May 2010 Grocery Challenge

dobs

rosieben wrote: »

Welcome dobs, newbies always welcome here. MrsMC will be along to add you to the front page list shortly

I had a small spend today of 2.60; I've ordered sausages from the butcher for tomorrow + I need veg and milk to see me through till my mrT delivery next week, so probably another £10 spend.

Good luck for the downhill stretch of the month, everyone

I like the new design, its useful to click on the blue arrow in the quoted bit and be taken to the quoted post iyswim was that always possible? didn't notice it before ....

Thanks rosieben, failed two years running on the clothes challenge so really want to succeed at this one!!

I didn't know about the arrrows bit, thought it was just decoration or something!:o:rotfl:Boy i'm dumb sometimes! Going to batch cook a load of mince today and add veg and freeze it, hubbys shifts change constantly so its easier to cook and freeze the mince, then decide what to turn it into the day before when i know what he's working, ie chilli, lasagne etc. did make a load of fairy cakes yesterday but half of them have already gone - unfortunately can't blame it on my 3 boys as i was v peckish last night!! Looks like i'll be making some more then!

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Mrs_Toast

Morning everyone,

Just came to update my signature as I went to Mr S yesterday. I did really well and only bought one thing that wasn't on my list, 2 ring doughnuts for 20p. I did deserve them though as I've only got 1 pound to get to my WW goal :j.

I spent 25.89 in Mr S and am going into town today to get the rest of the stuff. I was good yesterday and did my shop on My Supermarket and printed off the list. I now have a comparison list to take round the shops with me.

Hope everyone has a lovely day.:o

Spiggle

Thank you all for your thoughts and best wishes. :A :T But ...

... After all the stress and sitting around the hospital for hours, seeing the anaesthetist, getting all the checks done, OH saw the surgeon who promptly told him that if he'd seen him today (yesterday) he wouldn't have referred him for surgery! :eek::T His knee was crocked when he saw the specialist in November last year but the surgeon reckons its healed on its own. So he offered the option of not having his knee opened and therefore not having a GA and after a few minutes thought we left the hospital with knee and OH intact! We both really appreciate the very kind thoughts and hugs from you.

So he's gone to work and I'm off to mine shortly but as I thought I'd be off today to do it I had a stack of washing and needed to do a load before I go in. Just waiting for the machine to finish.

Hoping for another NSD today but won't note that until this evening if we make it.

Billie-Jo what a fantastic achievement! :T:T:T IMHO you shouldn't be too severe in dropping your budget, perhaps £260-270? I've been dropping mine by £20 each month and as you may have seen this month it's been a struggle, only Friday will tell how much of a struggle! You could of course average your spends over the last couple of months and use that as a target but don't put too much pressure on as you have to be able to live.

By the way, I completely agree with your suggestion that the supermarkets mind control us. I swear I will not get duped again into buying a load of stuff now just because if I spend a certain amount I'll get something off. The important part of the equation is that they are persuading us to spend even when we don't need to because they blind us with the saving. But if we didn't need the things in the first place then we've saved nothing but spent exactly or more than they wanted us to. I think that's a really important realisation for me as it is without doubt the reason why I got very stressed and that my budget seems so very very tight this month. Oh well, we live and learn.

Right off to hang the washing out and get to work for a few hours. GD has musical extravaganza in school tonight so will try to pop on later this evening.

Take care all and have a great day,
Spigs

EDIT: I forgot to say welcome to Dobs too!:hello:

wssla00

Hey all new month so for June.... put me down for £200

I have spent £30 on meat and £50 in Asda on the dry goods. Will need to spend another £20 on cleaning things and a tenner on salad and that should be me for the month in theory....!

Have a good day all

kayjay1809

Well we tried this month, we really did, and we went 'less overdrawn' than usual as we started from more than £800 o/d and are now £600 o/d so that's good :T

However our grocery shopping didn't do so well. I tried hard to spend less but have just gone through and added up all our spends, no matter how minor, and we spent a scary grand total of £523.82 rather than the £300 we think we spend :eek: We need to do better, with one income to cover everything, we have to cut back. We made a good start I think by realising how much we overspend and now need to start spending less but need to do much, much more. Any advice welcomed! Our family is two adults, one ten year old son who eats as much as we do, and two rabbits. We don't live extravagantly, we eat sensibly (too much though) and think we buy only what we need. Hmmm... I think we need to look at what we think we need ....

Anyway please put us down for £300 again for June, as that is all we have in our income for food (hence us being overdrawn all the time) and we will see if we can do better, thanks

Mrs_Toast

Just another quick update to keep me motivated lol:o I'm a bit over target as I didn't go to Mr S for some of the remaining items and bought them in town instead.

I do however have enough money to last me until next Monday as long as DH only gets shower gel and toilet roll tonight for me fingers crossed.

meanmarie

Bought a loaf to-day so that's another €1.99 to add, so am now at €211.98, really need to sort myself out. Will not declare yet, while I think that I should make it to Saturday, not sure.

Marie

Spiggle

kayjay1809 wrote: »

Well we tried this month, we really did, and we went 'less overdrawn' than usual as we started from more than £800 o/d and are now £600 o/d so that's good :T

However our grocery shopping didn't do so well. I tried hard to spend less but have just gone through and added up all our spends, no matter how minor, and we spent a scary grand total of £523.82 rather than the £300 we think we spend :eek: We need to do better, with one income to cover everything, we have to cut back. We made a good start I think by realising how much we overspend and now need to start spending less but need to do much, much more. Any advice welcomed! Our family is two adults, one ten year old son who eats as much as we do, and two rabbits. We don't live extravagantly, we eat sensibly (too much though) and think we buy only what we need. Hmmm... I think we need to look at what we think we need ....

Anyway please put us down for £300 again for June, as that is all we have in our income for food (hence us being overdrawn all the time) and we will see if we can do better, thanks

Hi kayjay,

Have you tried making things yourself like bread, cakes, snacks, etc.? With a hungry ten year old they can become very expensive when shop bought. We noticed a difference straight away when we bought our bread maker in Jan/Feb and started making our own. We find the cost of bread to be completely out of proportion these days.

What about no spend days (NSDs)? How about setting yourself a target for these each month if you haven't already done so? Lots of us on here are guilty of going into a shop for one or two things and coming out with ten or twenty!

Do you go looking for whoopsies (if you have the time)? Do you meal plan (not something we do) as it seems to really help many on the site?

Do you do what I did earlier in the month and spend a certain amount just so you can 'save' some money off? This would fit with your reassessment of what you need.

Hope those help, off to see GD1 in her concert now.

Take care all,
Spigs

kayjay1809

Thanks Spigs, yes we do most of the above. My husband is great at finding whoopsies and I try to meal plan and buy accordingly. Looking at what we have spent, our 'weekly shops' are fine, but it's the popping in and out spending £8 here and £6 there that has done the main damage which ironically is my husband during the week - ironic as he's the one constantly nagging about the food budget! So I'm going to show him exactly what the money is going on and let's see if we can do better. Thanks for your comments, enjoy your concert

dobs

Thanks for the welcome Spiggle, good news about your hubby. Hope you enjoy your show tonight.