Need to stop procrastinating and just do it!

Mydmp

redofromstart wrote: »

ooh ooh me, I do! Cumbria lass told me - iOS, settings, general, keyboard then turn smart punctuation off

Thank you

Mydmp

We've been food shopping this afternoon and have managed to pick up some amazing bargains.
Started off in MrM and by luck picked exactly the right time for the yellow sticker reduced items. We picked up £37.54 worth of goods for just £2.05 including:-

3 packs of chicken mince reduced from £3.50 each to 18p each
6 packs of cooked chicken fillets reduced from £2 each to 10p each
3 pots of cottage cheese reduced from 67p each to 7p each
3 carton fresh milk reduced from £1.10 each to 6p each
1 carton buttermilk reduced from 70p to 7p
1 pack fancy yoghurts reduced from £2.76 to 14p
1 piece Wensleydale blue cheese reduced from £2.27 to 12p
2 pasta salads reduced from £2 each to 10p each

Unfortunately (or so we thought) MrM had no fresh coriander left and as we use it on an almost daily basis we decided to drive to a large Asian supermarket in a nearby town. Turned out to be a brilliant decision. At this supermarket we picked up :-

16 packets of dried organic wholemeal spaghetti reduced from £1.67 each to 10p each (best before end of next month but it keeps for ever!)
5 litres of UHT single cream (in 5 separate cartons) reduced from £10.05 to £1

In total we bought £73.59 worth of food for just £4.65 making a saving of £68.94 or 94%. Best bit is that all the items apart from the cream regularly appear on our shopping lists.

Used 4 packs of the cooked chicken fillets to make a Thai curry for dinner tonight. Added baby sweetcorn and red peppers which we already had in fridge and a carton of Thai green curry paste that we already had in our massively overstocked store cupboard. We have a stash of the curry pastes that we bought previously for 33p each from AF. Served with boiled white rice which we buy in bulk from Asian supermarket.
Total cost of meal was £1.83 and served 3 adults (61p each).
Compared to the £45 that we would have spent on Sunday lunch in our local carvery (that we had previously planned on doing) that's another saving of £43.17 today and we all enjoyed it just as much.

Choosing to shop today instead of going out for lunch has therefore saved us a massive £112.11.
In addition to the reduced items we also made the conscious decision to not buy a bottle of wine for this evening saving another £6 increasing the saving today to £118.11
The chicken mince, rest of chicken fillets, cottage cheese, fresh milk and buttermilk are now safely stored in freezer. Pasta salads and yoghurts will be used for work lunches tomorrow and will probably make Broccoli and Stilton soup with the blue cheese.

Hope everyone has had an equally productive and money saving Sunday

redofromstart

Wow, that is an excellent haul. Beats my 30% off a bag of radishes in the co-op by a mile :rotfl:

Mydmp

redofromstart wrote: »

Wow, that is an excellent haul. Beats my 30% off a bag of radishes in the co-op by a mile :rotfl:

Every little helps Are you planning something nice to do with the radishes? :rotfl:

Must admit we were stunned with the bargains that we got. Right place at right time.

redofromstart

Nothing exciting, topped and tailed as extra vitamins for packed lunches tomorrow.

Great when you time it right, and at least you had room for it all.

savingholmes

It's great when you make a decision to improve things and it's as if you get a helping hand.... Fantastic savings and decisions there.

Mydmp

savingholmes wrote: »

It's great when you make a decision to improve things and it's as if you get a helping hand.... Fantastic savings and decisions there.

Thank you. Have to say it's definitely given us a boost. Feels like we've had one of the best weekends in a long time.

Mydmp

Happy Monday morning everyone.
Actions yesterday to becoming debt free were :-
1. Going grocery shopping instead of going out for Sunday lunch saving £43.17
2. Shopped for bargains but only bought what we would definitely use. Saved £68.94 on reduced items
3. Resisted buying wine which we traditionally have on Sunday evening saving £6
4. Updated YNAB
5. Posted on this diary

Add savings from yesterday to those from Saturday and we've saved ourselves a grand total of £152.93 in just one weekend and we've not felt deprived at all. In fact it's been quite exciting.

When it's all written down it really does make you think

Mydmp

After yesterday I didn't think we would be going food shopping again for several weeks but following a call to an elderly relative I found myself taking an unexpected trip to MrA this morning so that they could do their grocery shop. Whilst I didn't intend buying anything I couldn't resist taking a look to see if there was any reduced items. Was amazed to find lots of 1.25kg bags of mixed eating apples reduced from £1.50 a bag to just 30p. Bought 4 bags which between them contained 38 large apples so that's just 3p each.
Need some recipes now for an apple cake if anyone can recommend one?
Also picked up a large bag of fresh basil that was reduced from 70p to 30p.

I now had the bargain hunting bug so decided to call in at MrT's on my way home from work this evening as I drive straight past it. So pleased that I did. They had masses of cooked chicken, cooked meat, artisan bread and cheese that were all drastically reduced. Picked up £47.18 worth of goodies for £14.83 including :-
4 large plain chicken thighs
8 large spicy chicken thighs
10 large Chinese barbecued chicken thighs
Large artisan ciabatta loaf
Large artisan rye loaf
6 large tiger rolls
Large artisan chilli loaf
Large artisan kalamata olive loaf
Large artisan wholemeal loaf
Large bag sliced lunch tongue
13 large pieces of cheese including Shropshire Blue, Kaltbach (Swiss cheese made in Gruyere), Blue Stilton, Castillo Danish Blue, Parmigiano, Chedder with chilli, Double Gloucester, Davidstow Mature Chedder and Gouda.

After yesterday's haul I really could not believe my luck in that I'd done it again, particularly since what was reduced was food that we love. Was really late by the time I got home so we decided to have a very simple dinner of spicy chicken thighs and olive bread. Was delicious and entire meal for two cost just £2.20.
The plain and Chinese thighs are now stashed in freezer along with the tiger rolls and 4 of the artisan loaves. Cheese has filled a large drawer in fridge. Will freeze some or most of it tomorrow once I've done a meal plan for rest of week.

In other debtfreewanabe news we received a unexpected payment of £45 this afternoon from a lovely family member. They'd had a bit of a windfall and wanted us to have a share because of things we've been helping with. Will be using it as an extra payment to one of our debts.

Have also decided to have another go at survey sites as every little helps. Logged into prolific academic and found that there was a balance of £2.90 and two surveys available. Completed both and earned another £1.70

Good day

foxgloves

It's amazing what reductions you can find, isn't it? My best ones have been in the evening in Waitrose yellow-sticker fridge. I don't buy all the posh snacks & ready meals & mafe-up salads & stuff. I look out for white bags, as that's the stuff which has been bagged up at the end of the day from the butcher's counter. I've had some great slow cooker meats that way......lamb shanks, a beef shank, shin beef, ox cheek.....all tough cuts but meltingly gorgeous after 8 hrs in a slow cooker. Also struck lucky one night when they had reduced a load of pork tenderloin joints & I got 3 of those for between £1.22 & 2.30 each. These white bags seem rarer at the moment, but I still always look if I'm passing the shop at that time. Who doesn't love a bargain....esp when debt-busting?!