Grocery Challenge Thread Options

princess_leia_3

Heres my 2p worth As a relative GC newbie it has been so helpful with tips to reduce my spends, get good tried and tested recipes, meal ideas.... I agree that sometimes the hello/goodbye posts could be stopped but to the people that post them see all the GC'ers as an extended family type so I wouldn't want to alienate them. Personally I like the NSD posts that have other info like meal plan etc as it often gives me inspiration (I know there is a meal plan thread too but not really had a good look at it!)
Not sure you could split the posts but I think a casual one post a day arrangement would prob be the best as it has made me think about what I post, also if people are asking questions, they could be directed to the Q & A thread, which is so helpful ( I know I am guilty of doing this too but with the amazing MrsMac on board its all too convenient)
Sorry for the waffle, but I think my option would be to keep it as one, have a casual one post a day rule and direct peeps to more appropriate areas if needed
Still like to keep the general ambience and recipes etc And huge thanks for all the hard work x x

kymbogs

Hi guys

I'm a newbie too, my first month of GC this month (though started posting at the end of the August one).

Just posting cos someone said they wanted to hear from new people. Basically, the way I see it is, although it would be nice to read every post it's just not going to happen so I don't stress about it. Once or twice a day I'll have a look at the last page and if I have some extra time I'll go back a few pages. If I want to see what a particular person has posted, I'll click on 'see other posts by xxxx' in their profile.

Don't have any suggestions just thought I'd say how I approach the GC thread at the moment

Kimberley x

OrkneyStar

For clarification- what are we supposed to put on GC thread ?
I thought it was primarily spends and NSD's, however from reading some other posts I am seeing that we are not to post about NSD's either (although several posters, me included, seem to mention this on posts).
Maybe its cos I am fairly new (May 08), and have missed reading a guide or something somewhere, but is part of the problem perhaps that people are not sure what they ARE supposed to post ?
If one of the more experienced uses were to post something that included what to post/what not to post/list of links to other OS threads (already mentioned), then I, for one, would be more than happy to read and abide by this.
As I also said on GC my plan from now on is to post my weekly totals (as I budget weekly) and anything that may help/encourage people once a week, my monthly total at the end of the month, and my planned budget for the next month. Is this acceptable ?
I am one of the people who has double figures (although have edited and removed anything OTT) last night, and would hate to be causing any problems on the thread. I did also post a lot in Augs and tbh I think I misunderstood the GC thread, thinking it was more chatty than it actually is (and did not think it really mattered if everyone was able to read every post!), so I apologise for annoying any of the older posters- it was not intentional and if anyone had pointed out to me that this was a problem I would have happily posted less, or removed myself from the thread. Most of my posts were not rubbish, random pics or good night or anything like that, just a summary of my GC budget plans/bargains/nsd's/updates/responses to questions. I also think in the first couple of months I got quite excited by it all and maybe over posted as a result of that (I have calmed down now honest! :eek: ).
Perhaps limiting posts is a good idea, although how and who does this would be hard to oversee I think, I would hope that people, as someone already suggested, would use their common sense in this before posting rubbish.
Finally, I have got to say that pics of baking etc I am happy with, but anything else I am not overly keen on.
x
PS Is part of the problem the expansion in number of the GC contributors as well as the amount individuals actually post ?

fuzzyfelt_2

I agree with OrkneyStar, as a complete newbie this month, it would be helpful to have some guidelines. I have found it difficult to keep up with the posts and I've not been sure when I should or shouldn't have been posting. I find most of the content on GC very inspiring and it would be a shame to lose that - it's what attracted me to GC in the first place.

I wasn't sure at first, but maybe it is worth trying two threads - a basic one for monthly / weekly totals and another one for GC related chat. Or as someone else suggested different groups depending on budget.

angelnikki

OrkneyStar wrote: »

I thought it was primarily spends and NSD's, however from reading some other posts I am seeing that we are not to post about NSD's either (although several posters, me included, seem to mention this on posts).

I think that the thing about people posting "NSD today" is that it adds nothing to the thread. I have 6 NSDs every week, but I dont post every day to say that because its not very useful to others

If everyone posted every NSD they had each month aswell as every spend then that would mean there would be 300 or more posts every day which is unmanagable. So I think its best just to post on the day when you do spend and miss posting on the days when you dont. Unless you need support in sticking to the NSD or there is something else of relevance to say. HTH

OrkneyStar wrote: »

As I also said on GC my plan from now on is to post my weekly totals (as I budget weekly) and anything that may help/encourage people once a week, my monthly total at the end of the month, and my planned budget for the next month. Is this acceptable ?

I think thats exactly the sort of thing that should be posted :T We need guidelines for this on the first post to clarify it for everyone

Nikki x

OrkneyStar

angelnikki wrote: »

I think that the thing about people posting "NSD today" is that it adds nothing to the thread. (have deleted the extra text from here )
Unless you need support in sticking to the NSD or there is something else of relevance to say.
Nikki x

Yes I now totally agree with you nikki however I did post things like this at the beginning (trying to do less now) as it was kind of an incentive for me to actually do it iykwim. I think also it could be an inspiration for some people who might think 'ah instead of going a walk round the shops I will aim for a no spend day and go for a walk to the park instead!' when they hear someone else doing this. I think it depends on how you shop, eg if you are a bulk buyer or internet shopper (as I think you are) and not tempted to wander round the shops (and buy random stuff) then counting NSD's is not that relevant, however for some people it is an achievement to go a walk to town/down the street etc and not actually buy anything they don't need. To me part of the challenge is taking DS a walk and only going to the shops when we need something- so an NSD for me is a good thing (hope I have explained this).
Ok, I shall be getting in to trouble for posting too much on here now but just thought I would expand a little on the NSD issue.
Take care
x
Edited to say I am sure I will manage NSD's perfectly well without posting them (have actually decided to stop counting them too)- I just did not realise it was not the right thing to be posting.
x

perrywinkle

Hi there,

As a relative newbie I try to keep up with the GC as I much as I can and look forward to sitting down and skimming through the posts on how others are doing and it does keep me focused. I can understand the points that have already been raised but the bottom line appears to be that the grocery challenge has become a victim of its own success.

Only posting spends with no associated chat would make it rather dry imo and almost a number crunching exercise which would be of little interest to me. On reading the posts a number of newbies to the thread say how welcoming and friendly they find it and I feel it would be sad if this was to be lost.

I think if we all consider if our post would be of benefit to others and their grocery challenge before posting then this might help and I can see that a guideline (not a rule) of a maximum of 1 post a day would make the thread more manageable and perhaps then we can keep the GC as it is as after all that is why we wanted to be part of it in the first place. In any case I would think that it is worth trying this and a listing of links to other relevant threads initially before making any decision about splitting the thread.

Perrywinkle

toottifrootti

Chell wrote: »

I think the thing that puts people off of posting on MSE in general is that there are too many rules. Newer members feel scared to post incase it is in the wrong place.

Thanks for saying that Chell thats exactly how I feel - I have only done one GC and I feel nervous about asking - in fact this week I asked 2 questions in separate posts and the first one was answered by the lovely lady I addrressed it to but the second question was to the thread in general and nobody has answered me - I dont know if I posted in the wrong place maybe!

I think some sort of rrestraint needs to be introduced rather than splitting it up - I for one do not have time to go reading another thread and trying to catch up - i love the grocery thread for all its tips, advice recipes etc but feel its not necessary for posts just to update a signature - dont mean to offend anyone there! We are a victim of our /your /martins success and the current economic climate - it would be good to try and find a solution as I think the thread will get bigger and bigger as people struggle to cope with today's living.
Perhaps also people's targets could be pm'd to whoever is running the thread - that would cut down a few posts and make it easier for the organiser too - she wouldnt have to trawl through posts looking for our totals.

hope that made some sense
TF xx

rosieben

OrkneyStar wrote: »

...
PS Is part of the problem the expansion in number of the GC contributors as well as the amount individuals actually post ?

That's a big part of the problem as PP says in post #57

I've always like the chat on the GC, hearing about people's success and failures and stories about how the family are helping (or not!) with the budget; so I'd hope that people will still add these personal bits when they post spends for the week. The recipes are brilliant too and I really wouldnt like to lose that

toottifrootti wrote: »

Thanks for saying that Chell thats exactly how I feel - I have only done one GC and I feel nervous about asking - in fact this week I asked 2 questions in separate posts and the first one was answered by the lovely lady I addrressed it to but the second question was to the thread in general and nobody has answered me - I dont know if I posted in the wrong place maybe!

sorry you didn't get a response but your question was probably lost amongst all the other posts which is a part of the problem we're discussing here; I'd hate to see people put off joining the GC because of rules but we do need rules. The OS forums and in fact the whole of this site has grown so much and without rules and the hard work of board guides etc, it would just collapse.

I think some sort of restraint needs to be introduced rather than splitting it up - I for one do not have time to go reading another thread and trying to catch up - i love the grocery thread for all its tips, advice recipes etc but feel its not necessary for posts just to update a signature - dont mean to offend anyone there! We are a victim of our /your /martins success and the current economic climate - it would be good to try and find a solution as I think the thread will get bigger and bigger as people struggle to cope with today's living.

abolsutely true; I really hope we can come up with a solution because I'd hate to see the GC fall over and die because its so popular. I believe its one of the most useful threads on OS for oldies and newbies alike, and its an important part of OS

Perhaps also people's targets could be pm'd to whoever is running the thread - that would cut down a few posts and make it easier for the organiser too - she wouldnt have to trawl through posts looking for our totals.

pm inboxes are not big enough to cope with this but I would have thought that posting targets and month end total spends in red font is simple enough for people to do and easy for the thread organiser to spot?

NSD's etc can be noted in a sig so that you keep track and others can see how you're doing. I'm sure I'm not the only one who reads other people's sigs

Edited to say - some months ago Mrs McCawber asked us to post our GC targets in red but not sure if this is in the blurb in the first post of the GC?? targets and month-end spend in red would be helpful I think??

gillaman

I agree with Perriwinkle (and others) on this. This thread is really keeping me on track and part of it is the friendliness and general support that goes with the chat. On the other hand, despite being retired and therefore with more time on my hands than those of you at work etc, I still find I take ages catching up and the extra cost of electricity somewhat defeats the object of the GC!

Wouldn't like separate threads though, don't think they'd work somehow. How about people using the message title more. E.g - one title could be GC Chat, one Totals, one Heads Up. They'd still be part of the one thread but people could skim according to interest and not have to wade their way through everything. I also think one post per day is a good idea - would have to work out what to do about someone who wanted to tell us about a heads up, their totals, and some GC news of their own though. You could still update your sigs for your own benefit but it would be your Totals posts that Mrs M etc would use to update you on the list. If your totals post didn't have the Totals heading in the message then they just wouldn't be picked up and people would learn to use them. I used to teach adults and we always found in the Centre where I worked that any new system had teething problems, but everyone worked with it in the end - as long as it was clear. HTH