From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Shopping day 🙄  Am I getting boring and predictable......

I am going to have to look at the food budget again.  This month has been a wash out in terms of keeping to budget.  I have tried to include 'good' food choices, all the fruit and veggies that you're supposed to eat - in all their forms; fresh, canned, frozen, and £200 or £215 just isn't cutting it for a family of 3.  I realise that I don't have the benefit of accessing 'superb' YS bargains, 0li0, TGTG etc etc, and can't easily alter that fact.  Our local co0p still believes in wasting operatives time and orange sticker costs to knock tuppence off something that is already rotten, so no dice there - whatever time of the day you go.  I've done the brand shift (long, long ago), shop around (within reason), and we don't eat meat - and now, very rarely fish either.  'Seasonal' food no longer seems to fall in price as the season wears on - British asparagus is as expensive today as it was at the end of April, not helped by the abundance of South American asparagus that you can also buy for a not dissimilar price point.  I was watching a US vlogger who was mentioning how they love summer for the abundance of low-priced seasonal fruit and veggies - I don't see the same thing in our supermarkets.  

I need to do the money-shuffle today, and work out what can be put into the £ for panes pot.  Car repair costs have taken a chunk of the savings pot this month.   At least the money is in the right place to pay the bills from 1st, as I always try to be a minimum of a month in hand - we're still feeling the effects of rent taking every penny of income - but are in a better position now than we were.  

HT is quiet.  We've walked into Greying town (yesterday), and LG helped me with some sewing to make a (bespoke) item for DH's bike yesterday.  Well, I say helped.......  Anyhoo, that is done - using some material that had been left over from the last time I made one (well in excess of 10 years ago - the material has moved home twice 🤣) and £5.10 of new materials, of which there is plenty of leftovers for other projects.

Line drying of washing has been a bit hit and miss, but I'm sort of caught up, until LG puts something on, gets it dirty, and gets something else out the drawer..... and gets it dirty........ more costume changes than attendees at the met gala..........

Sorry to be so boring.  DIY is on a bit of a pause because of time and money constraints.  The garden work is on hold due to the weather primarily.  

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

You are never boring Greying! Xxx love to hear about your daily life.  Food is indeed expensive and you do such a good job feeding your family so healthily and imaginatively on a budget. 

You will get back to DIY and the garden soon I'm sure xxx

rtandon27

Morning GP - don't forget that the routine is the stuff life is made of & we all love keeping you company in that routine!  You are indeed correct - food is EXPENSIVE now, and we are putting a lot more effort into keeping the spends low!

This morning for instance, OH is helping out at the organic farm we get our veg box from and in exchange they give him a few veg which are not quite good enough to sell & also a home-made nutritious lunch, usually centered around a vegetable soup and some good sourdough bread with butter and if he's lucky some cheese.  I've also put more effort into getting those nectar points banked just so that we will have an extra 15 pounds to roll into our groceries next month.  It means more plotting and planning just to obtain what we used to get for well under the budgeted amount!  I am however thankful that we can still buy healthy food, as it's even more dire back home, across the pond, where prices have become so excessive that friends and family (who do not normally struggle to make ends meet) have to do without certain items such as cheese and eggs on a regular basis, just to stretch the pay to the end of the month!

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you Cheery and RT for your extremely supportive comments.  They are greatly appreciated.  Yes RT I know that Canada and North America have seen some price hikes that make our shopping bills look like we're benefitting from bargain basement prices...... I've had to compromise on egg purchases 😣

So I am back from shopping.  Having spent an eye-watering £57.56 of next month's budget 😬 Most of the stuff was 'food', I think that 2 items of alcohol (which together actually only cost a little more than a pint of beer would in a pub in Londinium town, so.......) and a tub of vanilla icecream were about the only 'nice to have, but could be in the unecessary category' purchases made today.  

I didn't buy anything 'n*ctar' price today, but did collect a few points by buying somethings from there that are the same price in MrL or better from MrS (I'm looking at you vac-pack beetroot).  I have got a coupon spit for triple points and money off an instore shop.  I will look very hard to see if I can make the coupon work for us.  

I did get a couple of YS'd things in MrL.  Actually, come to think of it, I got 3 desserts for 52p (60% YS), which weren't strictly needed either, but will get munched today.  I was pleased to get 2 small punnets of button mushrooms for 76p in total - as I was going to buy mushrooms anyway, so to get 60% off was a bonus.  LG has just asked me what the 'limit' is for nectar points you can collect.......  I have no idea, as we are currently sitting at 150 😂 I had assumed that the points I received from a purchase from argoose would be added to my MrS total - but that hasn't happened.  Surely you don't have to spend points earnt in connected stores IN those stores??  Ha ha LG has now asked if my 150 points - £150 😂 No dear, 75 PENCE - and it's taken a month or more to earn that.........

Now wondering if I can conjour up some tasty soup - I would do some market gardening/farm work for delicious soup and sourgough (not forgetting wonky veg 😁).  I miss the food waste diversion scheme, but it was getting busier and busier (no surprise), and I really can't be doing with all the unpleasantness in the queue.  

Greying X

teapot2

I think Nect*r points from purchases in 'Partner' stores can take a while to be added to the N points total, thats been my experience anyhoo.  Also assume you linked your card to Argoose to get the points? x

debtfreewannabe321

Food is SO expensive now. I've really had to compromise on so much. I put everything in my basket (I shop online atm) and it's all from a meal plan. Then I have to usually go through it two or three times to take out things that I hope I can do without or swap for tinned or frozen or whatever to try and bring it down. And I'm still coming in over budget most times. It's really annoying. Our food budget is as much as our mortgage payment. Which I find crazy. It says online that you should work to a 50/30/20 ratio when budgeting. 50% on food, bills AND transportation 😆 ours actually works out to 65-70% just for the basics!! No wonder I'm struggling 🙈 the discretionary part (30%) is almost non existent so we can top up the bills and food money. 

badmemory

They also say that the increase in prices is slowing.  Well it certainly isn't as regards food prices.  About the only thing that isn't going up by over 10% a year is milk & I am sure that is just because the supermarkets are (insert rude word) farmers.  I worry how long it will be before even more farmers decide that producing milk just isn't worth it.

Greying_Pilgrim

teapot2 said:

I think Nect*r points from purchases in 'Partner' stores can take a while to be added to the N points total, thats been my experience anyhoo.  Also assume you linked your card to Argoose to get the points? x

Dearheart - how right you are to query whether I have actually linked the two given my technological ineptitude 🤣The answer is that I think I have.  It says I have a linked partner on my account, so 🤞it's just a delay in adding them.  I mean, I might even edge towards a whole £1 if they get added 🤣

Oh dfw123 - I despair that it is so hard for all of us.  I "think" I have employed all the 'tips and tricks' (that I am able to), it just saddens me that the only viable options now seem to be 'do without'.  

Greying X

rtandon27

debtfreewannabe321 said:

...It says online that you should work to a 50/30/20 ratio when budgeting. 50% on food, bills AND transportation 😆 ours actually works out to 65-70% just for the basics!! ...

YIKES - does it seriously say that 50 is food bills AND transportation??? - That is absolutely unreal!

We spend 77% on bills/mortgage/retirement savings/food - 11% on transportation - 4% on medical - 5% on quality of life (vacations mostly) and the remaining 3% is the frivolous discretionary bit - no way we could ever do 30% - we'd go into debt!!!

beanielou

I just think food is so extortionate. I thank the lucky stars every day that DS is a grown up & lives independently.