so where do we go from here?

[mrsflibble]

last month i did an experiment with our money and the way we spend.
shopping to a list and budget; eating mostly the supermarket budget brands. not eating takeaways....

yet we are just as skint as we ever are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how?! argh!!!

[TheGoodEarth]

Because most people spend what they have. If I deducted £20 from you at source and you never saw it you wouldn't miss it and would live within your means. If I gave you £20 extra you would spend it because its in your pocket/bank account.

Do you have a Save As You Earn scheme at work? These can be handy as the money is deducted before you are paid.

[Rosendula]

I'm a list-keeper and have a huge list of things I buy regularly on an Excel document. Every time I do any shopping, be it at the supermarket or small shop, I add what I've bought to my list, starting a new column each month. When I first started the list, I realised that my biggest 'grocery' expense each month was wine . I've cut down the cost of that massively by making my own from kits and will cut down further when the fruit harvest starts again and I can make it from scratch. I would recommend doing such a list even just for a month so that you can see where your biggest spend is and what you can do to reduce it.

Remember too that prices have shot up on some items. Sugar, for example, went up from 79p a bag last November to 93p now. The baked beans I buy were £1.16 for a pack of 4 in October, but are £1.49 for 4 now. So if you hadn't cut down, think how much extra you would have spent!

I've also found that since I've been making a lot of my own food, we don't eat as much. Now before someone chips in there, it's not because my cooking is so bad that no-one wants to eat it , it's just that home-made is so much more filling. I've noticed the difference with other things too, like meat from the butchers is much more filling than supermarket own brand meat. (I saw a programme recently and it's because the supermarkets add a load of water to their meat to make it look bigger and weigh more). So although it feels weird to spend more at a butcher's, it actually works out better. We don't eat nearly as much in an evening when we're slumped in front of the TV as we used to because we don't get hungry then any more, and OH has lost about half a stone! I've only lost a couple of pounds, but I put that down to going from being veggie to being meatie . Now MrsFlibble, I know you make your own cakes *remembers the Christmas cake with the naughty Santa*, but do you make things like bread, sauces, pizzas, etc., etc., as well? Keeping a list will help you work out where the biggest savings can be made by swapping to home-made (if you're not doing everything youself already).

[Annpan]

That's how I have done it too... find out the biggest expenditure and cut back, then find the next biggest and cut back....

It also helps me to visulise how many 'xxxxx' does something cost? like an organic chicken costs 10 tins of organic chickpeas but organic chickpeas cost 2 tins of regular chickpeas...... we don't have chicken very often now, maybe once every 3 or 4 months.

OH HAS to be on board too, we cut a few pounds out of the weekly shopping bill by stopping getting squash - it was cheap and full of crap anyway - now he gets a bottle of that rocks stuff every now and then as a treat.



I am finding the grocery bills astonishing these days, but that is because we got used to not spending on fruit, veg and totties during the summer and autumn.... come on spring..... hurry up.

[Milims]

It's true what they say about the meat and such. I've taken to buying organic free range chicken and because it's less fatty and watery and more meaty we eat less per meal and so there's more left for the next days curry, stock for soup, sandwiches for lunches etc. I've also swaped things like pasta for whole meal pasta and white rice for brown - it's amazing how much more it fills you up

[Flo]

last month i did an experiment with our money and the way we spend.
shopping to a list and budget; eating mostly the supermarket budget brands. not eating takeaways....

yet we are just as skint as we ever are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

how?! argh!!!

Ah but you didn't plan the meals and then consider what should be on your list from the looks of it.

Do you make use of beans, lentils, pearl barley, other pulses? These can bulk out a meal rather than using meat every day.

[Wombat]

I also like the Asian method of cooking (authentic Asian, not the Anglicised stuff) using a bulk carbohydrate such as noodles or rice, then adding lots of veggies and putting in a small amount of meat for flavouring more than anything else. Using a wok to cook it in is fun too, and sensible. High heat for a short time saves on fuel and nutrients.

Nev