June grocery challenge - like to join but......

Spendless

Kazonline wrote:

. Petrol is down from £35 to £25 per week - Volvo estate used daily for school run (too far to walk, and not a bus route) as well as when 'working' (party plan withing income support working allowance)

How old are the boys? Is cycling an option? If not what about parking further away and walking part of the distance.

garret1

I started all this a couple of weeks ago and was also amazed by everyone's support. Can't believe how much I've been able to cut back and now really enjoy the sense of achievement when I save money. Actually prefer saving to spending now. Take care and hope the interview went well.:D

Kazonline

Hi all, back again ;-) Thank you again to everyone for your input.
I'm going to join the June grocery challenge and start where I am at £125. I tend to use this for everything from money for school trips to groceries (which can include clothes from Asda etc). Before finding this forum I had no idea what I was spending and would feel terribly guilty about a little treat and then suddenly splurge on a luxury recklessley 'I'm useless anyway so what the heck' syndrome. Now at least I have a degree of 'control' back and now it's time to take another step forward.....
I have been freezing the odd bit of bolognese, but as for anything else it's quite a challenge with the lads. I have a large slow cooker that I use for most meals - but despite it's size the boys can eat every last bit and still be hungry! I've tried bulking with pearl barley - older two loved it, youngest wouldn't touch the entire dish (one less mouth to feed ;-) ) I can sometimes salvage one portion, so perhaps I should go with that and gradually build on it. I've recently bought a bread maker, so hopefully I can fill them up a bit with bread and maybe save a bit more of the 'meal' to freeze.
They don't eat crisps and biscuits inbetween - instead they eat a lot of apples, tinned fruit (pears and peaches seem the cheapest) and have the odd sandwich. When I was ordering online they never gave me a vegetable bag for the fruit - it came by the carrier bag full!!!!!
I don't ususally do a pudding as I am struggling with my weight (a side effect of the meds I'm on for depression - apparently they give this one to people with anorexia and bulemia!!). My eldest is a healthy weight for his age, but the younger two are at the top end of the healthy weight (youngest was over for a little while - I was really suprised when I was told that!!)
I have felt very guilty about not being 'a proper mother', that was at the root of my biggest breakdown - but fortunately I had a fantastic counsellor who helped put it into perspective. I owe so much to that lady....
Cycling to school is unfortunately not an option - the biggest part of the journey consists of a large hill (and I mean large in length & steep!). Even some cars struggle with this one, and buses often break down on it! Parking a bit further away - that could be an option... well out of my 'comfort zone' though so will need to work on that one!!!
Got to dash again as I've got to make a bolognese. I did make a curry this morning and popped it in the slow cooker .... but forgot to switch it on at the mains! lol:rotfl:

melancholly

one of martin's tips that i actually managed to convey to my mother was 'go down a brand' - for everything that you buy, pick a brand that's cheaper and see if you can taste the difference, then try again. those are the kind of steps that are really the easiest to take and can cut quite a lot off your bill without a major lifestyle shift.

Kazonline

I'll definately give this one a go. I've noticed that there's quite a difference between the cost of 'value' tin tomatoes and own brand 'chunky chopped' that I like to use in my cooking and on the 'yum or yucky' thread the value seem to get a 'yummy'. I'll keep an eye out next time I'm shopping to see what else I can 'drop a level' on.
As for my interview - just had a phone call from the lone parent adviser and she confirmed that on £90 a week earnings I'd be nearly £20 a week worse off than I am now.... and that's withought taking travelling expenses etc into account! No wonder I was going under so quickly while I was working.
At least now I know - and being at home means I'm more likely to cook from scratch and save money that way.
Kaz x

Essex-girl_2

Couldnt you go back to online shopping, I used to find grocery shopping exhausting and I always spent way too much.

I used to suffer from tiredness and ordered takeaways coz I couldnt face cooking - well now if Im having one of those days I just chuck jacket pots in the oven and have with tuna/mayo or beans and cheese.

What has most changed my spending habits is menu planning - if I miss a week I really miss it and end up each evening trying to think what to have for dinner.

Also when I do online ordering I always use a code off MSE and generally save £10 or get 1000 extra points.

My DS also eats us out of house and home fruit wise - whilst I can afford it I will let him do it but OH has been known to hide the banana's

Good luck - just try 'babysteps'

Kazonline

"but OH has been known to hide the banana's":rotfl:
I know the feeling - my lot nagged endlessley to get to eat the few that I bought on offer the other day, but I held my ground as I knew they'd enjoy the banana bread I made out of it even more!
As for the online shopping - it used to be a huge help when I was working and the service used to be excellent - however after about 2 years of good service I started getting a lot of problems, and I mean a LOT. Not only did they start delivering yucky meat, fruit and vege, mucking up my BOGOF's but also a couple of times let me down with the delivery (not turn up etc). It got a bit too much when they rang me on mothers day to say that my delivery wouldn't be arriving and I ended up dragging my three 'round Asda. I now do my very best to buy from anywhere other than Tesco as a result!!!
Shopping is a killer for me, and I may well go back to the online way (Now Asda will deliver here at last!), but part of me feels I have to get back to grips with 'shopping' It certainly won't be with Tesco ever again!!!
Kaz x
PS I will relent come Christmas... there's no way I'm battling through those crowds:p