October 2010 Grocery Challenge

savingcaz

Hippeechiq wrote: »

By the way - I think we could all do with remembering, that while we're all trying to bring out months in on budget, food is constantly on the rise, so I think we're all doing a ruddy marvellous job

And have you seen the price of eggs in the sm's?!! They've like doubled in price, if not more :eek:

Have you got a local farm near you? we get ours from 2 places, 1 is a couple who rescue chicks then 'nurse' them back to health and then sell the eggs, free range £1 for 6 and the other is a local farm who have loads of chicks and they are £1.20 (£1.10 if you reuse your box) for 6 again free range!!

Only buy from sm in dire emergencies lol.

savingcaz

I'm Declaring a final total of £146.52 and that includes £25 of meat from the butchers that my mum bought us. off to sign up for the November one!!!

JayJay14

savingcaz wrote: »

Have you got a local farm near you? we get ours from 2 places, 1 is a couple who rescue chicks then 'nurse' them back to health and then sell the eggs, free range £1 for 6 and the other is a local farm who have loads of chicks and they are £1.20 (£1.10 if you reuse your box) for 6 again free range!!

Only buy from sm in dire emergencies lol.

We would love to do this but when you live in a city there are no local farms. We went tot our 'local' farmers market (25 mile round trip) and the egg farmer has stopped selling there as it isn't worth it for him.
So we are stuck with sm eggs now.

knithappens

I did terrible with the october chalenge, I seem to set a target and feel i need to aim for it, or even break through it, ilke it is a competiton, I want to sign up for November but not set a target, so hopefully that way my mind does not think it has to reach a target, but instead it will keep me focused on sending as little as possible

adelight

savingcaz wrote: »

Have you got a local farm near you? we get ours from 2 places, 1 is a couple who rescue chicks then 'nurse' them back to health and then sell the eggs, free range £1 for 6 and the other is a local farm who have loads of chicks and they are £1.20 (£1.10 if you reuse your box) for 6 again free range!!

Only buy from sm in dire emergencies lol.

There aren't many farms around here(london) but there is a monthly farmers market, I might try it but have a feeling the eggs will be £3270 a box round here because the chickens were fed on gold and m&s dine for 2 or something ridiculous

Moniker

Hi folks, just signing in to declare at £355.20 for October and 15 NSD. I am very pleased with this, though we have been eating out more and visiting family which helps! (Eating out not from GC budget!)

Mrs M please could you put me down for £355 for November? I am also going to aim for more NSDs if I can. One way is that I have decided not to even think about Christmas until 1st December - after which I will take the money in my Christmas Fund jam jar and use that to pay for everything!

Catch up with you all in the November thread.

Moniker

[Deleted User]

knithappens one thing at a time It takes ages to get into a routine because you are changing shopping habits that you probably have had for ages I have been buying my own food since 1962 and only in the past year have I got things down to a far better situation than it used to be.I set my limit for my food at just above my 'comfort zone' so if I suddenly have to buy something unexpectedly then I can, without feeling I have blown it. My comfort zone for all of my food for the month is £120.00 .Most months I manage it and sometimes like this month I really go for it and stick to using my stocks up more.But I know in January ,or even just after Christmas any bargains I see will be whipped up and stuck into my stores for later on, so the less I spend now the more I will have later IYSWIM.
It's finding a realistic figure that you can work with.Every one normally has a budget.Even big business has to have budgets and your housekeeping it no differant to ICI, maybe a lot smaller :) but a budget all the same.So don't get disheartened, but for a couple of months just list your spends and see where you can make a saving then the spending will start to fall. We all have months where the budget has flown out of the window and feel a bit down but this GC is all about support and seeing how we can streeeetch our cash that little bit further ,even by only maybe not going to the shops for a few days and using what we have indoors.
Best thing to do is 'keep calm and carry on' not a bad motto for us lot on here but never feel you have blown it as we have all had days like that :D:D

LannyLee

adelight wrote: »

Why am I stocking up the freezer when it's already full and I'm over budget? God knows, but this is my last purchase of the month...
reduced turkey steaks for £1.29.

I also just made a free £10 order with milk & more for bread, 6 eggs, 2l goats milk & 1l activia pouring yogurt to arrive next week. With this and the huge amount of meat in my freezer(4 turkey steaks, 6 portions mince, chicken breast, 2 pollock, kippers) I'm contemplating attempting November with just £20. We'll see!

I do this all the time, my DH goes mad, but I honestly cannot resist a whoopsie.

I also used the £10 Milk&M0re voucher, but stocked up on things we've had to cut from our usualy budget like bacon & some really mature cheddar for DH, not bad for next to nothing

lbr102

Hello, I'm a newbie (ish).

How do I sign up for the November grocery challenge?

My November spend has technically already started as my month starts on 25th of each month but this one needs to last until November 30th as I am now unemployed! eeek!

LannyLee

lbr102 wrote: »

Hello, I'm a newbie (ish).

How do I sign up for the November grocery challenge?

My November spend has technically already started as my month starts on 25th of each month but this one needs to last until November 30th as I am now unemployed! eeek!

Hi lbr102 - all you need to do is put your budget goal in big red letters so MrsM can see it when she does a sweep & then you'll be added to the pages at the front of the thread.

Don't worry my month starts on the 25th as well, so I'm already doing my nov GC even though it's still Oct as 25th is payday.

Plus others do a weekly GC so if this is better for you, you can give a weekyl target & declare everyweek, it's really up to you, what ever works best.

Good Luck :T