Breaking the Tesco habit. Day 7...

[BrummieOnTheRun]

Two things kicked off this experiment:

1. A growing discomfort at donating almost our entire household budget (and some) to a retailer I feel more and more dubious about. A documentary on their food quality was the nail in that particular coffin.

2. An urgent need to cut the household budget!

But can I boycott Tescos - one of the cheapest retailers - AND reduce our spending? Hmmm.

Day 1: go to Neville's shop. Asked why veg box hasn't arrived as ordered. Neville tells me he's been burgled by kids and they've cleaned out a lot of stock and the money he had on the premises. Neville's nearly 70. He looks like he's been floored. Wonder what would happen if we all just channelled a proportion of our spending to people like Neville. He gives me a free real nappy to try and we have a nice chat!

Next day, run out of washing up liquid. Go to local corner shop. And buy...washing up liquid. NOTHING ELSE!! That's a first.

Over the week have shopped at about 7 different stores and stalls for things I'd have bought exclusively from Tescos. 2 were a complete rip off, with food that went off immediately. But found a couple of stars.

There's no way I could do this if I was working full time. Wish more small shops would do home delivery.

Gave in and went to Tescos on B/Holiday. Bad planning.

But at the end of the week:

• Our bins, for the first time EVER, are not overflowing on collection day.

• We seem to be almost completely vegetarian, which is difficult because we don't eat pasta/bread much. good meat is far too expensive, and not sure i trust local butcher.

• I've used cash almost exclusively. That wasn't the plan but I now think me and DH should start setting a weekly budget in cash and stop using debit cards.

• I don't know yet if we've spent less money, but we've definitely wasted less.

But now I have to load 2 kids + baby into the car to go and find nappies. They would normally have arrived on the back of their own lorry with guilt-ridden regularity.

And next week will be a challenge. The big stuff - washing powder, dishwasher powder, shampoos, etc - are running out. Tesco very cheap for this stuff. Do I give in and give them my money, or spend more money somewhere else? Hmmmm....

I admire you this and would love to be able to totally boycot Tesco. I do try a lot though.

As for the nappies have you thought of real nappies?

Go to Wilkinson's for wash powder, shampoo, cleaning stuff etc - cheaper than Tesco, and apparently nice place to work for.

Or Poundland.

Food Weighouse are good for washing powder etc, and have far less packaging as you just scoop what you want into a bag.
The owner of ours is great and takes all the stuff to the car for me.

Go to Lidl.

yes, Pixiefish, I have.

I ruled them out because 3 shaped nappies fill a wash! Total exaggeration, but you know what I mean. And also with a 3.5yr old, 1.5yr old and 11 week old, the washing is already horrific!

However, Neville gave me one of the pre-folds and think I will buy more.

Have been substituting 1 or 2 disposables a day for real nappies...and it's very manageable! Only a small gesture but still 20% reduction I guess. Will build up if I can cope.

I would love to do this too but I don't know if it would be practical.

We get throught about 60 bananas and 40 appleas a week plus oranges and fruit in a grocers it would cost a fortune.

Tegan, i've found the local greengrocers (and especially markets if you can find one) tend to be much cheaper than Tescos. I always bought into the "no one beats tescos on price" theory, but they're not on fruit/veg.

maybe the fresh food is where they make their money?

Tks for recommendations on places for household cleaning things. Was stumped on that one.

I'll second that the greengrocers is just as cheap/cheaper for fruit and veg than Tesco

Markets so much cheaper for fruit and veg - if you are anywhere near Leicester it is worth the trip to the fruit and veg market!

you could prob cut donw on cleaning things if you stuck to more natural things like vinegar and bicarb - have a look at the green threads to ideas. I use mostly vinegar dilulted down now instead of limescale remover , also use for nappies 0 can get a big container from Walmart oops Asda over ehre

our local greengrocer was a right old grumpy git. Closed down about 6 months ag o , no surprise there, but do wish there was another one

small aside - Brummie check with you local council on the real nappy front, the ones given away by ours was the prefold style nappies

I've heard of wilkinsons on mumsnet, but not seen one locally. Treating your employees well is something I feel strongly about. Tesco made £2bn profit, didn't it, but the people working for them will be struggling to pay their rent/mortgages and childcare.

I lost all my socialist ideals when I had kids, but that isn't right.

On the lidl thing, I don't know! I think I'd get sucked into buying everything from them, being a fundamentally lazy cow. I really want to give the 'supporting local / specialist' businesses a go. I'm giving it a month. We'll see...

Still, I'm drinking less! No £3.50 deals on vino!

thanks katz! fab tip.

Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, local greengrocers (don't buy much meatbut use butchers). I haven't been to Tescos or Asda for for shopping for months. and my food bills have all reduced.

Where are you BOTR?

Agree with others.... local markets are much, much cheaper for fruit and veg than Tesco. And I find the oranges are much better quality too. Our Weighhouse shop closed down recently, but it used to be brill for washing powder and basics. Also, Wilko is cheapest for shampoo, conditioner, shower gel etc.

I am trying hard to use Tesco less too.

I won't shop at Tesco for personal family reasons, but on top of that if they are not stopped we will have no choices left. Read 'Shopped'. They may be cheaper now becuase they want to get you in, but when they have killed off all the opposition they have you over a barrel don't they...

hana - you are totally right about cleaning materials. we anti-bac everything 'just in case' even though I believe it's detrimental to kids immune system.

we also use tons of kitchen towel instead of cloths for hygiene reasons. have knocked that on the head.

have a friend arriving today who will advise on vinegar, lemon, bicarb alternatives, but will check out the threads you mentioned. tks.

I admire you for this BOTR. I'm not keen on Tesco either (or Asda), but still tend to do my main shop at Sainsbury's - not sure if they are much better?! Dh uses the local butchers and greengrocers quite often. We don't have to worry about nappies anymore luckily! Using cash is a v good idea, think I should do this!

colditz - am in brighton.

we only just moved here, so I'm having to find the local retailers.

personal interaction with people in shops is one of the most pleasurable parts of this little experiment, particularly after london!

Good on you for this, Brummie. I really admire you going cold turkey like this.

We haven't done anything as drastic but since reading Shopped and Not on the Label last autumn I have shopped with the attitude where I feel triumphant about every pound that goes to a local business rather than Sainsburys. We are actually dead lucky because we have a lot of good food shops nearby and one of the best (best value and least twee) farmers' markets around.

You will find that it gets easier as you get into a rhythm and build up the familiarity with local suppliers, and especially work out which ones are cheaper/more or less reliable. I have been amazed that things are cheaper in the corner shop - I had got it into my head that supermarkets were a cheap option for household goods and they just aren't.

Am fascinated by this so keep us posted, please.

Could you post on MN for recommendations in your local area, or have you done this? Spidermama is in Brighton so she might have a few ideas.

And, God yes, I so agree with you about the interaction with local retailers. I find it particularly lovely having a toddler the way she now has 'friends' through the town - the lady in the greengrocers who sometimes gives her a banana, the man who delivers our veg (and we play the game every Friday of guessing which vegetables he's going to bring) etc etc!

paddingtonb1 - tbh it's probably a stupid waste of time. the loss of my £70/week (or whatever horrendous sum we spend) will make bugger all difference to Tescos

But i am hoping that i can change some of my own habits - shopping habits, household habits and budgeting habits - so that beyond this month I spend less and use local businesses more. by-product is also being more environmentally friendly it would appear