And then of course the thought struck me, would this even be possible now with the rising prices that we have all been noticing and living through over these past months.
Seemingly everything in these four photos cost me a grand total of £17.68 back in 2018 when I did the Challenge. Leaving the rest of the money to be used each week to buy a top up of any fresh things that I would need over the course of the month.
I then spent another twenty minutes play-shopping in the same places ... this time just pretending and online as I don't have the same shops here ... to see what it would cost if I were to do it again. Some of the exact products weren't available but I got as close as I possibly could and the 2022 grand total would be £20.08.
It was an interesting little experiment to check the comparisons, but now it's left me wondering what I did for the second half of the Challenge ... and how I spent the rest of the money.
So you know where I'll be if you want me for anything. 🐇😄
Sue xx
I did a similar exercise yesterday looking at a receipt from Sainsbury in September 2020. I excluded some items as they are not currently available and found an inflation rate of 12.5% which was less then how it feels!
ReplyDeleteI thought that myself. It seems as though prices are shooting up alarmingly but when you break it down and perhaps shop a little differently I think we are all going to be able to manage more than the scare-mongers are letting us believe. It's the fuel prices that are the scariest of course, so if we can manage our food budgets better, perhaps that's the way forward.
DeleteHow interesting to compare prices between then and now. Go on Sue, do another Challenge, you know you want to! (and we'd like to follow you as you do it!) xx
ReplyDeleteI am tempted to do another Challenge :-)
DeleteSo an uplift of 14% on the prices of your 2018 shop. Most of which I suspect has happened in the last six months.
ReplyDeleteYou have to wonder where the heck this inflationary spiral ends, because I cannot see prices ever coming back down to what they were at the beginning of this year and wages/pensions are never going to catch up 🙁
Oh they won't come down I think we can guarantee that. The fat cats will continue to line their pockets just as the rest of us empty our pockets out completely to look for any lingering pennies.
DeleteThe way things are going It's surprising they were 'only' up by £3!
ReplyDeleteI planned to compare the things I bought in an Aldi/Morrisons price comparison shop by doing it again in October, heavens knows what it will be like by then
I thought that at first, then I thought if that was me back in the day when every penny mattered, what would I have had to put back onto the supermarket shelf to make up for that £3 overspend and yet still keep my children fed.
DeleteIt will be interesting for you to do the comparison shop in October, I have a feeling things could be even worse by then!
I think last winter was my practice run for saving on the energy bills. The only solution is to use less, but regarding the heating, it can't be done overnight, so I gradually got used to a lower temperature in the house and having the heating on for shorter periods. Instead of turning it off at bedtime, I experimented to see how long after turning it off did the living room stay warm. I wore good, thick jumpers,too, even a fleece if necessary. Gradually I built up a credit on my energy bills until I could reduce my monthly direct debit. Now, a year later, my 3-bed bungalow costs me £58 per month and currently I have a credit in excess of £200. I regularly have windows open so there's no condensation/mould and I like my comfort so I'm not silly about rules regarding heating. But it can be done and I am not overly worried about the forecast crisis being bandied about by the media. They do love a crisis!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you are doing everything possible to keep you costs down as far as you can. I always just wear more layers in Winter and a nice cosy cardigan on top of t-shirts and jumpers when I'm watching television at night, with a throw over my knees if needed. I like my home to be around 17 degrees so I never have it too warm, Alan on the other hand likes his in the low 20s ... far too hot for me.
DeleteI am always looking for ways to cut back on food bills and enjoy following food challenges, because of this I have learnt that my main problem is eating too much. Lately I have tried portion control, measuring things like pasta and rice, what a shock, I usually serve up about three times the recommended amount and even though I love chip butties I really don't need a slice ( or two ) of bread and butter on the side of my plate , carbs have always been my downfall everything is so much yummier between two slices of bread or wrapped in pastry . I wonder if it goes back to my childhood when there was a plate of bread and butter on the table at each dinner time to help fill our tummies (or am I just looking for an excuse and I'm just a greedy little piggy ) :)
ReplyDeleteIt was just the done 'thing' back in the day wasn't it. My first job in the kitchen was always to butter the bread to go on the plate in the centre of the table for meals. Two slices each for my parents and one each for me and my brother. If we didn't make a butty (and yes, chip butties were THE favourite) we would use the bread to mop up the gravy that came with most meals.
DeleteWithout wanting to sound like Marie-Antoinette, I haven't a clue about food prices, Jon does all the shopping! Since we started buying the Lidl Waste Not boxes I've started to do a lot more of the cooking and it's amazing how far a £3 box of veg can go. xxx
ReplyDeleteHaha ... yes you sound just like Marie-Antoinette!! Those veg boxes look great, unfortunately we don't have a Lidl anywhere near us.
DeleteSome really interesting comments above and I so agree about the scaremongering by the media. My OH said when you go shopping be sure to get cooking oil it's £7 now in Tesco and there'll be a shortage of it soon - well I went to Aldi there was plenty of cooking oil and yes it's dearer than this time last year but nowhere near £7 !!
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
Our Aldi has at last got some vegetable oil in, it's been missing for months, but luckily I have a good supply of olive oil for now.
DeleteHere on the prairies of Canada, saving on energy and natural gas is a never ending problem. Both are rising more than the cost of groceries so I started bumping up the temperature that the air conditioning kicks in and I am going to talk to Harvey about turning the thermostat down this winter when he comes to bed (stays up longer than I). Then I will turn it up again just before he wakes up. I don't mind wearing or using layers.
ReplyDeleteAs far as groceries I am going to cut costs by serving a couple more meatless meals during the month and making sure that nothing, but nothing goes to waste.
God bless.
Men do seem to like it much hotter in the house than we do don't they! In Winter Alan walks round in his shorts and a t-shirt with the heating up, while I have the heating right down and dress like an Eskimo. We don't have air conditioning and I don't even have fans, unless you count waving my mouse-mat at myself to cool down a bit :-)
Delete