mummy2dolly

What would I do with the information?

Find a cheaper brand, find a cheaper supermarket, sample local instead of imported, look at what things cost before putting them in the trolley, buy in bulk (bog rolls etc), buy in season fruit and veg, cook in bulk and freeze portions........ if my grocery shopping is consistently over budget then I'll use these methods to try and get back within it........ No-one goes without, they just may not be getting imported raspberries in their snack box......

I'm not sure that financial savviness is down to gender, I think it's down to upbringing, personality type, etc..... I know that in our household if I were to produce 2 identical shopping lists and dh and I were to go off and purchase what was on the list, then his shopping would cost a LOT more than mine. But then because I do all the shopping he can't be expected to know what the average price for anything is.........

Millhouse

But don't you just do that at anyway? i.e. at the point of sale? It's all pretty logical and hardly needs a spreadsheet to make that decision.

Surely, you make the decision not to buy the 25Dh strawberries in the supermarket. It seems a little late to look at the spreadsheet at home later and think - bugger, how silly of me, I won't do that next week...

mummy2dolly

I agree re the strawberries, but when you do a supermarket shop nearly every day (which I know is against all the MSE rules), it's easy to lose track of the running total..... sticking it all on a spreadsheet, for me, means my brain doesn't need to fry......

Hello.Kitty

I do it as part of a financial health check... The conversation goes something like this:
[HK's had a bad day] - "Why the f*** aren't we saving any money in this godforsaken place?!"
[Mr Kitty, ever the reasonable man] - "Because, dearest, we've had a few major expenses over the last few months"
[HK] - "Yes, but we've been here for X, and we don't have those kind of expenses every single month, do we?! We should be saving. Where the heck is all that money going?!"
-> HK then spends the next few hours grumbling at Microsoft Money and comes to the conclusion that "we just spend it" and that our cashflow is rubbish.

Saying that, I do find the breakdowns interesting and useful and I do act on them. We realised we were being lax in our shopping and by shopping more intelligently, save around 750-1000aed/ month. It's also a stark eye-opener when you realise how much you're spending on take-aways, for example... it's a habit and what with the quality of them here, one that's hardly worth it. For me, setting realistic budgets is about streamlining, rather than cutting back.

Shopping is a big one, actually - we don't buy extortionate imported berries, but just the little things... the staples you'd just pick off the shelf without really looking. Some supermarkets are surprisingly cheaper for the same items than others (like half the price, or 7aed different). Our household works the same with shopping as M2D's - Mr Kitty will pick up some fabric conditioner randomly and it'll be 10aed more expensive than the one I'd pick!

scrubbedexpat141

God yes...If I did the same with lunches I'd stop doing that too, but have you ever had an M&S Chicken and Bacon sandwich? Can't make them that good at home.

Millhouse

One of the few things I miss from home is the Pret Chick & Bacon sandwich... The Marks ones were pretty good too.

In the DIFC I have the dubious pleasure of paying 4 quid for an egg & bacon roll with fake bacon in. It's rank.

scrubbedexpat141

Not looking forwards to that side of things. When I was out in October for my friends wedding I landed at 7am, went to hotel, checked in luckily and ordered a full fry up before taking a nap.

Chicken Sausages and Turkey bacon. I never want either of those things ever again, especially when it cost me about 18 quid.

I see your points about the tracking of cash, a lot of decisions can be made at POS and just saying, 'No, that's stupid, don't need a bottle of wine with dinner, it's Tuesday night'....I'm trying to do that more at the moment.

Multiplying costs makes me less likely to buy. Can quickly say a £5 bottle of wine, 4 times a week is 80 a month. That's the same amount as I pay for my car insurance...I do that to try and save because I know I won't stick to a spreadsheet for a month to see where I could actually make a difference.

Meow

I have never done a spreadsheet for my finances, couldn't imagine I could stay awake if I did, but if that's what it takes to get a handle on spending then by all means do it, but I really don't think you need to spend your life doing it.


Anyway the podcast of the show will be up on my blog shortly if anyone is interested. It's very light-hearted.

Thanks for everyone's input. I really do appreciate it and it's interesting to read different points of views. I might ask you all for input on other issues if you're interested.

Millhouse

are you going to quote / credit us or just pass the work off as your own??

I still think 5 stars goes to HK for using Microsoft Money - Millhouse Senior bought a copy once but sadly he fell at the first hurdle and couldn't figure out how to install it.

Meow

Do you really think I am gong to mention you lot by your weird user names? I said that I asked around. I thought that was safest.