December 2010 Grocery Challenge

boultdj

Did a $13.27 shop at Mr.M's.

Winged_one

I spent another €4 on fruit on Monday (in the snow) - oranges and lemons for my cold. We haven't spent anything else in days. And heading to relatives for Christmas tomorrow, so I have a lovely lump sum to spend on restocking the cupboards with all the whoopsies when we get back (I'm hoping for a turkey and a ham at least!!).

JayJay14

jintyb wrote: »

I did A$DA savings card for this Christmas, and I saved £300. I shop there every week and I saved, on average, £5 a week, sometimes more or less. I will def do it again as I has meant December/ Christmas has been MUCH easier. There are only two of us,and we dont drink alcohol, but I used my savings for a lot of my presents, as well as Christmas food. I know you can get a better return saving elsewhere, but I find the discipline of putting physical money away every week means I'm not tempted to dip into it. I also dont notice it once i got into the habit of doing it every week. It works for me, so I'm happy! I would recommend it. HTH!

Interest on savings is so low at the moment that this type of saving may actually give a better return. Usually there are bonuses that are added on if you have saved a certain amount. This can make the interest rate relatively high especially if you put more of the money on the card towards the end of the year.

missfit_2

Hello. Another £30 + spent in Mr S yesterday and £7 in Mr W today. Still got some last minute bits but pretty much there. We'll over budget for the month. Mr S have oput my favourite tipple on special offer. At usually £16 a bottle 2 for £20 is a bargain. Still, I shouldn't get lured in by such offers but it's Christmas. Will have to try harder next month. Have a great Christmas all.

elizabunny

Hi Everyone,

Could I please be scrapped from this years challenge. I have failed miserably. My DM passed away in October, such a huge loss. Our dog has had to be PTS last week, and on top of that. I've had a chest infection for a month and now have flu. I hope to try again next year, but have completely lost the plot this year.
Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year.

Spiggle

elizabunny wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

Could I please be scrapped from this years challenge. I have failed miserably. My DM passed away in October, such a huge loss. Our dog has had to be PTS last week, and on top of that. I've had a chest infection for a month and now have flu. I hope to try again next year, but have completely lost the plot this year.
Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year.

Hi elizabunny,

Considering everything you have been through, especially such terrific losses, I don't think your result is a disaster at all. :grouphug: According to your signature you're only £170 over the annual budget which is only £15 per month! Even if you add in the voucher spends it's still only £20 per month over. You have suffered very painful losses, haven't been well for weeks and are feeling down but you mustn't beat yourself up as there are many of us who would be grateful to only be only that amount over on the whole year. You have done very well. :T

It won't be any comfort but what would you have spent over the year if you hadn't been doing the challenge, eh? This can be such a hard time for people and there are quite a few of us who will be remembering our lost loved ones at Christmas so you are not alone. :grouphug:

Take care of yourself, get better and then think about the new Year and coming back to us here. In the meantime, enjoy the season as best you can and I look forward to seeing you back here in 2011.

All the very best wishes,
Spigs

Spiggle

Hi All and Welcome All Newbies, :wave:

Well we've been extremely tardy about getting ready for Christmas due to our boiler packing up for a couple of days. I did get the cleaning done though that I mentioned a couple of days ago.

OH had a lovely time this afternoon putting the tree and decorations up with gorgeous GD1 and the lounge looks very Christmassy I have to say. I'm far more bah humbug I'm afraid and popped out to try and get lagging for pipes while they did it!

DD has gone to A**a to get her shop (she must be absolutely mad!) and offered to pick up the GDs gifts from A*g*s for me which is very kind considering she had to visit two of them :eek: (I reiterate she must be totally, absolutely and utterly mad!!! :rotfl:).

Went to town today and OH trudged around and queued for seemingly hours at the grocers and the butchers. We've still got a couple of things to pick up tomorrow but I'll do all of that in the Coop in town.

I've been thinking about shopping in 2011 spurred on by watching Panorama: The Price of Cheap Food on BBC1 last night. :shocked: Now I know prices have gone up and the concept of 'cheap food' could well be described as a misnomer after the price rises we've seen recently :mad: so don't all shout at me at once! :think: Anyway, what I'm considering is that once I've used the MrT vouchers and N*ct*r points in January I'm going to switch my shopping allegiance to the Coop.

Now, this may not last as I really 'feel' (rather than know) that the Coop prices are not the cheapest and so the effect on our spending could be enormous. :undecided In which case I will need to reassess. There is an huge store sort of on my way home from work (1.5 mile detour) so I can still do the main shopping and of course we have the local one in town.

I will probably have to do a bit of analysis on prices too as the local used to be S*m*rf**ld and was hugely expensive compared to just about any other sm. :eek: My 'feeling' is that some of that overpricing may have carried across into the Coop as it now is. So I will try my best to check prices in the huge store against the same products in the local.

The only thing I still have to work out is the non-homogenised Welsh milk that I like. So far I've never seen it in either the huge or local stores. So I think I'll send Coop an email and ask them if they can stock it. :idea: It's produced by a co-operative after all!

It will be an interesting experiment if nothing else. :cool: I'd love to hear any opinions you've got on my potential venture.

Right I'm off now and will see you all tomorrow but for those of you going away, have a fantastic Christmas and I wish you all the very best for the New Year. :xmassign:

See you tomorrrow, take care and keep warm,
Spigs

Souk08

Yippee!!! Under again this month at £47.63 with a £50 tgt. Can you put me down for £60 for Jan please as I'm on a mental diet for a few weeks to get this belly off and it's all fresh stuff required which will cost more.

mongmoney

Afternoon All,
My current total is £72-54, no idea how this has happened. I'm trying not to think too much about the target but only buy when I really need something. I picked up some reduced items in a**a this am and am going to try to pick up a few more late bargains later. I don't mind filling the freezer with half price stuff. I'm off to a friend's house for a couple of days.
Wishing all of you a joyous christmas:beer:
Mongy x

springdreams

Picklepud wrote: »

Had my first shop yesterday did ok but thinking it might be better to do a few small shops rather than weekly large one.

wondering if you can help? I take an old chap shopping with me on Thursdays from work as he has no car.... anyway... he is looking for something called MILO tesco dont seem to have it and I thought it would be nice to try and get him some for xmas anybody any ideas where i can buy it from ?

thanks lots

Maria

Hi,

You can find MILO in the "foreign foods" section of Tesco. It is a hot chocolate drink.