January 2009 Grocery Challenge

BADPENNY_2

Hi,
just found this site last nite and i must say i am alraedy addicted. it is good to know their are loads of people in same boat as me and it has given me the determination to tackle my near 25k debt. so today i am going to start a couple of challenges.
1, 1st no spend day - the rest of this month and also up to the 6th of feb will have to be nsd's as well as i am skint. (dont think this is very realistic but have to try -normally i would just draw money on one of my credit cards to get me through the rest of month)

2, the grocery challenge - i normally budget around 200 per month for myself and partner but always go over. Have already spent the 200 for this month and have another 2 weeks to go. have just done a quick stock count though and should be ok, apart from milk bread ect so will allow myself additional £20 to last till 6 feb. have just done a quick scan of last shopping bill and could of easliy saved £40 on goodies.

3, the 100 day challenge - magazines and papers - easily spend £20 per month on these. coffee shop coffees at least 1 per day so will save at least £50 per month. no make up tolietries ect apart from soap deodrant ect and i will allow myself a hair coulour every month saving aprox £40 at hairdressers.
(mum has just phoned and asked me to acompany her to tesco but i declined her offer. how strong am i!!!.

4,the sealed jar challenge - just need to find an old tin or something and i am away.

also smoke 10 a day so these will have to go - havn't smoked today so far so thats £3 saved already. hope i'm not trying too much deprevation too soon, wish me luck.:A

Sylvan

Between us DH, the boys and I have managed to spend £74.49 this weekend but we've got tons of whoopsied fruit (9 packs of mango,2 of melon medley, 2 of pomegranate seeds, 20 fresh figs, 22 packs of blueberries, 1kg fair trade red grapes...), meat and things like muffins.
Does anyone know what I can make with fresh figs?

Finally finished last weekend's whoopsied eggs last night. 3 hours after dinner DS5 was wandering around moaning "what can I eat?" and DS4 suggested slightly out of date eggs (He's been worrying about them since their BB date, on 16th). Of course, being a teenager, what he really meant was "What can I eat that won't cost me any effort?" so he turned his nose up, till DH offered to make a pan of scrambled eggs for everyone. My hero!:A

DS5 has asked for a flask so he can take soup into school. Unfortunately he's also discovered Campbell's soup (at his GF's). Never mind. Mr M has it on offer at the moment. I'll go on Saturday and have a blitz.

Where's the best place to get cheap flasks? I thought I'd go for the wide-mouthed ones so they can put food into them if they want to. Is that sensible or are the ordinary ones better? (I should probably get one for the car as well, in case they get stuck on the fells in the snow)

I've managed 9 NSDs so far. I'm expecting a lot more in February, since that's normally the worst month, weatherwise. I'll probably do a big shop next weekend, or the one after, depending on the weather, and then hole up for the following month. (Well, that's the theory anyway:rolleyes:).

Edited to say: Good luck BADPENNY

scotsaver

Well I've failed already and still 6 days to go - I'm already over Budget, had to give DD1 money for School Dinner and popped to Iceland this morning for Milk and they had Lean Mince whoopsied to half price so I couldn't resist.:o

I will do my best to keep the overspend down to a minimum and then I will take the overspend off February's target as I've checked the Freezers and there is so much stuff in there, so should spend less in February.:cool:

Dinner tonight is Pasta Bake, not planned a pudding as we have some HM Xmas Cake that really needs to get eaten up.:D

Hope you are all doing better than I am this month.;)

Steel_2

NewlyFrugalMumof3 wrote: »

Thanks Steel. I will try the milk trick again. Last time I tried I diluted bit too much and all boys were moaning so wouldn't drink any of it!! I am not adverse to buying cheap loo roll and cheaper teabags so maybe that'll save some cash.
What do your family say about powdered milk?

It's just me and hubby, and I tend to test out ideas with food and then tell him a few weeks later, because he's one of these people who would insist they taste the difference if he knew in advance. He was quite happy with the diluted milk etc as he couldn't taste the difference. Also, he's adamant he hates swede and won't eat it. I've yet to tell him he's been eating it in mash, pasties and stews for years. I sense that could be a trust-breaker :rotfl:

My sister's husband claimed once he could only have branded coffee because he had very sensitive taste buds and he couldn't tolerate the taste of anything else. So she switched his special Nescafe for Lidl's own - just decanted it into the jar and hid the lidl packaging. That was almost a year ago and he still hasn't twigged.

Sneak it in gradually is what I say.....

orchid-96

Scotsaver, don't beat yourself up, just think what you would have spent if you hadn't been counting!! also, do you could school dinners in your budget? I don't as I usually pay this 4 weekly when I get my family allowance and this isn't something that can be reduced? however ds is going over to packed lunches in a couple of weeks (which should save me money) so this food will then be included...

Am hoping for a nsd today (will only be 2 this month I think :eek: ) although it won't be technically no spend as I have got an eye test later and am picking up my nieces birthday present from argos....but that doesn't count :rolleyes:

Good luck all, keep up the good work!!

Steel_2

BADPENNY wrote: »

Hi,
just found this site last nite and i must say i am alraedy addicted. it is good to know their are loads of people in same boat as me and it has given me the determination to tackle my near 25k debt. so today i am going to start a couple of challenges.
1, 1st no spend day - the rest of this month and also up to the 6th of feb will have to be nsd's as well as i am skint. (dont think this is very realistic but have to try -normally i would just draw money on one of my credit cards to get me through the rest of month)

2, the grocery challenge - i normally budget around 200 per month for myself and partner but always go over. Have already spent the 200 for this month and have another 2 weeks to go. have just done a quick stock count though and should be ok, apart from milk bread ect so will allow myself additional £20 to last till 6 feb. have just done a quick scan of last shopping bill and could of easliy saved £40 on goodies. Do you tend to meal plan? That can be a massive money saver...

3, the 100 day challenge - magazines and papers - easily spend £20 per month on these. read the online versions of newpapers and check out your town/city's main library as they tend to get in lots of magazines you can read for freecoffee shop coffees at least 1 per day so will save at least £50 per month. Someone bought me one of those Italian stove-top coffee makers for my birthday so now I make my own lattes, otherwise I end up first in the coffee shop queue when I go out for the dayno make up tolietries ect apart from soap deodrant ect and i will allow myself a hair coulour every month saving aprox £40 at hairdressers.

(mum has just phoned and asked me to acompany her to tesco but i declined her offer. how strong am i!!!. well done!!!!

4,the sealed jar challenge - just need to find an old tin or something and i am away.Hide the tin opener!!!!

also smoke 10 a day so these will have to go - havn't smoked today so far so thats £3 saved already. hope i'm not trying too much deprevation too soon, wish me luck.:A

good luck!!

Try and put a couple of cheapy treats in for yourself or you might suddenly end up feeling deprived and miserable and sucked into a spend binge. At the very least, decide what is acceptable as a cheap treat for yourself in advance and allow yourself to have it if you start feeling deprived. Like allowing yourself to buy and really enjoy a starbucks if that's your thing. Mine's a big bar of chocolate with a glass of red wine then a long soak in the bath with a good book

dumpling

Hi there, just popping on to update my sig. This month hasn't been too bad, we've had a takeaway and I've still got £85 odd to last till the end of the month. I think I will do it, this challenge has really made me think about what I am putting into my trolley. I've had a couple of NSD but mostly bought little things like bread, milk and fruit and veg during the week.I'm starting WeightWatchers tomorrow so have stocked up on my fruit, veg, tuna and Mullerlights lol. Cheers Jo

nickynoo08

Right i've just been looking at next months budget and i've got a fair amount of o/t due so i've decided to put some in my bank to go towards my debt and the last £40ish quid to add to next months shopping budget. Now rather than spending it on rubbish i'm thinking of trying to stock up on stuff like washing up tablets, fabric softner etc.... but what else? Other than tinned toms and jars i cant really think of anything. I'm also hoping that by doing this i'll be able to keep my shopping budget on track for the rest of the year or at least a good portion of it.
Any advice greatly welcomed. Thanks

OrkneyStar

nickynoo08 wrote: »

Right i've just been looking at next months budget and i've got a fair amount of o/t due so i've decided to put some in my bank to go towards my debt and the last £40ish quid to add to next months shopping budget. Now rather than spending it on rubbish i'm thinking of trying to stock up on stuff like washing up tablets, fabric softner etc.... but what else? Other than tinned toms and jars i cant really think of anything. I'm also hoping that by doing this i'll be able to keep my shopping budget on track for the rest of the year or at least a good portion of it.
Any advice greatly welcomed. Thanks

What about......
flour/bread flour and other baking bits (if you bake!)
fruit juice
light bulbs
pet foods ?

BADPENNY_2

Steel wrote: »

good luck!!

Try and put a couple of cheapy treats in for yourself or you might suddenly end up feeling deprived and miserable and sucked into a spend binge. At the very least, decide what is acceptable as a cheap treat for yourself in advance and allow yourself to have it if you start feeling deprived. Like allowing yourself to buy and really enjoy a starbucks if that's your thing. Mine's a big bar of chocolate with a glass of red wine then a long soak in the bath with a good book

thanks for the tips - will defo do the meal planner thing and have scheduled an appointment in for 6/2/09 to visit costa coffee with latest addition of marie -clair !!!! i am getting excited now. mum has just rushed around to enquire about my well being after my refusal to visit tesco and i told her about my new status of 'money saver' and she looked a bit concerned at first but then give me loads of her own tips like freezing leftovers and turning the heating down a notch ect. that reminds me ,must tell partner what i am up to, he left the telly on standby all night and when i went to make a cuppa discoverd he'd left the iron on after ironing his shirt for work this morning.hmm.:A