October 2009 Grocery Challenge

underthestairs

Rather a large spend today._pale_ Im having a few people round tonight so had to get a few bits which included a few bottles of drink. Have also meal planned for the next 2 weeks and a few things in the freezer which i'm hoping can keep us going.
1 nsd out of 4 (forgot to take lunch the last 2 days).
Total of £110 spent today, almost 3/4 of total budget. Hoping I can stay within for the next 27 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UTS.

XSpender

NSD for me yesterday and should only need 6 tins of dog food today. DH has said he is happy to eat the bit of fruit in the bowl and there is plenty of tinned fruit in the groaning cupbards to supplement this if needed until the Mr T delivery arrives on Tuesday lunchtime.

Have joined the store cupboard challenge with a view to using up the huge amount of stores of tins and stuff I have to enable us to save quite a bit for baby stuff over the next couple of months.

Botany

This was a three-and-a bit weeks' challenge for me, with an overall budget of £225. I did my last challenge-shop yesterday in MrW which came up to £ 28.81 (a trolley-full of wonderful woopsies, including some amazingly creamy French cheese which was 7.95 full price and was down to 25 pence!!!).

Anyway...


I declare £215.06 for October (£9.94 under budget :j !!!)

The next 4 weeks or so will be very hectic for me so I won't declare a budget for November as I know I will not be able to even try and follow the rules... indeed I may not even have the chance to spend time reading and posting here. We'll see. In any case, I will most certainly resume the challenge in December - I'm enjoying the GC too much to let it go!!!

Big hugs all around :T

millienjacksmummy

Just done my last shops for this month lidl £42.79, local shop last night for milk and bread and cheese - half price goats cheese (£3.53) and morrisons (chillis, cocoa, baking powder & cornflour £3.73. got to get some mince from butcher so have estimated £4 so thats it for this month and come in at £401/£400 might even be on budget if the mince costs less ! so am really pleased with that and still have lots in freezer and storecupboard even though have used up loads I am much more aware what I have and what meals to make and done alot more baking!!

Will go for same amount for November £400

Sam

newlywed

I've been missing for October, please can I join for November at £370 (hoping for £350 but never seem to make anywhere near).

My plan this month is to shop from week to week (rather than stocking up and blowing the budget). That's the plan anyway :rolleyes:

chewy62

Still keeping it together, only £60 until next Thursday, but think I can make it! Does anyone have a separate budget for things like wine!?, magazines, clothes, trips out etc.? I think this is where more of my money seems to be dissappearing, so could do with keeping a better eye on this!
Think I might need to change my budget to weekly from next Thursday as it ties in better with my tax credit etc, as it is paid weekly.
How is everyone else doing?

kezlou

Hi all, well ended up running out of stuff yet again, darn people turning up lol :rolleyes:

Went to the job interview but unfortunately didn't get the job as i didnt have NHS experience grrr ah well onwards and upwards.
So i printed some coupons for Mr's so got a Hovis 800g loaf and a litre of Just Milk for free:D :dance:but ended up buying a bottle of wine to drown my sorrows with .

Did a load of batch cooking, got 4 /5 medium bags of mince mix so theys at least 20 portions of meals in the freezer for us. As well as 12 HM fish cakes, 3 tubs of channa dhal and 5 bags of cooked kidney beans. So hopefully won't need to go shopping this weekend, here's hoping:rolleyes:.
Just soaked 500g of soya beans so tomorrow. will bag them up for the freezer. Determined to clean the cupboards up and actually see whats in there.

Well off to clean the kitchen , oh god i feel like losing the will to live, darn flu is getting to me now urghhh

little_miss_moneysaver_3

Hi All, another busy month so not keeping up to dayt on here. My total so far is £107.34/£140 Surprisingly good for me. Not really much else to get either this month. Might do a little stockpile if I see some good offers. Otherwise will be going into the sealed pot

cw18

chewy62 wrote: »

Still keeping it together, only £60 until next Thursday, but think I can make it! Does anyone have a separate budget for things like wine!?, magazines, clothes, trips out etc.?

I don't include any of those in my GC figures..... and have separate budgets for most things. Clothes, magazines and trips out all get clumped together in my 'anything else' category though

Wine/booze has no budget at all, as quite happy to not drink any (the only booze bought would be as a present, so would come from that budget)


My individual budgets are as follows

Those I have little or no control over

Council Tax
Central Heating Breakdown Cover
Buildings/Contents Insurance
Mobile Phone (on a very low priced contract, which is only a few £s a year more than I'd have anticipated spending on PAYG - but can be used much more freely)
TV Licence
Endowment
Window Cleaning
Dogs (split into Vets and Food/Everything Else)
Car Expenses (Insurance; MOT; Road Tax; Servicing; Breakdown Cover)

Those I monitor useage of to keep as low as possible, but can't shop around for on a daily basis

Water
Gas/Electricity
Phone & Broadband


And those I keep a careful eye on, and watch for bargains to keep actual spends as low as possible

Presents
Car Expenses (Petrol)
Groceries
Toiletries & Cleaning Products
'Everything Else'

nmlc

Afternoon all

Would like to DECLARE FOR OCTOBER AT £346.86/£350 YIPEE I SPENT LESS THAN THE BUDGET FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!! WOULD LIKE TO GO FOR £350 BUDGET AGAIN FOR NOVEMBER PLEASE.
How pleased am I? Actually managed to come in under budget that's taken months to achieve but know that I'm spending so much less than before GC. For anyone that's interested MrA's seem to be having a special weekend deal, last week it was Rump Steak this week it's whole chickens for £2 each (don't think they will be happy chickens at that price though). Spent £86.95 today but did stock up on some meats for the freezer so more than I wanted to spend in the first week but have plenty of meat in the freezer and have a loaf in the BM now, will make pizza dough for HM ham and mushroom pizza for lunch for the kids tomorrow. Need to give the meal plan some thought this afternoon with the children on half term and me on leave for 2 weeks it could go pear-shaped! Have been to the scales again today and have lost another 1lb so total lost now is 2 stone, I'm so pleased, still a long way to go but getting there!
Keep safe and well everyone, have a good weekend, hugs to those that need them.
nmlc