July 2008 Grocery Challenge

angelatgraceland

Good buy but I still have to have "real" butter! I got the Country Life this week which is cheaper on the offers than Tscos own. Funny-my son only like Utterly Butterly or Clover-doesnt like real butter.

gin

good luck gilly

OrkneyStar

earthmother wrote: »

Morning everyone

Thought I ought to update my totals - was offline most of last week, and I really missed MSE - must be addicted (as if I didn't know, lol)


I have 8 days left to go, and have so far spent £294.93 from a £310 budget.

That leaves me about £15, and whilst we are almost fully stocked for main meals, there's very little milk or fruit and veg in the house at the moment, so with the kids now off school, we will almost definitely go over, but hopefully not by too much.

I'm annoyed though - I should have been well under budget, but eldest son, in the excitement of the last day of term, left the freezer door wide open after getting his yogurt tube for his lunchbox - argh! It wasn't discovered until about 5 that evening (the freezer is in the utility, and for once I'd not been in there all day), so 10 days worth of meal plan dinners (more when you count the frozen veg), and a couple of days of picnics, gone just like that. I managed to salvage enough for two days meals, but then two black bags of stuff had to go in the bin - most of it had been bought reduced, and I've had to replace meals at full price, hence the over-run


Roll on August, lol

Oh dear, I would be devastated if that happened :eek:, I suppose it was a mistake though and they can happen at the best and worst of times!

earthmother

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Oh dear, I would be devastated if that happened :eek:, I suppose it was a mistake though and they can happen at the best and worst of times!

Poor kid was so upset when he realised (he found it too - was getting some juice from the fridge). I played it down - to be absolutely fair, in a household of five, he's the last one to have defrosted the freezer - I think everyone else has done it once since we moved here - it's the drawback of it being out of sight.

It never happens when I'm running the freezer down though - always when it's full to the brim :rolleyes:

Barneysmom

I just updated my sig today, haven't spent much at all the past week or two, just bread and milk, so I'm quite happy.
Got paid a bit early this month but I'll carry on as ususal,

Flylady_Flower

catnap53 wrote: »

Have skimmed through posts and don't think anyone has mentioned John Lewis yet.

I have been buying schoolwear there for [strike]25 years [/strike]a long time, since eldest was 5. Youngest just about to go into 6th form, so won't need to this year!

Anyway, son is skinny, daughters were always a bit wider. They sell trousers and skirts in waist sizes and different lengths. I last paid 11 pounds for a pair, more than the 'cheap shops' but at least they fit. I never had any problems with washing and [strike]not ironing[/strike] ironing them.

Don't know if there is a store near you, but if you can get to one when it isn't busy, not like we always did the week before the start of term, the staff are extremely helpful, measuring and suggesting those to try.

Just checked the website, this shows many of them as age and different lengths, (with a size chart) so you could buy a younger age to get the waist size and longer length. (Thinks piggy points too)

Just to let you know, John Lewis are doing free delivery on anything until tomorrow if you order via website...., so if you don't manage to get anything today from the other recommendations, might be worth trying them...

Flylady_Flower

angelatgraceland wrote: »

Looking for an edentical printer to mine on ebay and hoping its still cheap and available in 2 days time! I will never stockpile inks again however cheap they are. Twice Ive done this then ended up slinging the printer and giving away the inks.Not very moneysavig. :+(

Have you tried Freecycle for a printer? I have just got a really great printer/scanner for my mum, as she wanted to scan in some old photos she had for printing off later - just need to get the ink!:rotfl: Sorry, couldn't resist.
I am now putting her inkjet printer on there for someone, so what goes around comes around as they say... definitly worth a look to save a few pennies anyway, and you may even get one that takes your ink!

Flylady_Flower

teedy23 wrote: »

Does anyone else sometimes get the urge to cheat, and just not confess their spends on the thread? I spent £6.13 in Sainsbury's last night....going off the rails this week and I cant seem to get a grip on myself.:embarasse

When I first started I definitely felt the urge, as I was still making silly spends, which I knew I shouldn't be making, but ended up putting them on as I felt guilty - weird what this challenge does to you eh!

I know when I first started I thought everyone would think that I was hopeless, couldn't keep to a budget, why was I on here, etc, etc... But now i know, no-one thinks like that at all, everyone is so helpful and encouraging that now, I just list everything, I don't feel bad at all and just want to do better next time.

What you need to understand is, we ALL have bad days/weeks/months - even AnneLouise (sorry honey, but you are wonderful at planning so not a slur, just praise) we all slip as we are all human so NEVER beat yourself up about it, just learn and carry on, there's always the next week!

angelnikki

teedy23 wrote: »

Does anyone else sometimes get the urge to cheat, and just not confess thier spends on the thread? I spent £6.13 in Sainsbury,s last night....going off the rails this week and I cant seem to get a grip on myself.:embarasse

Teedy if you have a look at the June totals here you will see we dont always come in on target. But even coming over budget is an improvement for most on what we were doing pre GC. And you shouldnt feel like its confessing we're not here to judge - we're here to encourage each other.

To have a £40 budget and still be under this far through the month is amazing. There is only one/two others with a budget as low as yours. So I think you're doing really well. I dont think many others could stick to it as well as you have. :T You have managed under £50 for 2 months in a row, I think thats fantastic. :A

Nikki
x

gillaman

NSD today and probably tomorrow as well. Not sure about next week. Gs2 coming to stay off and on all next week as his big sister is staying with her dad for a week or two. I might even manage to just get f & v, milk etc. Made another weetabix cake but will have to stop as putting on weight. Also picked some sticks of rhubarb and made a crumble, had half yesterday and will have the rest today, picked a few more french beans (nearly finished now), some beetroot and three ripe tomatoes. Lazy day today and hopefully tomorrow - hope the rest of you have good weekends.

Herbaholic - thanks for advice on rosemary.