Planning for the future or living for the now? Healthy Start information

    Planning for the future or living for the now?  Healthy Start information 

February 2021 Re posted with edits 08/08/2022

Over the next couple of weeks I am looking at different ways to shop for the food that I need for my family and loved ones. At the moment I still get help due to Covid 19 and my children being homed schooled due to being on benefits. I also still Claim Health Start vouchers.

Again I keep saying that this is wrong and that the government should allow very parent in the UK to claim Healthy start vouchers for their children up until the age of 4. After all these vouchers are for your child and to help support and promote healthy eating.

Down falls of Healthy Start Vouchers now that they are a card from 2022.

Not being able to be used on line and only in person.

Only a selected number of places will take these vouches., card from 2022.

You can also only use them on selected items still so do not cater for vegans or vegetarian milk options.

You can get the money from an ATM or pay in store using chip and pin.

Not every child is entitled to them.

For pregnant mother and children under 4 but not every women and child due to government guidelines.

All of the full detail of how to claim and what you can use them for are in the link below.

www.healthystart.nhs.uk

So what about those of use who are still shopping on line because of Covid 19 and using online shopping as a new way to still shop?

Over the past 5 years I have used shops that I know and trust. But last year I have to think outside that box because these could not deliver.

This year I am doing the same and looking at different places to but fresh organic food locally for my family.

Yes I get healthy start voucher what works out at about £30.00 per month off my major shop, but I will only get these for any other few months. So I am looking at were these I can shop and try and save money now.

If you look online you can find information and I have include the links below.

However I find that shopping your self is the best way to find what works for you.

Useful link(s)

Best veg boxes 2020: Get fresh produce delivered straight to your door | The Independent

18 Best Food Subscription Boxes | London Evening Standard | Evening Standard

October 2021 Nest Egg Ideas, should I have for the future?

October 2021 Nest Egg Ideas, should I have for the future?

This is a question at I often ask me self and one that every month I try to think about.

You can not go a day without hearing something about saving and investments.

Most of the time adverts are about death and life after death, for your family and loved ones.

They are about planning for your referment and also your funeral.

For me personal may saving and investment adverts never seam to be about the now.

When Covid 19 hit everyone was effect in one way or another.

In many ways those with saving and investments that could not be easy accessed or liquidated into cash I believe struggled the most.

It was these people who may have had to have made the decision about keeping their savings and investments and not looking at claiming government aid or seeing if they could "cash out" so they could.

This was due to the basic rule that if you had savings/investments over £6,000 you could not claim benefits from the government during lock down.

What a believe is that a lot of people forget about the now!

Yes in the past I did look at the future, I looked a ISA's, Help to buy my first home property schemes, yet they all seamed to have a lot of red tape wrapped around them.

So for me they where like the perfect Christmas gift, but it was like playing the "Chocolate game to get it"

Now the chocolate game for those who do not know what it is is this.

You have a block of chocolate wrapped up on a table.

To get to it you need to roll a six on a die.

You them need to put on a hat

Put on a scarf

Put on a pair of gloves

You them must run/walk over to the table that is about 3 feet away froj you.

You then must use the knife and folk to open the warped up chocolate with.

In the mean time everyone else's who is playing the game, can take it in turns to roll a six on the die too.

If they roll a six you must hand over every thing to them so that they can try to open the chocolate , you have to go back and start all over again.

Once the cholate is opened you are only allowed to eat one piece at a time, in full.

I have played this game may times ion my childhood, the winner is the one who gets to eat the last piece of chocolate and they won a full bar.

So in many ways it paid to not get a six and to let everyone else do all of the hard work for you.

Another game was a flour hill with a chocolate on top.  For this one you had to make sure that the chocolate ever fell, if it did you have to eat it.  So a bit like life, being a house of cards so to speak.

So one thing that I posted "gear change." was making sure that before anything else's that maybe you look at your budget first.

I try to do this once a month, and then if you have time look at how to save money, cut bill costs, spending costs and then maybe savings and investments.

One website that I do use and have found to be helpful is I have listed below along with some others.

https://www.gov.uk/

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/d-budget-sheet.pdf

Good luck.

HEALTHY START VOUCHERS

If you have been laid off from work or have no work due to being on a zero hour contract then please check to see if you can claim Healthy Start Vouchers to buy fruit and vegetables for your children.

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

With your kids being out of school then you may be able to get a bit more financial support via the Pupil Premium scheme.

If you have been laid off from work or have no work due to being on a zero hour contract then please check to see if you can claim Healthy Start Vouchers to buy fruit and vegetables for your children.