Sass' 2008 DFW ramble thread

Sassamac

Todays food shop came to under £10, which leaves less than £10 for next weeks shop.

Keeping_Positive

Oooh looks like it will be tight but you have done wonders before.

Sassamac

True, I managed to work it last month by living on a pittance at the end of the month, and my freezer does seem to be a bottomless pit of leftover dinners, so hopefully its just bread and milk til the end now!
Im unsure whether to change my shopping tactics. It seems to be the fortnightly shop at the beginning of the month, which swallows up the budget, and leaves me struggling for the rest of the month. However, it wasnt for the fact that some of the fortnights spend actually lasts the month or more, I would never get away with it at the end.
The dilema is that Tesco (the only supermarket in town) is offering the 5p petrol coupons on a £50 spend. Which saves me about £2.50 on a tank, which lasts about a month. Or I could switch allegance and go to Asda, Morrisons, Lidl, or Aldi, and hope that the 25 - 30 mile round trip to one of these, and the lack of petrol coupon, will save me more. Trouble is having never shopped in any of the above, I have no idea how much cheaper they are. A visit to mysupermarket.com is needed I think.

Sassamac

Just had DH's payslip through and theres good news. He said the pay rise would kick in from the day after it was negotiated (i.e. Weds) but theyve actually paid him the whole week at the pay rise amount. I cant remember how many hours he did on which day as he did a lot of OT last week, but its at least 16 hours worth of extra 50p's. Doesnt add to much but every little helps and all that!
This weeks hours added up to 48, so thats an extra days pay effectively on top of what was budgeted for.

Sassamac

Right MSE / OS missions for this w/e;
- go to 2 nearly new sales and grab some bargains
- bake bread rolls for DH's lunches
- bake a traybake for the family cake fix
- use up the 8 pints of reduced blue milk - rice pudding,......
- update snowball

Keeping_Positive

I struggled with the budget when I tried to shop elsewhere. I think the fact I know Tesco really well and their own brand products its easier. I have switched a bit over to Aldi but its just near Tesco so no extra petrol costs really.

Good luck with your missions

Sassamac

Thanks Wendy, Ive heard people say that you cant do a full shop in Aldi or Lidl so it would have to be one of them plus one of the big stores, which puts me off a bit. I suppose it depends how much cheaper their food is.

I spent £27 this morning, but only went to one sale as it took ages. Still I got a fair bit of what I need. On a mission for school uniform, but most of what I found wont fit til next year. Got DD some gorgeous denim dresses to wear for her first summer as a toddler but not much else as per usual almost everything was sickeningly pink!
Might buy the kids some new swim wear (as they have none that fits) and start taking them swimming now we have a bit of spare cash. That and the fact Im seriously considering signing them up for lessons after easter.

Keeping_Positive

Ive found some good deals in Aldi but like you said I couldnt so a full shop there. Overall not much cheaper than Tesco and usually the same from what Ive seen. It might be worth a once and month or every other month shop to stock up on tinned stuff (and the loo roll is cheaper lol)! It Without you seeing you wont know whether it suits you or not.

Sassamac

Yeah I think I need to one shop in each of them and then make a judgement. I used to do the same thing with Tesco and Sainsburys to make best use of their offers etc. back in the day when they were equi-distant from home. So I guess I need to apply the same principle again. I think thje petrol vouchers deal expires early April, so I might do my big shop for April in Tesco, and then change tactics for May.

gallygirl

Wow, just read thread from start and my head is spinning from all these figures .

Re the shopping, you won't get the bargains at Lidl's etc that you keep picking up so I'd stick with Mr T. Just a thought - is there an Indian area near sh&t creek ? If so, you'll find you can buy big bags of rice cheaper than elsewhere, also a farm shop (actually, better still a farm that doesn't have a shop as such, just a handwritten sign) may be cheaper for full acks of spuds.

I'm in awe of you - severe budgetting & juggling is fun for a month or so but draining when it's ongoing. Good luck :T :T :T :T