September 2010 Grocery Challenge

Billie-jo

T*sco yesterday and with my £10 off a £30 shop so it cost me £29.94 Will need milk tomorrow and fruit and veg hopefully that will be it.

Used some chicken breasts up today out of the freezer and also made a few scones for a neighbour obviously had to test them first though - just to make sure they were edible you understand

Have spent £92.88 so have £67.12 left till end of month.

Well done to everyone who has come in under budget,
hugs to them who havent, October is another month so keep trying and to those who are not at the end of Sept challenge yet, - Try to hang onto any money you have left.

Nipped into M*rrisons today and was impressed by the in store butcher they had. I buy most of my meat from local butcher but not all so may try it one day. Happy to say didnt actually spend anything in M*rrisons - just went for a look while waiting for daughter who was in the dentist.

cw18

loulou0327 wrote: »

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.

Bless your son for being so understanding, but don't feel bad about it.

My 2 elder children got a holiday in each of their last 2 years at primary school (one activity in the UK and one foreign for eldest, and two UK activity ones as best I recall for the middle one), but the youngest only got in his next-to-last year (activity one) as we then moved areas and his new school didn't do holidays. He was fine about it as his second would have been a foreign one and he'd already said he didn't want to go.

Part of the agreement to paying for these was that we paid for the first, but they had to find all the (considerable) spending money for the second (so they asked for cash for the birthday and Christmas leading up to it from whoever they dared), and that we wouldn't be paying for any holidays at secondary school.

I was in a well paid job at the time, and could have afforded at least some of the secondary school ones. But even when we got begging and pleading to cough up for one in the second year of high school (only from the elder two children) we stuck to our guns - and they were told that if they could find the cost of the holiday we'd help out with anything they needed for taking (such as skiing clothes). Even with my offer to pay small amounts for help around the house - which I thougt they should have been doing anyway - the kids did some sums and decided it would bankrupt them for a good couple of years, and that the holiday wasn't worth that. We never heard anything about school holidays from either of them again, and later discovered we weren't even being shown the letters which detailed trips/costs/deposits/payment dates.

amber03

loulou0327 i know how you feel. A couple of years ago i had to explain to my kids that i had been stupid and got into a bit of debt and was trying to get out of it. I explained that money would be very tight for sometime, I felt that i had let them down. Today my kids are working and are brilliant with money even giving me tips. They said what happened to me made them realise how careful you have to be with money and that it had been a valuable lesson to them, I am proud of how they are, not interested in credit cards or loans they will save up if they want something, so i see this as something positive that came out of something that was horrible. Hopefully your kids will turn out the same.

Today filled freezer and cupboards will start baking and make meals not buy ready made ones. I find it hard to have NSD's, when i first started reading this blog i thought it would be easy but it's not as easy as you think. I will definately have to stay away from shops which is'nt easy when you work in one, just not take money with me unless i know i need milk, bread or essentials.

loulou0327

Well I hate to say this as many will probably will use the same excuse. But I think it's pure bad luck at the time that has gotten us into debt in the first place. Which has not been helped be me following my dream to be a social worker and giving up a minimum wage job to go on to benefit's to pursue this career.

The things that have gone on the credit card and overdraft have been things like washing machines, School uniforms, a couple of windows and conservatory roof panels the yobs behind us have broken (cannot be proven who of course!) I recently (less than 6 months ago) put a 8 man tent, cooker, gas bottle and other accessories (£200) on the overdraft when I was verbally promised a 24 month contract on a well paid job but it turned out that I only got 1 months work and no grounds to do anything about it!
I wouldn't mind so much if it was extravagant expenses that we had all benefited from but windows and roofs on your house and a washing machine is sort of a necessity.

jintyb

loulou0327 wrote: »

Well I hate to say this as many will probably will use the same excuse. But I think it's pure bad luck at the time that has gotten us into debt in the first place. Which has not been helped be me following my dream to be a social worker and giving up a minimum wage job to go on to benefit's to pursue this career.

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Lou lou, first off you have my sympathy, dont be too hard on yourself, life seems to have chucked you a few hardballs, but you will be ok.
Re Christmas - have a look at the "OS preparations for Christmas thread" for low cost ideas. Also its sounds like you have a great family and although they do a lot for you, I bet they wont be looking for a big expensive gift from you to say thanks. Are you any good at cooking/baking?, If so, home made goodies always go down well.Or, if you have a family gathering at Christmas, how about a Secret Santa for the adults, that way you only need to buy one thing.
I dont have a big family but we decided years ago to limit our spends to £5-10 per adult and we were all happy with that. We've had some very interesting presents I can tell you ( in good way)!
Your kids sound like a great pair and Im sure they will understand your predicament. £150 is a lot of money and will buy a decent present for them, and remember, you're already giving your kids what they really need - love and attention. I hope this helps, feel free to rant anytime - we've all been there!:)

savvyshe

Not been around for a couple of months,:( had holidays and then a lot of things have got in the way due to family and work commitments, but have tried to be careful with money. Things have changed here and now there will be just DS3 DH and me so could you please put me down for £120 for OCTOBER MRS M. Really need to save some money this month, Car Tax due (£50 already saved on card) 1st service on new car due and need new light fittings and radiator installed in bathroom, just had ceiling plastered (previous owners botch up job!) so an expensive month for us! DD and DGS and DDP are moving in with us for a year to save up for a deposit on a house (They will be buying their own food) so have spent a lot of time decorating and moving furniture around,but nearly done now and looking forward to them being here. So a new start and new budget will be planned tonight!.:eek: Hugs to all not well at the moment and anyone else who needs them.

sistercas

loulou i know how you feel as our situation is similar . DD1 has recently had excellent GCSE results , and we took her out for a meal to celebrate. her friends however were given £1000's of pounds ( and i mean £1000's- one boy was given £8000 :eek:) another friend was given a top of the range laptop and another the promise of a new car and a 2 week holiday anywhere in the world :eek: I felt terrible when DD told me but she does understand that we are simply not in a position to do anything like that ( not that i would anyway) but it makes me feel like a failure that i havent got spare money like that

i know i have declared for september, but i am thinking of nipping to Lidl to get some more branston beans ( £1 for 4) had some for tea last night and they were delish! so might just pick up a couple of packs

suzybloo

Good morning folks, my budget is well and truly blown this month, but I do have lots in the cupboard I am now at £477 which is £57 over but it has been a long month as I started my challenge on 27th August. I will need about another £15 until Thursday when my new challenge starts. Going to pop to the fish shop today which will make a big dent in the £15, but I refuse to buy pre-packed fish, and insist it is off a Scottish boat, landed in Scotland (nothing against any other British fishing fleets - Its just we have fishing ports a plenty around our coast here) rather than off a foreign boat landing its catch in this country. Tea tonight wil be smoked haddock in breadcrumbs, homemade chips and peas, pudding will be bread and butter pudding and ice cream.
Can anyone tell me if I could make a pie that would be ok out of two tins of shippams chicken in white wine sauce that I bought to voul-et-vents with last summer. They have been sitting in the cupboard and I am not going to waste them if I can help it as I think they were quite expensive at the time. I have puff pastry in the freezer that I would use for the topping, and 3 rashers of smoked bacon I could throw in with frozen peas and sweetcorn????
Can I be out down in the OCTOBER thread for £425 as there are 5 Fridays in the month. Off to do some meal planning now, and check whats in the cupboards.

jintyb

sistercas wrote: »

loulou i know how you feel as our situation is similar . DD1 has recently had excellent GCSE results , and we took her out for a meal to celebrate. her friends however were given £1000's of pounds ( and i mean £1000's- one boy was given £8000 :eek:) another friend was given a top of the range laptop and another the promise of a new car and a 2 week holiday anywhere in the world :eek: I felt terrible when DD told me but she does understand that we are simply not in a position to do anything like that ( not that i would anyway) but it makes me feel like a failure that i havent got spare money like that

Please dont feel like a failure - who in their right mind would want to be like that? Its absolutely ludicrous!? I know a couple ( my stepson)who spend £1000's on christmas on their 4 kids - honestly, the list of things they get is like the conveyor belt on the Generation Game. However, they never spend any "quality" time with the kids, no reading, walks, out on bikes etc! they never do anything as a family except go to Mcd's sometimes. What values are people like them and those you mention, raising there kids to believe in? Sorry for sounding like an old fart, but I really feel for parents trying to do the best for their kids when face with this kind of peer pressure!

amber03

morning everybody

just a quicky, as new to the boards can u please tell me how i thank somebody for their posts, there's some good advise out there .

Taking son out today for a treat but dont feel like buying anything for myself[don't actually need anything at the mo] this is a first. Have a good day.