay days left before the big day. Most people get paid monthly I myself get paid on the 27^th November but this vairies depending on your employers payroll.

So before you can even buy any thing and whip put that credit card set a budget and also talk to out friends and family. Christmas is a time for giving, and sharing the time with friends and family. So if you are sharing Christmas Day with Friends or family make a list fro what needs buying and who is going to buy what.

Christmas usually casts of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so if possible share the three days between your loves ones and do not share these days alone.

You could look a volunteer on these days at a homeless shelter, or with a neighbour, family, friend or something else there is still time to plans.

Now I know some people may work at lest one of those days I use to work all three before I was a mum and know I celebrate more events though out the year for a number of different reasons.

One of the main days that I celebrate is the

Winter Socstice

https://www.bing.com/search?q=Solstice&filters=ufn%3a%22Solstice%22+sid%3a%228429624b-b34b-5f89-ff11-b5cabd7fdfcc%22&FORM=SNAPST and

Epiphany

https://www.bing.com/search?q=epiphany&FORM=AWRE

Speacal offers

At this time of year there area lot of special offer, But remember only buy what you really need, things like chocolates and biscuit are usually gifts that you buy for friend and family and they will usually do the same of you, so think about it. Only buy in one tin, because buy the end of Christmas I always end up with a cupboard full of sweets and treats with an expiration day of at least 6 months on them.

So look around the shops if you have time to do so go on line and remember that if you order off line to check the closing date fro postage. This will be on each website and can also be found on the Royal Mail website to.

Postage

Postage make sure you know what to post if you are posting over seas or in the UK and alslo what the closing day is for ordering on line before Christmas.

https://www.royalmail.com/

So over the next couple of weeks before pay day think about what you need, what you want and where to buy it from.

"Eat Well", "Shop Well" and "Save Well" to HELP take care of YOU Remember Remember the 5th of November

Like most families when it comes to shopping I find it a nightmare epically with two small children in toe, So what I am doing at the moment is setting my self a weekly budget of about £50.00 per week for my major shopping.

Being a single mum on benefits. (not universal credit) I have a fixed income that I have to work with, I also receive Health Start Vouchers which means that I have a fixed amount to spend on Milk and Vegetables per month for my family until my youngest is five.

What I am going to write about this how I have looked at shooing for less and Eating well for less over the next couple of months.

I will explore my options by using local stores that are accessible to me and also by using online options too.

So please feel free to follow my blog(s) and you tube clips.

Firstly I would like to talk about setting a budget.

The first think that I have done is set a budget for myself of £50.00 per week in order to spend on my average weekly shop. Now for me this dose not include milk and vegetables that I can uses my Health Start Vouchers to buy.

So If I manage to stick to my weekly shop of £50.00 per week then I would be spending on average of £2,600 per year on shopping. Now we both know that this is not always the case so my new Years resolution is to keep annual report on my weekly shopping budget.

So over the next two months I am going to research and aim to do this.

Now if I add my Health start Vouchers to this a mouth at £30.00 per month it helps to saves me. £360.00 per year on shopping.

So my budget to aim for on shooing per year is £3,000 if I add any unexpected buys. (Based on one adult and two children.)

Now I know how easy it is to bulk buy and think that you are getting a bargain. But STOP spit back and start from scratch.

Make a shopping list once a week of what you will need and try to stick to it, I know this is easier said than done but try and get into the habit of doing so Also split your week shooing into categories

Likes

Dislikes

wants

needs

desire

food

clothes

luxuries

necessities

toiletries

These are just a few Ideas, because to every thing that you buy needs to be done weekly, there are some things that may only be needed monthly or annually.

So when buying things keep that in mind and also check expiration dates when buying products like food and drink. Also remember that some things this may not apply to and other items like shampoo will usually last you 6-12 months when stored correctly.

When shopping now that you have your list, look at where you could buy these items from and save money buy buying “home brands”, looking at who much things cost weight fro weight, is it really a special offer, coupons and special events.

BUT before you do any of this is IF you can claim Healthy Start Vouchers. This will save you about £360.00 per year on milk and Vegetables.

Please follow the link below for more information.

https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/