September 2010 Grocery Challenge

EvieSaver

loulou0327 wrote: »

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

Oh loulou I wish I could be helpful and give you some useful money saving tips but you're already doing much better than me with your GC budget especially as your children are much older than mine so must eat much more! I hope things get better for you soon, maybe to make you feel better I could let you know that my parents didn't have much money when I was a kid but I still had a great childhood and was very happy. I remember one year my parents had saved up to get us a music keyboard but me and my sister spent weeks playing with some cardboard dolls instead- (part of a cut out from the back page of a magazine). We loved them because we could make them loads of clothes from any bits of cardboard - it was brilliant and cost nothing really. Fun and good memories aren't always expensive but I can understand your worries. Fingers crossed for you. x

jintyb

amber03 wrote: »

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.

Hey amber, under each post there is a little icon which says "thanks", just click on it and automatically does it for you,

Have a lovely day out

Spiggle

Good morning all,

Thank you so much all for the good wishes, :A very much appreciated. It's a good thing I don't have to talk on here as my voice is hilarious when it can be heard! :rotfl:

Glad to see you back Hippechiq. :wave:

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

jintyb wrote: »

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!

jintyb please may I join your old fart club? loulou and sistercas I can't but support everything jintyb has said (and cw18). You are doing the best for your children in hugely trying times. You and they will reap the reward later in life as your children will understand the true value of things (not only money) as can be seen from cw18 strong and heartening story.

You both give your children love, support, encouragement and that is far more important than material goods for which there will be little respect but encourage further demands in the future. You are not failures in any way so please don't feel that. :grouphug:

At least with irresponsible parenting of the sort you describe Martin knows he'll have an audience long into the future as those spoilt children are the most likely to be in serious trouble down the line.

By the way loulou, you have a wonderfully supportive family and I'm sure that they would appreciate something made with love by your own hand than something you have overstretched yourself to buy. As was said by someone (jintyb?) have a look at the prep for Christmas thread on OS. And keep your chin firmly up!;)

amber03 wrote: »

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.

Hi amber03, you can thank someone by clicking the thanks button under their post. If you want to reply using part or all of the post you're thanking, click the 'quote' button next to the 'thanks' button. If you want to quote more than one person, use the multiple speech balloon icon on up to three posts and then click one of the relevant quote buttons when you're ready to type. Both of the last two options will take you to the advanced reply post window where you have the option to decide what sort of subscription you want from a drop down list (below the actual post window). You can also preview your post from the advanced screen which I use a lot to try and remove all my typos and spelling mistakes! Does that make sense?

Have a great Saturday all,
Spigs

natsing

Good Morning

September came in under budget at only £120 very pleased, and as this month is five weekends before next payday I would like to pledge £160 for October.
Thanks

jintyb

Spigs, you can join my old fart club anytime - I echo everything you said in your post!:T

Sorry to hear you and OH are a bit poorly, hope you both are back to full strength soon, (((hugs)))

Have a great Sat everyone:)

sistercas

jinty/ spiggle thankyou both , you are wonderful people :T its nice to know that we are the 'norm' and as you say spending time with your kids is far more beneficial than throwing money at them .:)

jinty think i'll join the old fart club too

thiscanbedone

Could you put me down for 300 for October please Mrs M

JayJay14

Hi everyone,

I've gone way over my budget (£154 and a few days of spending to go )

My October will start on Tuesday, and I would like to go for £150 to allow for increased spending in the run up to Christmas.

Good luck everyone and ((hugs)) to those in need.

elf06

Hmmm I'm starting to think I'm cracking up :rotfl:I was totally sure that someone had written about L*dl having 4 tins of Branston beans for £1 so I decided to nip in today and get some only to find that they are 94p EACH here :eek: Needless to say i didnt bother Did however spend over £6 on not a lot Got a new laundry basket (really impressed with it) for £2.99, a tin of chilli (i know i know a tin like to keep it in for emergencies and last one was used goodness only knows how long ago and not replaced), some reduced choc cupcakes (My friend is popping down tonight with her DD to look after my DS while I go to a charity zumba thing and I thought this could be their treat/thank you) and a Galia melon as requested by DS (it was £1.39 compaired to Mr T which has them for £1.99 just now)

Oh well getting dangerously near to target now thanks to my 2 dreadful days of shopping :mad:

Off to update sig.................

Hippeechiq

guccigoo wrote: »

hi everyone im pulling out of this months challenge got personal problems at home and really cant concentrate on this atm but i will back next month.

Hope things improve for you soon guccigoo :grouphug:

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.

Well done you :T

notjustlaura wrote: »

I've had a health scare (turns out to be nowhere near as bad as I feared)

Pleased to hear that laura

kezlou All the cooking for your Mum & Dad - what a lovely thing to do for them I hope your Dad is making good progress

:grouphug: to those who need it, especially Loulou - I think everyone has covered anything I might have added. It's good to see so many supportive posts. We've got a genuinely nice group of people on here

Spends today of £3.70 on 4L of milk and 2 loaves bringing me to £256.96 so have £18.04 left. Should be a NSD tomorrow and hopefully Monday at least. My 5 week menu planner runs out tomorrow I hate doing them, but I know doing it has saved me money and it's great once it's done to not have to worry about what to have for tea for the next 4-5weeks, so it's worth the effort.

I could do with, say, 1 more cheapie meal per week really, as some of the recipes I've found in the last few months are lovely, but often require a "special" ingredient or vegetable" that aren't always on offer or in season, which can bump the cost of the meal up. So going to look online for a few more basic type meals. I know anything with pasta can make for a reasonably priced meal, but we had pasta based meals so often when I was working, that I'm a bit pasta'd out.

Also going to have a good look at what's lurking in the back of my freezer, and use any odd items up so I can clear some space, and also save a bit of money by not having to (hopefully) buy too much in the next week in particular......well, that's the theory anyway