December Debt Destruction!!!

PurpleJay

Morning all. Planning NSD no 2 today and will let you know later if I manage it. Should be ok though, taking satsuma s, banana and soup to work so no need to spend there

Haven't put any petrol in yet as hubby put a bit in yesterday. We have one car which is mostly mine as I use it for work and pay bills for it. Hubby gets the bus to uni. I am trying to think about how I drive and not accelerate harshly and use 5th and 6th a bit more!

For my exercise today I am planning to walk M to school. It is about 10 -15 mins each way. I usually drop him on my way to work so we park closer to school which saves a bit of time. It probably isn't that great on fuel though, all that stopping and starting in the cold.

Time to get up and get motivated. Might have a banana sandwich for breakie

WantToBeSE

Good morning

Havent yet spent anything this month, but am seriosly considering buying some lovely sausagemeat and some diced steak from the farm shop that we walk past every morning on the way to school.
they do loads of different flavours and i am desperate to make my own sausage rolls and pasties and freeze them for when we go on outings over Christmas.

Will be posting some parcels from stuff i sold on ebay today, then i will stop selling until January.

Well done on moving your first load of stuff into your new place Abundant!

Sorry to hear about your 'overspend' Kat, but i know you'll make it up somehow

Good luck with your assignment JAMIE.

thriftylass

Good morning,

I don't know how you do it. Just did my numbers and separated food spends from non-food items like nappies etc on my receipts from Saturday and already spend £90 on food :eek:. Never mind the £70 on other stuff like nappies, cat litter, washing powder etc.:mad: This seems to last some of you at least a month, but I only bought fresh fruit, some veg and meat. Even only went for LIDL for the fruit and some meat/coldcuts and the rest is cheap Tesco. Ok subtract £20 for the xmas goose maybe, but that's still £70 and won't last two weeks (two adults one hungry toddler). Do we eat too much or what are you eating. I need to eat loads as I want to gain wait. But I'm not even buying fancy stuff but at the same time we're not living off beans on toast. :undecided

WantToBeSE

Thriftylass, it may be helpful to start a thread on the OS boards and post what you bought with that money, and what your normal breakfasts, lunches and dinners consist of.
Also, do you have any special dietry requirements, any allergies etc that mean you need to eat/avoid certain foods?
Do you meal plan (saves me loads), do you bulk out meals with lentils/frozen veg/cheap alternatives?

WantToBeSE

Farm shop wasnt open today, so NSD #3 for me today

thriftylass

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thriftylass, it may be helpful to start a thread on the OS boards and post what you bought with that money, and what your normal breakfasts, lunches and dinners consist of.
Also, do you have any special dietry requirements, any allergies etc that mean you need to eat/avoid certain foods?
Do you meal plan (saves me loads), do you bulk out meals with lentils/frozen veg/cheap alternatives?

Thanks, I had a look over there at the GC. Breakfast is Tesco value cereals for me and son. Lunch for me is dinner leftovers and dinner is the only big meal I cook. We eat a lot of chicken and all sorts of other meats as we get bored with having the same or mince all the time. I guess looking through my receipts our fall down is cold cuts (not the value stuff) and fresh meat (mixed, value stuff or reduced from meat counter). Although fresh fruit and veg doesn't get cheaper either. I'll keep my receipts, which I've not really done before and will see what I could maybe reduce.

the_cat

Thriftylass......I can almost guarantee you spend less than me so take heart! I feed 4 adults here, often more as than that with DS girlfriend a regular visitor too. I have special dietary considerations to take into account and everyone is a big eater as we are all VERY sporty. Added to that the fridge raiding capacities of 2 teen lads and you get a very scary figure. My budget would make the eyes water of most on here and I'm almost embarrassed to admit it... But just to make you feel better it's £100 a week. Quite often I come in at less, but by no means always.

Remember it is a competition with yourself to do better than usual, not a competition with everyone on here to spend the least!


BIgMomma...... You asked me about low fat recipes. A book to recommend for your Christmas list is Secrets of Fat Free Baking by Sandra Woodruff. Very American and uses cup measurements but has cakes and biscuits galore. I've only tried 3 so far as low fat diet is new to us but they have been great. A different texture to traditional and made with extraordinary ingredients but taste good! Cake of flour,egg white,sugar,cocoa and apple pur!e doesn't sound promising but incredibly it works! The book shows you how to adapt your own existing naughty treats too so you can play around with your favourites.

thriftylass

the_cat wrote: »

But just to make you feel better it's £100 a week. Quite often I come in at less, but by no means always.

Actually, £100 a week for 4 hungry adults plus visitor sounds not too bad compared to what I spend for 2.5 people. But I'll keep working at it because my suspicion is that I spend more than I imagine/think I do (but I'll only be able too tell by the end of this months looking through my receipts).

searching_me

i desperately want today to be a NSD but im out of soya milk (so cant wait to go to the doctors about this tomorrow) ... tried risking it with a strong tea and a tiny bit of normal milk and ive gone spacey and headachey ....

might just put it off till tomorrow ive got other drinks .. picking up DD so walking it of course with currently no car .. i cant shake this tiredness ... still sticking with it though ..

thrifty as people said its to better yourself not to be in competition with everyone else ... everyone is different as well as there situations so not everyones the same x

Kerfuffle

thriftylass wrote: »

Actually, £100 a week for 4 hungry adults plus visitor sounds not too bad compared to what I spend for 2.5 people. But I'll keep working at it because my suspicion is that I spend more than I imagine/think I do (but I'll only be able too tell by the end of this months looking through my receipts).

If you suspect that you spend more than you imagine/think then you need so start a Spending Diary so you can see where your money is going. And if you save your receipts then when you come to do your next shopping list transfer the price you last paid onto your list so that you can see any price increases, if the price difference causes a :eek: then either downshift to the non-brand/no frills range or make the decision to do without.

Pre-cooked sliced meats are expensive, so look for alternatives such as home-made egg mayo, or tuna mayo. Today Hubby and I are having home-made coronation chicken in our sandwiches made from the bits from off the chicken carcase.

As the others have said, this is a competition with yourself, or in my case, this is a competition between me and the supermarkets

Hope that helps