In 2017 I made the decision to walk away from a job I loved to realise the dream of writing my own blog. I was so fortunate that Neil supported my decision and also agreed that in the short term we could manage without my wage. However, four years on, Neil is getting close to retirement age (!!) and it’s time to reassess our financial situation.
I love my current ‘work’ set up. And the flexibility to be on hand for my dad should he need me, is priceless and something I’ve appreciated so much and never take for granted. However, I always knew that this current situation was only possible if we had enough cash coming into the house.
It’s been a real luxury to have had the opportunity I’ve had, but it’s now time to look at ways I can do things better to improve my financial situation. And here are the two main plans I’ve come up with.
1. Budget better
Our biggest expenditure has always been on food and the amount we spend has shot up over the years. When me and Neil first got married, we somehow managed to feed ourselves on a budget of £25 a week. Of course, that was a while ago, and over time I’ve fallen out of the habit of monitoring what we spend on food and really need to get back on it!
So last week, before randomly ordering things on the weekly Tesco shop, I checked out what we had in the fridge, freezer and cupboards first. I then worked out a main meal menu for the week and only ordered the additional bits and bobs we needed. Straight away this saved a few quid.
As well as saving money, jotting down a weekly main meal menu, made me consider more about what we should eat. Seeing our meals written down, also helped balance the variety and basic nutritional values.
I only plan to jot down a weekly menu for our evening meals, as I don’t feel we go too mad on food expenditure for the rest of the day. Me and Neil tend to have cereal for breakfast (I’m a huge fan of Tesco gluten free fibre flakes) and I often have a slice of gf toast with a coffee for a mid-morning snack. My lunches are completely random, from leftover curry and veg, filled jacket potatoes, beans or anything else I fancy on toast, cheese and crackers with salad bits and gf chutney and so on. Mid-afternoon I like to have a generous serving of chopped fresh fruit (I also love tinned fruit), with yoghurt and a handful of walnuts. When it comes to my grub, I don’t do bad at all!
I thought you may like to have a glance at our very first week’s main meal plan for 2022:
Pasta with homemade tomato, onion and garlic sauce served up with grated parmesan (I make the sauce using the same recipe I use for my gluten free pizza topping)
Sausage, stuffing and apricot slice, with diced roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes (this was a little culinary experiment, which needs more work!)
Pan fried fish, homemade oven chips and peas
Cheese and onion quiche, with jacket potato and a mixed salad (I used my gluten free quiche Lorraine recipe but without bacon and I added more cheese)
Pizza. Yay a night off from cooking. This week it’s a gluten free goodfellows pepperoni pizza
Chicken curry (probably be using this recipe by Chetna Makan. It’s delicious)
Beef and vegetable casserole, mash potatoes and buttered cabbage
All the meals I’ve listed are gluten free. On pizza night, Neil has a standard pizza which he bakes and keeps well aways from mine. To ensure I don’t waste anything I’ll switch meals around to work with the use by dates. I know it’s only week one, but it feels good to have a plan of action in place, which will hopefully not only save us money, but will also encourage us to eat better.
2. Monetize my blog
I’m anything for an easy life (call me a tad lazy) and could quite happily potter on sharing recipes with you and writing my blog for sheer pleasure. But unfortunately this is no longer an option, as I now need to either generate an income from my site or go back out into the big wide world to work!
Although it’s taken me a while, I’ve now got enough people visiting my site to generate an income (thank you!). And whilst there are various ways of monetising a blog, I will initially be focusing on the following…
Affiliate links
I’m going to sign back up with the Amazon Associate program (I have been an associate before but unfortunately didn’t generate enough sales within the qualifying period). I’m going to also explore other companies that I’d like to work with on affiliate programmes.
Affiliate links will give me an opportunity to promote things on my site that I like. I would receive commission on qualifying purchases but without any additional cost to the you. I will always give you a heads up when a post includes affiliate links.
Collaborations and partnerships
I’m keen to work with companies I believe in, whether that be sponsored posts or creating recipes using their products.
Adverts
My YouTube channel is slowly heading towards the magic number of subscribers and views needed for me to receive payment for adverts that are shown on my channel, which is great. I also plan to offer up advertising space on my website to companies that inspire and thrill me.
Well, that’s my two main plans for 2022. I do hope you approve. Thanks for reading.
For now,
Liz x
You are doing amazing buddy xx
You’re a little love buddy!xxx
Sounds like a great start to financial success. Unfortunately the bills don’t pay themselves. Thank you for all your hard work. Great goto site for gluten free recipes and inspiration. All the best Elizabeth x
Thank you so much!xx