January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Hippeechiq

angelatgraceland wrote: »

If you opened Excel and did exactly the same-typing the items into the individual little boxes you would have a spreadsheet. If youve got excel I can send you a simple one just to try if you like. The magic of it is there is a clever little icon which you can click on and it totals it for you! Do give it a go-you may well be amazed!

Thanks angela but I don't have excel.

I don't have Micr0s0ft Office on my pc as whenever I've tried to use it for anything at all (3 times in the last 10 years) it's never done what I've been asking it to do. The last time I tried must be over 5 years ago, and when I got my new lappy last year and they offered MS Office to me, I said "no thankyou"

But, I though it was time I tried again, so I downloaded a program called 0pen 0ffice just before Christmas, which is supposed to be the same as Micr0s0ft Office, and it could well be, but I don't know what I'm looking at. And when I open up the spreadsheet part of the program, I just see lots of columns all the same size.

I've tried looking at help - but I don't understand what it says.

I foolishly thought - having had no kind of computer training whatsoever - that I might be able to teach myself how to do a spreadsheet, but I hadn't taken into account how thick I am

I just get very angry with myself for not being able to understand. I see columns, but I don't know how to make some bigger (to accomodate longer words)

I see nothing that would allow me to have sub headings, so that I could have a running total under each heading, and when I try typing random figures into a box, and then go to the box/column/whatever the correct terminology is, underneath, and add another random amount of money, it's not giving me a sub total.

It's making me angry just typing about it. I'm very hard on myself, and when I don't understand something, it makes me feel stupid - once that happens, I don't seem to be able to get past it. I just end up feeling totally negative about myself, which in this case is quite warranted, as, let's face it, the majority of the planet knows how to do a spreadsheet :wall:

ANYWAY
Hope you're having a wonderful brithday wssla00
Hope the weather has been kind to you and you've been able to plant up your trees - how exciting!

Spends today of £9.55 bringing total spends so far to £95.45 which is still roughly on target, so I'm happy with that.

Walked all the way to £idls specifically to get a leaflet detailing new offers starting tomorrow, and picked up the leaflet with this weeks offers on it by mistake, which warrants another :wall: I think! lol

boultdj

I'll try again. Spent $24.05 in a mixture of poundshop,supermarket and local market.

XSpender

Hippeechiq wrote: »

XSpender Embarrassingly, I don't know or understand how to do a spreadsheet, but I've created a very basic document in Notepad
with headings like CHILLED/DAIRY, BREAD, FRUIT & VEG, HOUSEHOLD, MEAT, STORE CUPBOARD, TOILETRIES and so on, and everytime I buy anything, I enter it under the appropriate column and then add each column up at the end of the month - it soon becomes apparent where your biggest expense lays - something like that may be helpful to you maybe?

Sorry, I meant to reply to this yesterday but losing all the power in the kitchen took all my attention. It seems it is my new ceramic hob that is blowing the fuses:mad:

I do have a spread sheet that splits my spends down into food, eating out/takeaways, dogs, baby, toiletries/cleaning and alcohol, I had intended to start doing one it more detail this month but have not kept it up:o I have reviewed the spreadsheets for the last few months and some of the categories are quite shockingly high..£50 on toiletries and cleaning???:eek: I only use simple or own brand stuff so I can't see where that has come from. This is where the detail would help I think. However, some of the categories are inconsistent with alcohol at home ranging from £40 to £105:eek:

I am spending £50 on toiletries/cleaning, £30 on dog food, £60 on stuff for DS (8 monthsbut not including nappies) and about £200 on food excluding alcohol or eating out and takeaways. It is only this month we have started eating more organic and fair trade so I can't blame it on that. That total comes to £340 so no wonder I am not hitting a £300 target. I think £370 is a more realistic target for us now, but I really need to chop that down to £280-£300. That seems extortionate though when there is only 2 adults, 1 baby and 2 small dogs to buy for.

Off now to hang my head in shame and amend my spreadsheet to show lots and lots more detail:o

Thanks Hippeechiq for prompting me to look at this:)

cookiemum

Updated sig. - spent £8.69 today. Small shop for veg in Lidl then a few tins in M&S. They have their tinned chicken in white sauce, curries and mince all on offer at half price. Handy for quick teas.

Sausage pasta for tea tonight - oops just noticed time - must get into gear!:)

~moneysavingnovice~

XSpender wrote: »

I do have a spread sheet that splits my spends down into food, eating out/takeaways, dogs, baby, toiletries/cleaning...

You sound like you've got a pretty similar system to me- I split my GC into 'food', 'takeaways/alcohol', 'dog stuff' and 'toiletries'.

Before I did this I had no idea we spent £35 a month on dog food (but the fussy blighter will only eat one particular brand..). We also spent £25ish on toiletries which is quite insane, I think the main culprit is my tights cos I'm forever putting holes in them!

I think next month I'll break things down further too, I'd like to see the breakdown for the food category in particular.

wssla00

Hi all

Thanks for the birthday messages ! Well... it has been a mixed bag today. Glad of all my wonderful friends and family but heard today I may be losing my job at the end of Feb through my ill health so will need to really get my bum into gear and sort my life out! It was really upsetting but I understand it and can't really blame them. Perhaps it is the push I needed to sort out my health once and for all. So for the next couple of months, the grocery budget will be leaner! I wont know anything till next week anyway so no use worrying until it's happened.

Other than that though had some amazing presents and vouchers for waterstones so I can get some nice wee books for myself! So that cheered me up plus my trees came and they look amazing- I cannot recommend blackmoor enough for fruit trees- especially the blueberries. they were real bushy plants with good healthy leaves rather than the twigs you can buy in other places, so well worth it.

To be fair, coming onto this site and this forum in particular has helped me be less stressed about no work and understand that it doesn't all have to be doom and gloom and that you can get by until things pick up which is calming and heartwarming- so a BIG BIG thank you for you all from me

Fresh fruit in the garden, understanding food shopping, freezing and batch cooking and limiting my grocery spending- everything is helpful in the times when you need it most!

Anyway, that's enough of my rambling! I think I might take a bath and then settle in with some DVD's for the evening!

Have a good night all

minnie2

NSD today again!!!!! woo hoo!!! think thats 10/12 so pleased with that!!! I may go through cupboards and freezers and try and plan some meals of what ive got left!!

bella121984

Well I went to Sainsburys for bread, milk, and butter, and spent £32.45! I also bought some veg for a veg lasage which is on my meal plan (but forgot the pasta sheets and I dont think there are enough in the cupboard!) and salad bits, some cereal and bananas, which to be fair are all things I needed to get, I just needed more than I thought- ive never shopped like this before! Have updated signature, hopefully it should be alright for the rest of the month! On paper it looks like it ought to be, but its harder to plan and shop per fortnight than I thought!

Catslovelycats

:rotfl: Watch out minnie2. I'm on your tail....
Well done by the way!

daydreamer2007

How do I join this challenge ?
sorry new to all this and My head is spinning through reading so many posts
Cathy