Following on from the brilliant what have you cut back on thread

[creamwitheverything]

I read with intrest allthe things people have cut back on or found alternatives for,from insurance to butter.Now what I would like to know is what have you changed due to the cost of living that hasnt quite worked?! For me it was Farmfoods! I decided to try it to save money and everything i bought was horrid!! £66 wasted..so over to you what hasnt worked like you hoped it would?!

DH isn’t allowed in Lidl by himself. He spends £100 and only comes out with chocolate, stroop waffles, and a welding machine.

I’m going to add cheap Deitchman shoes for kids. We got some after lockdown because Clarks hadn’t had any deliveries in DCs size so we picked some suitable robust looking school shoes up in there instead. They didn’t even last three days before they were unusable, not just scruffy, completely and utterly broken.

Aldi Dairyfine whole nut chocolate. I’ve just thrown chocolate away for the first time in my life. I’ve never tasted anything so disgusting 🤮

Tried to get my dog to eat Tescos own brand dog food but she wasn’t having any of it. Ended up donating it to the rescue charity that I got her from me going back to the pricey stuff.

I am going to cancel Sky at the end of our contract in August so I think that saving will pay for the posh dog food.

Aldi/ Lidl own brand cat food. They don’t like it, and I don’t like the smell. Back to whiskas for my pampered pusscats.

Love this 😂

Aldi cheap chicken and dishwasher tablets. Both disintegrate to nothing.

Everything else in aldi has been great though.

Did you try lidls premium one? Still cheap, nutritionally good.

Fruit and veg from Lidl/Aldi. I swear sometimes it’s on the turn by the time I unpack the shopping.

Lidl hand wash. False economy, I need to do 3 pumps instead of 1

Great idea for a thread. I agree with @thefirstmrsrochester soft fruit from Aldi or Lidl - there's always a few furry blueberries/raspberries hiding behind the label. I end up chucking them - such a fade economy

Tinned fruit (peaches/pears/cherries) on cereal instead

Try the choceur hazelnut next time.

I've never had issues with Aldi veg. No Lidl near us so I don't know.

Aldi pom bear equivalent - the kids won't touch them.

Iceland food. Except for the branded stuff.

Will keep my eyes peeled @userxx - thx for the tip.

I've got to be honest- I've done the Aldi/Lidl thing so many times and always end up with at least several things that my H finds ranging from utterly awful to simply not good. I've gone back to mainly Waitrose and M&S and a bit of farm shop as there are only 2 of us and I just plan more carefully and waste a lot less, plus a lot of yellow stickers and freezing.

I have a Blue Light card, so thought I’d try it in Asda as it’s currently 10% discount with it. I normally shop at Aldi.

my nearest big one is a 20 min drive each way and I’ve not been there for a few years. It took me nearly 1 1/2 hrs as I didn’t know where anything was - I must have walked up and down each aisle twice. I was knackered, took 2 1/2 hrs in total and although I saved 10%, as both ds”s have now left home, for the £10 monthly saving, it’s personally not worth the time and effort.

but I’ve discovered Oddbox. I’ve bought a small weekly box for 2 of us and you get loads of fresh fruit and veg delivered in a box. It’s all stuff which is too small/big/odd shape or there’s a surplus of it.

I find all the Aldi snack rite crisps
To be on the stale side

I decided I would save money by cutting my own hair. It looks absolutely dreadful. (In lockdown my mum did it for me, but she has since died so I thought I’d have a go myself… I’m rubbish at it.)

I also decided I would teach my kids to enjoy more vegetarian meals to save money on meat, but it seems to have backfired and my DS now wants meat with everything. He even asked for a slice of ham with his Shreddies yesterday (he is only 3 and quite strange at times).

aldi loo soft loo roll,. not so soft, has shrunk in size, need more sheets. asda shades, can use two or three sheets where you might use three to five with aldi.

Strawberries- I decided to buy the cut price ones. Horrible.

Balsamic vinegar. I have the £16 Waitrose stuff and yes yes it's pricey but one bottle lasts me months and months. I came to the end of it and thought 'all balsamic vinegar must be very similar. I'll save some money!' and I bought the £3 bottle. Horrible. Really acidic so that was a false economy.

Any other apple than Pink Lady's. I end up binning them so there's no point.

Any other Greek yogurt that isn't Total.