For all of you following our frugal February austerity challenge, you'll be pleased to know that yesterday went well, with us managing to spend absolutely nothing...zip...nada...nil.
Today however, was a different thing. You see, Friday is normally 'big shop' day, which, with me being unable to resist a bargain, or shiny packaging, or a cute advert - I am a marketer's dream I tell you! - is usually inevitably expensive.
So, in order to combat my magpie like love for all things shiny and bargain-ous I sent Hubby off to work this morning with a list of items to be purchased on his way home. To add to the trauma I also gave him strict instructions to head to Aldi, not Tescos and to Farmfoods, not Morrisons, with a 'via' added in to the local farm for a sack of his finest potatoes.
What harm could it do anyway? After all I think the Aldi marketing campaign is fantastic and if changing the shops we use allows us to buy cheaper food stuffs without compromising on quality, then I'm all for it. So off he went to work; note in hand, jar of coffee under arm (Because this challenge means he is no longer allowed to purchase coffee at work. He has to take his own, make use of the dreaded canteen boiler and drink it black...oh I am such a hard task master!)
Problem is, it seems Hubby is also a marketer's dream, but in a slightly different way. He loves a bargain whether it's on his list or not and he can't resist the alcohol aisle!
So this week our 'big shop' went something like this:
4 x bottles of sparkling water £1 (I have swapped my regular diet coke for clear bubbles. I am yet to be convinced on this one, but we'll see.
2 x Packet of tortillas£1.38
2 x 2l cartons of milk £1.80
6 pears 99p (These are the dogs favourite treat, so not to be scimped on.)
Large bag of dog biscuits £4.45
7.5kg sack of potatoes £2
4 x 550ml bottles of Newcastle Brown Ale £5.56
Budget available: £25
Budget spent today: £18.56 on the above items.
Budget spent so far: £21.56
Budget remaining: £3.44
So there we have it: Man + Shopping never ends well. I can see I am going to have to step up my Yoda style training or fail this task before the start of the second week. Thank goodness that at this stage I still have a fairly healthy stock of store cupboard essentials and frozen veg!
And so to the weekend merriment with only £3.44 to spend...wish me luck!
mwah x
