Shopping Bills

[Chinchilla]

Long story, but dh and I are having to make cut backs in our monthly expenditure. We realised that I was spending far too much while shopping, because I make several trips to various supermarkets, and get a few extra things that can sometimes add up to £30 a time, on top of the weekly shop. OK, so we decided to stop having take-aways at the weekend, going out for pizza, and for me to make only one visit to the supermarket, unless I need milk or bread (and then I must only buy those items). No problem there, and last week, I managed to spend 'only' £75 in two trips (one for milk only!) However, today I went for the weekly shop, and managed to spend £110. Before you all gasp in horror, I have ds's 2nd birthday party next Monday, and a lot of the shop involved fizzy drinks, wine, squash etc. Also, there were a lot of toiletries involved this week. In addition, wherever possible, I bought BOGOF items and 'two for £xxx' offers.

The reason I shop in Waitrose is that you can guarantee that none of the food they sell has any GM content AND they can trace every bit of their meat, fish and Fruit and Veg back to their suppliers - which is why whenever there is a food scare - their sales go up!

Re Costco, the one near me was selling Birkenstock mules, red only, for £17 inc VAT, normally around £30.

As I already own a pair so couldn't take advantage of this bargain

I'm wearing a pair as I type! I luuuuurve Costco!

Must have another look at Lidl...so many reccommendations...guess I must have been spooked by the weirdos.

sorry - but i agree with finbar. you catch things on those supermarkets they are cheap and nasty and smell.

also they dont sell yummy little treats..

Get it delivered! So easy and you are less likely to get impulse purchases. Plan ahead for a couple of weeks to think about what you need for dinner etc. It takes a bit of working out but it's really worth it. I have to walk past Tesco just about every day and would also pop in for a pint of milk or whatever and end up spending £20 on God knows. My tactic is just to actually enter a supermarket less often! I like ocado.com who deliver Waitrose. Yeah, I know Waitrose aren't cheap but you know it's good stuff.

I won't be doing much shopping for a while - seem to have lost my purse with EVERYTHING in it

Poor you, hope you find it

Yes, hope you find it Janh or some kind soul hands it in - you never know. You are lucky, you lot up North having all these cheap shops to choose from - there's no Asda for miles down here!

WOW I can't wait to check lidl out, i'm going tomorrow!! thanks for all your tips, i'm printing them out to take with me

Just went on the costco website and membership is available to individuals over the age of 18 years who meet one of the qualifying requirements listed below:

The annual membership fee is £25.00 (plus VAT) for the primary cardholder, which includes a spouse card.

Current or retired employee of:

Banking/Finance
Civil Servant
Education
Fire/Rescue
Local Government
Medical/Health Service
Police Force
Post Office

Qualified as:

Optician
Dentist
Pharmacist
Solicitor/ Barrister/ Magistrate/ Advocate

NOT FAIR - solicitors etc can afford to shop at normal shops!!

FOUND IT!!!! Panic over, flap flap, thanks for kind thoughts, girls - had turned house upside down today and thought I must have put it in Sainsbos trolley yesterday and left it there - have done this before, shouldn't be allowed out really - but it turned up in a drawer we never use (in a small cabinet in the hall, it's a bathroom one really, I got it principally as a place to put things like letters-for-posting on top) in fact I commented to DD2 yesterday how the space is wasted, obviously the fairies in my subconscious put it there.
Now I feel rich beyond the dreams of avarice because I haven't lost £60, 2 books of stamps, 3 Nectar vouchers, 4 credit cards and my driving licence (among other things) so we are celebrating with a takeaway!

spacemonkey, I suppose one-time employees (not retired, just ex) of those places aren't eligible for a Costco card...????

glad you found it janh!

i wondered that, i used to be a council employee ... but haven't kept any proof!

don't forget to take your own bags to LIdl, they charge otherwise

oh, and they don't take credit cards, do take debit cards but no cashback.

I hope all you Lidl virgins enjoy the experience!

I LOVE IT! (lidl I mean )

it's true, the place is full of freaks, but that rather adds to the entertainment. Came away with humungous amounts of shopping for £50, I reckon I've saved about 40% what I normally would've spent. I haven't tried it yet (it's chilling in the fridge for later) but they have Prosecco for £2.99 - it was all I could do not to punch the air in excitement hehe. Thanks for all your tips

spacemonkey, I am truly amazed that you actually went today, I know you said you would but it's such a gorgeous day...obviously you are a woman of your word.

Glad you liked it! It is good, innit?

Sad isn't it janh!

As long as you had a good time, dearie, that's the main thing...

I thought I was going to get beaten up for taking marks and spencers carrier bags with me and spent the entire time glancing nervously over my shoulder with beads of sweat on my top lip. But apart from that it was great

Which one did you go to, and was it easy to get to? I'll try it for this week's shop I think.

My mum is a huge fan of Lidl ... she goes to the one in Chichester.

chinchilla, it's a bit of a trek, but the nearest one is Ipswich (very easy to find, just up the a12 and head for the town centre and you'll see it on your right). It wasn't as big as I expected - I might be wrong but I think the Chelmsford one might be bigger. I didn't do a proper week's shopping there - there are certain things i'm a bit sniffy about I suppose, like liquitabs and decent dishwasher tablets and coffee. I think because it was my first time there I basically stuck to the things mumsnetters had said were good.

My kids made me laugh - DS looked in the cupboards and said "mum, why have you got all foreign food?". They have given an unequivocal seal of approval to the "Chocco Nussa" nutella equivalent and the vanilla choc magnum-a-likes (dd said they are better than magnums!). Tell you what though, the 2.99 prosecco is LOVELY!

spacemonkey so glad you enjoyed the Lidl experience!
I am banging on about this so much I am wondering if I have some kind of a disorder but really their stuff is consistently of high quality; I can't remember ever being disappointed in any of their products.
They do sell a few unusual not exactly everyday things, presumeably things that are more commonplace in Germany, like jars of capers for 19p and a wide range of fancy canned fish products. And I have never been to Lidl and found it to be busy.
One bad design thing which has come to mind is when you stick your squirming toddler in the trolley seat and attempt to enter the store you go through a turnstile ( What the HECK is that about?) and you have to shove your trolley through a trolley limbo setup, which means you have to take your toddler out again to get the trolley under the limbo set up barrier!
Until recently I used to just cram ds's head down and push him through but he is getting too big for that
Spacemonkey were you tempted by any of their special offers on non food items?( like watches for £2.99)

Just remembered they do a fantastic cake - about 7'' in diameter, white icing with brown lines across it like a fern cake.
You have been warned...

jasper, the turnstiles are relatively new - LIdl's regular client base (ahem) being what it is, they had a lot of pushthroughs out of the entrance.

Re what you said about quality, it's an eyeopener to read the ingredients list on things like frozen ready meals and see how much eg meat there is in them (a lot) and how few chemicals, compared with the big stores.