2023 Frugal Living Challenge

Absolock

Landgirlinthelittlecity said: We don’t buy any brand items either unless they are cheaper. So it’s not like I can go down to them to save some money. Just hoping that changing how and what we eat will help in the long run. X x

My other half only buys name brands he likes when they are cheaper also, but he's gone off buying shower / shampoo and conditioner as separate items and has joined me using an all in one shower gel/shampoo.

I don't know about being cured of 'new ingredients to try' but I keep a lot of spices and store cupboard items I'm learning to produce a greater variety of meals with those - and in the microwave too!

RandomOne

@Landgirlinthelittlecity yes I LOVE browsing the supermarket shelves to find new things to try. I love cooking and trying Asian foods, but also love to experiment with different cuisines. 
What I've decided to do is only allow myself to experiment with new recipes once per month from now on. Paying off my debt is more important to me than eating a huge variety of cuisines at the moment. 

I've also started down branding with food (and everything else too) and also shopping at Aldi. I HATE the idea of shopping at Aldi, but there just isn't the variety like there is in Tesco/Sainsburys, which is a good thing for me!

cw18

RandomOne said:

I HATE the idea of shopping at Aldi.....

As someone who spends the majority of her grocery spends in Aldi, can I ask why?

I'm genuinely interested, as the only reasons I've ever come across in the past are (when we first moved to where I live now 21 years ago) that the children were picked on at school if their parents were seen there (!), or because they don't sell big names (and they do that sometimes now, althought they're normally a short-term line).

When I moved here we had a choice of Aldi or Safeway, then the Safeway changed to Morrisons before even that closed down.   During that time we gained a Lidl, which also closed and changed to an Iceland.   We now have another Lidl way up the other end of town (too far for me to walk for a quick browse or just 1 or 2 items).  As an aside, when the first Lidl opened the kids changed to that being the one others were picked on for, and Aldi suddenly became acceptable.    Now the options we have are Iceland, B&M, Heron and Aldi around the town centre there doesn't seem to be any stigma to any of them.

I have access to a small Tesco across from work, but I rarely go in there (I don't like a lot of their prices, and I then have to walk over 1.5 miles home carrying everything), and an Asda a bit further away from work (which means a slightly longer walk home).  The most recent addition (for me) is a community store near work, but their opening hours changed (they stopped opening on Saturdays) which makes it very hard for me to get there as they open after I start work and close before I finish most days      But I've had some great bargains from there, and am currently working my way through a load of oat milk I got which was a fraction of the cost in supermarkets     You don't have to be on any kind of benefit - or even financially struggling - to use them, as mine is more about stopping food ending up in landfill.

I introduced my OH to Aldi late 2011/early 2012 after we started dating.  He'd seen Aldi and Lidl stores in places, but hadn't ever considered going into them.   A few years later he was absolutley thrilled to find out Lidl were building a store close to where he lives, and closer than he'd previously had any kind of supermarket.   He now does the majority of his food shopping there.

RandomOne

I think it's just because the variety isn't there, and I always have to go somewhere else to get items that Aldi doesn't sell.  As much as I hate it, I have started doing it because I want to save money. 
I don't know why it just doesn't get me excited like shopping at Sainsbury's or Tesco does, but that's not a bad thing necessarily. 

I'd actually prefer to shop at Lidl, but haven't ever tried that before either. 

weenancyinAmerica

I don't know about Aldi's there, but here in Southern California, I always check at Aldi's first as the prices are so much better than our local markets - over $2.00 less on oatmeal ($4.89 elsewhere). And the cheese prices are great as well as the condiments. I love their Coffee and Cream candy bar (so do a lot of other people - it sells out all the time here). It is always my first stop for many items - and sometimes the only shop for the week.

Landgirlinthelittlecity

Ahhh how I’d love an Aldi or Lidl over here, we have Tesco, Co-op, M&S and a “let’s pretend it’s local” Shoprite. Out of all of them Tesco is just the easiest and most logical for us to shop in, though I have of note noticed that some things are actually cheaper in the M&S than Tesco, but if I want to shop local, which I like to do to keep farmers in jobs, then I’m still paying over twice the price. Thankfully the stuff that I buy Manx is the odd thing like butter, milk, beef and potatoes.

maryb

I like Lidl because they sell a lot of organic produce at a very reasonable price plus things like free range chicken and wild salmon(frozen but that's fine). They've also started selling beef labelled as grass fed. I can also get Gruyere there for £10 a kilo cheaper than other supermarkets.  It is so much better than cheddar for cooking. What I don't like is all the plastic it comes in but organic is always like that so that it doesn't go through the till at standard price

Landgirlinthelittlecity

So I budget to an inch of my life, or at least try to, and we’ll not quite surprisingly, I’ve looked at everything (to see if I can alter anything) and we’ve got so many fixed charges out of our account e.g. mortgage/loan payments, that the only things which can be altered with is basically our food spending, our dog food spending (which to be honest is basically fixed as I’m not going to a lower quality food), and my sanity spending which is $10 on a digital scrapbook every month (I love scrapbooking and have such a stock that I don’t need new so just get the monthly tasks) and a monthly Falafel wrap. I do on occasion by yarn but this is normally done when I am on holiday so that it’s from the holiday spending per say.

When our mortgage repayments went up at the middle of the year, I’d already cut down so much, so stopped getting my Starbucks once a week treat (which was the only additional thing I bought) and I already try my best to save (never happens as there is always an issue with the old dogs sadly), just wondering where else I can be more frugal.

I’m definitely going to be trying to do a no spend, all the time as I still fall for instant gratification items, just so I can save more as 9 out of 10 times this comes out of my savings.

I feel a wee bit of a fraud here already, just worried that I shouldn’t be here when generally the only savings I’ll manage for a while is on the food shopping. Ek

Bluegreen143

@Landgirlinthelittlecity try tracking your spending religiously for a month or two (use an app or a notebook). You may well be surprised at what you find. 

Most people find there is money frittered away somewhere or they forget to account for annual or irregular expenses. 

If you subtract your direct debits and what you think you spend from your income, are you saving the amount that *should* be leftover? Or is money disappearing which you can’t account for? Find the leaks and it’ll help you evaluate your strategy. 

If things are really that tight, is there any way you can reduce your bills and fixed spending? It may take time, but cancelling subscriptions, changing suppliers and insurers etc can all help free up a bit of cash. Most people don’t want to do the big cuts but it is worth considering whether moving somewhere smaller or going car free etc would get you that wiggle room in your budget. Lots of people are “house poor” and so much of their income goes to housing that it’s difficult to make headway in other areas. 

Do ignore any of the above that doesn’t apply to you - just throwing some ideas out there! 

I’m not a big advocate of getting rid of all treats - do keep some of that sanity spending!

Siebrie

cw18 said:

Son has already been told he's going to have to chip in more towards the costs of my car (we share it).

@cw18 When I carshared with my parents, we had the deal that whenever I used it, I would return it with a full tank, no matter how full it was when I took it out.