October 2010 Grocery Challenge

Spiggle

wssla00 wrote: »

... I think I am going to have to plump for some plain rice this evening! I wonder if I feel brave enough I could add a small bit of egg and a spring onion? Oh well.... at least it's a cheap dinner LOL

Hi wssla00,

So sorry you're not feeling well. I have to be honest I just love plain rice (I do like it to be basmati though) and if an upset tummy hits me there's no finer and simpler food to eat. I do hope you feel better soon, sending you hugs. :grouphug:

slbhill wrote: »

I think the grocery challenge sounds great - please may I play too?

I need to cut back our household costs, and this can only help! I've been tracking my costs for a month or 2 now so I've a reasonable idea where to start - I'd like to start from payday next week so I guess I should wait until there is a November thread?

I was wondering though - are brand names swear words here?? They seem to be treated like them and I am a bit confused (nothing new there then :rotfl: )

And one more question - from reading this thread a lot of people seem to favour buying "little and often" rather than doing a big shop every week or 2. In the past I've found that boosts my spending quite a lot - I admit possibly due to bad planning and a lack of self-restraint! - as well as increasing my petrol costs. Are there good reasons for the "buy teabags and shampoo today and then dog food tomorrow" kind of approach?

Hi and welcome slbhill,

In a few days or the beginning of next week you'll see us all starting to put our budgets for November up on here (in red large letters/numbers so Mrs McCawber :A will spot them). Just follow that when you see it starting and then you'll be added to the list for next month. Rosieben :A will also post the recipe list which will go at the front of the thread, it's a mine of wonderful tasty food ideas! :T Some time after that Pink-winged :A will post a link to the new thread for November and as we finish our October budgets off and declare over here we'll gradually head over to the new thread.

As you probably have seen some like wssla00 have already started their November budgets and that's part of the whole ethos of the GC - you do what is right for you and your household. So when you start is up to you and what you include is up to you too. For instance, my budget always runs to my pay date and I get paid the last working day of the month and so the date will vary a bit over the months.

By the way, none of the above is to put you off asking any question you like of us. We're all here to inspire, support, hug and sometimes scold (only when invited tho! ) each other.

It helps if you say how many are in your household and what you're including but it's not obligatory as we're not in competition. In ours there is only me and the other half (OH) and our two beautiful black cats. We don't include alcohol as we each have pocket money of £15 per week and we buy our own out of that if we want it. So, many would say that our budget is quite high for only two humans but my granddaughter (GD1) comes and stays once a week and we have a spend of £32 out of the budget on specialist cat food.

Before we started the GC in March of this year we were spending £600+ per month and no proper meals to show for it!

As to the when to/how many shops to do, that really is up to you. However, in my opinion (and it is only that ) the more you can stay away from shops the better as they are tempting places to visit! So, my top tip is always go armed with a list a stick to it. Second top tip always check your cupboards, fridge and freezer before you leave and if you're going to run out of something in the next day or so, put it on the list. We are all guilty of the going into the sm to buy milk and coming out £20 lighter.

We tend to try and mask the supermarket (sm) names because we don't want to give them free advertising and we don't want the thread to be part of the internet marketing through search engines. Well, that's what I think the reasons are.

I hope you find us a friendly and supportive lot. Keep posting and reading and we'll keep each other company. :cool:

Ok, I've updated my sig with spends of around £7ish over Tuesday and Wednesday as I just had no time to go shopping so OH picked up a few bits. NSD today also added. I do have a list of things though so will need to sort that out tomorrow.

I'm off work now until a week Monday. :T The only problem is that after being up around 62p per day average when OH was off ill, the energy monitor has just gone back down to an average of 50p per day. Ah well, I have to clean the house at some time!

Rightie ho, I'm off to put me feet up and then gorge on a lovely cauli cheese OH has made for me accompanied by nice plain basmati rice. Will probably see you all tomorrow sometime so until then have a good evening.

Take care,
Spigs

katholicos

TizerCat wrote: »

aww gettin a bit close to my £120 budget now spent another £9.91 in $sd$ and then £20.98 in Pets corner for puppy pads x30 and spray!

Then when I got to work I looked them up in the internet and found that the small packs of puppy pads in $sd$ worked out at nearly half the price per pad of the bulk buying in PETs corner. I really must look for things cheaper else where before I buy!

still this month is a learning curve next month money saving in earnest

I don't know if you have a Home Bargains or B & M nearyou, but i bought puppy pads, a pack of ten i think, for about £2 or less (pretty sure they were no more than that) from Home Bargains and B & M i think. Not quite sure actually how many pads are in...i'll go and check.... okay, i'm back. There are 8 generously sized puppy training pads in a pack and they measure 54cm x 59cm.

Though i don't have a puppy and my pooch is 11 years old, she went through a brief time of incontinence and that's why i bought the pads.

mrsbowie

well finally even though the last 3 weeks have been shaky, I've actually come in UNDER budget by £5 this week, yippeee, I get my 4 weekly pay tomoz, so it'll be a new month for me starting tomorow, and mums taking us all out for tea on sunday so I will save about a tenner by not buying a roast etc, so I will really try to stick to the £200 for the next 4 weeks at £50 a week or hopefully less. Thanks for all the advice

katholicos

wssla00, sorry to read you are unwell. Hope you soon feel better!

suzybloo

Hello folks, cupboards are getting bare but I am quite pleased, as it shows that I am not spending needlessly. I have to add another £43 to the total so I am quite pleased. Not long to go now til the end of the month - this is the best I have been ever in sticking to the challenge. Checked out my cleaning/toiletries cupboard and wont have to buy any stuff until the new year, other than loo roll, kitchen roll, and a couple bottles of shampoo and conditioner. Off to the Good Food show in Glasgow tomorrow hopefully will pick up some tips and some bargains but sticking to a budget definately!

wssla00

Hi everyone thanks for the well wishes I'm feeling a little better thank you. Had my rice and it was very tasty (a tablespoon of sweetcorn, two spring onions from the garden and an egg) and it seemed to settle me a little.

There is loads of it left so I will take some tomorrow for work.

Have a good evening all

guccigoo

(((hugs))) to those that need them and welcome to newbies:hello:

Had my online shop from mr t tonight which came to £42 including delivery so will update sig.

I aim to do a fair bit of baking next week as i have a week off (half term) :j so cakes to be made and bread , my kids will be happy!!

Long_tall_sally

Completely lost the plot, completely lost the plot!

I think this may well be my worst month EVER! My month ends on Tuesday but I still need milk & maybe some fruit & veg. The worst thing is this is the second month on the trot that OH has had to take some money out of our very small savings in order to balance the current bank account. This money was given to us not very long ago by OH's Mum when she inherited some & we obviously didn't want to be using it in this way for every day bills.

Seductivesmile, NickJW & Xspender - I think I definetely need to join you over in the Storecupboard challenge. I really cannot go with months like this. Hippeechiq - yes you are right, I have bought more of some things this month, i.e. stocked up on mince & weetabix but unfortunately even without those spends I would still be way over budget.

Franby64 & Chloris - thanks for the info on the Co Op dividends. I might try & find the CS number & give them a ring.

Wssla00 - glad you are feeling a bit better.

Slbhill - welcome to the thread. There are lots of people on here who are very good at managing their budgets (not me unfortunately!) & I am sure they will give you lots of useful tips.

suzybloo

Helloooo again, you know when you are really O/S mse when your hubby walks in with a half bag of field carrots, 2 large turnips and a bag of tatties and you think awwww thats nice, even better than a bunch of flowers LOL! Definately save on the veg this month!

meanmarie

Haven't been good with receipts this last week, think I spent around €17...off on holiday for a few days on Saturday so that spend will be from another budget, but think that I may be able to get some extra stuff if there is anything left in budget on 1st November.

Marie