Nearly November; Friendly Frugaleers Navigating (K)nitting, Nattering and Nuturing our Pennies

[WereWolfcub]

New thread. Happy end of October/Early November frugaleering. All welcome we are a friendly bunch

6 pages already!

Yay for the garden! Looks so lovely and gets a decent whack of sunshine, perfect 😍

Had three different grocery shops today. Tesco delivery. Asda this morning to get the lunch stuff (plenty left over, didn’t have time to come back and assemble sarnies etc so it was stuff like cheestrings which are a treat for them due to the fact I usually refuse to buy them!) and some batch cooking stuff as the sausages - gluten free Heck on offer - arrived this morning. Then, Asda on the way home as I forgot the chorizo needed for said batch cooking 🤦‍♀️ Also bought some more Tupperware. I now have 10 big and 10 small I think. Will give them all a quick wash before starting to cook stuff. Doing two types of sausage stew (one tomatoey to have with rice, one gravy based with potatoes in)

Then doing another Tesco shop for tomorrow with remainders of birthday tea/cake etc, plus more batch cooking stuff which I’ll do on Friday (Bolognese and chilli, the Caglets don’t eat the latter but DH and I can)

The plan is coming together! We didn’t get to talk much though at lunch as the baby was very much awake. She had her first “kids meal” as it was crudités/hummus, pizza and banana for under £4 in prezzo. Cheaper really than getting a grown up side of veg, potatoes and that kind of thing. Plus it meant I got all my pasta to myself :o £10.25 total as we had clubcard vouchers.

For me the online shopping is all about the convenience, I don’t mind paying a little more for it. The Lidl here is shit, sadly, I have had a fair few things from there that are mouldy and I no longer bother. Aldi is 2 buses really (if carrying lots of shopping I wouldn’t manage the walk back from town) and although I get all bus travel free, it wouldn’t be worth it in terms of time and energy used IYSWIM.

That said I definitely need to make it “work harder” for me ie be more organised with the meal plan etc. Thinking same meals on the same nights and maybe just having one day a week when we cook something different. Boring but needs must.

Yeah just dump salt on them and brush it into the cracks everywhere else.

The rain will take it down.

Thanks! I’ll get on it!

Oh Cagli I definitely agree about LIDL and Aldi. We get nappies and wipes from there but that's it.

The 'fresh' veg goes rotten within days unless you time it right. There was a local story here where a woman got some bratwurst sausages from the Aldi in town, stuck them in the pan and all these tiny worms started squirming out of it! Poor woman's been put off sausages for life.

Sometimes the stuff is great. But more often than not, it's awful. I find it more expensive shopping there because I have to throw it away too quickly!!

ALDI is great for tins, cleaning stuff and frozen meat/veg. Anything else though is pants! Ultimately, I can't be assed with it though... I like the hassle free delivery experience 😂😂

ememem84 lovely garden! I'd have a little veg plot there too if I were you it all sounds great!

warmleatherette I think online grocery shopping is so worth it. I also find I spend less because I'm not impulse buying.

I find Aldi fine. £55 for a weeks shopping for four of us. The only annoying thing is they don't do lentils.

em those are your first posts for a while where you sound much more like "you" (utterly stupid to even say that, you I hope you know what I mean). I'm so happy you sound up and happy.

I'm loving your garden, easy size, and you're going to have such fun in there in the spring when ds will be tearing about into everything, no hard steps or odd slopes, so super safe for him too. Catface will be beside herself too.

I'm not putting up my spends today!! Nothing unexpected, but did get the christmas pj's (dd1 picked hers!), and enough so that my sainsburys reciept states I saved £33 on Tu! Several christmas bits, a couple of holoweeny clothes too. I got 4 rolls of wallpaper, 2 tins of silk and a gloss in homebase. Can return any of the wallpaper as I have no idea how far it will go.

Popped to lidl, tescos, b&q and hobbycraft, and picked up my £4 argos raven, he's lovely.

And dd1 had her braces off!! Her teeth are so lovely. Back on friday to pick up the night retainers (like a set of invisalign thingies), and they have bonded retainers to the back of her teeth. So pleased. £1200 very well spent imho.

Twirling back into frugal land after a gap of quite some time... Not actually sure how long, but guessing years!

Definitely had to give up main job now so income is taking a dive and we still have debt. It's all a bit of a mess and I need to keep myself on the budget straight and narrow. I have fibro and I'm still struggling to know my limits which does impact my income.

I thought I would return to the thread for some moral support. I tried to set a grocery budget for October, but have gone over it. Groceries are definitely a bit issue for me in terms of spends. I have also set my very first Christmas budget and I am determined to stick to it. I am awful at twitching and buying just another thing.

I will be having a read through and catching up. My aim is to kill some debt in 2019 and start to manage my income from self employment better. I also want to have a proper declutter of the house and just generally get a grip.

There was a local story here where a woman got some bratwurst sausages from the Aldi in town, stuck them in the pan and all these tiny worms started squirming out of it! Poor woman's been put off sausages for life.

I shop Lidl but the veg can be a bit rubbish. I'm working between them and Tesco.

Hi kinky I recognise your name, I have been on the threads a long time but was fuzz pig before. I also have fibro. It’s expensive having unpredictable conditions isn’t it!

I saw a photo just today of a dead mouse found in a pack of Lidl rice 🤔 can never tell if they’re genuine photos though TBF

Can’t believe the baby turns one tomorrow. Must wrap her pressies so she can enjoy the paper 🙄she’s just got 4 little bits from PlanToys

That's great Cag. It's amazing to think she's one already. I was just thinking this morning about that day when you told us she was on the way. How weird to think that that's nearly two years ago.

Ds and I have just been reading MN Classics and laughing until we can hardly breathe. Hilarious.

It must really vary from store to store as I don't recognise any of that for either the Lidl or Aldi here. I think Asda fruit and veg is way worse. Having said that I usually buy my fruit from M&S Morrisons but find the veg to be ok.

Can I join you? Not been on here in ages, but despite feeling like I work all hours, I seem to have almost no money coming in and big bills going out, so I need to be a bit careful with where the money goes.

Only spending today was on necessary travel and food.

£8.50 Tesco. Milk. Bread. Croissants. Crisps and wine. I need wine.

Em that’s a lovely sunny garden

Cag I saw that picture too. The mouse was well embedded so I thought pretty genuine but grim.

Just to add in my 2p, we have 3 Aldi's and a Lidl. I love them. Never had crappy fruit and veg, as I choose carefully. Meat gets eaten that day, rest goes straight in the freezer. Bills are massivley lower when I shop there with a list!

Currently doing a monthly online asda shop for all dry goods, cleaning, toiletries and pet food, and top up in said aldi or lidl inbetween. Daily milk from the local co-op. My food budget is £600/m for 6 people (4 adult sized, two with hollow legs), 2 dogs, cat etc. I used to easily spend double that, when I was sniffy about the budget shops.

Just eating German christmas marzipan log from lidl...it's divine!

Get the on line shop then warm.
Nice garden em
Hello new and returners

Nsd today again but have to do a top up tomorrow.

Defo money well spent lonely on dd teeth.
Pleased you got a car sorted love .

Meal planning is my nemesis too. I could find the site mentioned above though.

We have 3 Aldi and a Lidl here. I use Aldi the most as Lidl isn't convenient. Fruit and veg has got better in them but I still don't but in the huge amounts I would in Sainsbury's. It balances itself out in the end.

Evening all 😊

Great garden em 😍 you will soon wonder how you managed without outside space!

I have an aldi 5 mins from us, the fresh stuff is fine ime. I struggle with the lack of veggie and dairy free stuff for dd though, have to go to morrisons for that. I love aldi bread and it can't be beaten on price of tins, jars, pasta etc. fluffy tins of tuna would be cheaper at aldi.

Busy day at work another nsd though.

Have we lost snuggly ?

lonely I’m feeling more upbeat today. It’s helped having to get up and help dh.

I think it's just our area 😂 and of course their booze is really rather good 😃😃

Hello newbies.

Spends today £13.33 in lidl
Getting ready for movie night.
Hope everyone had a good day

Spends

Around £200 in dunelm (indoor brush, pegs, peg bag, bath mat x2, method washing up liquid, cute jar for earl grey tea, kitchen compost bin, curtains for our room, curtains for ds’ room and curtain poles x2)

And £50 on eBay on a vintage distressed Persian rug. For livin g room.

Plastering. Done.