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Hi Guys, whilst I was talking to Melanie yesterday in my proposal meeting, she gave me a great tip about saving money on shopping. She said that she shops fornightly and is making a saving on her monthly food expenditure. If you think about it, it makes sense. You can buy bogoffs, and bulk buy on some things to last you two weeks, and if you go in the car, you will be also saving on fuel by only doing one trip a fortnight as well. I'm going to give it a try and just thought I'd pass her tip onto you guys too. Kazzy x

A good idea.

I prefer doing mine weekly though. I take a list and now stick to it. Our nearest Asda is not that far away, so petrol use is negligible.

I can remember many years ago that I used to do a big shop monthly!

I like to go weekly as apart from work it's the only time I go out! Sad git aren't I, I know but can't afford to go anywhere else so shopping is a bit of a leisure activity to me and very competitive to find the shops that stock the cheapest stuff!

So did I Kallis, but I used to find that I would run out of stuff by the end of the month and it used to cost me twice as much through ad-hoc visits to the supermarket.

We do have to drive to our nearest supermarket and Asda and Netto are virtually next to one another in our town, so I tend to opt for Netto 'cos I can save money. Another good idea if you like to eat meat is to go to the butcher in the lorries who pitch the meat out. We have one at our local boot sale and a couple of weeks ago, we spent £20 and couldn't even carry the bags in one hit, we got so much for our money. Just a thought...... Kazzy x

I go shopping monthly only buying fresh bread fruit and veg weekly from the market or the local CO-OP which doesn't carry a large stack so I am not tempted. It saves us a load of money but then we don't have children living at home.
Jan

We use the local butcher for our meat, and we only buy what we have used out of the freezer so we can keep it topped up.

We don't do much shopping otherwise unless we need potatoes and onions.

I'm the same Lesley - other than work it's the only time I go out! A treat tomorrow - a trip to the library!

Hi All,
You're not the only sad one Lesley - my oy entertainment, apart from work, is the weekly shop. Like the others I do try to look around for the cheapest deals and you can get to enjoy it!! I remember the days, not so long ago, when I bought things because they looked interesting or nice - now it's essentials only all the way......
Mind you I've met a new man and he's been really understanding about my "situation" and he buys me little pressies all the time - cuddly toys are lovely, but the food, washing up liquid, etc are a real treat!!
Good luck to all, whenever you shop,
Hugs,
Chardonnay

How things change as Chardonnay said shopping was once about little or not so little treats never did we think we would get excited over a gift of washing up liquid or getting a real bargain like a loaf bread for 20p yeeees.
Jan

Ooh Chardonnay....a new man, how exciting.[;)] X

I could quite happily jump for joy when I find a real bargain!

Chardonnay, I hope you are happy with this new bloke. You deserve a break. It's good that he knows about your problems and is happy with them.

Hang on to him - he sounds like a real treasure!

I just had a lovely lamb steak(organic)(not that we buy organic) but it was 99p at Asda's on thursday(use by the next day),so we bought it and froze it. Delicious and a bargain too.
As for going fortnightly,we would have to invest in a chest freezer as we dont have room in the fridge to store 2 weeks of stuff,plus we would end up doing top up shops.
What we have started doing is taking a list and the trusty calculator(11 year old son) and getting all on the list then splitting whats left by 3 so we all get an equal treat. If you dont use your treat the money is saved for the following week. It makes us all more aware of whats going in the trolley.

I now input my list into Asda online shopping and total it up before I go. I know that some of the things will be cheaper if they are multi buys, plus I get 10% off as daughter works there. I know then the worst case scenario. It's great when it is less than I reckoned, and it will never be more.

Gone are the days of 'oh this looks nice' or 'lets try some of that'.

I even checked the prices last week against Tesco and our shop worked out £10 dearer than Asda.

Our shopping is a bit hit and miss but I've decided I'm going to start going to the butchers and buying 2 weeks worth of meat, and then going to the supermarket and buying everything else I need for the 2 weeks. This should work as we usually have frozen veg. Dave's milk can come from the corner shop when he runs out, and we can freeze the bread. Fingers crossed this will save some money!

Chardonnay, I hope it works out with your new man x

mines a sunday morning outing. i'm there at 9.45 trolley (very small trolley) full ready for checkouts opening at 10.. home by 10.10.. jobs a good un. just top up fresh stuff through week, milk bread fruit etc

Great news Chardonnay, nice to hear he's understanding as well x