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Grocery Challenge Thread Options
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I think the daily thread only works for people who are here daily posting on it, ive popped on a couple of time and not had a clue what people are on about, it feels a bit like gate crashing someones coffee morning :rotfl:
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Jackie x
No no no, just jump right inI'll bring the coffee
might just want to for the essential support that GC provides (sometimes I need talking down from buying that takeaway and getting my bum in gear to make the shepperd's pie!!)As I said above, jump right in
I am a coffee bean0 -
I just had another thought
....I think another reason why the GC thread is more popular than the daily OS thread is maybe because the GC thread has continuity, and it is possible to go back and see who people are and how they've been coping and what they've been doing over a few months. I think the daily thread only works for people who are here daily posting on it, ive popped on a couple of time and not had a clue what people are on about, it feels a bit like gate crashing someones coffee morning :rotfl:
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Jackie x
Well I hope no one on the Daily would make you feel like that.It really is a lovely place to post but it isn't for people who don't like it if someone forgets to mention them. You can be assured though, of great support from everyone on there in times of trouble. Loads of people don't post on it daily, myself included. The reason I don't join in the GC is not because I'm intimidated. (I don't think I could be intimidated by a thread on a chat forum) but because it is so huge and I don't really want to have to trawl through it to find out how other people have been coping over the months.
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Penelope_Penguin wrote: »Lots of interesting opinions here. Still not sure how we'll satisfy everyone
Penny. x
you'll never satisfy everyone PPmain thing is to save the GC challenge from its own popularity!!
... don't throw the string away. You always need string!
C.R.A.P.R.O.L.L.Z Head Sharpener0 -
This thread has been on my mind all day
Some people want 2 threads - one for grocery chat and one for the challenge. I don't think another chat thread will be allowed (we're lucky to have the Daily for that) soooooooo, how about 2 challenges? One for weekly and one for monthly?
I was just thinking that idea might be worth a try as I was reading through everybody's posts.
Ialso just wanted to add that I'm not sure all the GC-ers descending on the daily thread is the answer.
I don't really visit the OS daily chat thread cos I primarily come to OS for the GC. I'm not really here to chat at all as such - but a certain amount of sociability is just part and parcel of the GC camerarderie I think.
I think the GC is an entry point to OS for a lot of people. Many have never actually visited the OS board originally - they just followed a link to the GC - and as such they are not fully fledged OS-ers yet and don't know anybody on OS or what the heck they're all talking about!
At least in the GC there's a reason to pop up and say hi, and we all have a grocery shop in common at least so we've got something to talk about to start off with.
So basically I'm still pondering!
Love Jacks xxx
PS I have also noticed that the GC is not growing at it's usual exponential rate today , and is very on point!
PPS just had another thought for the division idea - what about like at slimming club where you have newbies and people with some way to go in one group (With veteran assistance of course) and "maintainers" just trying to keep on top of it in the other?Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. Einstein0 -
I'm fairly new, August was my first GC month. I can't keep up with all the posts, some days I don't even read or reply to the Daily thread although I know it's there. But in a few months I shall be having to work, once we move, and I won't have time to even read as much as I do now. I tried subscribing to the thread so it emails me every day with what's been posted, but again it takes too long to read.
I guess I should pay less attention to what other people are doing, this is just about how *I* cope with my budget.
Is there a link or collection to a list of where economies can be made? Like, adding oats to any meat dish to make it go further, cheaper substitutes and variations for ingredients, workarounds? There probably is, but trying to find anything isn't all that easy and I forget, because I'm easily distracted.
Everyone's really friendly, and that aspect I love, but there just aren't enough hours in the day as it is.
Thanks for looking into it!"...And if it don't feel good, what are you doing it for?" - Robbie Williams - 'Candy'0 -
HariboJunkie wrote: »Well I hope no one on the Daily would make you feel like that.
It really is a lovely place to post but it isn't for people who don't like it if someone forgets to mention them. You can be assured though, of great support from everyone on there in times of trouble. Loads of people don't post on it daily, myself included. The reason I don't join in the GC is not because I'm intimidated. (I don't think I could be intimidated by a thread on a chat forum) but because it is so huge and I don't really want to have to trawl through it to find out how other people have been coping over the months.
This really sums up how I feel. I do try and post on the daily as often as I can and it has been my life saver in times of need. I hope no one would ever feel intimidated by the regular lot on there as we would hate to think that we have made someone feel like that.
We LOVE newbies!!
On the GC I try to add what my figures are each month but I find it soooo long and difficult to keep up with.
PP
xxTo repeat what others have said, requires education, to challenge it,requires brains!FEB GC/DIESEL £200/4 WEEKS0 -
Hi everyone,
I’ve spent some time today reading through the Grocery challenges and I can see how difficult it is for people to keep up with the thread. There are a lot of on-topic posts, some posts which are a combination of on-topic and off-topic and others that have no relevance to the Grocery Challenge at all.
There are quite a few posts that are just ‘hello’, ‘goodnight’, ‘this is what I’m doing/this is what we’re eating today’. Normally that wouldn't be a problem but the fact that some people are being put off doing the challenge means that it is a problem. The Daily thread was created precisely for posts like these in order to keep other threads on topic. Bargains and groceries and all things Old Style are discussed there too.I assure anyone who feels, for whatever reason, that they can’t join in the daily that all new posters are made very welcome by the regulars on that thread. Besides if all the regulars from the GC were to join in en masse you would all know each other already.
Another issue is the number of cooking/baking/freezing questions. It would certainly lessen the number of posts if these were posted elsewhere and there are threads for these. The first post could easily be altered to include links to the correct threads.
However, I think the main problem is the sheer volume of posters. At the moment the September challenge is sitting at 565 posts. These posts have been posted by 227 different posters! :eek: That's an average of 2.49 posts per person over a period of six days. On the Old Style front page if you click on the number of replies in the Grocery challenge you will be able to see the number of posters and how many times they have posted in the thread.
Thank you for all the suggestions. :T They are very helpful and we will take them on board as we try to find a solution that will suit as many people as possible. However please bear in mind that we will not be able to please everyone but we will try to incorporate some of the guidelines suggested to make the thread acceptable to all.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts so far. Unfortunately Penny is working days this week and I’m working evenings so it may be near the end of the week before we get the time to get together and discuss it fully. Please bear with us and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Pink0 -
I'm not sure I know the answer either... I'm not sure there is one
This site is getting larger and larger - there were less than a million people receiving the email tips when I joined and there are now millions. The credit crunch is speeding it up even more.
I spend my MSE time on MFW and DFW and really the GC is the only thing I read on this board as I'm very intimidated by everything else - even the daily thread. I can barely cook let alone anything else. I first joined the GC late last year and I couldn't keep up then either so I'm struggling 1000 fold now. I usually give up (on the thread not the GC budget) by 10 days/2 weeks in as I've completely lost track. This is the 1st time I've joined it again for well over 6 months.
Some thoughts...
1) What about making the GC longer with a defined cut off point for joining? For example...
thread runs for 3 months - can join for the 1st 3 weeks only, everyone sets their individual budgets for the week/month and change it each week/month as appropriate. A new 3 month thread can start each new month.
or
2) split the challenge according to budget? eg £100 and under, £100-£250 and £250 and over?
also...
3) Maybe also have a "learning to set a starting grocery budget" type thread (only called something much much better :rotfl: ) for people who have to lower their grocery spending but struggle to know where to start and are too busy/distracted panicing they have no money to keep an eye on their grocery outgoings for a month or 2 before starting the GC
4) would it be easier on the thread helpers if end of month/week totals were PM'd to them?
P.S. What exactly is "allowable" on the GC? Some of the stuff talked about in this thread as being a bad thing is exactly why I am returning and trying to take part again this month!! Maybe this needs clarification in the GC thread (1st post??) and where exactly we should post things.
I'm here to keep to a budget for my groceries for the month, learn a few tips/how to make a yummy whatever (or where to find instructions on how to make it), get a bit of food related inspiration/confidence from much more competent people and be part of a group of others also doing this. I also think posting a NSD or spent £x.xx today and variations are exactly what the GC is for in my opinion
Blimely... I'm not keeping it short here am I? Sorry... please be gentle... :doh:Mortgage free as of 12/08/20!
MFiT-5 no 45You can't fly with one foot on the ground!0 -
I haven't voted because I don't use the GC thread. I lurked a little but there was just too much to read through... and this was months ago, before it got so big!
Partly the reason I am posting is because there are a lot of negative comments about the daily thread, and I simply don't agree with them. Some people here have made it sound cliquy and unfriendly and tbh I am a little hurt by that, and wonder whether those people have ever even posted there to see how they get on. I am pretty new to posting there myself, I think I have been there about a month, if that, before which I rarely even posted on OS at all. I decided to dip my toe in one day, just jumped in and said hi, and everyone made me feel really welcome. I had a total trauma later that same day and I can honestly say that the response I got was completely the reverse to what people here say - far from being cliquey, people there bent over backwards to make me feel welcome and offer support. I am pretty sure that anyone on OS would get the same reaction, new people pop in and out all of the time as needs be, we are a friendly bunch and at the end of the day that is what we are there for - general chat loosely connected to OS, which makes it easier as you can be pretty sure that at least some of the people there have been there, whatever is going on in your life. Sure I don't know everyone's history, but I suspect it's the same as any coffee morning in real life. Some people you will know a lot about, others not so much, sometimes you will know the poster's history, sometimes you might not. At the end of the day, you're only going to get to know people if you stick around! Some people (me) tend to blurt out whatever they are thinking at any given moment, some keep it strictly OS, some people are between the two. There are times that I still don't know what people are referring to. Sometimes it becomes clear, sometimes not, but that doesn't make it any less friendly a place! To me OS is one of the things that makes MSE the fantastic, supportive place it is, and if anyone from GC wants to tootle across and say hi, I'd be very happy!
So anyway, I don't think we'd get another daily chat thread, but what would be better is a difficult one. I think maybe it's a start to rule out what WOULDN'T WORK:
1) Personal diaries. I feel that the DFW diaries are great, but they do somewhat clog the board up, and there is an awful lot of repetition.
2)The existing situation. I think that we are going to quickly end up with unmanageable 100 page threads and getting through them would be like wading through treacle.
3)Cut-off points. It would discourage a lot of people from joining and would not help those people most in need.
4)Fascism. 'No chat' etc always seems to make for nastiness and pettiness, and we really don't want OS to end up there!
What I think might help would be to try and limit repetition. Make it clear that questions should be searched through on the wider board without being posted, that the 'chattier' chat be conducted on the daily thread, and everything being kept as on-topic as possible? But that's assuming it would be adhered to without getting the b i t c h y 'don't post that here, stupid' type responses certain other boards resort to (see number 4 of what wouldn't work).
Would it be possible to have three separate challenges? Weekly, monthly and beginners?
I dunno, but come see us at the daily thread for chat sometime0 -
belfastgirl23 wrote: »
PS I've just been looking back over the posts and would really love to hear from some more people new to the GC - i think a lot of the comments to date are from people who've been around a while (with one or two exceptions)
I am a newbie - to the fora, and to GC - but I am also a veteran of cyberlife. I had hoped to keep up with the thread this month, having just joined, but found it impossible, the rate it's growing at.
What I would do if it was down to me (and thank Gawd it's not, cos I always think I know best, and everyone else for some bizarre reason seems to disagree), is split the thread into two - but not GC and GC chat; I would split it into GC (general info, tips and offers, recipes and blah blah), and GC Totals - that is, a thread where everyone just posts their challenge amount at the beginning of the month, and declares their total at the end. Nice and simple for people running the list, and then no one, not even people in charge of keeping the tally, need to read the main thread if they do not want to or lack the time to do so.
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