Dawn O'Donoghue: Rising prices have forced me to change my shopping habits
Are prices going up faster than I can shop? After a recent shopping trip I noticed wash powder had gone up by £3 per packet and I'm sure it didn't cost that much when I first entered the supermarket.
Even those necessary rolls of paper have increased in price, so I'm now considering counting out the sheets or resorting to the old-fashioned method involving a copy of a daily paper, a piece of string to hold the bits together and headlines on your nether regions.
-
All adds up: Dawn has noticed her shopping is more expensive.
Not a fond memory or an attractive prospect for the future.
John, who isn't known for his love of shopping and who spends most of his time pushing the trolley the wrong way or disappearing to the "facilities", was visibly shocked when he saw our hard-earned cash translate into two carrier bags of daily essentials.
You ever dreamed of owning your own baby grand piano ? We can make it affordable with low-rate finance to suit you and its on offer as well save £850 with this voucher ! £6499
01482 326525
Contact: 01482 420006
Valid until: Saturday, August 31 2013
I swear he'd have passed out had it not been for the Scouts packing at the end of the conveyer belt.
Amazingly, you work hard all week or month to earn your money and yet the chip-and-PIN machine sucks it out of your account quicker than you can type your PIN number in.
Yet, on those rare occasions when you receive money back for something (usually when your bank generously pays all your bills twice in the same month) a cheque still takes more than a week to clear but if you write a cheque it is gone out of your account within days.
As my next pay day approaches, and the inevitable restocking shop is endured once again, I'm going to try a different approach.
Normally, I buy four of each essential item.
These are stored on labelled shelves and the family are only allowed to use those items on the weekly identified shelf.
In addition to this I fill the freezer, buy dry goods to see us through any disaster and stock up with supplies of enough cleaning products to clean the Humber Bridge – a necessary evil with a multitude of animals, a garden of mud and a family collection of wellies.
Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to have saved me money and the monthly bill still resembles the national debt.
So I'm changing my spending habits. I'll buy some essentials (you just never know when supplies may run out) but intend to resort to the old-fashioned weekly shop.
This will be difficult, being a working girl, but I shall persevere and hopefully rein in any unnecessary spending – or, at the very least, reduce the shopping budget so I can afford to have that new onesie I've got my eye on (it's very cold in my house and this latest fashion is ideal).
Personally, despite my best efforts and good intentions, I suspect I'll end up paying the same amount whether I shop monthly or weekly, probably using more petrol and stress me out so much that I need to buy extra chocolate and ice-cream from the money I may have saved.
Comments