September 06 Grocery Challenge

Littlemiss-lotsofdebt

I've blown the budget so far by £20.00 but I am not stressing at all. I've had a bad week and I'll get back on track - good luck everyone else xxx

BusyGirl

Well I spent £3.90 on lolly/choc ices today...I know that's a bit extravagant, but it was a treat for my 5 year old as she learnt how to ride her bike today without her stabilisers and I was so proud of her.
Sometimes it has to be done!

Shortie

Can I make a confession??

I'm not actually doign a week by week tally of my spends, and as long as my shopping account isn't in the buffer, I'm happy - am I defeating the object of this? Mind you, it's doing me MASSIVE favours as I can feel we're saving money on shopping, and oddly enough.... my own money too Guess it's because I'm more aware of my spendings...

Rubber chicken tonight. 2 for £5 from the local butchers. Fed 3 adults for a roast, and meat left for 4 freezer portions - either for stir fry, curry or pasta bake each. I'm also boiling the bones and gristle away as we speak for a soup, to later add the last of my garden veg's (carrot, spring onion, onion, potatoes and runner beans)

I LOVE MSE AND EVERYONE ON THIS FORUM. THANKS FOR HELPING ME SEE HOW TO CHANGE MY SPENDING HABITS :smileyhea :smileyhea :smileyhea :happyhear :happyhear :happyhear

Okay.... unusual emotional love outburst over... sorry guys. **Runs and hides under the stairs** Can you tell I've been drinking too much homemade wine?

x_raphael_xx

kiwi88 wrote:

Well I told dh about our amazing saving and all he could say was " Well we budgeted for £70 and we've overspent already " :mad: I informed him again of the £200 pounds saving we should have by the end of the month and got almost the same reply :wall:

In future I will not inform him of what we are doing I/we cannot afford to let this slide hopefully he will see the difference in the morgage statement

By the way we will have spent £320. Divide that by 4 weeks and what is the weekly total £80 Why can he not be happy with that? Oh I know because it's over the £70 :mad:

Sorry for the rant but I'm really trying to save us money and it's frustrating not to have the backup. Thank heavens for this list and the support from all you wonderful people :T :T

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Thats why I'm happily single! :rotfl:

Also as my Granma is getting a new freezer, I'm getting her old one, (early xmas pressy!) so I'll prob go over this week, and try and stock it up.

cheletastic

Just been to Tesco's and only spent £20.32:j

Quite glad that I stocked up on so many bargains the last few weeks which meant I didn't have to buy half as much this week.:D

My monthly total is now £169.29 leaving me with £30.71 until the 23rd September:eek:

Think I'll just keep in my budget which'll be good. Hopefully be able to reduce it a bit more next month!!:rolleyes:

BusyGirl

If you have one then you must visit your nearest Home Bargains shop. Avoid the very cheap gifts etc if you don't want to blow your budget and go straight to the food sections.

Cadburys choc bars for 12p, biscuits for less than 20p, tins of Homepride tom/pasta sauce (will do for a meal just add pasta etc) for 19p.

Also in Aldi today a huge punnet of red grapes, half price at 49p and a bag of 10 apples, again half price at 49p!

Just try to stay in budget (unlike me).:eek:

Nix143

Well it's week 2 for me and so far so good

I did my meal planner for a fortnight (should have been a month but never mind) and then did my monthly shop from Asda - spent HALF of what I would normally by
1. Resisting temptation - I stood for 10 minutes!!!!! in the booze aisle debating whether I really wanted a couple of cans of beer as a 'treat' for all the hard work i had done at the weekend. It was SO hard but I walked away - and am glad. From someone who used to have a drink EVERY NIGHT my biggest saving is bound to come from all the alcohol money not spent. plus it has to do me good, doesn't it?
2. Buying Asda's own brands - oh this one was hard. I am a label queen. To put those white labels in my trolley felt.............I don't know. To unpack them and see my cupboards full of white labels feels even weirder. But I am geting used to it. Certain things tho I just didn't want to economise on, not yet anyway.
3. Buying different cuts of meat - no more lean steak mince for me - I actually bought a bag of frozen mince!!! Really ambivalent about this one - on some levels it feels like a false economy. But the diced turkey thigh made a great curry.

All in all I halved my shopping cost and this is still with buying bikini wax strips that cost £5!!!!!!

You know I never used to take any ntice of what things cost - like so many of us I'd throw in the basket and pay, I am SO aware now, every penny counts.


Then went to Costco yesterday - hence the huge total for this week . I bought 4 things but each and every one of them was a justifiable bargain in Nixyland!
- 12 boxes of Tampax which ended up costing around 70p a pack!!!!!
- A big wodge of Parmesan cheese - one of my essentials! - that is now cut into 8 pieces and sat wrapped in the freezer and should last me for months and months
- A huge 120 wash box of Bold 2in1 - now there is only me and the Nipper and I figure this should last us an absolute age, in fact I've marked down on the calendar my date of purchase and I am gonna see how long it lasts me
- John West tuna - 30 tins, worked out 30p a tin - my nipper eats this stuff for England and I figured that as this is one thing I KNOW will always be in my shopping basket every month.

What I found with Costco was that although there were some things that did work out cheaper simply having them in the house would have meant I used them more than I would have done nortmally so I really restricted myself to things I knew were my 'essentials'

It was hard to budget that 40quid but I am glad I did as these are things I would buy regularly and hopefully buying them now will mean a reduction in shopping bills in the future.

Anyway even with this in the total I am determined to not go over my budget. Got homemade soup defrosting in the works fridge as we speak and a freezer full of soup and curry at home, I can see where all my meals for this month are going to come from and I know I only need bits and pieces. I have started shopping list for next month and am resisting going to buy ANY of the things I don't vitally need now.

It is hard to retrain the habits of a lifetime but I can and will do it - thanks in large part to all you guys, thank you. At a time when i should be crumbling into despair (as my overall financial situation is getting worse and worse) this place gives me a modicum of control and a way forward. You've all helped me so much xxxxx

morganlefay

Sorry if I say something stupid - this is the first time I've done this and it's surprisingly nervewracking isn't it ? I now always get my groceries delivered because I am a jackdaw in supermarkets, can't stick to a list and get carried away by nice packaging or vague plans to make a scrummy cake using that magic (and expensive) ingredient shouting at me from the shelf. But if I order it online and have it arrive in a van (I work from home so it's easy) I save as much as £30 weekly even if there is a delivery charge. I don't think Im kidding myself as I've done the sums, but does anyone else find this ? I feel I 'should' be out there in Tesco or Asda trawling for cheaper prices, but if I do that I come home with magazines or T shirts or whatever they want to persuade me to buy. So I think home delivery is the way forward for people with not enough will power. Any thoughts ?

earthmother

I can actually be worse with home delivery if I'm not careful, because all the offers are there on one page for me, so I'll pop something on the list that perhaps wasn't in the plan, because the offer looks too good to miss, whereas in the shop I may not even have gone down that aisle this week.

And then there's the fact that I'll perhaps buy 3 or 4 of something, where in a shop I'll only buy one, either to take advantage of said deal or to make the price up to one where I can use a voucher. I'll say I'm just buying in advance, but invariably the horde demolish it twice as fast instead, so I have to buy more.


I normally catch myself, and delete a chunk of the basket before checking out, but not always. At least I only shop online every other month as a rule - the budget couldn't take it otherwise, lol

Boatie_Bird

My month runs from 25th - 25th and I've now got £34.51 left out of my £200 budget. This is the first time I've attempted the challenge and I though £200 would be more than enough... who was I trying to kid?!

I am determined to stick to budget though so the last week of the month will see us eating loads of vege curries and meals made from the plentiful supply of dried pulses in the cupboard - the skinter we get, the healthier our meals get!

I know I should do meal plans, but I really like to buy what looks good/is in season/is in the reduced section and then decide what to do with it at a later date. I don't always need to do a main meal at night as sometimes DH has a decent meal at work during the day and my efforts would the be in vain. Only have the tiny freezer in the top of the fridge so if I cook too much it goes to waste. Could get DH to take lunch to work, but he keeps resisting. I suspect that this is because it's the only time he gets to eat unhealthy fried food. I shall keep badgering him!