May 2010 Grocery Challenge

skilly

morning all,ended up going to mr t shopping spent £43.85.

greent

rosieben wrote: »

I happened past our butcher where wednesday is home made pies and pasties day so, ermm, ... I bought some! I don't often catch them when they're freshly cooked, that's my excuse I had one for my lunch and put the rest of them in the freezer - yes, in the freezer that I'm supposed to be emptying to defrost!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: - nothing else to be said!

4kids4cats wrote: »

. Even if I am still finding it hard, at least I now know where my money has been going!:)

I think that's one of the most valuable things to learn :T

pammyj74 wrote: »

Thought I was doing well then had to get a few bits and bobs. Total at the moment is £82.40/£120 with 11 days left/
Should be able to make it I hope

Pammy, I'm sure you can - good luck!

greent

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi all,

Well I learn something new everyday on here! I had no idea there was a NSD thread.


There is a thread on here which also operates monthly and can be found here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2439509 for this month. I did a full 'stocktake' when I joined in February and was so embarrassed that I haven't been on there much after I listed all of it! The shame and putting it in my siggie has so far been enough to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Neither did I...... and I feel that I may need to join the toiletries challenge thread.....

Lindy_-_Loo wrote: »

Spent £2.00 on milk and bread today - first month doing the challenge and surprised at how much we spend and we buy alot of value and own brand!

Scary, isn't it?

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Oh dear should I just give up now? I have added up my receipts and I am so far over target, plus I am now really skint! I don't quite know what happened either. I went to Morrisons to buy some tuna & ended up buying a load of other things. I also went to Sainsburys to use my £4 off £40 voucher. Although I have stocked up on things like tuna & margarine, some of it was just things that I needed for the rest of the month or things to take to my sister's on Saturday. So although I could argue that some of the things I bought could be put off being included in this month's spends & instead add them on to next month's, a lot of it wasn't, so I am just going to include it all this month. I think I need to have a serious look at exactly what I am buying & I definitely need to find the time & inclination to do some meal planning. I am certainly not getting any better at this challnge and indeed I am even fairing worse!

LTSally, as others have said, don't give up. How many are you buying for and what does your budget cover? does it need revising? (can it be?) I know the budget's similar to mine, but can't remember the rest. Your problem possibly seems to be the 'popping in for 1 or 2 things and coming out with 1 or 2 bags' syndrome? - perhaps work on NSDs?

Certainly don't give up, not even recording spends for this month.

BlimusOreilly

Weekly shop yesterday - spent £15.00 at I**land and £13.41 at Mr M's.
I think I should be well under for this month as I am using things up in preparation for our camping tour in a couple of weeks.

Moniker

Sorry I have been MIA this month. Came back from holiday ill and then my computer went bust. We had to buy a new cpu (£299) and it has taken ages for DH to transfer all the old programs as new pc had different operating system. However, we are now back on track and I have all the financial info at my finger tips once again!

I think though that it is too late to set a challenge for May so I will bow out till 1st June and catch up with you all then. I will still be able to post a total for May as I have all my receipts. Meanwhile, good luck everyone for the rest of the month.

Moniker

FelineFantastic

Morning All!

Had a NSD yesterday and am hoping for one today but.... we are about to go out to a meeting and there is a new Morrisons nearby :eek: Will temptation be toooooo strong??! :rotfl:i think we all know the answer!

Anway if I get stuff I know we need it will be less for me to get tomorrow which is official shop day.

Hmmmm! Off to update sig and find some will power!

cookiemum

Grrrr - going to be a close one for me. Popped into Lidl for fruit and veg and spent £19.80! Can't resist all of the nice cheese and cold meats. Then went to Asda for Toilet rolls and spent another £17.03!

I need to carry out a strict meal plan for the next week - pay day 27th. I will look to keep a tally of NSD next month because it is the little shops, like Long Tall Sally, which are my downfall. Oh well at least the sun is shining.:)

Spiggle

Hi all,

Popping in now as a late evening in work today and probably won't get on later.

Long Tall Sally please don't give up. I echo the comments already made and especially that you're probably spending less than you used to its just the challenge is working in making you aware of your spends. We don't meal plan as such but do stick to lists as much as possible and avoid shops whenever we can. I know how upset I was last week when I felt I'd let us down by the amount I'd spent and now I can look at it dispassionately, I realise that one of the underlying resons for my anger and disppointment was because I didn't need to buy the household essentials but got persuaded and tempted into it by the money off voucher. Is that one of the things happening to you for instance with the MrS £4 off £40 spend? I know I'll be thinking long and hard next time I get a supposed 'offer'! The only other question I'd suggest you consider is whether your budget right for you?

Please don't despair and keep going, it's a challenge and we can't all succeed all the time otherwise we wouldn't be here and as pipersky says we wouldn't learn from our mistakes. Keep recording your spends, keep posting (we're here to support you not criticise) and you will get there.

4kids4cats I totally agree with you, seeing where the money goes is a good part of the battle won. Either we amend to allow for what we spend or we make adjustments to how we spend to overcome expense we don't want or need.

Good luck pammyj74 and everyone else for the rest of the month.

WOW!!!, congratulations tessiebear :T:T:T fantastic result with a whole no spend week. That's truly inspirational and I hope one day I can achieve that!

Have a great day all and speak to you tomorrow.

Take care,
Spigs

kirstygem

Quite pleased with how this month is going as still got about £75 left for 8 days as DH wages go in a week on Friday. Quite lot food in the house so shouldn't need too much, might just mean some "random" meals and combinations. Really want to get my freezer epmtied out and do a big batch cook at start of next month. DD is 4 next week so having a big family BBQ but have got the money already set aside seperately for that.

£215.48/£300

Allegra

*Slinks shamefacedly back in after looking at the first page and realising her name is still on the list even though she went awol for the last couple of months* Sorry guys, I got too carried away testing out the mealplan to feed a family of 4 for £100 a month to remember about the GC

So, as I'm really not sure where my grocery budget is at at the moment - it was £250, spends down to £90 during the mealplan testing, and now I am running a storecupboard challenge to clear the freezer and the cupboards, so no idea where that'll get me - would you mind removing me from the list for the time being ? Ta (And in case you wonder about the plan that got my spends down, you can find it here )