January 2011 Grocery Challenge

guccigoo

hi everyone, havent posted for a while been busy and ive been trying to catch up with reading all the posts :eek: well since last thurs ive spent £75.71 thats with mr t, my month ends on thurs so will be declaring then

PennyGrabber

Well, had a NSD yesterday, but spent £3.20 today on milk, bread and deodorant. As@a has special offer on best of both bread, down to 80p instead of about £1.20.

Bit of a crisis now in the PennyGrabber household. BF left today, so I'm now down to a part-time wage with full-time bills... May make 2011 a touch tricky, but at least I can do overtime occasionally with this job. Will need to rethink the job situation, but can't start a new job til Sept, as I'm a teacher, and really I need to work at the school where my children are, as otherwise it's just too hard. I'm currently TAing there, taking a year out of the stress, apparently. Don't think there's less stress now though!

Still, I'm determined 2011 is going to be my year, I've had quite a few @@@@ years in a row now, so it's got to be my turn for a good one now!!

And hey, on the plus side, I'm still (just) under budget!

May need to go and make that marmalade cake and eat it all in one sitting... won't be good for the diet, but looks rather tasty!

PG x

ps sorry for venting at you all, my virtual friends! x

Long_tall_sally

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Well, had a NSD yesterday, but spent £3.20 today on milk, bread and deodorant. As@a has special offer on best of both bread, down to 80p instead of about £1.20.

Bit of a crisis now in the PennyGrabber household. BF left today, so I'm now down to a part-time wage with full-time bills... May make 2011 a touch tricky, but at least I can do overtime occasionally with this job. Will need to rethink the job situation, but can't start a new job til Sept, as I'm a teacher, and really I need to work at the school where my children are, as otherwise it's just too hard. I'm currently TAing there, taking a year out of the stress, apparently. Don't think there's less stress now though!

Still, I'm determined 2011 is going to be my year, I've had quite a few @@@@ years in a row now, so it's got to be my turn for a good one now!!

And hey, on the plus side, I'm still (just) under budget!

May need to go and make that marmalade cake and eat it all in one sitting... won't be good for the diet, but looks rather tasty!

PG x

ps sorry for venting at you all, my virtual friends! x

Do you mean BF has left for good? If so, sorry to hear that. I am a TA - I am sure being a teacher must be alot more stressful although also of course, a lot less salary!

Mrs_Money_Penny

Hi all spent £77.62 in Lidl & asda. Hopefully no more this month!

Habibiboo

PennyGrabber here's to your positive outlook! :beer:
Am also taking a year out of teaching to get on top of health issues, so I'm thinking of you. Hope your week turns out better than your weekend sounds like it's been!

perrywinkle

perrywinkle

martafdz

Prettypaula, yes it was abel and cole. I will have a look at that website too. I do not use that many vegetables but if they last for over a week in the fridge then it might be worth for me.
PennyGrabber, sorry to hear about your BF. I am also a teacher and I am currently working as a supply. Go to some agencies and do maybe supply once a week or so. Register with several, as there is not much work at the moment. Supply might give you between £90 and £130 a day depending of experience, but not many agencies offer this at the moment unless you specify that you are not doing any other kind of job. Also, your subject should be in demand. Cover supervisors are supposedly to only supervise the work, but I have been offered lots of work as this and teachers give me lesson plans and materials to use so they are expecting me to teach... they are paying £50-£70 for this. Last, Teaching Assistant positions are being paid around £50-£60. My main job is teaching languages (my native one) in a private institution in the evenings, then I top it up with supply in the mornings, my qualification is in MFL and Drama but tbh they are calling me to teach/cover anything but that! KS2-3 is easy enough to manage though.

A big hug your way and stay positive! In a few months time you will look back and probably think it has all been for the better, whether it is because you and BF solved the problems and learntt from them, or whether you have moved on and found the right person. I was stuck for 5ish years with the wrong one and when we split up I thought I would not recover for years... only to find the right one (my DH) a few months later! Life is not easy but has pleasant surprises! PM box is open if you fancy a rant.

CRANKY40

Pennygrabber will you be entitled to tax credits/more tax credits if you're on your own. The year my husband died we weren't entitled to anything as joint claimants, but as soon as i rang them and said I was on my own his income for that year was disregarded and they worked out my entitlement on my income alone for that year.
Sorry, I'm hopeless at sympathy so try to offer something constructive instead.

PennyGrabber

Thanks guys. Yes, he is gone for good, and I won't get any more tax credits etc, as he didn't live with me anyway. My TA pay will have to be enough til Sept, although I did get the savings account, so I MAY get through! I have a massive friends base, so I know that I can call on people if I get really desperate, and the teacher I work with is pregnant, so hopefully I'll get her mat cover as I know the class etc etc. Worst comes to the worst, I can always sell my motorbike.

Just learnt what spaving is - I like it, def going to use that word from now on!

Thanks all for pos vibes - it's not as bad for me as last time. A few years ago, my "D"H cheated on me when I was carrying my second, and I had to set up my house, job, etc all by myself, and dd was in hosp having an op on her neck. Mantra - THIS IS NOT THAT BAD!!!

At least I've learnt that you don't actually have to spend loads of money to eat well and entertain your children. It's nice, but not essential. All the best memories from my childhood are the cheap ones - cheap meals, cheap days out, they're the ones I remember, so let's hope that runs in the family!:);)

Night all
PG x

TheBees

Evening everyone

I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE DONE AN ONLINE SHOP INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY GOING TO MRT!:mad: Ended up going over budget by £10!!!:mad: The thing is, I did buy loads of fruit and veg for my diet and got a few whoopsies to fill up the freezer including loads of bread and rolls. I'm a bit annoyed, but then reading everyone else's posts I noticed someone mentioned the cost of all food has gone up and I've got a stockpile of toilet rolls, bread and very full cupboards which will take me through to the beginning of Feb. And don't forget Feb is a nice short month!:j I also forgot to take my £20 gift voucher which would have brought the cost down. Must remember it next time.

Had a busy evening in the kitchen making tomorrow's pasta meal so it just has to be thrown in the oven when we get in, some parsnip and pepper soup (because we found some parsnips in the garden that we'd forgotten about) and a banana cake made with some grotty black bananas!