Chanie fabulously looks after her pennies...

chanie

I think I do well with presents, if I do say so myself. We do our main food shopping in lidl/aldi, so we aren't too bad there, but top ups during the week increase the bill. It's the 'other' stuff that wipes it all out -in march we have two weddings, 1 birthday, Easter, new glasses for DS, a new tyre and windscreen wipers for my car. In the medium term he could do with new school shoes, trainers, prescription goggles and sunglasses. DD will need school uniform this year too. I estimate that all of the above will cost around £300. I can save about 10% through shopping around, but there arent many deals on things like the uniform and goggles.

It's good to take stock of all of this as it makes me feel a bit better about how we are managing.

Kitten868

More signs of the seasoned pro - you know what is coming and how much to budget. You're so far ahead of me!
Do take stock. You are doing well and when you think about it every month you don't borrow is a win really. X

chanie

I'm far from being a seasoned pro!!! Our debt is all overdraft and whilst it's not getting worse, it's not getting any better. We really want to reduce our overdrafts, but as soon as they start to reduce, something always comes up.

buying in bulk
One of the things I wanted to do was to buy more store cupboard ingredients in bulk to save money. I already buy my laundry stuff in bulk and it works out to be good value. Today I went to C0stco and bought a couple of items. I can't afford to buy everything in one go, so it does help to keep me on track, when i do go shopping.

My thinking is to buy items we use regularly that will keep e.g. laundry stuff, rice, pasta, tinned goods etc, when we do go shopping, we will only need to get fresh items.

chanie

shopping locally

Having watched the 'call the bailiffs' programme, I decided make more of an effort to shop locally to support small businesses. Mr Chanie doesn't like the fruit in lidl/aldi as it doesn't last long, so I decided to buy some fruit from a local greengrocers.


The negatives of shopping locally
Having to use cash - I normally use cards and cash can burn a hole in my pocket.
Not knowing prices - I picked up some grapes and when I asked the price, they were really expensive (to me).
Having to visit lots of different shops (butcher, baker, candlestick maker)

The positives of shopping locally
Contributing to the local community
The fruit I bought was nice (from what I've had so far)

I did find it more expensive, but I've decided to set myself a small budget for local purchases.

chanie

I've baked my first chocolate cake today for a work colleagues birthday. In an earlier post, I'd contemplated going on a baking course, but have decided to teach myself, as its more fun that way. I'll let you know how it tastes!!!!

I've been thinking about my recent shopping trips and here are my thoughts:

the greengrocers
Mr C liked the fruit I bought yesterday. We are happy to pay a bit more for better quality. I'm going to try the local market for fruit and veg next. I do like the market, but it's awkward to get to, so I don't go very often.

c0stco
I've compared the prices of certain key items in c0stco to l1dl. Some staple products work out to be the same, although the quality in C0stco is better.
What I like about buying in c0stco is that if we need to have a tight month, we are well stocked.

chanie

I had a 'me' day today, which included a beauty treatment (Xmas present) and a bit of shopping.

I popped into Home Bargains to buy a few bits and managed to keep within my £20 budget. Last month, I spent double that, so I'm pleased I kept on track.

I also spent:
£6 on parking - I normally try and avoid paying for parking where I can, but I didn't want to ruin a nice day so used the shopping centre car park for convenience.

£8 on lunch - had some noodles for lunch. Next time, I'll go somewhere cheaper as I don't think my meal was worth £8.

£30 in a dress - I have three weddings coming up and needed a new outfit. It's an expense I could do without, so wanted to spend as little as possible. Luckily, there won't be any of the sane people at the weddings, so I can get away with buying one outfit. I could have ordered it online and saved a couple of pounds, but the postage fees would cancel out any savings, so I didn't bother.

Whilst it does seem like a bit of a splurge, my spends were all planned and I didn't fritter away any money on drinks, magazines and other bits and pieces.

chanie

Forgot to add::

Whilst I was out I popped to a greengrocers and bought the most amazingly sweet and juicy fruit. Had I have known how nice it was, I would have stocked up, but sadly it's too far to go back.

chanie

a simple mothers day gift

I bought some milk bottle style vases from IKEA, filled with tulips (any small bunch of flowers will do) and wrapped it in brown paper and string. IKEA have brown paper and string at the exit for customers to wrap their items, so I didn't have to pay for this. Total cost was £3.50 and it looks nice if I do say so myself.


On a less positive note, I had to throw away about £5 worth of food. We have mice and they have eaten holes in about 10 packets of crisps and 2 packets of pasta. The irony of this is that I put the crisps in a plastic box, but I didn't close the lid properly and the mouse got in. I'm really annoyed as its such a waste.

chanie

My weekly purse money is all gone.

I bought milk and a tin of beans and was given £8 in £2 coins. As we save £2, they have gone into savings, which is good, but it now means I'm poor.

... on the way home, I found a penny. Oh the irony.

chanie

Another trip to costco today.

I bought some juices for OH to take to work (£5 saving) and ketchup (£1 saving). I think the bulk buying is working rather nicely, particularly for those days when we are running low on food. I have hidden the drinks from the DC, as they will want them. DD spotted them at the back of the cupboard when I was getting something out, but I managed to distract her, so she forgot.

I spent another £10 ish on supplies for the Easter hat parade at nursery for DD and DN - it's their last year at nursery, I thought I'd better make the effort.