Please Help Me Stop Doing This

lynzpower

Can we rename this the food shopping addict thread!?!

Ill add my name to the list of guilty parties here, again popped into the supermarket for bread & milk, but came out with the smallest, cheapest bit of cheese - didnt need it but wanted it. Not too too bad for my second week of REALLY trying and good on my OH who said, can we afford this? What I *should* do is buy one pinters and stick them in the freezer so actually bread & milk shopping doesnt need to happen at all . Ill do that next week, freezer space permitting

Ps I found craveldale spout a bit tricky and wont buy it now, as i ended up spilling most of it, so watch out!

poppycracker

I'm having the same problem, so it's good to know that I'm not the only one! Except that my problem is my partner who doesn't seem to be able to go a day without going down to the shops. We're on one monthly wage and I'm finding it harder and harder to stretch it.

However, thanks to the advice on here and elsewhere on the site, I'm going to start withdrawing a certain amount in cash every Monday and hiding the bank card! Especially since we got a whopping big electric bill this month!

Thanks to all who have shared their ideas!

homersimpson_3

but then today ive done it again ... please help as i cant pay of my debts when i am wasting money in the supermarkets each day

it's all about being discplined- you need to 'manage' your budget like you do any school or work based task/project- same principles apply. from time to time everyone falls by the wayside e.g. not taking sandwiches to work and buying a pasty/cakes/sandwiches etc from greggs or supermarket . the more you deprive yourself the more you want it. promise yourself a treat say on a friday- take some of money you save and pay off debts and use some of it to buy yourself something e.g. box of choccies, make up, toiletries, jumper, a nice pair of jeans; a handbag; cd; favourite magazine etc etc. you don't need to spend a fortune to treat yourseld- if you spent £12 in supermarket- say use £8 to pay off debts and £4 for lovely bottle of wine. change your objective when you shop.

vyvyan_2

For the person who hides their calculator in their basket while going round tescos - why not use the calculator on your mobile? As far as I know all phones have them (if you hunt through the menu) and it would just look like your shopping and texting at the same time (multi-tasking!!) :T

homersimpson_3

For the person who hides their calculator in their basket while going round tescos

why would you hide your calculator when you go shopping? you're not doing anything wrong- i always take mine but don't necessarily use it all the time. can be useful for comparing whether special offers really are 'special offers'- if you're worried about what other people think- stop worrying. as long as you're not directly/indirectly hurting anyone or interfering with anyone it's none of their business. you're quite within your rights (and arguably) very sensible to use it. Good for you. it's probaly something i should use more (not less) often. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Pigeongirl

Oh my God, so it's NOT just me that's addicted to supermarkets! :j

I really thought I was a bit of a freak...well I probably am...but I get such a buzz out of 'treating' myself to scrummy stuff from the shop even though most of it gets wasted because I can't eat it all. :rolleyes:

It's so stupid, isn't it? And I am just the same, Earwig, I go in full of good intentions just to buy a loaf of bread and end up coming out with a cake and chocolate and ready meals and God knows what other crap that I don't need.

I always feel so guilty and angry with myself afterwards because I know we can't afford it but I keep doing it. :mad:

Well I am going to try and stop it now. I get housekeeping on Tues and will make sure I last the month without overspending...

kuohu

If you have a set of debt free targets, like the sort of thing that people have in their sigs, print this off and make it credit card sized. (Better still, if you can, get it laminated at work). Then keep it next to your debit/credit card in your purse or wallet. That way you will have to consciously look at it before using your card and spending money needlessly.

Lucifer

I am as bad... thought I would go online and order groceries today to the tune of about £100. The bill came to £158.00 (although that doesn't include bogof's, and there were quite a few). Since I have been dieting I have found that I am spending more rather than less too. I am so determined to lose weight that I want shed loads of healthy foods around me (and end up chucking some out).

LookingAhead

Maybe you could do what I do when I am trying to shake off a habit...pretend someone is watching you and they know what you are doing is something you shouldn't be doing! Then when you are doing it you can imagine them looking at you with a look of disappointment (or disgust in my case when I was trying to stop biting my nails!). It worked for me - my nails haven't been this nice....errr - forever?!

Good luck though, we all know it's hard to adjust to our new money saving way of life. But you can do it....keep telling yourself you are the one in control and you can do it.

apple_mint

I think its a habit a lot of us got into the habit of .. 'comfort shopping'. I too found that I couldn't go into a shop for just milk.

OS is a great place for budgeting ideas. The best one I found was freezing milk. I now buy my milk just once a week with my supermarket shop. Pop a couple of 4 pint containers in the fridge and 4 x 4 pint containers in the freezer. To defrost I just pop the carton into a bowl and defrost over 24 hours (my house is cold :rolleyes:).

This was the best tip ever for me. I no longer have an excuse to go to the supermarket mid week. I don't dash out for ingredients - I make do with something else until the next shop. It does take time to break the habit but I have got better. If something is really desparate, I now have more will power and just go in for what I need.