being organised

Eliza252

ah yes, being organised since joining MSE its got a bit out of hand - now I have three diaries! One for full time and part time job, one for reciepts and to write budget in, and one which is for other stuff - generally to scribble ideas from MSE down, keep up with voluntary work, remind me to phone my Grandad etc. Now my bag is really heavy and I constantly trail around old envelopes with scribbles all over them - I LOVE it - mostly because it makes it very difficult to find my wallet in amongst all the rustling papers in my bag - its a great tactic to avoid those 'accidental' purchases as buying something requires a torch and about half an hour.

On the food side of things meal planning is great, I invariably dont have time to eat all the meals I've planned and in the meantime all the extra food gets stacked up in the freezer - this week I didnt even have to go shopping!

squeaky

Just shows how much we're being overcharged for milk by everybody else, I reckon.

MATH

You can never be too organised and I do feel sorry for those who havn't a natural leaning in this area cos it makes controlled spending much more difficult. Also enjoying spending:eek: is a bit of a drawback too. (not a problem I battle with):cool:

A real benefit is a three or four week round robin menu plan. That way just after pay day you can plan in you shopping trips for the whole month, add to that filling the car with petrol and the odd other necessary spend and you're done.
At the begining of May I knew not only on what days I would be spending money but how much I would be spending. I never keep cash on me (like royalty;) ) unless it is a necessary spending day. I then take just enough to cover the cost.

Stick with it and do a bit at a time until it becomes 'normal' it really is worth it. We had a £3k overdarft and debts three years ago now we're in the black and we only spend half of our income.

Lucie_2

It is tough learning to be organised - I was reading something the other day about habit forming & apparently it takes about 4 weeks of doing something for it to become habit. So by that theory if you do a full month's meal planner & stick to it, by the end it will have become habit!
Personally I do mine weekly - dh & I sit down & compare diaries for the week to see who will be in on what days, plan meals around that & then go shopping for whatever we need that is not already in the cupboard/freezer/fridge.
Bread we rarely eat, so I keep a cheapish loaf in the freezer for cheese on toast emergencies & milk I will happily buy from the garage/corner shop to save me having to go to the supermarket. Usually 2 pints will last us a week, dh has it on his cornflakes & that is about it unless we're having cheese sauce / yorkshire puds etc
I have an account at the local greengrocers, so I just pop in there for fruit and veg as needed, which again saves a trip to the supermarket.

Magentasue

I was working on the premise that six pints of milk in Asda is £1.63 (27p per pint) and I buy four of these every Monday and Friday - haven't got fridge space for more than four. I also buy four pints of full fat milk for rice puddings or bread and butter pudding/real custard.

At our corner shop they sell two pint cartons for about 90p, last time I was cold called about a milk delivery I reckoned on their price being about the same so 45- 49p a pint sounds about right.

So 20p a pint difference or thereabouts which is why it has to be supermarkets twice a week for me.

Loadsabob

I only buy organic milk, and tend to get it in Tesco. Interestingly, in my experience, it lasts far longer (before going off, I mean, still gets used at whichever rate you'll use it!!). So when it's only me, a four pinter will last a whole week, and still tastes as fresh by the end of it. Also, the cost difference in Tesco between that and their non-organic is negligible (I forget the figures offhand)

However, I have been told that the reason for the milk not going off as fast is as follows:

Non-organic milk cartons can be made up of milk from several different days' production, but the use-by date is determined by the freshest milk used. In fact, of course, the oldest milk would be the deciding factor in when it starts to turn. However, organic milk must be bottled/contained only with milk from the same date. Therefore ALL the milk in your bottle is going to have the same length of life.

I don't know whether this is true, I've not verified it, but I can go on my own experience that it lasts longer. And I find it tastes nicer too...friends have commented that my semi-skimmed organic tastes much creamier than their non-organic.

Loadsabob

Oh, and on the subject of impulse buying in Supermarkets...I only carry my weekly cash around with me, and though I have all my cards, too, I have made it a point to not use the new chip and pin system (I'm not convinced by the security of it!), so I don't know any of my pins, and can't use the plastic at the checkout.

And I am just lucky that I only have my own willpower to deal with, no children needing to draw from my weekly cash for trips etc...that must be much harder.

Curry_Queen

Curry_Queen wrote:

For the first time this week I went to put my order into Tesco but couldn't think of anything that I actually needed :eek:

If only I'd remembered coffee!!!! <sob sob> and by the time I realised this money that the container was almost empty DS had already gone to school so I've only been able to have 2 cups of :coffee: this morning

Eliza252

Curry_Queen wrote:

I've only been able to have 2 cups of :coffee: this morning

My worst nightmare!
Sympathy!

Curry_Queen

Eliza252 wrote:

My worst nightmare!
Sympathy!

Thankyou

Considering I probably drink on average 10 cups a morning, it's a hell of a drop, and I'm sure I'll end up having caffiene withdrawals today :doh:

On the subject of milk prices, there seems to have been a recent hike in price or so I've noticed, as a 4pt carton was previously 99p at both the local One-Stop and Co-op but is now something like £1.17 and I noticed Tesco's prices shot up overnight too.

I don't drink milk myself so a 4pt carton will usually last us a week, unless DS stays here for the weekend or I make rice pudding, yorkshires etc and then I'll go through a couple, as he drinks quite a lot of it.