Getting FIREd up 😀

South_coast

That's interesting about the studies, Ruby. It makes a lot of sense about the timing too. Now you're making me feel like I could do better on the groceries though, especially if you're managing that at Sainsbury's 😮😮😮! Always feel like I've been robbed when I come out of there 😳

ruby_eskimo

South_coast said:

That's interesting about the studies, Ruby. It makes a lot of sense about the timing too. Now you're making me feel like I could do better on the groceries though, especially if you're managing that at Sainsbury's 😮😮😮! Always feel like I've been robbed when I come out of there 😳

It just takes a lot of planning and a combination of things:

- We meal plan and DH laughs at me because we'll be sitting down with a cup of tea after putting the shopping away and I'll already be planning for the following week 😆

- DH loosely follows the 5:2 diet so 2 days a week he eats not a lot and I get to eat the things I like that he doesn't e.g. mushrooms

- I batch prepare lunches for myself for the week, usually a soup or a salad or a stir fry

- We try to eat seasonally where we can

- If it has a basics version then we'll buy it and we literally don't buy big name brands

- We use a lot of frozen fruit and veg to cut down on wastage / cost and frozen peppers can bulk out anything

- I cook pretty much everything from scratch

- I stretch our meat so it goes a bit further.  DH has noticed that I've cut down the meat content on a few things like cottage pies and bolognase but he doesn't mind and it means we get a little bit more fruit and veg in

- We also rarely buy alcohol and if we do then it's for a special occasion and we only buy what we need.  Also my parents are constantly gifting us bottles of wine because their friends give them bottles and they also don't really drink.


If DH didn't have so many food aversions, then I could make our money go a bit further but he's a fussy one sometimes and you'd be surprised how many things have hidden sweetcorn in them!  It's the way we've always been since we moved in together (which is ten years ago this weekend 😳) and I can't imagine being like some of my friends who go to the supermarket every day to pick up stuff for dinner 🤯  I'm in and out in about 20 minutes once a week 🤣

Bluegreen143

This is inspiring. I used to be super frugal with groceries but our spend is atrocious now. We do eat a lot more meat than previously, mainly chicken breast (because of fussy kids and I’m on a low carb weight loss/healthy eating kick). And DH likes a few treats eg he drinks tons of cola (own brand), eats crisps daily etc. I don’t want to go back to our super frugal days because it’s more of a priority for me to lose weight right now, and this diet is working well, but I do think there’s a middle ground which would save us some money!! 

For reference, we spent £550 on food last month 😧😧😧 feeding two adults and 2x little kids, but they get most of their lunches at school/nursery! When I was a SAHM two years ago our budget was about half of this. 

South_coast

I'm the same with starting to plan straight after I get back - I find sitting down to thumb through the Lidl magazine very relaxing!

South_coast

Morning team! My helpful body clock didn't realise it was Saturday and woke me at 5.30am 🤦‍♀️! Consequently I'm currently wide awake/a bit wired. Have been trying to do some life admin (bank switching), but my next target are not letting me "switch this account at this time". Had this with the last one too, up until the day of the deadline 🤷‍♀️ Think I'll go for a run and get some fresh air, come back and try again, and if it's still not working then I'll move on to the next target!

South_coast

Ooh, and I might track my grocery spend for a month or so. Not yet decided whether I can be bothered!

South_coast

Target account still not letting me switch, so went onto the next one and no problem there. Really, this should have been the first choice one anyway as it's a bigger bonus, the other one just paid out faster hence wanting to get in quickly so I can get out again more quickly! 

Next switch completes 14/06....

South_coast

In other news, I am very sad at missing out on the current Red = Buy opportunity, however I have literally no money until payday (and already working on spending that 😳 - darn high savings rate, which I am not prepared to pinch back from 🤦‍♀️)

killerpeaty

While it's exciting to buy, sometimes you just have to let it pass you by. You need to do what is right for you in your current situation, you have a different priority right now.

South_coast

Yes, but time in the market is so important 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️! You're right though, I can't do everything 🙁