What everyday goods do you now consider a treat?

jamsandwhich

Cheapskate wrote: »

Well, if you are I'm joining in - we can be sad and slightly mad together, hun! :rotfl: *insert mad giggle!* Think you're of a similar age and childhood experience as me, so we've a little in common as far as being frugal is concerned - hate spending money unnecessarily, want value for money, never had much of the stuff, etc.!!

For a treat, I bought some choc caramel wafers the other day, the ones made by a well-known Scottish firm. A 4-pack was 75 pence, an 8-pack £1.55, so obviously I bought 2 x 4. Lady next to me said something and I explained the maths involved (!) and you could see the penny drop - said she'd not realised! Lots of things seem to be priced like this at the mo - bit sneaky, but if you're daft enough to carry on buying a bigger pack without checking the price, then more fool you!

When I do my shops I am often stood working out the pence per litre / pence per gramme and have people sniggering as they walk off but some of the savings are mad - the best one recently was on pure juice, the 1.5litre one on offer at 342 was actually a worse deal than the four pack 1-litre ones by quite a bit. I am obsessed though - have even been known to work out the price per biscuit on weetabix:D

dandy-candy

Shoes i'm finding ridiculously expensive. I used to pay £50-60 for sturdy leather boots, last winter I couldn't find any under £100 (so I went without). Even the faux leather shoes I used to buy at New Look for about £7 are now £20-25

One "treat" I really miss is about once a month I would drive 30 miles out of London to a lovely town and go shopping. I never do now with petrol prices so high

quintwins

i can remeber when my twins were babys, i used to walk to town for lunch, i used to be able to get sausage roll, salad and tea for £1.10 now it's more like £3 so i don't go, i also would have got my breakfast in a cafe and it was £2.60 for a fry we went about 2 months ago and it cost £15 for the 2 of us and some toast for the kids, the same shop does shortbread, 2 sticks of teh well known brand for £1.10 needless to say i don't go anymore also i would now have to drive in so that makes it even more expensive

i'm still buying butter, we love butter, our fav brand is £2.18 a block now, i did manage to get 9 blocks of there own one for £1 awhile back in lidl but i saw it's on offer this weekend for £2

i havnet had decent shoes in ages i've just been grabbing pretty ones in sales, can't rembeer the last time i spent over £10 on shoes and i get my trainers from sports direct the same with oh and the kids, i used to buy the twins shoes from clarks but we just can't afford to do that for DS3 so i go in and get him measured then go look on ebay, or i see if we have any in that size left from the twins, also how expensive has sandals got, i struggled to find any for them for under £10, i can remeber getting them a pair each for £3 in barrats not last year but the year before


i ahve over 20 fresh mackeral in my freezer so i might try that fish, altho i'm not very good at deboning them

elona

Butterfly Brain

The Aldi and Lidl near us now have cheapest butter at £1.10:eek:

jamsandwich

I used to have an ex catalogue shop a few miles away and it had stuff at a third of the original price or less. It closed down a couple of years ago but a local charity now has a catalogue sale once a month - fill a carrier bag for £6 with new dress, tops, skirt, vests or trousers etc. It is not a trendy label but at less than £1 for a summer top, dress or skirt that could get splashed with bleach, cooking ingredients or mud from the garden - I can't complain. I sometimes even find an outfit my Dds really like on me ( I do not tell them where I got it or how cheap it was - I am learning!)

I work out the price per 100 grams etc as well and compare different size packs - it really embarasses DH and DDs until they realise how much I save.

DH went pale when I went on a rant about how prices had shot up and declared "This is war!" He now gives me a lift down the road so I can get yellow stickered stuff and freeze it.

spike7451

elona wrote: »

I went to Mr S yesterday afternoon and got YS trout fillets, pork chops, fancy stuffed belly pork (the irony) to put in freezer and a lot of cauli and broccoli at a third of the price . I make a special visit now just to look for items to put into freezer at half price or pref a third of the price.

Find myself smuggling in the yellow stickered stuff to freezer in garage so DDs don't see it. Have learned never to tell them how good a bargain I got especially on shower gels, shampoos etc as they then look down their nose at it.

The veg will make a cheesy bake for lunch or a veggie dish for tea and going to use Lidl half price chicken tonight for a huge lasagne with mushrooms, onions and peppers to bulk it out and a home made cheese sauce on top. DH has managed to grow some lettuce leaves in the garden and can't wait for potatoes to be ready.

I managed to get a lot of pasta and noodles from approved food website and saved a load of money by stacking up basics of canned and dried food when they had stuff I really wanted and could use.

With five adults in the house (three daughters) we get through a lot of food, shampoo, soap powder etc so I grab anything on offer and hide it away.

Did you know Sainsbury do basic fairtrade tea bags at about 29 pence for 80? I have been filling the tea caddy with them for ages now and no one has complained;)

I buy Sainsbury's frozen chicken portions,around £3.80 for a big bag.With your large family,a bag of these (thigh's,drums ect) & some seasoned flour you can make a better KFC style chicken meal for your lot at a fraction of the cost of going to KFC.
I use one of these;
http://www.mrcflava.co.uk/our-products/sachets.html

Which I get from my butchers to add to the flour or just make spicy sticky chicken!:D

elona

quintwins and dandy-candy

Did you know Wyndsors world of shoes have a website and sell online?

I got some winter boots delivered last year as the snow was so bad I did not want to go out.

I also find some good bargains at amazon on shoes, boots and bags and sometimes even get free postage as well. I even found some as a surprise pressie for my DD and she really liked them so not everything that is a bargain has to be fuddy duddy.

elona

Spike

Thanks for the tip about the chicken. I actually have four daughters so sometimes it is six of us at home - more if one of them has a friend over.

Am I crazy to feel so triumphant when I beat them at their own game?

As I keep telling DH "better the money is in our pocket than theirs, especially for the same stuff at half price or less!"

jamsandwhich

elona wrote: »

Butterfly Brain

The Aldi and Lidl near us now have cheapest butter at £1.10:eek:

jamsandwich

I used to have an ex catalogue shop a few miles away and it had stuff at a third of the original price or less. It closed down a couple of years ago but a local charity now has a catalogue sale once a month - fill a carrier bag for £6 with new dress, tops, skirt, vests or trousers etc. It is not a trendy label but at less than £1 for a summer top, dress or skirt that could get splashed with bleach, cooking ingredients or mud from the garden - I can't complain. I sometimes even find an outfit my Dds really like on me ( I do not tell them where I got it or how cheap it was - I am learning!)

I work out the price per 100 grams etc as well and compare different size packs - it really embarasses DH and DDs until they realise how much I save.

DH went pale when I went on a rant about how prices had shot up and declared "This is war!" He now gives me a lift down the road so I can get yellow stickered stuff and freeze it.

Thanks for the tip - I used to love browsing charity shops but don't work near them anymore, I think I may start popping in again when I do my Saturday morning shop as there is a local hospice one in the little shopping centre wher our Home Bargains and Big Tesco is so could combine it. I think we still have a factory outlet near us too - will have to have a look and see as tbh had forgotten about these places. I got a couple of tops from H&M and while they were not really expensive they looked like rags after a couple of washes/wears which is also why I stopped shopping in Primark.

When the twins were first born I used to also go to M&S for a treat of a toastie and cappucino which used to cost a bit considering what it was but would have a quiet half our and then browse a bit but knocked that on the head as at £7 a pop is now too expensive. Guess I have cut back a little more than I thought:)

I decided to go back to sewing clothes when the girls were born and now it is just as expensive to make your own stuff as it is to buy new in most cases.

spike7451

elona wrote: »

Spike

Thanks for the tip about the chicken. I actually have four daughters so sometimes it is six of us at home - more if one of them has a friend over.

Am I crazy to feel so triumphant when I beat them at their own game?

As I keep telling DH "better the money is in our pocket than theirs, especially for the same stuff at half price or less!"

You're welcome,

What I often do is defrost one of the chicken thigh portions (they are HUGE!) & bone it out,use the meat for a curry,stir fry or stuff them & roll for individual joints for Sunday.

quintwins

oh i have got some bargian shoes (and slippers) from amazon before i don't need shoes at the mo but will def need some new winter boots this year so i'll bookmark that site

matalan and peacocks are also quite reasonable for cheap shoe altho in some cases i think u get what you pay for and they don't last long