January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Hippeechiq

Missus_Aka wrote: »

have 15p for the rest of the month, think i stocked up too much all good offers though that will save me in the long run......guessing i am going over this month but its only my first month.

When you stock up and you wont be using it this month do you take it off this months grocery budget or do you take it off the month you use its budget? am not really sure how to work it out? any ideas please on what you find is best for you

I do - but everyone has their own way of doing this challenge Miss Aka so it's up to you really.

I bought 4 K3nco Coffee refills this month, but I already had two in the cupboard and 3 jars, so it wont get used for a while yet, but I paid for it with this months money, so it's coming out of/counting as this months budget. I find it simpler, and I'm a simple soul

LittleMissHappy_2

Spent around £12-ish in Mr T's today so got around £25 left for the rest of the month, which should be fine I will have halved my monthly grocery budget (and more) when I come in under budget and all it has taken was a little meal planning and a bit longer in the kitchen...it really is shocking how much money I wasted because I didn't spend the time to meal plan...

jovi20

A NSD today, ( just got grocery delivery yesterday, so cupboards and fridge looking quite healthy), I did however, spend half hour on B**ts website, Dissapointed to find most of the items with 75% off had sold out, but after filling my basket with discounted baby milk - 2 tins for £12..(I put 6 tins in basket), shampoo, deodrant and foundation , I decided that the £14 of savings did not warrant me going over budget by spending nearly £60, plus extra £2.95 delivery. Baby milk should be included in the free delivery when you spend £45 offer!
So I was very good and deleted it all. I do have a good supply of milk and toiletries in already, but don't like to miss good discounts on things I use regulary. Just hope the baby milk is still on offer when I go into town next week!

Jovi20 x

PennyGrabber

NSD today. I did go out to bu**er king for dinner with my best mate and my children, but that will be from my ents budget - I have an amount set aside for entertaining the children (and myself!) and as we had a good time, I'm calling that ents! Will need a few lunchbox bits before the end of the month, but if I can make it, this will be the first month EVER!!

Re: when to take the money from which month's budget - if I spend it this month, it's in this month's budget. If I don't use it, that should just, in theory, make next month's budget less. HTH

Will prob be NSD tom, not sure about sun, but will try!
Won't be around tom I shouldn't think, so have a good weekend all!
PG x

kippers

Missus_Aka wrote: »

have 15p for the rest of the month, think i stocked up too much all good offers though that will save me in the long run......guessing i am going over this month but its only my first month.

When you stock up and you wont be using it this month do you take it off this months grocery budget or do you take it off the month you use its budget? am not really sure how to work it out? any ideas please on what you find is best for you

It's up to you...I take whatever i spend out of this months budget even if i will be using it for the next few months as i find it gets complicated otherwise.....but not everyone does this....find a way that suits you best, there are no rules, it's just about cutting back in general overall

MummyEm

janie-h wrote: »

And Mummyems, wishing you all the best on your upcoming birth x

This did make me panic as I wasn't aware I was expecting again !!:rotfl:

Good luck with the birth MummyGems I hope all goes well with your son's op.
Just for the record I am not planning any more littlies (just incase hubbie has read the thread and starts panicking!!

Candy_Belle

Morning!

I'm up at crazy o'clock on a saturday as at hairdressers and only time they could fit me in was 8.30am! Argh!!! But I've got a £10 gift voucher towards the cost Yey!!!

Anyhoo could I please be put down for £235 for Feb.

I would like to thank everyone for their advise, tips and support on this thread and the ladies that manage it - couldn't do the challenge without you all :j

Thank you x

MummyEm

Have just ordered lots of meat for the new freezer from Donald Russell. Sounds Lovely, I can't wait to try it. Thanks Mothership who mentioned discount code and sale earlier. Spent around £86 but that is for a lot of meat. DH and I have recently talked about our meat eating and he is coming around to the idea that a smaller amount of good quality meat is the way to go. This is a big step from the mountain of meat I used to have to feed him! The Donal Russell stuff isn't cheap but I think about comparible with the discounts to our local butcher ( all very overpriced around here).

We are trying to eat better on our budget and source more locally. We now eat eggs from an egg farm down the road. Really lovely and cheap at £1.60 for a dozen very large eggs. Much cheaper than SM.
I may also have found a very local farm that could supply us with freerange chickens but need to investigate costs a little further. I only buy FR chicken anyway and am happy to spend more money as I know I can make it stretch for several meals. It's amazing that we used to spend £8-£10 on a large FR bird from Mr T and only get one meal and perhaps a couple of sarnies out of it! When you start looking past the big SM you do realise that there can be big savings to be made from independants.

I do realise that we are very lucky in that we have a large budget. I have been able to reduce it just by planning and not doing lots of top ups but at the same time improving quality. For us we don;t want to give up too much quality whilst we can afford it. On the otherhand, I now know that I could shop for significantly less if we had any dramatic change in circumstances. I would love to buy all organic and local but this just doesn't work for us just yet. With two young children we get through 3-4 pints just of their whole milk every 2 days . I can get this for £1 from L**L/£land whereas local organic milk is almost £2 :eek:

We do also plan to grow more veg this year. We moved house last year and have a much bigger garden so this could significantly help with costs. This is also the year that I will attempt homemade jam and apple sauce etc. All headed in the right direction, and enjoying it too

Having said all that I would still like to drop our budget down a little more by another £50. I will have lots of meat in the freezer so it may well be achievable!

Maisy_Mouse

Morning all. Spent another £22.63 in supermarket. Leaving me £2.01 until the end of the month.....
So for my first attempt, I will go over budget-but its been a good experience and just makes us want to try harder next month! Reading the posts and posting here is really useful-though difficult to keep up and I'm determined to keep trying to rein in the spending.

I will try again for £350 in February!

boysma

Morning everyone

Spent 7.61 at Lidls yesterday so have already updated my signature Mrs W.

I seem to be doing a lot more little shops now rather than one big splurge but still think i need to plan better.