SKINT AND FABULOUS RECIPE- LEFTOVER WEDNESDAY PRAWN FRIED RICE

This recipe is especially good, if you have leftovers or are low in stock of food and you are sooo hungry! I always have some rice in the fridge left over and wonder what I could create that is easy, yet healthy and enjoyable?

Then I thought- I have some prawns in the freezer too, why don't I make some fried rice!

It is very cheap to make, yet plentiful!

Ingredients:

1 pack frozen prawns

3 mugfuls brown rice

1 tbsp salt

2 eggs

1 tbsp soy sauce

1. Get 3 mugfuls of rice and wash out the starch before cooking for 20 mins. 
2. Leave to cool down- this will mean it would cook a lot better. If you have some rice in the fridge, you are already halfway there!
3. Heat the wok/large frying pan with a little drizzle of oil and fry up the prawns. If you find that there is water left after cooking the prawns, drain them before adding the rice.
4. Gradually add the rice, and add the eggs into the mix, and stir in. Add salt and soy sauce for flavour.

MONEY FIX: HOW TO CREATE AND STICK TO A BUDGET

With Christmas come and gone, it's all easy to forget about the trauma of buying your loved ones so many presents, as well as prepping for the dinner- until you realise how much you have spent and realise how much you gone into your overdraft/credit card limit and spend the rest of the year paying it all back. I have been guilty of that in the past myself, and for the new year, why not break the vicious money cycle and become more organised and realistic with how much you can afford to spend- you can save a lot of headache later on.

1) Create a savings account, especially for Christmas and Special Occasions
Start up a standing order to come out of your income every week/fortnight/month and by the end of the year you have a nice mountain of money to spend and NOT feel guilty. For example, I try to save £20 a month, and by November I have a decent amount to spend.

2) Create a budget, a realistic one
If there's any time to start streamlining your finances, now would be a good start. Take a look at say, 3 months worth of bank/credit card statements and see where you can make the necessary cutbacks. All those "little treats" you've been having do add up in costs, so if you can, make that treat once a month, or once a week at most.

3) List the names of people who you are buying for and how much money you would spend
This way, you are only buying for those people, and no one else, and you maintain your focus to stay on budget,

4) Buy 3 meaningful gifts for each loved ones and then no more.
You don't need to buy loads of presents- you really don't. One Christmas I spent about £500 on my family members and I don't think they really used all the gifts I got, and I just made myself more broke for no good reason! Just by getting the things they need as opposed to buying in bulk would be better appreciated. If you do have to buy in bulk, at least do it the smart way and buy these things on sale as opposed to buying at the full retail price.

I hope you do find these tips helpful!

Lots of Love,

Ify Katherine

Grocery Shopping Online

Hello!

Today I am going to talk about something that has grown increasingly popular- grocery shopping online.

Whilst I wasn't a fan of this at first, I could appreciate the convenience it had for people, especially those who couldn't get out and about easily, or if you were a big business wanting to do a bulk buy. From my first experience (this was with Asda) I didn't have a good experience, because I didn't have assistance with taking the bags upstairs to my studio flat (which was up 4 flights of stairs, and I was pregnant!), most of my items were substituted, and the fact that I have to spend a minimum of £25 (now £40, by the way) didn't appeal to me and cost me £6 to have it delivered, because at the time I was living by myself and only spent a maximum of £20 a week on my food shopping in person.

Anyway- I moved to an area where there was literally NO big supermarkets, only express shops, which is an expensive way to spend money on food long-term and I couldn't travel to the town centre every week as it was costing me £2.90 a week, and I was 9 months pregnant and was pretty worried that my waters would break in public, so at that time, online was the way to go.

So I curled up on the sofa with my fiancee and browsed Tesco online and was pleasantly surprised- I was able to buy quite a lot of items with the budget I had in mind (as I always bought shop branded) and always had at least £5 left to spend, and saved me £20 every week in comparison to shopping in Tesco express.

Also, the price promise that is going on these days has proven to be a godsend, as they email  you codes on discounts for future purchases, which for Christmas, was very useful, as I had saved £16 in one shop thanks to this.

If you have yet to try out food shopping online, then I will give you my 3 top tips:

Plan ahead

Shopping online can be just as, or even more distracting than shopping in person, as there are deals EVERYWHERE, ready to tempt you into buying things that you don't need, so create a shopping list and a realistic budget.

Select a weekday evening

If at all possible- you could pay at least £1 by doing this, which was much cheaper than travelling to buy the things I need at a bigger supermarket.

Collect points

Get a clubcard and register it- every few months you could get a money off voucher which you can use against other purchases.

I hope you find this helpful!

Ify Katherine xo

Hi There!

Hi guys,

Firstly, thank you for reading my blog, it means a lot!

My main aim is to show that even though you may not have the money to splurge on everything you want, with careful planning and a little bit of patience, you can still enjoy yourself- hence being not only fabulous, but also very happy and more  relaxed!

I wasn't always so conscious with the way I spent my money- I was used to being spoiled, and when I went into further education I didn't get the financial support I wanted, so I made my own money when I was 16 by re-selling clothing on eBay and then when I was 19 I started a business selling customised clothing.

But now, being away from my parent's and having to depend on myself fully, as well as being a mum of a newborn, there isn't much of an opportunity to spend too much money on myself like I used to, but as long as there is money left over to spend on the occasional treat or save for the finer things in life.

This blog will feature ways to save you and your family money, and help you on your way to live a more comfortable life.

Stay tuned,

Ify Katherine xo