Money and food

I did a shop in Aldi today for the same stuff I bought in Sainsbury's recently. It was mainly just for packed lunch and snack supplies thanks to not having to cook a single meal in the house last week! The total in Sainsbury's came to £54.78. At Aldi today it was £38.76. What do you think? I think when you need to be scrimping and saving as we do at the moment every penny counts, so saving £15 is worth it, even if you do have to compromise on quality here and there. Obviously if I had been doing a big shop I would have saved more.. I'll try Lidl next time and report back! There were 4 items on my list I couldn't get in Aldi: plain/slightly salted rice cakes, Huggies nappies, yoghurt pouches and porridge (well, they do sell porridge but not just basic oats - it's with stuff added, and costs more as well). I got yoghurt tubes instead of the pouches but think will just get little fromage frais pots next time if cheaper as 5 yr old fine opening them and they're quick to consume, which were my two reasons for getting the pouches in Sainsbury's (he actually finds the tubes harder than the pots so it makes little sense to buy the tubes, especially if I'm paying a premium, which I need to check). So it's just the rice cakes, Huggies and porridge I will need to source elsewhere. I can't compromise on Huggies because no other brand holds my boys' wee in all night!

Ordinarily I would be quite particular about the specifics of my groceries but Josh and I did a money management course recently and the point was made there that it's wise, and not selfish, to protect your own poverty before you can really start being a help to other people with your finances. So, while I still go for fairtrade banana's and freerange eggs, I tell myself it doesn't make me a bad person/mum to buy non-organic yoghurt, with refined sugar in it or non-organic milk in a plastic bottle or value butter/bread/ham or non-organic apples/cheese/potatoes or disposable baby products (actually they cost more, depending on how you launder nappies etc, but for various reasons I had to switch anyway, though 'at least' I stop myself from reaching for the 'eco-friendly' disposable wipes at the moment). I know God wants me to thrive not just survive but we need to be good stewards of our money too (ie responsible with it) and at the moment the reality is our finances need to go elsewhere. You've got to do what you've got to do :) I'm thankful for that course; it was really helpful and has made me much more aware of where our money goes and how to gain control over it.