Hypno's kick up the backside debt diary....

Karmacat

Ooh, Aldi - I have one opening later in the year thats only one short bus ride away and next to the fruit and veg market (the present one is two long bus rides away, not good). Bargains at Tesco or Sainsbury's tho......... no idea, tbh, I do an online shop at Tesco's and some topup shopping at Sainsbury's, but the topup is midafternoon, only because its near where I work on Fridays. I know Tesco's are doing a thing of 5 fruit and veg half price as part of the "5 a day" campaign, but how realistic the half prices are, I have no idea. Sorry, no help!

And........ hypno........ they're like baby elephants, *and* they're getting into the bed? Do you *want* me to have nightmares? I check my bed every night as it is!

atypicalblonde

Hi Hypno, just thought I would check in on the bargains front, got loads in Aldi to replenish the storecupboard, and a few toiletries, for £10! Will let you know how Sainsburys goes! Think I will save all my receipts this month so I get a good idea how much I am actually spending on food x

hypno06

Well, I have done Sainsburys already - only because I needed to do a mystery shop in the city, and I took advantage of Sainsburys car park, so thought I might as well save petrol and another journey later, and just do the lot now.

So, we did a full month's shopping - our cupboards, freezers and fridges are full, and hopefully we can get away with simply buying bread, milk and fruit and veg throughout the rest of the month. I did manage to buy some reduced pittas and bagels and some reduced bread rolls which are all in the freezer, so hopefully even this will not be too costly.

I did spend £109 so it felt quite expensive, but if I allow £50 for odds and ends for the rest of the month, it doesn't seem so bad. At least when the student arrives tomorrow, I can make her something for dinner!

I also went into Halifax and closed an old account - ok so it had nothing in it, but it just gave me the satisfaction of taking something away from them!

Just made a coffee - supermarket shopping makes you thirsty you know and then need to blitz this house!

slowlyfading

well i wish you well for september then, though i dont think you need it keep that chin up, you are amazing. x

LookingAhead

Hi hypno....just popping in to say hi and also, are you still getting your exchange student soon? Sorry if I have missed anything but I haven't had a lot of time to catch up on all the posts that I missed recently.....if one takes even a few hours off from DFW your diary expands by about 10 pages

Anyway - GOOD LUCK with that if it is still imminent.

Well done too - saw that your overall debt figure has gone down...you'll be sub £40k real soon. :T

atypicalblonde

Hi Hypno, that is a really good amount to spend to feed 4 (or 5, do you feed the lodger too?) for 1 month! You should be proud of yourself hun! Enjoy the rest of your day x

hypno06

Yes, we feed the student too - we have to provide them with 3 proper meals a day, so I say "help yourself" for breakfast which is generally cereal or toast etc, then we do a decent packed lunch, and a cooked evening meal.

I was desperate to see that debt figure reduced, so I have made an overpayment to the Egg card, simply to bring my total down below £42000! Thought it would motivate me, as now I have to replace that money somehow before the end of the month, otherwise the council tax won't get paid!!

I am really really hoping that with a bit of extra effort this month, I can get that total amount repaid so far this year to be over the £10,000 mark, which was originally my aim for the whole of 2007.

atypicalblonde

I am sure you can do it! Does the income the student brings in go straight onto the debt? Maybe if you divide it into manageable chunks and set yourself targets, e.g. ok, I need £700 this month to have cleared £10k this year. Aim to make X from mystery shopping, X from ebay, X from matched betting, etc etc. I know that seems quite a formulaic (sp?) way to do it, but making it a mini-challenge could be fun x

dreams_R_free

:eek: I think its a case of 'swings and roundabouts' with the major supermarkets. Do you have an Asda anywhere near you, Hypno? I'm a relatively recent convert to them from Tesco for my main shop these days. They really do seem to have some bargains, but then Tesco is sometimes better because of the 'points'. I always find Sainsbury a bit more expensive than the others but they do tend to sell more interesting food. What a dilemma!

As I live about 15 miles from any of these 3 it takes a bit of forward planning! I top-up at Lidl. Just been there today and bought loads of really yummy stuff so cheaply. I got the biggest melon I've ever seen and although I haven't cut it yet it's unblemished and at a perfect stage of ripeness. Their bottled red cabbage is gorgeous, although some things I wouldn't touch with a bargepole:rotfl:

hypno06

ATB, that is exactly what I do!! Mini targets R us!! The student money generally goes into the main pot, because without it we end up using the credit cards to fund day to day stuff. With the students money as well, we are more able to get by without increasing the debt in any way. We would love to be able to not have the student, but at the moment it is a bit of a necessity. When we are free of the debt though, we will be getting our house back to ourselves!

Asda is the other side of the city, as are Aldi and Lidl, so generally I only shop there if I am in the vicinity, otherwise the savings are outweighed by the cost of petrol and the additional time etc.