What else can I do?

lady_fuschia

A few days ago I posted my SOA in another thread and got told I was spending a lot on shopping- about £80 a month I've worked out, for 2 of us, which I always assumed was quite frugal, but maybe I've lost touch with reality. Anyway the recommendation was I come here and look at some of the tips- thing is, most of them I'm already doing. All my cleaning is done with bicarb, vinegar or (at a push) soapy water, Me and OH both eat veggy at home, and I try to use dried pulses as opposed to quorn or tinned ones (except when I forget to soak them!), don't eat ready meals or things like cake, we buy what we can at Lidl, veggies from the market, herbs and spices from Julian Graves and top the rest up from Tesco, I try and buy things in bulk when we can afford to shell out enough at one time- I even use my teabags twice! I can't see what else there is I can do to reduce the bill- is £80 really a lot of shopping? If so, is there something I'm missing? what could I be doing wrong?! I know you're all experts on this kind of thing so I'm hoping I can pick up some tips I've missed!

bonnie_2

the national debtline figure is actually £60 a week for a couple so i think your doing really well. people get carried away with shopping money.
you actually need to eat well to live not the other way round.
dont worry about it.

culpepper

Its easier the more people there are.For 2 10 pounds each a week sounds okay to me.

thriftlady_2

Blimey I think I'm pretty frugal spending £60 a week for 5.If I were as frugal as you I'd be spending £50.

Sounds like you're doing something right to me Lady Fuschia:)

lady_fuschia

Phew! That's re-assuring! I'd obviously wandered into miser's corner when I was told I was over-spending! I didn't think it was that bad- cheers people!

emilyt

I feel really bad now. I spend £100 week for 4 myself, my husband and 2 daughters aged 17 and 19. O and 1 very hungry cat. That includes all cleaning products and toilteries .Although it does seem a lot. So well done Lady_fuschia.I think it's me that needs some advice from all you experts on here.

tim_n

I used to spend about £25 a week on shopping for myself and my other half. That was including quite normal food, but all of which was sourced from my local butchers and grocers, convienently outside my house. We ate seasonally and benefitted from a regularly changing diet! = )

Prudent

£80 per month sounds great. Perhaps they misread it as £80 per week?

henhog

Prudent wrote:

£80 per month sounds great. Perhaps they misread it as £80 per week?

That's what I think too - £80 a month is really good.

rchddap1

I think I'm averaging around £80 per month for 2 at the moment myself. Sounds good to me. However, do keep coming back to see us....new faces are very welcome

black-saturn

You could try having a look at my menu planner. I can get my food budget down to £42 per month for 3 people with this:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=157526&highlight=black-saturns+menu