Saving money on SW!

BrightonMark

Trying... Really Trying.
Does anyone else find they save money doing SW?

I used to spend about £3-5 on breakfast (MaccyDs/Cafe Sandwich) on the way to work, about £5-8 on Lunch from a supermarket or in the pub and then about another £5 buying dinner nightly on the way home from the station. This was at least £13 A DAY!!!

Now I spend a pound to get a mixed fruit box from the fruit man, I usually have a uncle bens rice for lunch (£1 from asda) and jacket/sweet pots and salad or pasta something in the evening, which would come to about £3 max! So I now spend £5!

I have been doing this for about 2 months now... THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY POUNDS JUST ON WEEKDAYS SAVED!

I bought myself a new guitar. *smirks* She is beautiful.
 
Yup! I used to burn £15 a day buying my brekkie & lunch in town, and 3 or 4 nights a week would have a takeaway. Now I eat brekkie before I leave and take my lunch. Okay today's food has been a bit expensive as I have had Salmon for lunch, but this is not every day. I've had a sachet of porridge, 1/3rd of a big yog pot & some frozen mixed berries (about £1.00 in total). Then for lunch I've had salad and Salmon (about £4.00 in total). Dinner will cost about £6 for us both. Today is a red day and hence a little bit more expensive.

I can do a green day for 2 of us for a fiver in total.

Equally, if I am not well planned I can spend a lot more than I would have done pre SW on food.
 
Before starting SW I never used to eat breakfast but would then easily spend £5 on a baguette, packet of crips and cake/chocolate from the sandiwch stall at work, sometimes more if I was completely ravenous.

Then I could quite easily spend another £5 - £10 on something for my dinner on the way home and the same again if I picked up a bottle of wine to go with it. Bearing in mind that was just for me as my OH was then working away from home during the week. Then I could easily spend anywhere between £50 - £100 on food and wine for us for the weekend. And often we'd then not bother and order takeaway instead so a lot of the shopping would get wasted.

These days, on SW, I tend to do a Tesco order for £30 - £60 weekly, then just pick up the few bits we need in between, such as additional fruit, and every couple of months do a big (£50 - £100) Makro shop for bulk quantities of bacon, chicken and frozen fish. This does us both breakfast, lunch and dinner all week, with a well stocked freezer for when we haven't been organised and have a food plan for the week or if the rest of life gets in the way.

I think the bulk of my weekly spend these days is on fruit and wine.

I felt so guilty yesterday as we went through our large freezer and chucked out loads of stuff that had been in there ages and wasn't SW friendly. But, no point in it being in there if it's not going to be used so... more room for the healthy stuff now! Oh, plus my parents have their own huge veggie garden, so I tend to get vast amounts of fresh veg from them which they freeze until I visit them and keeps us going for a large part of winter.
 
I am spending more on sw because my new found good habits are rubbing off on my darling daughters ( 1 and a half and 2 and half) and we are going through so much fruit that there has to be 2 or 3 extra visits to the supermarket a week. Also before i was buying a lot of junk food which is always on offer whereas i am paying a lot more for a lot less on fruit but it is so worth it x
 
I save a fortune these days - £5 a day on lunches plus 2 or 3 take aways a week is a whopping £55 a week saved - OMG!!! That's £2500 over a year!
 
I am spending more on sw because my new found good habits are rubbing off on my darling daughters ( 1 and a half and 2 and half) and we are going through so much fruit that there has to be 2 or 3 extra visits to the supermarket a week. Also before i was buying a lot of junk food which is always on offer whereas i am paying a lot more for a lot less on fruit but it is so worth it x


You can counteract the additional cost of fruit & veg quite easily though, depending on your available freezer space!

For example;
I was buying a bag of peppers 3 times a week and it was costing me at least a fiver! Now I buy 2 bags of frozen peppers for £1.50 and it lasts just as long.
I buy Smartprice or Value
Carrots - the 2kg bags last me all week.
Onions are also Smartprice all the way
I buy frozen broccoli and spinach rather than fresh. Again, cheaper and lasts longer
I buy frozen mixed berries - much cheaper than buying the fresh ones and fine if you are mixing with some yogurt.
The supermarkets also always have offers on apples and the like which are good for little kids.
 
With fruit I find that the little grocers are brilliant. There is a little man in a little shed just outside the station, he does little boxes for £1. You get a banana, a satsuma, an apple, a handful of grapes and a handful of strawberries! for £1! Easily lasts me two days, and as I am eating it quickly it doesnt matter that it doesnt have the shelf life of the supermarket. If you have the time to go to the high street its well worth it rather than just doing a big shop in Sainsbury's!
 
Usually by the end of each month I am over £200 in the red. After restarting SW at the end of June I am currently over £100 in the black and it will be pay day in the next few days. Since my re-start I have brought far far more fruit and the like yet I know that most the money I used to spend went on junk. On a double shift at work I could easily spend £5 on junk but now I don't take my purse to work and take some fruit instead. I know that most of what I've saved has been due to SW.
 
BrightonMark said:
With fruit I find that the little grocers are brilliant. There is a little man in a little shed just outside the station, he does little boxes for £1. You get a banana, a satsuma, an apple, a handful of grapes and a handful of strawberries! for £1! Easily lasts me two days, and as I am eating it quickly it doesnt matter that it doesnt have the shelf life of the supermarket. If you have the time to go to the high street its well worth it rather than just doing a big shop in Sainsbury's!
. Hello fellow Brightonian ! Have you been to the fruit and veg stall outside hassocks garden centre on a Sunday? They sell off boxes of fruit and vegetables sometimes for as little as £1.50 I bought a box of satsumas (the size of oranges for £2 there was about 18 of them in the box
 
I wish I saved money, i'm spending more now!! My grocery bill use to be around £120 a week now its easily £160-£180 :sigh:

I'm buying so much more fruit & veg, plus my electric bill is probably gonna go through the roof too cos i'm never done cooking!!!
 
I wish I saved money, i'm spending more now!! My grocery bill use to be around £120 a week now its easily £160-£180 :sigh:

I'm buying so much more fruit & veg, plus my electric bill is probably gonna go through the roof too cos i'm never done cooking!!!

Do you plan your meals? And what are your shopping habits? Perhaps all you need is some good old fashioned household management. :)
 
I plan the weeks meals. Even though hubby isn't following the sw plan he can adapt his meals to suit him. With shopping I get fruit and veg from lidl, general shopping from asda and meat from tesco and save a fortune. A weekly shop for 3 now costs me £50 rather than close on £120 before. I do buy a lot of frozen veg and fruit as it's only me and daughter that eats it and would go off too quickly for my liking, apples, banana and strawberries are fresh though.
 
I plan all my meals and just lately there is almost 0 wastage. I have tried buying fruit from the market but it doesnt last as long as the supermarket one even though i put most of it in the fridge. I suppose as long as the food is good for me and my family the cost is justified but just wish it was a little cheaper x
 
I fine I'm spending more. LOADS more fresh fruit and veg. Also fresh meat, especially lean meat is a lot more expensive than the chicken kievs etc... I was buying before.

I might buy more frozen veg though as it's really only me that eats it and sometimes I'm eating the same packet of things for a week.

I don't begrudge it as it's worth it though
 
What a good thread.

We've had a lot of them where people are spending a fortune in the past so it's nice to see a saving one!

I never used to take lunch and would spend a fiver in a supermarket or sandwich shop - big roll, crisps, cake, can of pop. I'd buy a paper and a choccie bar each day.
Takeaways were at least once a week and I'd have a coffee, sandwich and cake on a weekend in town.

I've also recently cut down on my shopping. I don't buy as much fruit as I used to. I don't normally buy melons, pineapples, berries etc as they are very expensive. Apples and bananas are now the staples in our house.

I've also cut down on meat too, thus saving pennies.

I have reduced my monthly food bill to £200 (for 3). It pays for the increase in gas and electric!!!
 
I am only just starting to save money but this is because I've been shopping at the farm shop for years.

I've now discovered Aldi and went through my shopping list for fresh fruit and veg last week. This is what I found:

Celery, Aldi 39p - Farm Shop £2
Cucumber, Aldi 89p - FS £1.50
Lettace, Aldi 50p - FS £1.25
Carrots, Aldi 89p - FS £1.75
Cabbage, Aldi 39p - FS £1.00
Cherries, Aldi 99p - FS £3.00

There isn't much difference in quality but the farm shop produce used to last a lot longer. I don't mind that though. How can I complain when I'm saving that much?!

My carbon footprint has grown ten-fold but my purse is happy :)
 
My carbon footprint has grown ten-fold but my purse is happy :)

It's such a tough call though isn't it? And in these austere (ish) times, something has to give!

We can't do it all. When it's three times the price for those items I can see why you've switched!!!
 
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