December 2016 Grocery Challenge

Oh golly, I cannot believe it's that time again!!

Well we did really well with our shopping I managed to cut it down quiet a lot and if we didn't have to pay a vets bill (£136!!!!) then we would of saved some.

Please can you put me down for £250 this month? It's down by £50 from last month but I really think we can do it and be happy!

Redshank wrote: »

Hello I'm completely new - well, not completely *new* new, I joined the forum a few years ago, around the time my husband and I were planning on going bankrupt, but never posted and then I vanished, and now I'm back....because I don't think I really got to grips with budgeting. I thought I did, but then I slipped, and now I'm panicking. So I came back here and I thought a good place to start would be groceries.

So, if it's ok, I'll join for December? If you don't mind letting me in? I'll be completely honest, it's all a bit of a wild guess. There's me, my husband, 8yo and 21mo daughters, one dog, one cat, and half a dozen hens. And I usually do a big family & friends meal the week before Christmas (big as in up to 19 people including teenies, though usually closer to 10-12).

Anyway, I'm waffling. I'm going to guess at £60 per week, plus an extra £60 for the big meal, plus another £25 for the last couple of days at the end of the month. So budget of £325

Do you think that sounds reasonable? I've no idea! (see, wild guess!). I'm not even sure we'll have that much to spare (that's the stage I've reached, hence panicking, lost track )

Sorry for jumping in. Forgive me?

Hiya! It's been a while for me on here, so I've quite forgotten how best to budget for this time of year. All I know is Christmas seems to be the worst time for sticking to plan... no choice though this year!

I would say, this year if it's a case of sort-of-trying-to-be-careful with money, then you could break it down into smaller challenges... making leftovers stretch further... not buying sprouts if no one eats them etc... a million more exciting ways to eat turkey etc. But sounds fine! Good luck!

Can you please put me down for £160 commencing from 25th November-24 December 2016.

Thanks for starting the thread.

Everyone have a good day.
SIL

Hi all!

I'm new to the forums, I've been tracking my family's spending on a spreadsheet for quite a while (every week I download my transactions and my spreadsheet breaks it down in to about a million categories).

My grocery spending comes into two categories - my 2 Ocado shops each month, and then the "extra" shops to pick up "little" items. The ocado shops are fine, the first one will tend to be £160, second one £120, which covers 2 adults, one nearly 2 year old and a cat, and pays for all groceries, cleaning products, cat food and litter, nappies. My major issue are the mutliple other trips to the supermarket for "milk" which somehow ends up being milk and then about a million other items.

One month this year the "other" trips ended up costing £400 which is very shameful.

I am also starting a new job in January which means I will be home later than normal, and therefore need to have dinner already made/ prepped. So I'm trying to combine the grocery challenge with some freezer food prepping too (nothing insane, just if I'm making a lasagne, make 3 instead so that I can have 2 in the freezer for other days).

Anyways, what a ramble.

My target for December is £500 for everything. My target in other months will be £400 or below, but I didn't want to go too crazy in my first month!!

My month runs from payday (25th November), and I have already put my first ocado order in.

Current total £178.68 / £500

P.s. wow, sorry for the essay

StephieWillcox wrote: »

One month this year the "other" trips ended up costing £400 which is very shameful.

No shame hun, if you can see where it all went wrong - you can fix it. I'm a serial hoarder and compulsive YS (yellow sticker reduction) buyer - which has knocked giant holes in my GC budgets, deary-me :rotfl:

Bobbing in to record my first spend of £50.00 which includes sexy old winter screenwash, de-icer spray and replacement goods for the cupboard. I'm all about the mindful spend these days.

Also - big thanks to whoever recommended The Happy Pear on OS xx