February 2009 Grocery Challenge

panambi

My total for February is £225.89, so £25.89 over. Considering this was my first month of really keeping track of my grocery spending, I think it is not too bad and I have stocked up on some things like chopped tomato tins in Netto (4 for 99p) etc so I do have a fair bit in to last into March, including some meat, chicken, etc in the freezer.

Over the last few days I have sat over our budget and realised there is no way we can afford more than £200 every four weeks without putting more debt onto Credit Card (my "month" has four weeks as get paid four-weekly so 13 months in a year:rolleyes:). Get paid Thursday so that's when March will start for me, with £200 to spend (26/02 - 25/03). And I WILL come within budget this time! Will do the separate purse thing and as walking gets more difficult (don't have a car), I might pop to the shops less often (but maternity leave starts in March so more time to go when I get bored at home...:o) GC budget might have to go up as well when baby comes as OH refuses to use reusable nappies and he will do a lot of the nappy changing! But I do intend to breastfeed as I did with DD and DS so only nappies and wipes will be added when bubs arrives (and have stocked up a bit already).

Well done to everyone that has come under budget and thanks for all the tips I have been picking up on here over the last few weeks, it has been really helpful!

Steel_2

Sorry I haven't been around much to post this month, but just checking in to confirm that we've spent another £32.20 since the big shop at the beginning of the month, so I have £7.53 left for bits and pieces this week. I'm pretty sure I'll come in on budget this month.

Hubby well impressed

MadamMim2013

Been doing really well with the budget, get the odd moment or two where my enthusiasm lacks but 10 or 15 mins on here soon puts me back on track!
Thanks for all the tips it's good to get others input.

Reverbe

Was doing really well til I went to Wholefoods yesterday to volunteer and spent £12.20 on goodies but they were things I couldn't get anywhere else and I got away with managing to resist a whole heap more. It is prob only gonna be a one off in my life so not so bad after all.Was hoping to keep it well under £30 or so the whole month and cos of all the NSD's with the weather was on track to do that too.

Hopefully won't spend much more this month. Tuesday and Wed will be too busy anyway.

princess_leia_3

I will declare at £215 for Feb

:j :j:j
As I have my first shop for March coming tonight which about £100
I will stick to £250 target please for March even tho its getting really tough and this is the first month I have been close as I overspent alot in Jan ond had big stocks!

PurpleSkies

Did another big shop at the weekend (last of the month) & it came in at over £20 (a few extras worked their way into the trolly) so think i may have gone over but only by a few pennies I hope! Must find the receipt from my other shop to check!

FairyElephant_2

I am going to declare Feb at £143.23.....£6.77 under.

Actually, I am 'cheating' a little bit, as I had a lot of trouble with ASDA home delivery (very long story - lots of stress and only 3 days late in the end FGS :eek: ), which meant that they gave me the delivery free in the end! If I counted this, I would have been about £30 over I reckon, but as it is, I have stocked up the freezer & cupboards a bit and so hopefully next month's bill will be less than intended - thanks Mr ASDA, but I'd really rather have not had the hassle and had the stuff when I was supposed to!

kezlou

Well hopefully did my last supermarket shop of the week. Ran out of cheese, ham and coffee, also spotted 2 x pitta breads reduced to 19p and a pack of buns for 25p, so grabbed them.
Went to Boots and spent money on a new toothbrush for OH and two bottles of mouth wash.
Wilkos = two boxes of cat biscuits for a quid.

hopefully the above will last last us till the end of week. Will declare on Saturday my final total. Just did a stock check of the freezer, bottom section is full of meat. Middle various veg and other meat. Top half veg and a pack of frozen cod fillets and two bags of breadcrumbs and a loaf of bread.Cupboards got plenty of dried pulses in so planning on NOT buying anything next month if possible, only topping up with fresh veg etc

Just need to buy milk and eggs and then i'm done.

GreenandThrifty

Was determined to have a NSD today but caved in at college and bought a hot choccie and cake £1.90 What do people do with buys like this, should I deduct it from my total or see it as an extra from 'other' funds and ignore it??? Need to write a last shopping list for thurs then that'll be me for the month.

Boodle

Have just updated my signature: I have the shop order in for £26.26, and this should well do us until 3 March. I am not too disappointed to be only about 15 quid over, but I think I prefer to shop instore as planning the week's meals from tuesday just doesn't sit right - I like to my week to run fri/sat-fri/sat. This experiment was really to see if the low £3.50 delivery charge was worth it for money saved by not shopping instore, but we have actually realised they have a £25 minimum delivery order so I found myself having to bump up the shop to qualify! So I think we might just make the trip to Asda next week after all

I won't declare my budget until the month is over (just in case) but can't see we will need to spend much if anything between now and then. Not on groceries anyway