How much do you live on per month?

Lucy1010

Billy-no-Money wrote: »

Hi, late to this thread, just wanted to write something in defence of Aldi and Lidl!!

I guess what works best depends on where you live - we have a big Morrison's a couple of miles away, and an Aldi and Lidl about a mile from home. Not far from there we have the likes of Home Bargains, Wilkinson's and B&M so it's quite possible to do a circuit and get the best bargains from each.

What's helped for us is that previously we only had a Lidl, and could never quite get everything we needed and ended up back in Morrison's. However, a local Aldi has recently opened and now we find we rarely need to go to the big supermarket. It's taken a few weeks to find the best stuff and best prices but we're about there now.

The big thing I've noticed is that shopping is now far less stressful. Both our Aldi and Lidl are very calm places, no loud announcements (Asda is by far the worst for that), no background music (Morrison's seems to have a 'best of the eighties' CD and nothing else). Because we're in a seaside town there's a high pensioner population, and they tend to shop in Aldi and Lidl - many of those pensioners are very well off indeed, it certainly doesn't feel downmarket.

As for smelly people - I've encountered far more in Morrison's than anywhere else. There's one old man who wears a dirty old coat, odd wellies and smells strongly of stale urine. I followed him out once - he drives an almost-new Honda.

You really can't trust stereotypes and preconceptions!

I know you were being serious but your post made me giggle Perhaps I need to move to another town in order to gain from a decent Aldi

raq

MasterPoo wrote: »

£200 on food for 3 adults??? I'm doing something wrong and after writting how much I do spend on food its actually insane. I'm a single mom with 2 boys (16 and 10) and I spend £400 pcm on groceries!:eek::mad: I WANT TO REDUCE THIS!!

Difficult though isn,t it.!!! Lately I have been going back to aldi as i am saving £35.00 per week. 2 adults and 3 little ones in my family. Use to spend £90.00 a week in asda.

Cyril

Lucy1010 wrote: »

I have taken lots of advice... I spent £7.00 on my weekly shop today and I managed it in my fave supermarket too! (Tesco)

Thanks guys!

What did you buy for that L I'm hoping for some tips.

lauzt1987

Nottoobadyet wrote: »

It can be intimidating, how little people here are able to live off of! I'm a bit of a foodie myself, so I hear where your hubby is coming from. I'm a veggie, so that cuts some costs. market?

Hi there. Just looking for a bit of advice as i'm a vegi too but find this costs more money! As fruit and veg is so expensive and so is quorn etc. Thank you!

dano17439

I spent £180 this week in Tesco's for 2 adults and a 5 year old. Ok it was a big shop, but i reckon we spend at least £400 pm on groceries

ElmerFudd

Not sure what my OH and I will live on this coming month. We can easily spend £50 to £100 a week on groceries etc. For the next x amount of months we will only have around £160 available.

foxgloves

Lucy, just replying to your comment about the stray pans & hats in with the pasta at Lidl.....I expect most of the stray items with the food have been dumped there by people who clearly can't work out by looking at a hat or bath sheet that is doesn't go back with the tinned fish, but you get that everywhere. Lidl & Aldi don't employ many staff for shelf tidying/stacking which is probably one of the things that keeps their prices low, as is stacking it high in boxes. I go to Lidl as I said in my previous post, specifically to stock up my store cupboard. I make a list of all the things I'm looking out for & as this doesn't involve hats, pans or random household items, I don't look at them. Of course these shops are never going to be as slick as Waitrose & Sainsbury's, etc, or carry the sheer range of products, but I'm interested in getting certain products I use regularly at the best prices. In the last 2 or 3 years, we've paid off almost all of our debt which we built up from a previous 20 years of overspending. Neither of us want to go back to wasting money. We are happy with those products we buy from Lidl & this has become part of our overall household budget strategy. The debts have really gone down so we must be doing something right. I'm far more bothered about keeping my finances straight than I ever could be about supermarket snobbery.

Lucy1010

foxgloves wrote: »

Lucy, just replying to your comment about the stray pans & hats in with the pasta at Lidl.....I expect most of the stray items with the food have been dumped there by people who clearly can't work out by looking at a hat or bath sheet that is doesn't go back with the tinned fish, but you get that everywhere. Lidl & Aldi don't employ many staff for shelf tidying/stacking which is probably one of the things that keeps their prices low, as is stacking it high in boxes. I go to Lidl as I said in my previous post, specifically to stock up my store cupboard. I make a list of all the things I'm looking out for & as this doesn't involve hats, pans or random household items, I don't look at them. Of course these shops are never going to be as slick as Waitrose & Sainsbury's, etc, or carry the sheer range of products, but I'm interested in getting certain products I use regularly at the best prices. In the last 2 or 3 years, we've paid off almost all of our debt which we built up from a previous 20 years of overspending. Neither of us want to go back to wasting money. We are happy with those products we buy from Lidl & this has become part of our overall household budget strategy. The debts have really gone down so we must be doing something right. I'm far more bothered about keeping my finances straight than I ever could be about supermarket snobbery.

OK, next time I do my food shop I will go to Lidil and I shall report back, how exciting!

schoolrunmum

I spend around £170 per week at Tescos,almost £700 per month for 2 adults/2kids!! Must get this down.....oh and I love the comment re the old man smelling of pee in a new car-you are so right about "judging" people........we have many cars (OH just can't seem to sell one, just buys more) one is an old Land Rover,another is a Rolls Royce..you should see the way people speak to me depending on what they saw me get out of!

Just been compiling my shopping list for today-and thought I'd double check what I actually had in stock already...shampoo/conditioner-8 bottles, deodorant-also 8, shower gels-6,hmm,maybe I don't need more then....

Lucy1010

schoolrunmum wrote: »

I spend around £170 per week at Tescos,almost £700 per month for 2 adults/2kids!! Must get this down.....oh and I love the comment re the old man smelling of pee in a new car-you are so right about "judging" people........we have many cars (OH just can't seem to sell one, just buys more) one is an old Land Rover,another is a Rolls Royce..you should see the way people speak to me depending on what they saw me get out of!

Just been compiling my shopping list for today-and thought I'd double check what I actually had in stock already...shampoo/conditioner-8 bottles, deodorant-also 8, shower gels-6,hmm,maybe I don't need more then....

WOW you are the mother of all food shoppers!!! £700 per month!!! Now I really don't feel so bad lol! Thanks for your post