Oops! I've fallen off the OS wagon.....

SunnyGirl

I think that we can all nearly fall off the wagon at times don't feel bad This is a stressful time of year & we sometimes try to be perfectionist about it all. Thats what M&S are cashing in on - they want to sell us a vision of a perfect Christmas with all the trimmings to go with it, naturally from their store :cool: I always think about the fact that M&S paid Take That #250,000 for appearing in the Christmas advert where they all change the name tags over, Take That gave it to Children in Need, so they need to recoup the cost Having said all that, if you fancy buying the cheescake say then go for it, enjoy eating it & don't feel bad.
Sorry for rambling on it must be the early morning :rotfl:

JoolzS

I don't know if this helps but a few years ago DH and I decided to have an easy xmas so we just bought lots of ready made bits and pieces from M&S. There's only the two of us so our xmas day is pretty much our own. Anyway, on xmas day we had breakfast (well choccies and Baileys) and then later on in the day we put the M&S goodies in the oven and waited for 20 or so minutes. After that 20 minutes or so we both basically just ate salt - that is really all we could taste from the ready prepared food. Maybe the food is better now, but I'm not risking spending that much money again to just taste salt.

Julie

kippers

If you fancy 1 or 2 things for xmas then go ahead and get them. M&S food is always lovely...but don't get carried away...it's always lovely but so is lovely home made (or part home-made) food.

£300 is such a lot of money and think what you could do with it else where in your house or treat yourself to a little holiday. In years to come you will remember the year you spent £300 on M&S food but you won't remember that their food tasted nicer than your own homecooked food.

(I hope i haven't offended anyone saying this...i didn't mean to)

Penelope_Penguin

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

I have reckoned on spending £100 for all my Christmas grocery shopping, including the turkey and a piece of ham, plus treats and other stuff, but I thought the stuff in M&S looked so lovely that I even considered (and haven't yet discounted the idea) of using my credit card and just buying everything, even though I know it is ridiculously expensive and self indulgent. What would you do? - I need serious persuading!

I was thinking, yes go for it if you can afford to, until I saw this sentence :eek: If you can't afford to pay for it now, please, please don't make a 3-day party a year-long headache as you pay the debt off I work as a debt adviser and see the misery that debt can cause.

Enjoy your christmas, whatever you decide :xmastree:

I'll add this to the existing thread on falling off the OS wagon

Penny. x

thriftlady_2

I don't think I've ever had M&S food. Is it really that good? I occasionally walk through the food hall in our M&S and just think -but I could make that at home for a fraction of the price and I won't have loads of packaging to throw away. I'm too proud to ever buy ready-made food (apart from baked beans) I don't want my family to think I can't make it myself lol.

That said, I regularly fall off the wagon by buying expensive foods. On the other hand I think it is probably balanced by all the things I don't buy. I'm also thrifty with what I buy-I don't waste it and make it go as far as possible. To quote Nigella again (thanks PenPen ) 'I may be extravagant but I'm never wasteful'.

Sarahsaver

thriftlady wrote: »

I don't think I've ever had M&S food. Is it really that good? I occasionally walk through the food hall in our M&S and just think -but I could make that at home for a fraction of the price and I won't have loads of packaging to throw away. I'm too proud to ever buy ready-made food (apart from baked beans) I don't want my family to think I can't make it myself lol.

That said, I regularly fall off the wagon by buying expensive foods. On the other hand I think it is probably balanced by all the things I don't buy. I'm also thrifty with what I buy-I don't waste it and make it go as far as possible. To quote Nigella again (thanks PenPen ) 'I may be extravagant but I'm never wasteful'.

It's ready meals but because it is 'middle class' it is acceptable. IMHO still not as nice as HM food and too costly.
i make an exception for the sushi!

mummysaver

No no no! Don't do it! Don't spend £300 on 3 days of food!

Buy some ready made stuff if it'll make things easier for you, especially luxury items which can be a faff to make if you're short of time or enthusiasm. But don't buy all the veggies pre-prepared, you'll kick yourself when they don't taste as good as your own.

Might be worth having a browse of the thread about preparing food for Christmas in advance, lots of tips there, then basically you can just whip it out of the freezer on the big day and pop it in the oven, microwave or pan.

Enjoy your Christmas!

recovering_spendaholic

Thank you for your replies! The urge to splurge has now passed, thankfully! I have decided to buy the Christmas pudding cheesecake, but am going to do as I planned and make the stuff myself, because, although it is more effort I am conceited and shallow enough to really enjoy it when people say how nice the stuff is that I have made. I baked 4 dozen cup cakes last night and decorated them with Christmas sprinkles, silver balls and buttercream - I did two lots - chocolate praline buttercream topping and vanilla buttercream topping,and packed them in cake boxes (bought from the local bakers) tied up with Christmas ribbon. They cost me £3 odd to make and I delivered them round this morning to my hairdressers salon, the ladies in the launderette (where they kindly let me do my tumble drying even though you're supposed to wash as well) and to DD2's school for teachers presents and everyone was so appreciative so it spurred me on!

niklepic

Me and OH are saving for our wedding in October and not putting away half as much as we can on paper. i've been through our bank statements and the reason is eating out, takeaways and going to asda for a loaf and spending £50 on rubbish.

We must do better!

I'm going to dust off the breadmaker and go back to the OS ways (again). Any tips for keeping me on the right path? I need real motivation as i'm finding it far too easy to be lazy when i get in from work!

kitschy

Congratulations :T

I find joining a challenge has helped me stay focused. I used to lurk and do the challenge myself without joining in on here and declaring my target or how I was getting on. But, then I'd lose focus halfway through the month, tell myself I obviously wasn't cut out for this lark and give up. But knowing that when I pop those extra few bits in my trolley I have to come and update my Grocery Challenge total stops me picking them up! There is lots of encouragement and everyone helps you stay afloat by suggesting amazing ways of stretching your pennies!

I think there's a list of challenges on the DFW board (it's a sticky) which I am going to choose another one from when I have got on top of Grocery Challenge (in addition, not exchange!).

I also have a business card size picture of my dream house with "or would you rather have me?" printed over it in the photo bit of my purse, next to my debit card. It works for me!