SOA/Realistic budget??

huggermugger

Little green (french) beans are indeed as easy as pie - actually you can grow yellow, purple & speckled ones as well... climbing ones tend to get a bit difficult in grow bags as there's not enough depth of soil to give the sticks a good anchorage. In general I find growbags dry out a bit quickly & tend to prefer to grow stuff on the patio in big pots or troughs. Whoops wrong thread...

Spending diary - anyone else got thoughts? Or are lynz & I the only people who aren't out having lunch with our mothers/kids in pubs???? _party_

beanielou

I found a spending diary very useful in seeing where my little bits of non spare money went.I spent a lot on sweets so now i buy more multi packs when i do my shopping as i know i will buy them anyway if i dont but at vastly inflated prices.
I also now try to get a friend to get me bread and milk if thats all i need instead of going myself and buying things i cant afford.
i think everyone finds different things work for them
Oh, also think that your childrens clothes budget is too low at £5.
hope this helps
Good luck

Emmzi

I was pleasantly surprised for asda for organic veg - a lot of it local, usually about a dozen or so things in season and quite a lot of it local or at least grown in UK. Not quite as ethical as box schemes for supporting local growers,but a £20 difference a week was hard to ignore.

Prices were about the same as sainsbury's non-organic.

huggermugger

Thanks beanieloo - they're all good tips; you're right about the clothes budget but have just bought him a few new clothes (Tescos again!) & two pairs of shoes so that'll have to do until the debts are under control.

Wish we had an asda close to me Emmzi; the nearest is about 20 miles away so I can't justify it. Riverford deliver me a big box of fruit & veg for £13 a week; most of it comes from Devon, v, fresh & good selection. Easily lasts us the week; as Lynz says, I work quite hard to make sure I do use it all.