March grocery challenge

Lillibet_2

Sarahsaver wrote:

I wouldnt get takeaways that isnt very moneysaving is it? Seeing as you could spend a whole weeks' grocery money in one evening
Same with meals at work. If i had a job i would take packed lunches. Bought sandwiches are a rip off.

Everyone to their own Sarah! We all have different priorities.
As long as we aren't living in poverty & can afford the occasional take away we will, the trick is not to fail in your planning & find you HAVE to order them because you haven't got anything in, just order them when you CHOOSE to and can afford them!
Plus of couse many people wouldn't incude the cost of them in their grocery budgets, that just happens to be how we work it.
I haven't done March's meal plan ye tbut can't think of an occasion when we woudl be having a take away anyway but for a lot of people they are the norm on a Friday or Saturday night & need should therefore be budgeted for accordingley.
Work lunches? Well, some people just aren't together enough or interested enough to organize leftovers the night before or to get up 10 mins earlier to make sandwiches, & for them the £3.50 in Boots is money well spent. Again, as long as you have the money in your budget & don't mind spending it instead of saving it I can't see what is wrong with this? For me March will eb a mix of homemade lunches & bought lunches, I always buy lunch on a Friday as my end of week treat to myself but this is in my budget

kimmie35

Well i have budgeted for £40 for 2 adults and 3 kids and 1 dog!!!
I use iceland alot and get the vouchers off here and that frozen food normally lasts me for nearly 2 weeks then its fruit and veg and bread which i dont get from there.....No very good quality and have a great market on a sat in town... So here goes for march start planning my menus...

summerday

i'm going to join in for the first time! I will budget £20 a week for me and my partner. This will include all our meals (including food to take to work), cleaning stuff etc. If we go out to eat which we occasionally do, this comes out of our weekly pocket money we get out (you can see we've never grown up!).

I have been on a diet lately which has made us eat more helthily, but a little more expensively as we have bought fresh fish etc, but will see how we get on.

sarah

Prudent

Sarahsaver wrote:

My personal challenge will be £20 a week, for 1 adult and 3 kids. I intend doing this by taking the money out of the bank and having it in a separate purse. Also may see if i can manage without using home delivery, and use my wally trolley more!

I liked the separate purse idea Sarah -going to give this a try, thanks.

tiff

I like the separate purse idea too, will definitely try and do that.

Our grocery budget doesnt include take aways, if we do have one it would be on a Saturday night and costs £6 for the 4 of us. We will take that out of our entertainment budget I'm not sure that I want to reduce my weekly budget any lower, but its still an effort for me to keep within it which is why I would like to do the challenges on an ongoing basis.

LearningToSave.

ooooooooooo yes!!!! count me in :-)
have been following the feb challenge avidly and trying to sort out meal planners in my head....this will give the kick up the bum i need to finalise it.
my challenge is £125 for the month (28th feb-28th march...hubby gets paid 28th of month),this is for me,my husband and my two year old daughter and will include any cleaning,toilettries,nappies etc.
im going to do the seperate purse thing too,that really is a fab idea.
i need to try to do this as my bump is due on apr 8th and i need to get it sorted and used to it by then so the only things to add are formula and nappies.
ooohhhhhhhhhh sadly im getting all excited about doing this.

tiff

Well there's a couple of weeks to go yet, I'm starting the March challenge 28th Feb as thats when my husband gets paid.

Anyone else following the Feb challenge thread that would like to join the March one?

jazzyjustlaw

sarahturner9 wrote:

i'm going to join in for the first time! I will budget £20 a week for me and my partner. This will include all our meals (including food to take to work), cleaning stuff etc. If we go out to eat which we occasionally do, this comes out of our weekly pocket money we get out (you can see we've never grown up!).

I have been on a diet lately which has made us eat more helthily, but a little more expensively as we have bought fresh fish etc, but will see how we get on.

sarah

You say you apportion yourselves pocket money - bit personal but what do you allow yourselves and what is it for. I give myself about £30.00 but thats for bus fares and extras.

md123

I have been following the February grocery challenge and have decided to start the March one on the 28th February as well. I have decided to try to spend £30 per week on food (including hubbys packed lunch for work) and any cleaning products.

I have a separate budget for toiletries which includes nappies.

My main problem when sticking to a budget is I do well for a couple of days making things from scratch, but there are days when I can't be bothered and spend money on something to put in either the oven or the micro.

Forgot to mention that £30 is for me, hubby and 2 kids (4 years and 1 year old).

Lillibet_2

jazzyjustlaw wrote:

You say you apportion yourselves pocket money - bit personal but what do you allow yourselves and what is it for. I give myself about £30.00 but thats for bus fares and extras.

We apportion ourselves £60 a month each personal spending money. This covers clothes, entertainment, personal shopping like CD's & books, gardening & house bits & peices (not big budgeted stuff like furniture or decorating), car parking, Xmas & birthday presents etc.

However Hubby only ever spends abotu £30 of his, I think this is because he works in the middle of nowhere : no shops to tempt him! I spend mine, I work next to a high street but then I buy at least a couple of Xmas & birthday pressies every month plus I am slowly kitting out baby too.

HTH