Juggling July - Frugaleering into Summer

[roguepixie]

New thread for everyone here.

[SpangleMaker]

Thatsinteresting sending positive vibes for your pet.

NSD for me personally although DH ordered wallpaper etc for house at a cost of £170. This is what we are saving for, though, and is already budgeted for so I will still sneakily claim a NSD. Should also have a NSD tomorrow as working away and on expenses, though I need to order some expedit storage from IKEA that we couldn't fit in the car on Sunday. By the way, I recommend pre-school DC as a spending deterrent

[loopyloou]

fluffy, I'm wondering if I might save more, carrying on with online shopping as I won't be tempted to buy things I can't afford and can keep track of how much I spend. Ideally I need to spend as little as possible as who knows how long DH will be out of work.

[AdoraBell]

Moré good vibes for your cat Thatisintersting

Spent 5 quid today on milk, only 1 litre as OH hasn't coughed up cash yet and therefore can't expect his yoghurts, 4 packs of pasta on offer and a big pack of crisps for a shared snack in school, then fresh bread that DDs like from a road side vendor.

[jaabaar]

Hi

We are a family of 3. Me and dh with 3 year old dd.

How much should we be able to spend maximum on food per week? Is 50 feasible?

I cook all from scratch and also freeze.

Thanks for any opinions

[AdoraBell]

Grr, DD1 has broken her turtle's tank. I can't make her pay for a replacement as she's getting stressed about being in debt. Not sure now How much they are but I'll to Get one Tomorrow.

Hi jaabaar and welcome, do you know yet How much you can afford for food? I'm not up to date with UK prices but the other people on here will help you. Have you looked at blogs and websites? I'm thinking a girl called Jack, sorry can't remember the right ñame to link, or something like //lovefoodhatewaste another MNer has a blog, I think it's Austerity Blog. Sorry I can't do moré, will leave you in the hands of the experts

[KinkyDorito]

Signing in.

[KinkyDorito]

agirlcalledjack.com/

There's the link!

[Fluffycloudland77]

Do a weekly shop in Aldi and see the price difference Loopy. Or don't cos newbies clog the till up.

I have the till down to a fine art, the cashier can't keep up with my packing.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Jaabar, £50 in aldi is very doable if you cook from scratch. I usually come out at £30 in there and £2.76 for cat food in sainsbos.

[wheredidiputit]

Jaabaar

clickable link for lovefoodhatewaste, for England.

What type of food do eat I would say it is possible unless you have expensive tastes. Does that include cleaning/household products.

[wheredidiputit]

I also picked this amazing meals for £2.50 per person from the book people. It full of money saving tips as well.

[daisychicken]

Hi, can I join in? Complicated but DH was sort of made redundant and is now working for himself... he's got work but we don't know how long for. We are living in our overdraft - I'm trying hard to get back to black but with the unknown wage it's hard.

I'm not a spender, apart from the kown bills, ds1 has a karate course and grading this weekend (£87), ds2 has a party to attend (£5?), I have 2 birthdays (might be able to just do a card for one) this month plus a craft day out for me (£7.50) and I'm supposed to be meeting friends for coffee (£2). Obviously I may change my commitments but would like to keep them if I can.

I spent £36 yesterday - postage, toilet rolls (poundshop stock up once a month or so as cheaper than Lidl ), cereal (stocking up as I only shop in Tesco approx 1-2 month to pick up what I can't get in Lidl) and drink yogs for kids lunch boxes.

I need to get some veg and milk today but otherwise living out of the freezer. I'm low carb'ing and would really like to continue esp as I don't get hungry whereas when I have carbs I'm constantly hungry...

[daisychicken]

Just wanted to add loopylou that I manage to keep food budget for 4 down by mainly shopping in Lidl, that's with meat - we look for the offers and stock up if we can ie I have mince in the freezer that I bought when it was £1 a pack and I'm currently looking for chicken to be on offer. "Simply mince" in lidl is £3 for a double pack.

The poundshop is worth looking at for loo rolls - I got packs of 6 branded loo rolls for 97p each yesterday. Depending on what toiletries/cleaners you use, it's worth checking them out and I've bought cereal bar packs etc there for lunch boxes.

I often write my list, then price it up at say Tesco then visit poundshop, lidl etc and buy cheaper stuff there before going to Tesco ( hence knowing what I need at Tesco on my 1-2 a month visit).. hth x

[OodPi]

Hi,
Can I join please? I've lurked on others but need motivation to cut back further as I'm extending my maternity leave.
We are a family of 6. Aiming for £100 a week for food , ds isn't weaning yet but I'm dairy free on his behalf so trying to find cheap/nice foods is a challenge (1L ice cream £6!).
Majority of shopping is done in market & health food shop topped up by an online order once a month.

[roguepixie]

Morning All. Welcome to all the newbies.

Yesterday was £30.00 on fruit and veg from the stall but that will keep us going for a week. Will need to get some milk and cheese later in the week but think I may be able to delve into the freezer for the rest. If I can I will need to visit the butcher next week to restock on meat.

Will need to put £15 on DS's oyster today or tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow so today can be NSD. We'll see.

[ExasperatedSigh]

Welcome new frugaleers! :)

[loopyloou]

Hi jaabaar, we are also a family of three, my DD is 12 yrs, I'm hoping to cut our shopping to about £50-60 a week. I cook from scratch too except for sometimes oven chips My DH has just lost his job so I have to cut down on all our spending as we don't know how long he'll be out of work

Where do you shop at the moment?

I'm going to check out Aldi - actually went down there briefly today, only bought an unsmoked gammon joint though as I have plenty of food until the weekend.

I've been mainly doing online shopping, which I like because I can see how much I'm spending and if it gets too high I can take any "luxuries" out of my shopping basket. tbh I think I'll probably get the odd thing from Aldi that looks good/is cheap and carry on with my online shopping from Asda, as I can get a late night delivery for only £3.00 and buy their basic range for most things.

I've got in the habit of buying Andrex loo roll, anyone know if Aldi toilet roll is any good or even if it is cheaper elsewhere? I don't have a Lidl nearby.

[loopyloou]

daisychicken unfortunately we don't have a Lidl nearby, our nearest is so far away, and out of the way of anywhere we need to go, it would be ridiculous to go there.

Been to Aldi this morning, spent about £5 on a small joint of gammon and a bottle of cider to cook it in and a pack of chocolate digestives! Then another £3 at the post office as had to post some letters - all second class though

Luckily I seem to have a house full of cleaning products and toiletries so won't need to buy those for a while.

fluffy I promise I won't clog up the tills at Aldi - my son who works there has given me strict instructions and lessons

[OodPi]

Bollocks. Didn't resist the green grocers this am. £4.20 on fruit ( 1lb gooseberries to snack on , 1/2lb cherries, couple of Sharon fruit, bag of tomatoes) plus 80p at toddlers.
That's it for today though as long as I avoid eBay

[Thatsinteresting]

Our pet didn't make it. The vet made a mistake. Dh went to collect the body and said I presume they'll be no charge for this? There was, apparently, a bit a discussion that resulted in him saying that in a nutshell we gave you our pet, you fucked up and now it's dead so they then agreed not to charge us. Dd is sad and so am I. Bought ice cream as small consolation.

I've skimmed over thread. I have found Aldi great because there's so little choice. If you want strawberries you buy strawberries. You don't look at basics, average and finest which are all different weights and prices and all on different offers making it virtually impossible (unless you really do have all dsy) to see which is the best value. I do a big monthly shop at Aldi then visit Sainsbury's or Tesco for the missing bits. I used to shop online but I find this way much cheaper.

[wheredidiputit]

I'm so sorry about your pet thatsinteresting. that the vet practice wanted to charge you. Well done your Dh for not paying.

I think your right about Aldi although I don't use them myself as they are over the other side of town and I don't have a car to get there.

[OodPi]

Sorry to hear about your pet interesting :(

[loopyloou]

So sorry about your pet thatsinteresting, can't believe the vet wanted to charge you. Glad your DH stood his ground.

Just done an online shop to be delivered Sunday, £45 incl delivery at Asda for 34 items, hopefully will feed the three of us all week.

[daisychicken]

Sorry to hear about your pet interesting

loopylou aldi is supposed to be as good as lidl - might be worth a try just one week? A friend of mine often visits supermarkets at around 8pm, she often gets fab bargains - she generally out at that time of evening though whereas I'm boarding up windows and doors to hibernate till morning so would really struggle to get there

Spent £38 today - mostly veg plus milk, pizza's ("play date" tea), bread (reduced otherwise I'd have made our own) and some meat on offer for a treat tea for me & DH). I also got 2 radiator airers in that spend - I have 2 already but really needed a couple more (we have floor airers but struggle for floor space & only DH can lift the Sheila maid) but £5.98 will last us years - the current 2 are at least 6 years old.

[roguepixie]

So sorry to hear about your pet thatsinteresting.