November Grocery Challenge

nabowla · 25 October 2005 at 3:57PM

I'm going to be very cheeky and start the November Grocery Challenge thread as I need to start planning now if I'm to survive the five-week month ahead! Hope I'm not treading on too many toes.......

For the newbies, I've copied the post by Galtizz that explains what to do:

Galtizz wrote:

I have said this before, but for all the newbies to the challenge;

For the first month I took a guess at the budget but I really had no idea how much I was spending.

I found the best thing is to have a guess the first month but SAVE ALL OF YOUR RECEIPTS (and yes, that does include the ones from the local shop when you run out of milk ), then at the end of the month add them all up and have a look if you were on budget, if not, it doesn't matter because your budget was a guess. For the next month you can use the total of your receipts and take a bit off to get a realistic budget, just shave off as much as you think you can, it could be £1 a week or £20 a week.

If you are currently spending £200 a month don't suddenly drop it to £100 - you'll never do it but if you cut £20 a month off for a few months you'll get there eventually without feeling you're missing out on anything.

You might think you've done everything you can in the first month but someone always comes up with a new idea and, if you try it you often find you save a bit more (unless you are SarahSaver who is an expert at this and could only save more if she turned her back garden into a paddy field and lived on rice ) In the first month I thought, I'm planning meals, I couldn't possibly save any more, but then I started double cooking and freezing, and making soup instead of buying it in tins.

I've been doing this since Feb but only saved ALL of my receipts last month, it has given me a much better idea of where it is all going. Budget for next month is £80 for 2 of us, I'll start on 30/4. I could probably save more, by eating different foods but I can afford to live on £80, I have saved a lot of money since Feb. and I don't waste food or money any more. So I'm happy with my budget.

kiwichick · 25 October 2005 at 4:07PM

Am glad you've started this early as my month started on the 23rd of Oct. Mine is not a weekly budget but one of £380 for 2 adults and 3 kids (2 in nappies) from the 23rd Oct to the 24th Nov. This all food, nappies, toiletries and cleaning products.

Dont know entirely how realistic I ambeing as in Sept we spent £593 :eek: :eek: :eek:

Keeping all the receipts last month made me more aware and last month I spent £423. Maybe another £40 off is unrealistic but there is only one way to find out!!

I have already done a MASSIVE shop on Sunday which should see us through the mainstays for the month but will need to top up on fruit and veg,milk, bread and maybe nappies.

Good Luck Everyone,
Al

winkle1 · 25 October 2005 at 4:13PM

I am new to this but am definitley up for giving it a go.

Only problem is I live with my sister and we buy food together esp for bigger items that we share i.e. loo roll, squash, teabags etc. You'd think this would save me money, yes? NO! She fussy, wont eat frozen meat, thinks you should stack up on BOGOF offers - basically the opposite to me!

Nightmare!

So I am going to do the challenge as best as I can.

brummiebabe · 25 October 2005 at 8:20PM

Due to it being a 5 week month for me, I've upped the budget to £300 for 2 adults & 2 boys (2 & 5.) I'm hoping I'll be able to cut this back a bit, but we'll have to see how it goes!!

Best of luck everyone:T :T

pink_fairy_7 · 25 October 2005 at 9:12PM

Hello

My target for November will be £170 :eek:

Nov 1st - Nov 30th

The cupboards and freezer are quite full so hopefully with coupons etc. I should be able to do it.

pink fairy x

brokenwings · 25 October 2005 at 9:34PM

Hi everyone

well last month i made it to 105.00 so im going to say £100 for my target this month , thats for two adults, all food and cleaning products.

good luck !

MaisyMay_2 · 25 October 2005 at 10:23PM

*Delurks*

I've been reading the OS boards for a while now and thought I'd give the grocery challenge a go this month :j

My target is £500 for the four weeks commencing this coming Friday 28th. The budget is for 2 adults and 5 children and includes all food, toiletries and cleaning products. I have two in nappies, but we've just changed over to reusable nappies.

As it's my first month, I'll be keeping all receipts and seeing how realistic my budget is (as per the advice given above). Hopefully I'll be able to make this target by putting some of the tips on this board into practice.

Maisy
xxxx

taplady · 25 October 2005 at 10:30PM

Hi all !

My month has just started.Last month I set a target of 250 but it was a long month and I went over by about 20 quid.This month I'm trying a target of 70 a week for 4 of us to include all food,cleaning stuff and toiletries.so far I've stocked up and spent 69.91 for my first week.This includes a months supply of bread flour!
Hope to cut back next week !

Good luck everybody ! :money:

Yorkielass · 26 October 2005 at 12:11AM

Can't decide whether to join in or not - problem is OH and I have separate bank accounts at the moment - will get a joint one when we get married next summer and so we pay for the main tescos shop each on alternate weeks and pay for odds and ends as and when and take the 'it'll all come out in the wash attitude'. However I'd really like to reduce what I spend - not having a proper job at the moment and all - but I don't want to lumber him with buying expensive things.

Oh well I'm sure I'll think of something got a few days left to think

squeaky · 26 October 2005 at 12:19AM

Go halves on each shop instead of doing alternates?

nabowla · 26 October 2005 at 5:51AM

I'm dithering between a limit of £80 and £100 for one person for the month. My normal limit is £20 per week but it's a five-week month. The question is whether I can afford to squeeze an extra £20 out of the pay packet. Or do I try to cut back and stick to £80 for the entire month? I've never actually thought about budgeting for a five-week month before, which is probably why I'm such a lousy budgeter! How do other people manage? Do you add extra money to this month and then spend less the next or do you stick to your usual monthly limit?

(PS: Squeeky, thanks for fixing the quote. I was rather embarrased that I had got it wrong!)

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November Grocery Challenge

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