Grocery Shopping budget thread

Justamum

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

Hubby has taken to doing this, he has always had clippers for trimming "bits and pieces" but when his cheapie ones broke the other day, Boots had a sale on so I bought him some reduced babyliss ones that came with different guards etc. He's now cutting his own hair and making a really good job of it! Getting to a barber around by us is really long winded and requires an appointment so he's DIY'ing! Plus he reckons the pet shop sell the same model for dog trimming so it looks like she might get a number 3 all over as well come the summer!

I've cut my DH's and DS's hair for years, and it must have saved us a fortune. We were given a set of dog hair clippers first, then we bought some Wahl clippers, which eventually wore out so I bought some Babyliss ones which were advertised as 'the best clippers you will ever buy'. They were rubbish. I went and bought another set of Wahl.

karren

Lily-Lu wrote: »

I've had a home shopping catalogue for about 13 years now. It's rarely used, but good if I'm stuck when something major bites the dust and I just don't have several hundred pounds to spend on a new one. They do tend to be more expensive than paying cash, but you get a longer time to pay it off, and cash-back on all you spend. Sometimes, they'll do offers like £x off when you spend £xx. Like I say, I rarely use mine, but they're great for an emergency

littlewoods used to do price match, so they work out not too bad, i used mine to get big cant do without items and paid weekly and when i had spare cash id pay it off, it kept our heads above water when time were lean. x

bakerp

AH bless ya i have just made the laundry liquid thank you so much for the recipe it will save me a fortune:j

Chipps

I used to use the clippers for DH & both DS's when the kids were young, now they all go to the hairdresser (well, DS1 is married anyway, not my problem any more!)

But one day I remember doing DS2's hair - finally got him sitting down without too much whingeing, quickly grabbed the clippers & whizzed straight up the middle of his head... at which point I realised I had forgotten to put the comb on :eek::eek::eek:

A kind of reverse mohican look!

I don't know who screamed the loudest, him or me.

I managed to do the rest with a number 1, but as it was winter he had to go out with a woolie hat on for a couple of weeks until his hair grew back.

Justamum

Chipps wrote: »

But one day I remember doing DS2's hair - finally got him sitting down without too much whingeing, quickly grabbed the clippers & whizzed straight up the middle of his head... at which point I realised I had forgotten to put the comb on :eek::eek::eek:

I did that with my DS once - he ended up with a patch at the back of his head :rotfl:. He was a bit self-conscious about it and worried that his friends would laugh, so I told him to tell everyone 'look what my mum did to my hair' and laugh about it himself before anyone could point it out to him.

rosslyn2007

i am looking to compare what i spend on a food shop with others with a large family there are eight of us in my house hold myself my husband our 6 children and 1 dog our children are 10 8 6 4 3 3

this last few months i have cut back our costs a lot

main weekly shop £70-£90

inbetween shops for bread milk ect £20


my children love fruit so i buy some fresh and some canned i dont buy any sweets crisps ect

BitterAndTwisted

You could afford sweets and crisps if you do a shop on Approved Foods or Food Bargains! One of them has a CASE of Walkers Sweet Thai Chili crisps for less than two quid.

I can't help you myself with a large family's weekly food budget as I'm a singleton

Penelope_Penguin

rosslyn2007 wrote: »

i am looking to compare what i spend on a food shop with others with a large family there are eight of us in my house hold myself my husband our 6 children and 1 dog our children are 10 8 6 4 3 3

this last few months i have cut back our costs a lot

main weekly shop £70-£90

inbetween shops for bread milk ect £20


my children love fruit so i buy some fresh and some canned i dont buy any sweets crisps ect

£80-£100 a week for 8 of you doens't sound bad We have a thread here of others' budgets, so you can take a look and compare.

I'll merge thsi thread to that one later to keep ideas together.

Penny. x

Nargleblast

rosslyn2007 wrote: »

i am looking to compare what i spend on a food shop with others with a large family there are eight of us in my house hold myself my husband our 6 children and 1 dog our children are 10 8 6 4 3 3

this last few months i have cut back our costs a lot

main weekly shop £70-£90

inbetween shops for bread milk ect £20


my children love fruit so i buy some fresh and some canned i dont buy any sweets crisps ect

Don't worry about what other people spend - what's important is that you feed yourself and your family as well as you can within the budget you have. Good on you for not buying loads of sweets and crisps etc - your children don't need too much of that kind of stuff in their diets, and it can soon push your budget over the limit. Focus on buying fresh fruit and veg and as good quality meat that you can afford, ideally from a proper butcher (often cheaper than supermarkets and better quality). Suggest you keep a spending diary for a month, noting down what you spend on food each day, then seeing where all the money goes. You can then cut down on the high fat and high sugar snacks (if there are any), and cut down on any ready meals. Try and plan a week's meals at a time, cooking things from scratch with fresh ingredients and making sure any leftovers are put in the freezer or used in another meal. This way you will be able to cut down your food spending and spend more efficiently.

Butterfly_Brain

I agree with Nargleblast keep a food diary, also make a list of everything that you have in your cupboards and freezer then Menu plan !.......Get some books from the library on budget meals.
If you feel like you want the kids to have a treat bake some biscuits (I heartily recommend Twinks Hobnobs) or cakes or even make your own sweeties check out Rachel Allen she has some brilliant recipes for kids
http://www.rachelallen.co.uk/recipes.html
Or go to BBC/Rachel Allen Home Cooking