Cutting The Food Bill

[poliphilo]

We borrowed a hell of a lot of money to get the house fixed.

(Mortgage- a sinister word; doesn't it mean something like "hand of death"?)

And Ailz proposes that it is merely sensible, merely decent, that we limit our spending in the run-up to Christmas.

£40 a week on food. And we've been spending something like £120. 

Can we do it? 

It's either cut the food bill or stop buying DVDs.

Hmm. That concentrates the mind. 

Fancy cheeses or a  newly released Bunuel? 

I think I know  myself well enough...

I hope I do.

This is going to be quite a test of character.

Comments

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

You can do it. If food coupons are something you get, use them. Shop with a list, and build a good solid stock of staples to use for your recipes. Shop for things in bulk, and shop for things on sale. If you build up a good backstock pantry, all you have to do is refresh it and get fresh things to top it off.

This works well for me, and although food prices have climbed so where my average shop is now $50 instead of $30 or $40, I can get through the 'short' times OK.

I buy my dvds pre-viewed at the local video store. That saves me tons.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the advice.

We went to the supermarket this morning, bought two bags of groceries and spent a mere £11.25. A pretty good start, I think.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Could you join one of those sites which sends you rental DVDs through the post from a list of favourites you've compiled, instead of buying them new? If you're buying and watching lots, it would probably be an economy, and save you from building up piles of them in your house which you may never watch again.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

We already belong to one of those DVD clubs.

I'm afraid I'm a little irrational about my favourite films. I want to own them- just as I want to own my favourite books. I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense...

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm pretty much the same. I just get away with it in my case because I don't watch that many DVDs, so it isn't too expensive a habit.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My mania is tempered by there not being that many directors whose work I admire enough to want to own it.

I'd like complete sets of Bergman, Bunuel, Fellini and Welles, but otherwise....

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I confess that I don't get the buying DVDs thing. Or, really, books. I can get any book I want from interlibrary loan. If I get a book twice from interlibrary loan, then I generally find a way to buy it, but it has to pass that test.

I do own DVDs, but they are DVDs I couldn't rent anywhere.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's irrational.

I like bright, shiny objects.

I'm a jackdaw.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

:)

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Haha.

I just re-registered with Netflix (after I moved, I brooded about money waste for awhile, but couldn't stand not having the latest, as you say, Bunuel...)

I get three at a time. It's wonderful.

So is Ruth Rendell. I'm reading her nonstop, and I no longer trust anyone.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Hmm. That concentrates the mind.

Do you like Raman noodles? They go well with Bunuel.

When I was in college, I would eat on saucers so it looked like more...animal crackers and tiny cans of spaghetti...ugh! But festive on a blue saucer.

(We have news! See my LJ, please!)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I had toast and marmite for tea. Now that's really cheap!