Live on £4000 for a year - part 4 (Oct - Dec 2008)

sophiesmum_2

Tins should be fine as long as the shed is watertight so they don't get rusty.

cw18

even tins may be "iffy" in a shed, as damp could cause them to corrode

sophiesmum_2

Janey51 wrote: »

Reading all the posts about the rising food prices, it is making me think even harder about buying enough food for a year. Sounds like investing in food could be the best home for any spare cash

I am lucky in that I have a large house for storage and I could utilise DH's shed as that is slowly emptying.

Of course,these plans all fall apart if I should decide to move :rolleyes:

But, buying things like cat food and tins should be good.

Tins should be OK in a wooden shed shouldn't they? I suppose I could store dry foods like sugar etc in plastic storage boxes with lids of which I have quite a few.

Janey you don't need a huge space to store stuff, we are in a small two bed flat and manage to stockpile enough for three of us, just be a bit creative;) how about using a spare wardrobe filled with stackerboxes? underbed storage boxes etc?
I store the unopened stuff in my big cupboard and then decant it into my kitchen cupboards as stuff runs down, so I am using the kitchen cupboards daily but maybe once a week for the big cupboard. That way it doesn't matter if things aren't really handy to get at as I just fill up the kitchen cupboards occasionally, sort of like doing a shop but from my cupboard:D

cw18

the thing that worries me most about stockpiling food just now is that the cost of fuel is coming down....

that means the delivery costs should come down....

and in theory oil prices coming down should also bring down gas/electricity prices, which brings down the store overheads.....

so in theory at least some foods should be coming down in price soon

I was just as bad when I needed petrol last week..... had enough money to at least half fill the tank (£20-£25), but had seen rumours prices should be dropping. So I only put 10 litres in. Since then it's come down several pennies a litre (almost everywhere round us in now 97.9p/l for unleaded), so do I fill up now, or wait until payday (31st) bu when it may have come down more, or do I still only part fill then as it may come down again ?!?!?!?!?!?!?


And NYK - in reference to you freecycle comment, no I wouldn't give to people who sent messages like that even if they were the first to reply. The couple of 'offered' adverts I've responded to - and I was lucky both times - I've introduced myself, and said why I would like the goods. In the case of a pair of jigsaws, one held fond memories of childhood visits to a stately home, and the other was scenes from near when I originate from (and actually my DH's birthtown). The other advert was a bike for younger GD for Christmas, as DD is struggling to find the money for two bikes -- and it's what both girls have asked for. As she wasn't registered for the site, I contacted the chap with that on her behalf.

sophiesmum_2

Just updating my totals, have life and car insurance out today £40.77 and spent £13 in asda last night on xmas gifts stuff. Not money neutral on that £13 as yet so will deduct it from my total:rolleyes: So £53.77 to deduct - will go and do it now.

Brighton_belle

Nyk - yes that is a perfect example of some of the replies I get too. I never give it to that style of response (and I don't mind about spelling/grammar, it's the apprectiative attitude that attracts me).
Well, the broadband is sorted and I am now paying half that I was, saving £120p.a.:T . I am also going to make it to the end of Oct on a tighter than usual budget this month thanks to this forum making me more aware of what I spend my money on.
Anyone else get over excited at the thought of a new month on the horizon meaning a new spreadsheet and allocation of money to various pots?:rotfl: . Most excitingly, having started with a food budget of £230 for 2 in july(:o oh the walk of shame), I have got it down to 195, then 190 and have now slashed it(in that I am absolutely refusing to buy any more food til 1st Nov) this month to £175. We have to get it this low to fit the £4000 challenge from Jan. The 1000 in 100 days challenge is making me move specific money to a saving account online rather than it being frittered away in my C.A. So I am managing on less.
Now mulling over the store cupboard challenge...

More wonderful memories Janey, thank you.

whitewing

I have just been looking at the special offers in mysupermarket.com. Am I right in assuming stockpilers pick up offers in-store? Or how do you check expiry dates?

Also, apparently mormons are encouraged to stockpile...do we have any mormons on here? It's interesting to see it as part of a religious faith.

sophiesmum_2

I have a close friend who is a mormon, yes they are encouraged to stockpile, they are also encouraged to have a savings stash, not get into debt and also pay tithes to their church. My friend is quite mse in her outlook.

Whitewing I shop in store to ensure things have long dates, but also pick up short dated stuff if I KNOW it will get used before the date. Also a lot of offers are store specific and not advertised. For instnce my asda overbought on organic baked beans so then sold off lots of them at half price - which I bought 2 dozen of:D , the same happened when they changed the labels on the SP peaches and the old ones - still 2 year dates were sold for 5p a tin:D

You miss all the bargains shopping on line:eek:

whitewing

sophiesmum wrote: »

You miss all the bargains shopping on line:eek:

Mmm thought so. Although we do a big shop monthly and sit within our budget, I still don't actually know the price per tin etc in general. So I could, say, compare a tin of beans in Tesco with other brands, but would have no idea if I could get the same tin cheaper elsewhere. What a novice I am. I can just about cope with the concept of BOGOF, lol.

I was only looking on line as a diversion while I am thinking about what to stockpile. I wondered if it would be easier to stockpile groups of items at a time for now, eg focus on washing powder (DH will only just Ariel turn to 30) so was thinking of doing a weekly check to get ideas of prices and monitor until prices seem good or are on offer.

Just seen yahoo news and asda and sainsburys are dropping (and freezing?) fuel prices. All good news.

purplevamp

Penny2myName wrote: »

Just used the Mysupermarket shopping trolley,:eek::eek::eek: to some of them prices

Mr A £49.78
Mr T £64.93
Mr S £70.01
Mr O £93.83 :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: thats amost double Mr A's.

The shopping list did incude some bulk buys, 10 sweetcorn, and stuff. definatly going to have to use it when i get back.

I find Mr O the most expensive when I use mysupermarket. I always use Mr S as my main store on the site and have always found them to be the cheapest. You've got Mr A as the cheapest - is this the store you first put in? If so the store that's put in will always come out the cheapest perhaps due to own brand not being in the other stores (eg Mr S doesn't sell Mr A basic range, etc) . Just a thought.

Well, I think I've got my frugal head nicely adjusted as I went online and got 5 ryan!r return tickets including all taxes, check-ins, etc for just under £170. :T Previously I'd been quoted nearly £500 on the comparison sites, including ryan!r :eek: