April Grocery Challenge 2006

frosty

I am going to keep my budget at £200.00,this is for 5 adults,2 dogs and the cat,it also includes all cleaning stuff,loo rolls,washing powder ect.

brokenwings

wow frosty,
i think 200 for five adults is very impressive.
dont suppose you fancy starting a thread with your meal plan or how you manage it do you?

Essex-girl_2

Im in again this month.

Came in under last month so budget this month will be £280 for 2 adults 2 x kids 1 dog & 1 cat. Am gonna change the way I do my accounts normally I just pay myself a set amount weekly then that pays 4 everything, grocerys, petrol kids clubs etc. Now am gonna allocate some of this to my grocery account, most will be in my bank for when I do the online shops but a small amount will be taken out to cover veg/fruit from market, milk and bread etc.

This is so when I come in under budget (fingers crossed) I really have got something to show for it rather than it being swallowed up into something else.

Menu planning is still going well, as well as saving me money its lovely not having that mad half hour at 5pm each day looking for something for dinner.

So here goes............

mcoletta

I am starting this month as well, I get paid every two weeks so my next payment is April 7th I am aiming for £20 for two weeks and I do think this is possible just look at Skintchick for example £18 in three weeks! Thats impressive! Good luck all!

Linda32

Caterina wrote:

I really need to try but I don't really know how much I spend per month as I buy so much stuff in bulk, which lasts for months - for example I still have some 50 packs of pasta, which will prob. go in the next 3 months, but a 5kg pack of risotto rice which will last 6 months. Same with olive oil, grains, laundry liquid etc.

I suspect that if I decided not to buy organic/environmentally sensitive stuff my budget would go down quite a lot, but I would feel really uncomfortable buying commercial stuff that I know to be damaging for the environment (and for my family's health too).

Suggestions gratefully received

Thanks

Caterina

Hi, Obviously its up to you regarding environmetal sensitve products. But in regard to your first query.

What I've done is list the items invidvidully, for example Fruit and Veg, Dinner, Packed Lunches - in my case then eventually over the coming months you can see how much the various items have come to and devide the amount over however many month.

Hope that dosn't sound too complicated.

Also for me I eat loads of Mayo, dip, butter sustitue, (don't have milk, so no butter), Sauce on side of plate.
In Makro this month they've got 2 litres for £4.00 which will save me some money.

Linda32

chelltune wrote:

Can I just ask a question? What do you include in your budget? Just your food or are toileteries/nappies etc included too?

Its up to you, I guess it could be a challenge in itself to search out BOGOF's in those departments too.

Burlesque_Babe

chelltune wrote:

Can I just ask a question? What do you include in your budget? Just your food or are toileteries/nappies etc included too?

Anything I would buy from the supermarket/shops - food, toiletries, cleaning products.

Shez

Right I'm gonna start this month, dont really have a budget set yet, but what I will do is start keeping a record of everything to see how much I spend!!! as I think its beginning to get out of hand so hopefully this will give me incentive to keep on track!!!

Shez

Do most people just jot down their bill totals? or do you list everything out on spread sheets?

mcoletta

I always have a problem keeping hold of money when I see it in my bank, for some reason I think it just can be spent but really it can't and at the end of peroid of pay, I am thinking and feeling rather crap at the amount I have spent when there are other things I need to buy that are much more important. :sad:

Somy method is simple, open a new bank account and transfer the money you want to save into this acocunt and then shred the bank card. This helps me a lot as I cannot be bothored waiting in the bank to get the money out. I know I can transfer the money back but this takes time. It may not be be the best method but it works for me and I have noticed that my spending has decreased a lot. Good luck to anyone who trys this.