Shopping bill:
Heres an easy way to remember to keep your shopping to a limit of approx. €150/month, it works for me anyway:
Firstly break down what you eat into the following (my examples are in italics, but use whatever you normally eat):
1. Breakfast - cereal & milk
2. Fruit - apples, oranges, bananas
3. Veg - carrots, celary, broculli
4. Lunch - Slice pan, sliced ham/turkey, Block of cheese
5. Dinner - meat & fish products
6. Dinner - Rice, pasta, spagetti, pepper/salt, flavourings etc
7. Snacks - Cream crackers, biscuits, yoghurts etc
If you remember each of the categories above, now also remember you have a maximum spend of €5/week on each category, equating to €35/week shopping spend, €157/month spend. You will save the other €7 on categories 6 & 7, bringing it back down to the €150/month.
When you think of Category 1 - Breakfast, the next time you go to the shop, you know your limit is €5/category, you see a LIDL museli for €2.50 & 2L of milk for €1.65, its €4.15, its less than my €5 spend a week.
The major problem is everyone goes into a foodstore, not knowing what they want, & not knowing what THE TOTAL COST before the cashier tells you, 'well that will be 201 euro & 35 cents please!!!
Open to criticism or any other thoughts, my few tips & suggestions