Tightening our belts with cheap toilet paper

[zippitippitoes]

We've done a supermarket shop for the week and bought quite a few "value" products

frozen prawns
frozen cod fillets
chopped tomatoes
diet cola
2 chickens for £4.00
mature cheddar
Tesco tea tree shampoo

but got stuck on some. Are there some things which just aren't any good when they are really cheap.

We usually shop in Tesco's, but we didn't try the Value range in any of these

Andrex toilet rolls
Kellogs cornflakes
Colgate Tartare Toothpaste
Eggs
Shampoo
Can't Believe It's Not Butter

And is Asda actually cheaper than Tesco?

I bought some toddler clothes there yesterday which were great value (including a suede effect jacket with toggles which I really liked for £12.00)but never buy weekly shopping there, should we?

tesco value chips are like rubber-awful

I have tried spuerarket branded cleaning products of all types and never found any to be as good as the leading brands. Toilet limescale remover particularly, but I think everyone knows thsi because Harpic toilet limescale remover is always sold out and there is loads of Tesco own brand.

HI ZT

it does seem a bit OTT having to pay £5 to get them to deliver, especially when i could pick it up cheaper !

But it stops me overspending, once I've done the on line bit, which first time takes ages but once you've got your favourites list it gets easier - I can pretty much do what I want waiting for it to arrive.

I work FT so can shop on line late at night in PJ's, the on delivery day can get home do tea, sort the kids etc etc - and then the van arrives and all I have to do is unpack and put away.

and you can book your delivery slot in up to a week in advance, if they haven't got what you want they will try to substitute with something as close as possible, which I haven't sent anything back yet, and a couple of times with Tesco they made a mistake with my order - I wanted peppers and when checking they weren't there but a head of broccoli was that I didn't order - they refunded the price of the peppers and let me keep the broccoli

been a bit long this - sorry - but for me in terms of time and stopping me spending too much it's worth the fiver

I onle ever do kelloggs cereals

nothing wronh with value cloths / scoures/ dusters IMO or the air freshner is not too bad

tins of choppes tomatoes tom soup and sweet corn are ok too, oh and so is tom puree. The baby wipes seem ok and the nappy sacs too, all you do is throw them in the bin! the bin liners are ok unless you need strong ones! I also think the value disposables are ok for use in the day, (but prefer cloth!)

Value choccy mouses are yummy, and value fromage frais are about the same as the yoplait wildlife ones etc.... full of crap but no worse!

Butter seems ok (tho tesco organic butter is only 88p so go for that, cheeper than lots of brands!)

also anuyone noticed tesco do organic loafs of bread for 59p (white and wholemeal, cheeper than hovis, kingsmill)

HATE the tomatoe kethup YUK!

would NEVER do cheep meat or eggs... due the inhumane cruel conditions the animals are kept in.... NO way am i fueling their cruel existence

Tesco value paper for printer is fine.

Value wrapping paper and cards are ok too, as are paper clips / drawing pins etc!

I was not aware that value chicken breasts came from chickens raised in worse conditions than ordinary chicken breasts. Usually the value ones just don't conform to size or haven't had the sinews cut off properly. Do you mean you wouldn't buy either, only organic chicken?

Have to say NannyL, I agree with you about cheap meat and milk. I aways buy organic or go without.

I'm w/NannyL, we're low income, but refuse to buy non-free range, locally produced meat or eggs. Instead, we go meatless every other night to save £££. We refuse to fuel the battery farming industry - not only bad for animals but also for people, too, as this is the type of farming that brought us such nasties as BSE.

We visit all the farms from which we buy our meat and eggs - at least 2 a year. It's important to us that DD learn where her food comes from, and visiting these farms teaches her that animals can be humanely treated and still provide an existence for the farmer.

We shop for food in the farmer's market mostly. All our veg is organically produced by a nearby farm which is also open and welcoming to visitors.

We cut back in a lot of other areas - use homemade cleansers, don't have mobiles or cable/satellite, buy clothes in charity shops, don't drink or go out much, etc.

Organic milk also provides Omega 3s - excellent for the body.

"We cut back in a lot of other areas - use homemade cleansers, don't have mobiles or cable/satellite, buy clothes in charity shops, don't drink or go out much, etc."

Homemade cleansers - Yes - do that
Mobiles - only DH's work one - which work pays for
Satellite - yes we do have that -
Clothes - don't buy clothes atm at all
Don't drink or go out at all

We are going to get freeview - once we've got enough money to buy the new ariel we'll need.

Even if we cut sky out now, we still couldn't afford to eat organic/free range!

(and no we don't eat meat every night ATM either)

I agree with the meat and eggs thing. We ususlly get our meat from the organic butchers down the road, and if we can't afford it, we eat pulses, which are cheap and filling. Also, if you find a farm shop locally, their produce is much nicere and tends to be (depends on what sort of farm shop it is) cheaper.

We also grow our own on an allottment and in the garden.

Just an example, we can get a dozen large free range organic eggs in our local farm shop for 90p. And they are sooooo tasty!!!!

these are cheap toilet rolls 2880 toilet rolls for £330

and I have found our local farmer's mrket is once a month in the last week so I will go and investigate when it comes round.

we have meet every night - well about 25 days out of a 31 day month but it's all brought from the butcher, and where we live it's a v v big farming commmunity (actually met one of the farmers in the butchers shop!) anyhow that's all organic but I don't bother with anything else just free range eggs - tbh would sooner go without than have battery eggs (only as I don't think it's fair and the eggs don't taste as good - althou as I say, i've used the value b4 esp if DH want's cakes, or the local children are doing a collection of sorts for the bring and buy in the communtiy centre.)

household cleaners - mine r two spray guns (the garden squirters) one has bleach and warter in it, the other disinfectant and water which I get from wilkos - normally when it's on offer, normally also get the dishwasher tablets form there (their own brand) when it's bogof so 40 tablets for £4.00, erm,

with fish - thats the only thing I admit we don't eat fresh/get from the fishmongers - (i'm not a big fish eater) althou we do have the battered stuff - normally get the 2 boxes for £4.00 as they have 4 in each so that's 4 meals for me and DH, (mainly our meals are about £3.00 for the pair of us)

def go to the butcher if u can - got a months worht of meat yesterday to freeze - it was £28.00 which is only £3.50 each per week - any there's more than enough.

found making from scratch is also a lot cheaper, and it's a good way to sneek extra vegies etc into DH's food to 'bulk' it out a bit ie lentils and chick peas etc, he thinks it's great and there's always enough. smaller portions also have helped us cut back.

(sorry should have been 40 tabs for £1.99 - i'd never pay £4.00 for 40.)

Those eggs are cheapo Moozoboozo

I'm sure I won't find any like that

Butchers here are expensive and looking on websites very expensive

We never eat meat at home (I'm veggie, dh goes along). We buy staples (pasta, rice...) cheaply, but on stuff like fruit and veg quality is more important to us.
We tend to save/cut back more on the consumer goods front. We don't have a freezer, a dishwasher or a microwave, although we could theoretically afford, and our flat costs less (and is consequently smaller) than what we could actually afford on my salary. However, it's more important to us to build up savings/have money in the bank, plus we have some debts to relatives we're in the middle of paying off.
We don't have a mobile - tbh I always wonder at all these people (e.g. my students) who have the latest mobiles even though they don't actually need them (for work or similar). I feel it's a tiny bit ridiculous. (runs off)

same here Zippi - if we had more weekly disposable income then I'd be able to buy some big £10 packs from the butchers - but we just can't afford that atm - it's got to be 'broken down' into smaller chunks.

Cheapest organic eggs I've seen are £1.50 for a dozen.

And the monthly farmers market is more expensive than buying supermarket organic veg !

There is a Wilkinson's about 6 miles away, if it was once a month would it be worth it for cleaning products etc or is Lidl better?

And I see they do paint is that cheap/any good?

yes - deffo work it for a once a month shop at Wilko's if you've got the money all in one go (which we don't LOL)

QoQ - I've found/with the help of mum who had us two LO's on a v v tight budget, that to buy it in bulk once a month works out cheaper than weekly (if you can manage it - and to use the same person in the shop) now when I go in the chap who serves me puts everything into portions for 2 ppl (althou normally with teh mince/diced beef I seperate them at home as I get more portions out of it! - for example £4.00 of mince normally does us about 5 meals - if we're not having guests. I dread to move from here now.

zip - tbh my friend used wilko's paint the white/magnolia- she said it was v v watered down - althou I do believe she used the one coat stuff as well which she didn't have any complaints about.

def go to wilko's once a month if u can - they do cheap loo roll and kitchen roll as well/ sandwich bags. ooh and normally have good offers on toiletrys.

I had a mobile ten years ago but haven't had one for about 4 years!

Dp has one given by one of the children(one of their old ones) but we hardly use it

and in fact i have one given by dd1 when she went abroad a few weeks ago but it needs a sim card/unblocking or something (it was on a contract). I really can't be bothered with it.

QoQ I thought farmer's markets were more expensive rather than cheaper too but i shall find out.

I'll probably give their paint a miss then

That's the problem with these things the

false Economy aspect

on a different tack i used my tesco credit card to buy groceries one week just to get the extra clubcard points and then forgot to pay it off and got a £20.00 late payment charge completely unnecessarily..muppet moi

Yes lonely mum thats right.... we buy no chicken at all that is not organic (at my charges house where i do the shopping) (or eggs or products containg egg)

(for myself im happy to go free range....)

No matter how much money i dont have i will never eat battery poultry or fuel the industry by injecting my cash.

My family know that i 'dont eat chicken' (unless its free range)

IMO battery farming is DISCUSTING and inhumane and NO WAY will i contribute to its sucess in any shape or form.

We found Dulux wipe clean in Bernardo's for £1.50/litre . We've since repainted the flat - most of it's the same magnolia it was when we moved in, the landlord was more than happy to give us permission - for buttons. That has to be the biggest score we made besides a nearly new couch/sofa for £80.

Freeview's alright. I wish we could afford Sky. I miss that. But it was working out to be about £30 at the cheapest and we just didn't have it.

Our weekly food budget is £50 for all including cat litter and we seem to do well on that. But it all - literally everything - has to be made from scratch.