December Grocery Challenge

Wardy

Am quite please with myself - November's challenge only came in £10 over budget and that included some Xmas pressies, wrapping paper and gift tags. With that in mind, gonna go for the £40/week target (£160 for the month), which will include a few more pressies and Xmas dinner - although there's only me, OH and dog for that!

omega_2

Um..... thinking long and hard..... shall I lower the target? We are away over Christmas, and the extra money could be used to cover the extra petrol that we will use, so yes, I shall lower it to £175. Easy!

frosty

Hi everyone :hello: my budget for December is £250.00 for 5 adults (2 teenage sons counted as adults) i keep forgetting to include my mum in the challenge,she has lunch with us everyday plus sunday lunch and stays for dinner about 5 times aweek.This budgets also included all food for our dogs and cat. :eek:

Tondella

November was my first challenge month and i went over However i had reduced my budget from £50 per week to £30 per week, and I definitely didn't spend £50 a week so there is some success. I'm still having problems calculating how much i need each month (what with different lengths of month etc, different paydays). I do my big shop on a Friday so this month I am going to budget for the number of Friday's falling in the month (5). 5x£30=£150. I get paid tomorrow and plan only to access my January pay on December 30th.

Although I've got a budget in place it doesn't always tally with what is in the bank so this month I'm going to strictly write down everything spent and try and balance the books. I'm also curious to see where some of the money is going as inevitably my spreadsheet tells me i have more money than is in the bank. I haven't really been menu planning or shopping with lists (though i am quite strict with treats etc, and tend to buy the same items most visits) so I'm going to give that more of a go this month. I found this weekend that i had completely run out of loads of basics: flour, pasta, oil, rice, cocoa powder etc, and so alot of my November overspend was on restocking. I'm going to try and spread the cost of essentials over the coming weeks so i don't end up in the same position. In all, I'm pleased that i could bring the food budget down so drastically in one month but a little annoyed that the savings have "disappeared" into other pots and so I don't have anything to show for my efforts.

i'll update my signature tomorrow on payday. Good luck you grocery challengees!

Gillby1

I managed to come in just under budget, so i'm gonna reduce my target from £120 per month for two adults, to £100 this month. Yay! I'm loving planning my meals and shopping these days, and boyfriend is very happy with all the new yummy home cooked dinners we're having - so THANKS everyone! :beer:

I know with Christmas coming up it'll be harder, but luckily i've still got plenty of food left from last month, plus a few money off vouchers sent to my by Mr Tesco - which'll save me £20 this month!

Good luck all, and have a great Christmas.

Gills xxx

FRUGALPIE_2

This will be my first attempt at budgeting so am going to set myself a target of £300 for grocery's this month. My month will actually start on 7th December when I next get paid!!

Should be plenty, but will be watching the receipts with a vengeance!!!

Frugalpie(or learning to be)

joannasmum

I'm limited this month by whats going to be in the bank after all the bills are taken out so that £170 for 3 adults and 1 baby. Thank god shes now having cows milk no more buying tins of formula. Also got vouchers to cover anything needed over Christmas

squeaky

Hi everyone

Just a reminder that I'll be unsticking this thread some time late tomorrow - by which time it'll be the featured challenge in our Monthly Challenges sticky.

You can find the challenges via the link in my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Monthly Challenges link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

halloweenqueen_2

I came in under budget for the first time, I don't like xmas food shopping, I bear in mind its just us at home plus the occasional family member and its only a day before the shop opens again!
Saying that I'll probably blow the budget! Farm foods is good and icelnad seem to be getting more competitive this year.

johanne

Going to be daring and say £50 for this month again for just me. Went over by just under £5 last month but had to stock up the freezer. Having xmas dinner at my mums so dont need to buy all that.. and im going to be back at work soon so will need "lunch" at midnight.. but may continue to come home for that instead of sitting in the canteen with people i dont like for 1 hr. (wonders of living literally 3 mins walk from work) and means im not tempted by the vending machines! Just have to ensure i dont fall asleep and miss going back at 1am! LOL!

So im HOPING £50 will do. My month starts today and runs to 30th. Already spent £1.65!