December 2010 Grocery Challenge

JulieGeorgiana

seasalt wrote: »

Thanks Hippeechiq and wssla00. I live on an island so not always easy to source secondhand/freecycle etc - or freight charges make it impractical - but I am definitely going to get one from somewhere! Thanks for the encouragement!

Go for it... it is SO worth the money!

My Husband laughs that we are going to wake up and the freezer will have bust at the seams!!

But it means I can buy a months bread and milk from farmfoods at a time (otherwise the petrol cost would not justify going there weekly) and I buy meat from the butchers only 8 weekly!!!

elf06 wrote: »

Ok so I have been looking at all the people declaring for this month and posting their Jan budgets and its got me thinking about mine (even though I have another 10 days left on this one ) and I am really torn between carrying on the way I have been (although I did go AWOL for part of this year) or whether to set myself a yearly target. I often stock up on deals when they are on and app f00ds etc when they have discounts so it may make sense for me to set a yearly target. Does anyone have any thoughts on which works best?? I would still come on weekly/every few days and update my spends............

I have monthly targets, which fluctuate depending on when I butchers shop! But when I bulk buy I do it out of another fund and put the money back in monthly from my budgets (ie. I buy 6 months of x so I put 1/6th of the cost back in the bulk buy pot before the month starts!) it works for me! But not for everyone!

I worry about a yearly budget, because if I go over a few times, it means cutting back in December to make up the shortfall!!!!

huxley

Hi all declaring for the year at £3140,59 :eek::eek:: Please can you put me down for £3000. next year It would of been worse except a friend has been working at M&S and has been getting me some reduced items Next year is a year of many tighter budgets for us but with the vat increase it didnt seem wise to tighten the food/cleaning/toiletries budget, this is for 4 adults plus the regular extras we have each week. Happy christmas see you all in January

elf06

Ok thanks everyone for your comments. I think I shall brave it next year and do a yearly figure but will cut it down into months in my head (just so I know where I am roughly at). If it all looks like its falling apart then I may go back to monthly during the year............

JulieGeorgiana wrote: »

I have monthly targets, which fluctuate depending on when I butchers shop! But when I bulk buy I do it out of another fund and put the money back in monthly from my budgets (ie. I buy 6 months of x so I put 1/6th of the cost back in the bulk buy pot before the month starts!) it works for me! But not for everyone!

I worry about a yearly budget, because if I go over a few times, it means cutting back in December to make up the shortfall!!!!

Yeah I can see why this might not work. Thankfully this year I am WAY under with my December budget (and it was set at the same as most months) but that may not be the case every year. Think I shall brave it and see what happens :eek:

kippers

seasalt wrote: »

Still dithering about whether to buy a small chest freezer in Jan sales and whether it will, eventually, pay for itself.

Pros: Could freeze more of what I grow. Not everything freezes well though.
Take advantage of reductions - large chickens for £2 today but not a square inch of space in my freezer to put one.
Go shopping less often (save fuel and time too)
Cook ahead/freeze leftovers etc.

Cons: Cost to buy. Approx £150 (not on sale)
Electricity to run
Space to put it (can solve this one with a bit of creativity)
Temptation to overspend on reductions etc!

Tbh, I want one and if could get one from eg freecycle (not here), I would probably jump at it but it's whether or not I can justify the cost. Any thoughts?

ETA This would be in addition to our fridge-freezer.

We bought another freezer in the spring this year as i took on another two allotments....it's great, i wish we had bought one years ago as it's great for woopsies, offers etc

We did choose to buy an 'A rated' one, though it wasn't too expensive

blue_cat_4

After lurking for sometime, and finding lots of advice and inspiration on the forum, thought it was time to come out! I'd like to join the challenge for Jan with a generous £400/month-hopefully I'll come in under this. That's for 4 of us -including my teenage son who plays loads of sport so is always hungry! PS How do I find signature panel?

GROCERY CHALLENGE JAN £400

jintyb

seasalt wrote: »

Still dithering about whether to buy a small chest freezer in Jan sales and whether it will, eventually, pay for itself.

Hi Seasalt,
I got an additional small chest freezer a year ago, and I havent regretted it for one minute! It's in the shed and it has been so handy. it was a cheapo from A£go$, but it's A-rated! Go for it!

JulieGeorgiana

blue_cat wrote: »

PS How do I find signature panel?

Go into 'Private Messages' and select 'Signature' from the list of the left hand side.

JulieGeorgiana

I am going to go for a yearly budget of £2500 (24th Dec 2010 - 22nd Dec 2011)

That's for 3 people, 2 cats, 2 rabbits. It doesn't include what's in other budgets for pets (vet fees, jabs and other routine and non routine items) or special occasions (food for birthday meals etc). It does include toiletries and cleaning products.

I will give myself an amount every 4 weeks... but won't be posting it monthly as I did before... just keep track in my signature Block! I will update my yearly running total at the end of each month.

Good Luck for 2011 everyone!

rosieben

never thought of doing it that way JG :T can also get to signature via quick links on the green bar above the board

Puddleglum

Morning all! Time to check in for 2010. That year sped by:eek:
Well we at Puddleglum Mansions started off intending to spend £1895 for the year and we must have come fairly close to that although I must confess that I do not know the exact total.

Soon after the start of the year both Puddleglumettes decided that they wanted to go on a residential holiday in the summer so a couple of hundred was shaved off of the food bill and I was left with £30 per week more or less which has been the guiding principle throughout the year.

We then had a stroke of luck and won some money on the football pools! :beer: This enabled us to pay off some of the mortgage and have a holiday in Scotland in the summer visiting DM. :j It also meant that I lost control of the spreadsheet and where I was with the budget for a bit.

Thanks to :money:we then managed to get the house rebanded for the Council Tax :beer:. Having regained control of the food spend I went out and restocked the drinks cabinet which had not been budgeted for:T.

So, staring 2011 in the face. We are about where we aimed to be as far as food spend goes, a lot wiser for next year and thanks to our good luck during the year, still treading water.

Happy Christmas everyone and best wishes for the New Year.

Puddleglum