July 2008 Grocery Challenge

philsmum

Hi.
Not posted for a couple of days, bit of a traumatic time, DH brother died last Friday, he was only 62 and had 2 children 14 & 15. Funeral is on Monday.
Anyway sorry probably should not have posted that. My money does not seem to be lasting vey well this week. Hope to get to the end of the next week and keep in budget.
Does anyone know if Asda are doing the 50p offers this weekend.
Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weather.

philsmum

Hi
Try pushing some cloves of garlic into the soil the greenfly do not like it, also works on roses.

Flylady_Flower

PHILSMUM, here is the list of stuff Mr M's is doing:

MissPin wrote: »

Mr M's 50 p deals are as follows:
12 white rolls
Pack of celery
Medium Sliced Loaf of bread
Simply Leaf Salad
Grated Mild White Cheddar 220g
Deli gammon ham 50p per 100g (400g limit) normal price 85p
3 (or possibly 4) sausage rolls for 50p - normal price 99p
pack of cherry tomatoes

So sorry to hear of your loss, I hope you and your OH are ok, my thoughts are with you and your family.:grouphug:

mouche

So sorry for your loss Philsmum...those poor kids losing their dad so soon...

I'm now cautiously hopeful that I will squeak in under budget this month - which would be a really big achievement for me because I had less than £25 left on the 4th of the month. Never dreamed I could eke that out for 27 days.

Did loads of shopping yesterday – almost all whoopsied (I love this forum for putting me onto the fact that I can freeze whoopsied stuff and use them ages later!). I got 1 pot of coriander (whoopsied), 9 mini wholemeal baps (whoopsied), 500g dates, and 2 packs of chappatis (Indian bread). All that for £3.59. Plus I got 3 tins of Weightwatchers tuna (£1) and a masala dosa (£1.99) for OH from the lunch fund and treat fund respectively. I pay for my work lunches out of my own pocket money and treats are bought with coupons we receive for doing surveys – so those don’t come out of the GC.

That leaves me with £3 till Thursday and we really don’t need anything else except possibly lemons and even if I buy them, I’ll come in under budget. Fingers crossed against any unexpected circumstances!

MERFE

well we have spent 192 pounds this month so not too bad going really but I've got till next thursday to go still, topped up with milk and bread and fruit last night so will really have to eek it out to last till thurs then at least I'm only 2 pounds over. At most I'll only spend another tenner which is not too bad really compared with my May and June. I will be better next month, I will!

Since DS has taken so well to the potty hopefully next month will be easy peasy with no nappies to buy, I think we have enough in for night time to last till oct. Now all I have to do is leave the nappy off when we go out which is a bit scarier - I really should get the changing bag ready with lots of clothes I think.

KAAT_LADY

philsmum wrote: »

Hi
Try pushing some cloves of garlic into the soil the greenfly do not like it, also works on roses.

GOOD IDEA and sorry to hear of your loss

KAAT_LADY

went out for flour today and came back with lots of light sugar and no flour so have put the BM on with what I have and hopefully it will turn out okay.

Dh made some strawberry jam last night,, he does like making jam,, 2lbs of strawberries,, and I tasted it ,,and as I dont like berries or jam I found it quite nice, he put some marg in , which is something new for him
whether that was what did it I dont know

but I still would not have it on bread or anything I dont like sweet things that much

http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p450/Masgimb4L/130661.jpg

see ya

Kaat

MRSMCAWBER

Afternoon all

So sorry for your loss philsmum, as you probably know I have recently lost my 41 year old sister so i can understand a little of how you may be feeling.. Take care of yourself

Well the trip to the DR went ok -although he can't test me until he has got hold of my sisters specialist and found out WHICH gene he needs to check.

Nipped into the NAFFI on the way back.... not sure what planet the checkout lad was on but when i got through my hubby automatically said that there was no way i would have spent €15 on the few odds n sods i had -he knows me soooo well :rotfl: ..when we checked he had got in a right tangle -but the customer service desk sorted it :T ...so i got:-

• a chicken reduced from €8 to €4 but i got charged €2 :T
• 2 packs smoked salmon (to help me get my oilf fish intake up) -honest they were down from €5.50 to €1 each
• 2 punnets baby plum tomatoes from 1.25 down to 50c
• 3 bags of parsnips from €1.89 down to 50c each
• then they had a pack of 6 blueberry or choc chip muffins from €2.39 down to 50c each -so i will stick those in the freezer for "emergancies" so it should have cost me €29.95 and i paid €7.50 :j

Hubby was even more impressed as this morning whilst waiting in the bank 1 of his friends came in and went to the naffi with hubby so hubby could get 3 bottles of whiskey whilst they were on buy 3 for 2...(we are rationed to 2litres a month)hubby doesn't use that much but whilst they were on offer it would be rude not to ..so he used his mates 2 and 1 off his own card -then when we went to the big NAFFI i used my 2 and hubbies 1 -only the lad forgot to cross them off our card -so hubby stopped on the way home and used them again -so he has 9 bottles of whiskey and our card runs out on monday -so we get our new one and a new allowance
I think he must listen to me sometimes as he even remembered that it made sense to buy 3 of the same at a time to get the best bargain as its always the cheapest one free. So now he has 3 bottles of 3 different whiskeys... i think the most expensive worked out at about £18 for a litre and thats a top quality one that i have just priced on line at £42.95 for 70cl :eek: -just glad it doesn't come out of the house keeping:eek:

Anyway enough waffle -i will get off now and finish sorting out that meal plan that has been bugging me all week :rolleyes:
have a good afternoon all

Herewegoagain

Hiya guys, hope your all well,
another NSD for me, I've lost count how many I've had but am doing well
Have'nt had time to read up today, but will do so asap. Sun is shining and I've been out picking fruit again, oh what fun, I love saving money this way
hugs to all who need them xx
HWGA:D

Flylady_Flower

Hi everyone, Can you help please, I'm in a bit of a quandry .

I want to work out my budget but not sure the best way to go. Things are pretty tight at the moment and I have brought my budget down from £75 to £65 per week for everything (apart from going out money for hubby as he works really hard and long hours so feel he should have some free time and we go out as a family, usually on a saturday and sunday)

Anyway, there is me, hubby & DS14 (DD18 lives with my Mum although often round to eat my 'twinks' and muffins ). have done well last 2 months and only been over a few pounds but this time really blew my budget and have nothing to show for it in the freezer or cupboards. Also started really well with cooking, etc but has dropped off a bit this month with job change and just general 'tiredness' - think left over from bad chest cold. I also have DD's 19th bday on 5th and DS's 15th bday on 28th of August, plus our 20th anniv on 13th - so this will be an expensive month for me.

Anyway, life history over, my thoughts are that I need to budget for individual stuff - Groceries, gifts/extras and bulk shops.

I know there really is no hard and fast rule for this but would really appreciate anyones views.

I get paid roughly at the end or beginning of the month depending when invoice/job finishes, so am going to make most of bills come out about 10th to get them out of the way with that, then, as hubby paid weekly, budget about £75-£80 for everything else - I know this is an increase, but am thinking that it may be more realistic and that if I come in under, I can pay the savings off our cc each month and bring the balances down (also building up a 'disaster fund' if necessary) What do you think? I think I'm thinking too much about this...