October 2011 Grocery Challenge

tessie_bear

hi....we are on day 2 of a new boiler being fitted and i am bored with being in and i cant do my usual morning veg prep as they are charging around my kitchen...need to plan some tea....might do a quick curry but not sure yet.....at least we have avoided the cost of a takeaway so i am pleased with that

i got a voucher for m and s from moaning about some dodgy chicken so might go and spend that.....will have a pleasant wander round and see what takes my fancy....will have a look at the xmas stuff as well while im there

need to do a meal plan for the week and try and incorporate a few left over bits that i need to use....less of doing a meal plan and more of a complicated puzzle

take care tess

ebayqueen_2

Morning all

TD really needed here in the winter time as I can't hang washing outside in sheds as there is silage put out for cattle!!!! We would be stinking!!!


have had a quote for about £6 per month for insurance for mine and am seriously considering taking it until spring. Just in case it goes as the call out would be at least £60 from manufacturer. Will decide very soon as only have 30 days to consider and that was a few weeks ago.

Yesterday spends were
Mr T's........ £7.04.......pleased that I only had to use £3.12 on debit card as I took all my 5ps and a few pennies to use at the self service.

Poundland...£6 .......3 large bleach, bought 8 AA batteries to give them a try, 2 photo-frames to fit kids pics for grannies

Asda HD.....£35.32......stocked up on 12 of each pasta, 3 cereal £3, plus all the usual fresh foods, milk orange juice etc. No bread as my freezer is full of it after my mammoth whoopsie collection last week.

Oh I hope I get my first NSD today. Don't have to leave the house until school pick-up and that is a late one today so hopefully I will get no. 1

Good luck to all and am now in the process of sifting through Asda to see what else I can stock up on.

take care all. Keep going we are nearly half way through the month

quintwins

ebayqueen wrote: »

Morning all

TD really needed here in the winter time as I can't hang washing outside in sheds as there is silage put out for cattle!!!! We would be stinking!!!


have had a quote for about £6 per month for insurance for mine and am seriously considering taking it until spring. Just in case it goes as the call out would be at least £60 from manufacturer. Will decide very soon as only have 30 days to consider and that was a few weeks ago.

thats how much mine was (well it's £15 for a washing machine, dryer and dishwasher all with the same person) and we've only paid £12 and already had a call out and it fixed, we have a very expensive fancy tumble dryer (i love my fancy appliances i think a steam gen iron is the best invention) and we worked it out if we took it for 7 years it and it then broke just before that and we got a replacement it would be the same as if we had to buy a new one and we've never had a dryer last 7 years so we think it's money well spent also i like the peace of mind we would never have been able to afford a new dryer this close to xmas

my landlords sending someone out to look at my leaky fridge so i'll soon have all decent working appliances (even if he just fixes it it's a decent enough fridge)

ebayqueen_2

Morning Quintwins

I agree with you. It defin. pays for itself. I have dishwasher and washing machine cover and the dishwasher which was a very expensive one at that has broke 3 times after its initial 1 year warranty. The washing machine has had 3 call outs !!!So it is well worth the money each month. I had an Ariston dishwasher for 12 years and it only gave me trouble once !!!!! Peace of mind is worth its weight in gold.:) So I think I need to contact them and sort this out. Thanks for your advice.

Hope all goes well with your fridge

Take care
E

ChasingButterflies

Hi everyone,

Just caught up with the thread! So get well soon wishes to everyone who is feeling under the weather and behave looks at all the appliances that are trying to malfunction!

Just update sig which was depressing... Papa up for a visit for a few days - he is a full breakfast/wine with supper/supper is meat and 2 veg kinda guy, which isn't really the way things normally work here...

Anyway - yesterday I did a full inventory of both freezers (which took a lot longer than I expected everything now has a label on and I have index cards written up with what is where I just wonder how long it will take before I lose the cards :rotfl:)

Meal plan for the next few days is things that DH and I like that we normally don't have the time to make or that the little people have never tried etc. DH really misses herb bread - it must be 10 years since I last made it. I hope it tastes as good as he remembers :rotfl:

Off to try and work a whole family meal plan from Sunday, will try and use some of the more tricky bits from the freezer but try and include a few of the kids favourite things that they don't always get due to the time factor when we have after school activities.

Best wishes to all.

quintwins

ebayqueen wrote: »

Morning Quintwins

I agree with you. It defin. pays for itself. I have dishwasher and washing machine cover and the dishwasher which was a very expensive one at that has broke 3 times after its initial 1 year warranty. The washing machine has had 3 call outs !!!So it is well worth the money each month. I had an Ariston dishwasher for 12 years and it only gave me trouble once !!!!! Peace of mind is worth its weight in gold.:) So I think I need to contact them and sort this out. Thanks for your advice.

Hope all goes well with your fridge

Take care
E

all mine are hotpoint but highend ones with all the knobs and whistles there customer service is fab our dryer made a funny noise in august so we phoned and they sent someone out 2 days later and it was free under the 1 year waranty, about a week before currys tried to sign us up for parts over for £8 a month (even tho hotpoint offer 5 years free parts cover anyway) and it wasn't clear it was only parts unless you read the small print so i'd say lots of people get caught out, so when hotpoint said they'd do parts and labour and accidental cover for less we took there arm off lol


no new fridge for me it was just a blocked vent or something should be ok now, i'm happy with that i don't need a new one just a working none leaking one

helen_jelly

Hollieinbloom - done your total - welcome and hi

Helen

recovering_spendaholic

still no fee cheque:mad: but had to go and get some bits this morning after the school run. Went to Aldi and got there just after 8.30 to find them putting 50% off stickers on loads of morning goods, fruit and veg, meat and pies and there was hardly anyone in the shop! I got loads of bread, potato cakes, fruit bread, barm cakes, lemons, carrots, parsnips, cherry tomatoes, sausages,onions and a family sized steak pie - all 50% off, and then I got the dishwasher tablets to try and some swing bin liners and other bits and bobs like sugar, sweetner, eggs. I had a trolly load and it cost £26.57. Just out of interest (and to put off having to do any work!) I priced the same goods on the Tesco website and even substituting their value stuff it still came to £45.05 so I think I did well! Have updated my signature.

DD1 is off college today so when I got in I did a breakfast of sausage barms but I have to say that the sausages weren't as nice as the Sainsburys ones, but for the price I can't grumble. DD1 liked them though.

Lunch will be soup and dinner tonight will be hm quiche with salad and jacket potato.

It is pouring down here and I have a load of wet towels and bedding. I don't have a tumble dryer so may have to take them to the launderette and spend £4 to get them dry. I don't really have anywhere to put a tumble dryer but would like one. I used to have a washer dryer but it was rubbish so when it broke I got a normal w/m.

ebayqueen_2

Hi Recovering

Well done on your whoopsies....:):):) I love it when I see someone with a reduced sticker machine. Stalk him like mad I do :):)

About your washing. Give your towels etc an extra spin and it makes so much difference. I hang things over doors and everywhere. I usually hang shirts etc on hangers on the door handles at night and they are dry in the morning. Same with bedding fold them over and then in the morning they are usually dry enough to fold over the radiators and then hang them over a few chairs to dry further. It is a bit of a hassle but it would save you a trip out and a few quid. Would you ever think of investing an over the bath clothes horse. This would be ideal for bedding etc.

take care
E

Miss_Purple_Hat

Had 3 NSDs on 7th, 8th and 9th, though not completely out of choice. My eczema became infected and my hands were virtually useless for 3 days. They're still pretty uncomfortable now.

My mum did drive over (an hour each way!) to take me to the walk-in centre on Saturday, paid for my prescriptions and then bought me lunch, so that was nice.

Spent £2.75 on lunch yesterday because I had ran out of lunch foods by this point and I have nothing easy to prepare.

Need to go shopping today, including for lunch, so expecting a much bigger spend soon...