The credit Crunch

[Suzie and Faith]

Me and OH have just moved out of our parents and whilst we used to buy some of our own food we had never had to buy everything. It's shocked me how much things are.

As for fruit and veg - how are we supposed to eat a lot of it when it's expensive?

Me and OH sorted our money for moving out and worked out we'd be very poor - luckily OH just got a mini-promotion so we'll have a bit more money per week.

We're also value eaters... 12 packs of crisps were 58p... i don't eat crisps but my OH was impressed!

Oooh and i found a cherry tree near our house... picture me with a stool and a carrier bag... lol

 

[bunnymom1980]

It's driving me mad too! I'm defo up for rioting!!!

It's like surviving on a basic big brother budget!!

 

[Misslarue]

we should have a sticky for food bargains - my bargain of the week was in morrisons - 6 pack of muller corners, £2.80 or 2 for £2

That's a good idea hun
Also ways to save money i.e just by turning your microwave off at the plug saves the average house £50 a year. Not only good for the enviroment but in this climate every penny counts.

 

[chezzabell]

I feel really bad when I shop at aldi, I feel bad for my kids that they dont have the best food, its so hard atm

Ive even bought Alastair Aldi nappies this month

 

[Suzie and Faith]

we should have a sticky for food bargains - my bargain of the week was in morrisons - 6 pack of muller corners, £2.80 or 2 for £2

That's a good idea hun
Also ways to save money i.e just by turning your microwave off at the plug saves the average house £50 a year. Not only good for the enviroment but in this climate every penny counts.

My OH is king of unplugging... i know it's good for the environment and cheaper but i got annoyed the other day when i'd gotten cosy in bed and gone to turn the tv on only to find he'd unplugged it.. lol. and the kettle too, i go to the kitchen, flick the switch, walk out and it never boils... lol

 

[sarafet]

Oooh and i found a cherry tree near our house... picture me with a stool and a carrier bag... lol

thar made me LOL

 

[Manda&Thomas]

my hubby has been laid of because of it so as of september we are homeless as we have no money to privatly rent and counsil dont want to know said we made ourselfs homeless??
shopping hasnt been too bad for us really he has gone up but not by to much but then i shop around for the best deals,
xx

 

[clairescunny55]

I feel really bad when I shop at aldi, I feel bad for my kids that they dont have the best food, its so hard atm

Ive even bought Alastair Aldi nappies this month

why do you feel bad shopping at aldi?they have some really good food and veg is a lot cheaper too! and the nappies are fab!

 

[lea m]

They recently built a Farmfoods and Netto nearby so I tend to shop there now! Saves me a fortune from when I shopped at Asda or Tesco! For the 5 of us, we used to spend about £100 a week (which was pretty good in my eyes at the time) now its around £70 but we get more of what we want rather than whats on offer to save us money kwim? Though netto veg isnt great 90% of the time so I go tesco for that!

I always switch all plug off except the fridge and the alarm clock!

 

[~*Leanne*~]

Yep its ridiculous!!!

at the moment we are renting (moving out next month thank god!) but its cost us a fortune - we have only lived in it for 6 months - this is what we paid out last month :-

water bill - £80
gas/electric - £187
council tax - £93
rent - £465

then there is our petrol which i am having to spend £20 a week on my deisal car to get me to and from work - when i only ever used to put £10 and it would last me a full week if not more! then the food, we were paying about £50-60 but then it shot up to around £70-80 - now we go to Morrisons and its been roughly £60 again!

i am petrified when i leave work to go on Mat leave - we can barely afford what we are on now but we need somewhere to live and i feel at the moment buying is the best we can do as renting - we cant get anywhere decent for less than £500 - we pay £465 for a 1 bed!!!

Gordon Brown

 

[Melly+2]

Theres nothing worng with aldi, although i will say lidl is cheaper. I buy hope like tesco brand nappies, they are just as good, not the value ones though. I went to a company shop, you know a trade shop yesterday. they do loads of waitrose stuff, its just stuff whats near the best by date. And try and find out if you have a'Job Lot' near you they are mega cheap too. Theres nothing wrong with buying cheap food i dont think, unfortunatly money is tight and im sure if they were old enough they would seee that we are trying to make our money last for them and keep them clothed and fed dont worry chezza

 

[maybebaby]

If you haven't already, phone your gas & electric & switch to a fixed rate tariff. It costs a bit more immediately but the prices you pay will stay the same even if the companies do put up the rates by 70%.

I've really noticed that my money doesn't go as far, I've started going to farmfoods for some of my shopping but I still only get my fruit & veg from the local green grocers because it's good quality & close by. My monthly food bill has gone from about £160 to £200. There is a lidl nearby but I've not really ever been in. Is the quality any good? And is it a lot cheaper?

I've started stocking up on nappies for the new baby already, and I'm starting my Christmas shopping one present at a time so that it doesn't all hit us at once!

 

[beanie]

Mary70 - my OH is also in the building tradelaying floors. Its hitting the building trade really hard, lots of OH's mates are struggling to find work He is having to go where the work is, so looks like he will be going to Bristol where he will have to stay three nights (though it does mean he comes home Friday, Saturday and Sunday together)

Petrol is the biggest thing for me, I used to go out loads to places but am having to limit it. We do a lot of free stuff, we go to the park, we live near the Chase which is great for walks and things, go to a little farm by us, go round friend's houses. Have also noticed the increase in food. We are having to cut down on the amount of meat we eat (I spent £20 in the butcher's the other day and didn't have hardly anyhting), as I don't want to buy cheap meat, and fish is expensive too. Fruit and veg is expensive in supermarkets so me and Seren go to our local market in the late afternoon and get our bargains, yesterday got a carrier bag full of bananas (most of which were still slightly green so will last for ages), bag of cherries, grapes and mushrooms for £3. Cats are having to get used to ASDA'a own cat food. Luckily I have all the nappies from when Seren was in them so that has saved us an absolute fortune, plus Cally is still exclusively breastfed so again massive savings.

 

[Melly+2]

The quality is pretty good, it not live value food or anything, just cheaper, god i hope im able to breast feed this one, cant keep up with the milk prices

 

[lea m]

Well I wanted to learn to drive before baby was born! The childrens school has been merged with others and is from September, a mile away instead of about 250 metres off! Its going to be horrible in the snow etc but theres no way we can afford two cars and two lots of petrol, tax and MOTs now!

 

[Minxy]

My OH has been looking for work for three weeks now, we've never struggled to find work before. Reckon we've got 2 months before we go under

 

[lisa&alex]

thanks for this tread budge.. you jsut reminded me to ring british gas to swap out token meters to bill payment.. been meaning to do it for ages. we pay 40 per month on gas and electric and get nothing back.. where as neighbours pay the same for bill meters and always get cash back.. they treat it as sort of savings scheme..and theirs is 3 bedroom ours is 2

anyways.. we have chickens..so never buy eggs
we use washable nappies so save there.. and our moto in the house is...if your cold get another duvet lol..

we very very rearly put the heatting on for more than an hour we have a combi boiler now and ive noticed a massive saving in gas.. we were spending 15 per week on it and we are down to aobut 9-10 i always buy the kids fruit and try to get as much healthy stuff as possible.. buy reduced items and freeze it..

we were moving so haven't done it this year.. but last year we grew some veggies.. and next year we are gonna do the same..

we are going to grow expensive items mostly that cost a lot to buy and the ones that grow a lot on the plants.. such as corgettes, cucumbers, tomatos, carotts, Pumpkin for haloween, squash etc..i also wouldnt mind rearingchikens to eat again.. the only bother is they take up a lot of room..

when alex builds my lottiesbotties workshop out the back i think il have a chest freezer and start rearing birds again..

 

[budge]

I dont go near big supermarkets because I will end up spending too much. We always do it online and I stick to £30 a week this week we have just managed to get enough for meals and breakfast

I shop online too. Seriously how do you spend only £30 a week on 3 of you??
I would appreciate any tips!

i only used to spend £80 quid on 6 of us.
Trick is to make things from scratch. Get basics in.

 

[LilysMummy]

Petrol has has 4/5p knocked off round us and then will Tescos doing 5p/litre we filled up for 110p/litre last night! Makes a change from 119p on Monday.

There is this website http://www.petrolprices.com/ which tells you the cheapest fuel in your area if anybody is interested.

 

[beanie]

ooh Lisa&Alex, I will be picking your brains then. Have almost (almost but not quite) got OH to say yes to chickens but he is worried about mess, noise etc.

For people interested in self sufficiency Green Parent did a special on it, not sure if the issue is still out but worth a look. Some great tips.