September 2010 Grocery Challenge

Long_tall_sally

Arhh, thanks Spiggle, Greent & Hippeechiq - I don't feel such a failure now & yes you are right it is actually the closest I have been to target for quite a while! Onwards & upwards & all that! We had shepherds pie tonight & used mince that I had bought at Aldi that was only £3 for 1kg but it wasn't the extra lean stuff that I normally buy which is dearer. OH & I could actually tell the difference & didn't think it was as nice but the kids never noticed & my two actually both had second helpings so not sure what to choose in the future. Still have some left, probably cos one of OH's son didn't actually come for dinner as he had been invited to tea at a friend's. Didn't really matter too much tonight but sometimes I wish he would give us more notice if he is not coming!

Doom_and_Gloom

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

So because of that we are going to be having the very low but needed budget of £30 for the month for both of us and 2 chinchillas. Month goes from the 1st to the 30th... All in all we should be okay - famous last words I know!

Well we have spent £35.52 which is £5.52 over the £30 budget we set for this month . This did include a load of yogurts, cough syrup and paracetamol for my partner as he's been feeling ill but still needs to go to work - that lot alone cost £7.40 :eek:. However as we usually spend £115/month I still think we did good - less than 1/3rd of our usual monthly spend so I'm looking at this as a saving of £79.48 :cool: (that saving went towards my partners bike insurance).
There is no need for us to go shopping again this month. We are going to keep this low spend up as we have a lot in even now.

Long_tall_sally

Well done Doom & Gloom!

Spiggle - - meant to say sorry to hear that neither you or your hubby are feeling good. Hope you both get better soon.

Doom_and_Gloom

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Well done Doom & Gloom!

Spiggle - - meant to say sorry to hear that neither you or your hubby are feeling good. Hope you both get better soon.

I've noticed a lot of people are ill/getting ill at the moment. Both my parents are ill, my parter and I are ill, a lot of my partners work mates are ill also! It's strange that so many people are getting ill with the same or even different things at the moment.

cheerfulness4

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Well we have spent £35.52 which is £5.52 over the £30 budget we set for this month . This did include a load of yogurts, cough syrup and paracetamol for my partner as he's been feeling ill but still needs to go to work - that lot alone cost £7.40 :eek:. However as we usually spend £115/month I still think we did good - less than 1/3rd of our usual monthly spend so I'm looking at this as a saving of £79.48 :cool: (that saving went towards my partners bike insurance).
There is no need for us to go shopping again this month. We are going to keep this low spend up as we have a lot in even now.

Really well done! Such a good example, too.

We've done our final shop and I'm declaring £152.51 for September.
A little overspend of £2.51 but remembered we hadn't stocked the loo roll and saw a few fantastic bargains to make life liveable incl...

Bagels 5pk @ 20p
Mushrooms @ 15p
Branston pickle pork pies 4 pk @ 50p :drool:

Breakfast bagels and pork pie salads will cheer DH next week.


A very quick flick through my receipts have instantly shown where I've wasted money a few times this month so I'm lowering the amount to £140.00 for October please.
(and its a 5 week month for us :eek: )

katholicos

Spent £19 on groceries online today and nipped to ASda this evening after dropping DD and her mates off at the pub...ought a big block of cheese for £3, some yellow stickered ham .35p and some yellow stickered Extra Special bloomer bread for .42p. Will update siggy in a min. Well done to all on their grocery shopping this month.

MRS. M. Please can you put me down for £110 for October. Thanks so much!

notjustlaura

This month has been rather disastrous. I've had a health scare (turns out to be nowhere near as bad as I feared) and have been shopping, shopping, shopping. And this after doing some bulk shopping right at the start of the month which should have meant being careful for a couple of weeks ... I don't actually know how much I've spent but the number on my sig is the best guess I can come up with. It does not include the books and magazines and clothes and ... you get the picture.

But onwards and upwards.

Well done for getting so much cooked, kezlou - I'm most impressed!

Laura

~moneysavingnovice~

Well I'm declaring £353 for sept which is a whopping £73 over budget

Still, I know it is less than it would have been were I not posting on this thread.

It included around £100 of alcohol/entertaining stuff (so many birthdays...) which next month I'm splitting out of the GC and reducing my target.

I think I'll also try online shops next months, as I did have a few impulse buys (mainly OHs fault!) anyone know if Mr S often has codes for free delivery? That's the only bit about online shopping that annoys me, cos our Mr S is about a mile away so wouldn't be made up by savings in petrol.

Good luck to those still going in Sept. Will see you when I'm coming in under budget in Oct!!!

nmlc

Evening all

Have been MIA for ages now need to get back on the GC challenge, PLEASE PUT ME DOWN FOR £375.00 GOT OCTOBER MRS M. Really lost the plot in the last few months, really need to get back on track. Have done first shop for October today and spent rather more than I wanted, but have quite alot in stock. Did shopping today at L**l and MrT, bought a nice piece of Topside for roasting, this weekend, think we may have that tomorrow evening. Also Quorn mince was on offer for £1 pack, so bought a couple, also bought couple of packs of beef to casserole, and a pack of pork loins, all in MrT for 3 for £10 offer, have lots in now, meats, fruit, veg etc so hoping not to need a big shop next week, this will help. Also am on a course on my 2 days off this next week, pack lunch needed so NSD - so that should help. Have today made 2 doz maid of honour, lemon curd tarts and a Weetabix cake - will make some more tomorrow but haven't decided what yet.

nmlcx

loulou0327

Feeling really down at the moment; I'm not quite sure how we are going to get through the next three or four months financially.
I should really be a happy bunny tonight as it's my youngest sons birthday sleepover. We explained to the children earlier in the year that we couldn't afford BIG birthdays this year and they took it really well considering they wanted paint balling and theme park birthdays, but we compromised on a sleep over each staying up late with music, DVD's, friends, cake and a bit of party food (minus the usual party bags,toys, etc).
My eldest's birthday went great and the youngest and his friends are doing really well too, considering all the sugar we have fed them.
But have looked through the 'to get rid of' cupboard today and it's looking very bare and Christmas is looming.
We had already calculated what we usually spend on Christmas and it totalled well over £1000 an decided to try and get it in at £600.
This narrowed it down to only immediate family spending £5 on each niece and nephew and £10 on each parent and £150 on each of our two children. (decided not to buy each other anything) £100 for food and alcohol budget for over Christmas and new year.
It's looking very unlikely to even manage this. I feel so guilty that I may have to rule even immediate family out of the budget as they do so much for us through the year I feel that it is only a tiny percentage of what they spend helping us in petrol, food etc...
With our kids who are 9 and 11 they get some weeks £1.50 each spending money which they haven't had for a while because we just cant afford it, other than that they really don't ask for anything. so we would feel really bad refusing them 1 big present a year.
Broke my heart last week when my son came home with 2 trips from his new secondary school one for £150 activity holiday and another ski'ing trip for £650 and he said it's O.K I know you can't afford it.

It really is not there fault that we can't afford it, but I feel that I'm letting them down so badly!
I usually take on an extra 1 or two casual jobs coming up to Christmas to get extra money but as I'm in full time college now, have a volunteer job as part of the course to get into university next year, my usual 2 magazine delivery rounds once a month and have lots of large research assignments I really don't have the time.
I think myself and the OH really do need to have crisis talks on how to budget even less, though it's pretty tight already.
Sorry for moaning on this board as I know it's not really the purpose of it but I really do find you lot the most friendly and supportive bunch.
Lou x