January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Mati1968

My first challenge:j please put me down for £200 a month.

[Deleted User]

As a family of four we have all decided to go for £150 this month! Eeek - its me that does all the shopping but I am trying (really hard) to get them all involved by getting them to come up with a figure.

greent

Hello! I never ended up posting my end figs on Nov (was under at about £375) and missed Dec entirely. However, back on the bandwagon for Jan, so Mrs Mc can I please have a budget of £350 for us for January - that's the lowest I've ever pledged and about £100 decrease on my normal figure.... gulp! Not entirely convinced I can do it, but husband currently has no work... and i could do with running down my supplies a little.... eek!:eek::D:D

Long_tall_sally

Just updated signature with spends from today. Really, really shouldn't need anything else now fora good few days - famous last words!

By mistake, I posted on the December thread thinking it was the January one (thanks for pointing it out Spiggle!) and can't be bothered to retype it all again here apart from saying usual thanks to pink-Winged, Rosieben & Mrs McC for running the thread & welcome to all newbies!

Long_tall_sally

Sorry - I also wanted to say HIPPEECHIQ _ WHERE ARE YOU?!

LJFreeman

I normally do budget my food shop during the week but will normally do a biggish shop come payday to stock up, so I will put my budget at £250 for this month and see how we go.

It's just me and 2 kids, so I think this is more than enough x

Forgot to add that my month will run 1st to 31st, this will include food, cleaning products and bedtime pants for 2 sprogs and any additional treats xx

tabath

Hi

I 'd like to join the grocery challenge for 2011, but haven't the faintest idea about what we spend . WE are a 2 adults a 12 year old girl and 9 year old boy family. Is it just food that the challenge includes or cleaning materials , toiletries etc?

Just so I have an idea what would be the average for a family of 4?

started a new thread for this cos didn't know if this was the sort of thing I could post in the challenge thread.

thanks

Linda32

tabath wrote: »

Hi

I 'd like to join the grocery challenge for 2011, but haven't the faintest idea about what we spend . WE are a 2 adults a 12 year old girl and 9 year old boy family. Is it just food that the challenge includes or cleaning materials , toiletries etc?

Just so I have an idea what would be the average for a family of 4?

started a new thread for this cos didn't know if this was the sort of thing I could post in the challenge thread.

thanks

Hi, welcome to the GC, its every man for himself so to speak So you included whatever you want for your challenge.

There isn't any such thing as an average its whats normal for you

Now you can do it one of two ways, Include Food/Cleaning/Wine Smellies, with maybe the idea being, buying own brand bubble bath rather than Radox for example.

Either, stay within your personal budget for the month at whatever that amount is. Or add up all your receipts for the month and if it comes to £250.00 try to spend £245.00 in February by looking at other offers etc.

Best of luck, and do join in

Just as an example, I include all smellies/wine/food/cleaning but I took off a bottle of Sink Unblocker last month as this was a one off and more DIY IYSWIM, and this week I bought a casserole dish which I didn't include, I also don't include the Saturday News Paper.

BitterAndTwisted

To make a start I'd buy a little note-book and write down every single penny you spend on house-hold expenses plus the receipts and then go through and review it after about a month. Warning: this is a ruddy HUGE eye-opener and quite a lot of easy ways to cut down on spendys will almost automatically suggest themselves.

Then, you can either choose to carry on as you are or cut down gradually over whatever period suits you and your family's budget.

The second thing I would do is to make a batch of Twinks Hob-Nobs. You'll most probably never want to buy another shop-bought biccy ever again.

de1amo

we have come down from 311 to 275 with little effort--my wife has just done less dialling and a bit more cooking! we are eating better and my sense of well being has been enhanced by not having takeaway food so much-it wasnt junk food but i knew it cost more and was becoming too regular!