December Grocery Challenge

Penny-Pincher!!

Hey

Well I am pleased. I came in at £124 under budget :T It does sound good but isnt really..LOL. I allocate £75pw for groceries & petrol, this includes everything-toiletries/cleaning/wash powder etc etc. So we've spent £176 for the last 4 weeks includeing the petrol, roughly £44pw so am very happy about that!! I have a freezer full and all cuboards are too.

The excess has been moved to the conservatory fund, and now have £700 saved towards it for next April :j Wont decrease my budget as such as the excess is being used for my funds, but hopefully should spend less this month as I have sooo much grub.

PP
xx

monkmorency

Hello all!

Hope it's ok to join in. I expect December isn't a great month to start, but if it all goes wrong in my first attempt then at least I have an excuse

I used to aim for a budget of around £150 and not do too badly with it, but somehow over the last few months it's been creeping up. Over the last 3 months it's averaged £280 a month - and there's only 2 of us and a small but hungry cat!!!

I'm going to be ambitious and aim for £200. *Gulp*

I know it looks terrible compared to how well you all do here, but at least it will be a step in the right direction.

Ok, so my guests are providing the turkey, I've already made my Christmas cake, and I've asked for a slow cooker for my Christmas present. I'd better start hunting for coupons and discount codes right now - I'm going to need all the help I can get

Icemaiden

Hi all,

Iam really looking forward to my first challenge.

Iam aiming at £200 to feed 3 adults and 1 child, I already have my turkey and booze for christmas so this should okay but I do need a big shop tomorrow of lots of basics.

LucyToons

Okey I am moving soon to my own little place (living at parents at the moment (i'm 25 ))

Since I am going to need to save money etc. I am thinking about joining this challenge.

Whilst i'm shopping today with my mum i'm going to make note of prices of things I will be buying regular so I can get a rough idea of what I will be buying and how much, then anything extra will be gotten out of the rest of my budget.

I will be saving all reciepts and keeping track of what I have spent and when and any lose change (if paid for by cash) will be going in my piggy bank and I might try the Pin Challenge also.

I am hoping that all you do is just set a budget and try and stick to it?

wigginsmum

My December budget is £250 for 2 adults, 2 occasional teenagers and 7 cats. I've got a freezerful of meat and 2 weeks of cat food, so should really only need to buy fresh fruit/veg/milk/cheese etc. I've spent £130 so far as I stocked up today. I'm aiming to decrease the budget in January once I've worked out from my receipts what the money's going on.

My new plan is to take £250 or whatever the new amount is out in cash when I get paid and stick to that - no more paying by card in shops! It's so much less hassle planning my meals in advance to use what I have, rather than get home at 6pm, panic and order in take-away! Just got to crack taking in packed lunches rather than buying stuff at work, but rice-cakes and cheese + yoghurt and banana should do it.

Jules

FRUGALPIE_2

wigginsmum wrote:

My December budget is £250 for 2 adults, 2 occasional teenagers and 7 cats. I've got a freezerful of meat and 2 weeks of cat food, so should really only need to buy fresh fruit/veg/milk/cheese etc. I've spent £130 so far as I stocked up today. I'm aiming to decrease the budget in January once I've worked out from my receipts what the money's going on.

My new plan is to take £250 or whatever the new amount is out in cash when I get paid and stick to that - no more paying by card in shops! It's so much less hassle planning my meals in advance to use what I have, rather than get home at 6pm, panic and order in take-away! Just got to crack taking in packed lunches rather than buying stuff at work, but rice-cakes and cheese + yoghurt and banana should do it.

Jules

I thought I had a lot of cats - got 5!

I too will be taking the cash out and I find that it is always the 'small' purchases using cards that make the budget go up!!!

Meal planning is something I also have to try and do, working shifts this is the easiest way of making sure everyone gets a good meal and the takeaway doesn't get my cash!

Frugalpie

xlt_hunter

I totally blew Novemeber as I lost track of all money spending, but hey thats the way to go, total kick up the backside - Nov was the start when the Credit Cards was cut up (what joy)

This month living on my debit card again to the realistic target of £80 for me and 2 cats. All cupboards and the freezer are full - so should be a easy month for me. Good feeling as well to see the credit card going down in big chuncks.

I am trying something new for me is to take cash of £20 per week for food shopping and if its gone its gone type of thing - but so far doing well as I've spent £36.95 so far for the last 2 weeks on food (stocking up) for me and the cats. I plan not to do any food shopping until next weekend but have £3.05 in change this week for the top ups like bread when it runs out.

squeaky

I have a blind spot when it comes to milk... the fifteen quid or so never seems to arrive in the budget before I start my month!

Ticklemouse

I've never actually managed to do this before, as I've never had any idea of how much I've been spending. However,over the past 3 months I've been keeping a running total of grocery/cleaning stuff with a separate budget for alcohol. There are 2 adults, 2 kids plus 14 extra meals a week to provide (10 adult sized ones). Oh, and lots of fish So far I've come in under £300 pcm for groceries. However, everyone is coming to stay at Chez Mouse this year for up to a week, so I'll up the budget to £380 (and a massive increase on the booze budget :eek:)

mah_jong

i have lost the plot with how much i spend .... no idea... just that its not usually much! however I did a mamouth shop in Lidls when near one (dont live near usual supermarkets or Lidls etc). Am not saying how much I spent there as I did not think it was possible!!!!!

Surfice to say that I wont need much at all for a month or three. But it is Christmas so I shall gather the reciepts and see exactly how much I spend in December .... so far ..litre of milk and the weekly newspaper!

Got a somerfield voucher for a fiver, very welcome!

Good luck everyone!