December 2009 Grocery Challenge

Flat_Eric

winterfrost wrote: »

Hello!

Only spent £1 today on some dry catfood so not bad at all.

I was just wondering, how do you factor in bulk-buying things on special into your budget? For example, today I noticed that my shampoo and conditioner were on half price so bought 3 bottles of each, even though I don't need any yet, and yesterday I bought 4 boxes of Whiskas instead of 1. Altogether this means I spent £14 that I wouldn't otherwise have done, but still have saved in the long run... Should I allow myself an extra £14 on this week's budget, or try to squeeze everything else down?

With the cat food, I would include it in your food budget. if you have stocked up then you might not need to buy any next money thus there will be a saving on next month's budget. with your shampoo etc, I would be inclined to exclude this from your food budget ?
but do what works best for you. There are going to be some months where you might "stock up" on various things and thus spend close to or over your budget. other months you might come in under budget because you are well stocked (iyswim). it makes sense to buy stuff thats on offer if its something you use anyway as over the long run you will be saving the pennies

x_raphael_xx

Sent the wife into town today to get a few essentials, tea bags & bread mainly
She also found some woopsied lamb steaks & turkey breast amongst other things so £5.88 spent today.

Total now stands at £33.52/£70.00

poppy-glos

just back from mr t,
stuck to shopping list and things on offer that i'll defo use.
by price comparing the loose mushrooms were cheaper than even the value punnet so bought those this time.
found the suet in mr t was 65 even though 88 at tesco on mysupermarket, so a few more pennies saved, so same price in my tesco as it is in asda..

helen_jelly

Evening everyone
I'll update the budgets in a mo.

Welcome and Hi to Fabforty - nice to see you here, please feel free to ask any questions you may have as there are lots of nice people on here who will help out and don't forget to check out the recipes on page 1 posted by the wonderful Rosieben, happy no shopping.

I'm also going to update my spends so far this month, we bought our Duck for Xmas from MrS today as they are half price

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend, we have, we're in the middle of decorating, been to Church, been to the school Fete, Shopping and a bit more decorating, DH is busy stripping paper as I write, he's gonna fill the holes, sand the walls and then its my turn to make it look nice

See you all tomorrow

Helen x

Long_tall_sally

Another £6.99 onto my spends today from bits at the Co-Op plus I realised when I got home I had forgotten to get any veg! So that brings my total to date to £183.27 which is way too much I think if I am to achieve my target for this month of £450 so apart from veg, I am gonna have to be very careful this week. Note to myself - focus, you silly woman, focus!

pammyj74

Went to Morrisons today late on purposse to catch any whoopsies but think i left it too late so will have to time it better next time!
Spent £20.22 BUT £2 of that was heroes half price as pressie so not including that in my budget
so £18.23 today for me, havent bought any meat, as have batch cooking left from last week still for this week.
Need to get some milk but getting that from tesco tomorrow as they have 3 litres for £1.25 and I can get that when I go past it tomorrow

JayJay14

Back from a tour of the shops with DD2 - spent £10.78 from GC money, so not too bad.

The only trouble is I now really realise that I am so not ready for Christmas:eek:

I have no wrapping paper and very few pressies to wrap if I have. The more I think about it the more down I feel and OH is no use whatsoever, he thinks the 'bah humbug' routine is amusing but it just makes me want to sit down and blub. I think after years of planning and excecution of the festive stuff I have finally hit meltown.

I am hoping this is just one of those things and that in a day or so I'll be back on track, in the mean time I suppose I will have to think about what to have to eat tonight - I do have some leftover lasagne from yesterday so we will be properly frugal and eat that with jacket spuds.

Sorry about the moan - but just writing it down does make me feel better.

mark55man

jayjay i think we all feel like that. just remember it is OK to not do everything you might want to. especially if others in your household would be happy with less

other breaking news a NSD today (hurrah) but the kids pack ups might be a challenge in the morning - but will deal with that then

cw18

elizabunny wrote: »

She had developed 'Stuvite Crystals' (I think this is a bit like kidney stones) and the prescription food helps dissolve them. I have checked some places online for cheaper prices but I'm not having too much luck so far. Thanks for your advice though I will keep looking and hope something may turn up. X

I realise I'm late responding to this one, but playing catch-up from around post #120 this evening.

Had to put my Dalmatian on a special diet (following an operation to remove stones) in September.

My vets were quoting around £75/14kg bag (if I remember rightly), but I found it on the 'net for around £47 (after cashback) and with free delivery if I order 2 at a time (would need to use the car to collect from vet, so that's a further saving )

So his food bill is up from £10/month to £50/month :eek: In our case this is a lifetime change - and he's not 7 until March, so probably a good few years of having to find this extra...........

Kitchenbunny

Evening, everyone. Have had a lovely NSD today and a surprise meal out meant that what I had planned for tonight's tea is now carried over to tomorrow, and as a result I don't have to buy anything tomorrow - yay!

I have been adding items to my list though - I found the thread on here about homemade sweets, so I'm going to need a few more bits for Christmas presents. I'm not going to go shopping until Tuesday though - I'm not!

Have a good evening, everyone

Kitchenbunny xx