Noor77's personal budgeting thread

Re: Don't eat bread and ketchup

I shop in Tesco's.

Try to stick to Tesco's "Value" range as far as possible or other special (e.g. two for one etc.) offers if you're on a tight budget. Is there no Lidl/Aldi handy as you can get some great bargains there. I suspect that you might not be buying much meat/fish for this week but if you do steer clear of the supermarkets and get it in a butchers/fishmongers shop instead. You may also get better value by buying fruit/veg in a greengrocers. Think carefully before chucking stuff into the basket/trolley.

And don't forget - there's always my special "Haricots blancs al pomodoro on white bread crostini with a glass of Chateau le Pomp" aka beans on toast with a glass of water if you're stuck.

Re: Don't eat bread and ketchup

actually i found 1lb mince, 2 fillets of salmon and 2 fillets of chicken in the freezer lol

I got a large package from Bold with some really nice samples of there lavender detergent, package was lovely and colourful. Will save me a few days without buying some in the shops.

mmm I wonder is there a website where you can order some samples of different products etc. I've spotted one on the dove website for some face wash pads.

Hi Vanilla

The longest thread so far on AAM was one concerning the smoking ban - I can't remember the exact title.

The third longest thread so far (13 pages) was one which dealt with the teachers' dispute.

Marion :hat

And this one was started by little old me

Melybaby - sample sounds great, but you can't eat it!

I'm really looking forward to my semi-splurge tomorrow - with the €120 I have saved up for clothes shopping. I know it's not that much really, but it's better than nothing.

I know on my shopping list earlier I had no meat or fish - I used to be a vegetarian for 8 years and even now I don't each that much meat. When I do it's usually mince, chicken and fish (plaice, haddock, tuna, salmon), and I probably only eat meat once a week.

And this one was started by little old me

Click to expand...

You seem to have gone off track though Noor. The name of this forum is Borrowing, Banking and Credit Cards.

At the moment it is running the risk of being subdivided and brought to DontAskaboutmoney.

Marion :hat

It should probably have been under some kind of savings / budget thing to begin with anyway

I don't care where it goes

with the €120 I have saved up for clothes shopping

That's about as much as I've spent in the past year on clothes! I bought a new pair of Doc Martens for my wedding and they're coming up to their third birthday soon so I might think about replacing them. :lol

Re: Budgeting for clothes

So....how much does everyone spend on clothes in a month / year etc...???

Would you advocate the "buy more expensive stuff as it lasts longer" policy or, is "cheap and cheerful" the way to go?

What shops do you think offer the best value for money..and what are the shops that just rip you off???

what am i doing wrong

I dont buy much clothes as i cant afford them, but sometimes i can get cheap black pants in dunnes for 10 euros, that will do me for office, and some cheap shirts.

My sister visited me yesterday and showed me pants and 4 tops she bought in Penney's for just under 50 euros.
Clothes wise i think Browne Thomas is the most ridiculas place to ever buy things - a top for 100 euros....no thank you, even if i could afford that i just dont think its worth it. A-Wear is not too bad for clothes, but sometimes they have good stuff or nothing at all.

Clothes

Well, I go to Penneys for bits and bobs, you really can't beat them for value, and the kids clothes are brilliant.

Their clothes do seem to fall apart/shrink quicker in the wash, so if I need something a bit longer lasting I shop in Dunnes Stores or Dorothy Perkins. My staple work "uniform" is black trousers, tops and cardigans so it doesn't have to be expensive. Also, my local market is great for "seconds" designer jeans, so I get great value there, I recently picked up a pair of Levis and a pair of New Look jeans for €27 for the two.

A bit of a trick is to go into Penneys on the last day of the month, they seem to have more sales then. O'Connell Street always have more discounted clothes than the new Mary Street store, I still can't get my head around this!

Oh, and I always go shopping with cash in my wallet, I find that if it's gone, I can't buy anymore and stick to the budget, otherwise you don't feel the impact if you use the Laser card or Credit Card.

At least once a month we make a trip to Newry to get all our non-perishables, pasta, rice, tinned goods, juices, cosmetics and our clothes. The Primark store in the Buttercrane is the same as Penneys in Dublin and is a total mess, but there is even better value to be had there if you are prepared to dig around. New Look, Etam, Dorothy Perkins, the whole lot are there, and you'll be sick if you take a look at the Euro/Sterling price tags, I haven't bought from the english stores in the republic since

Re: Clothes

I generally always go for the cheap and cheerful option myself - even though I sometimes feel like I should be saving to get the more expensive stuff that won't fall apart at the seams after three of four wears. What really amazes me is just HOW expensive some of the high street shops are - especially Monsoon, Oasis and River Island. I never shop there but I can't get over all the young studenty types that come out of these shops laden down with bags. Where do they get the money?!

Anyway, I went on my shopping "splurge" today - with the €120 I had saved over the last 5/6 weeks expressly for this purpose. Bought:

Zara top 1: €25
Zara top 2: €25
A-Wear top 1: €15
A-Wear top 2: €25

Spent €90, so there is €30 to go back in the brown envelope fund Not too bad

I did go into Oasis, just to look. Saw a lovely top - nothing spectacular though - and was nearly rendered speechless when I saw it had a price tag of €78. Unbelievable. I think that even Zara has been sneaking up its Irish prices over the last few months. In Spain, Zara would be the equivalent of A/Wear...but here it is definitely pricing itself above that.

Re: Clothes

Well, I go to Penneys for bits and bobs, you really can't beat them for value ...

Their clothes do seem to fall apart/shrink quicker in the wash

Don't find that myself but I'm curious as to how you think that clothes that allegedly fall apart/shrink quickly represent good value?

Clothes

Sorry Clubman should have made myself clearer. The kids clothes are grand for exactly that reason, because by the time they are falling apart, she's grown out of them! LOL

Otherwise, you're dead right, they're not good value at all

Re: Clothes

Admirable back peddling there. But seriously I don't find any problem with Penny's stuff myself. Other than the Doc Martens I'm probably dressed from head to toe by them and Dunnes most of the time. I think that the most expensive clothes purchase I ever made was a second hand leather Boston policeman's (actually, could have been policewoman's as it zips up female style!) jacket from Flip! down by the side of the Central Bank for IRP100 (bloody US style laptop keyboard - no pound or euro symbols!!!) although my wedding suit a few years back from TKMaxx probably edged that from the number one spot.

Re: Clothes

So Clubman, I guess you fall into the cheap and cheerful category like myself. But I am seriously starting to doubt the wisdom of this longterm. I would be lost without Penneys, but in saying that, often the quality of their clothes is a bit questionable. Tops and stuff are okay but trousers are a whole different story!

I'm starting to think that maybe I should be saving / budgeting to get well-made clothes that would last longer and would thus provide more value for money but over a longer period of time.

What would you guys advise?

Noor

Re: Clothes

Their jeans work fine for me.

Re: Clothes

Penneys Jeans work fine for me too but the problem I have with both Dunnes and Penneys is size or rather lack of. I am a 30'' waist by a 30'' insid leg but only on rare occasions do penneys or dunnes have these sizes in stock. Difference with these stores and Marks and Sparks in Newry is I can go in and if I like a pair of trousers just go to customer desk and staff will order it, and its in two days later. Try that one in Dunnes or Penneys!! Newry is only up the road from me so its easy for me but I dont know if its so good for value overall to make it worthwhile driving from Dublin after all there's the toll x 2 and lunch and petrol. I notice that Dunnes are selling miller next week 24x33cc for €23. Newry would be hard pushed to match that.

Re: Clothes

Although my girlfriend disagrees vociferously with this theory, I reckon all the cheapo Pennys/Dunnes/Zara clothes are made in the same factories as expensive 'designer' labels. Last time I was in the States I bought a ton of 'designer' clothes in discount malls/villages for less than their Pennys equivalents here, and on looking at the labels, they were all made in Sri Lanka, China, Morocco etc. Nothing wrong with that, but I doubt there are 'cheapo' factory and 'designer/quality' factory distinctions in these places. You're mostly paying for marketing, image and 'lifestyle' rather than quality with these designer labels.

Well talking about budgeting lol

my boyfriend wants us to cancel Galway at the end of the month and use the money as a deposit for a luxurious holiday next year with the "Sandals" resorts for couples only.

Were going to Tenerife this year with a superior room in a 4* hotel.