January 2011 Grocery Challenge

cha97michelle

I did what will be my last food shop of the month and have come in at 192.49 out of £190 target.


I am going to be proud of this though, as spends were:
food and household - £187.37
toiletries - £4.22
cat food - £0.90

I know from last years spreadsheet that i spent £197 on food alone last January, so i need to be proud of this for my first proper grocery challenge.

My aim was to survive January. My actual monthly target for my yearly budget is £200, and going lower means i am doing ok. I know i have had some silly impulse buys, and we can get it lower if need be or be comfortable and have a couple of little treats.

For February i am thinking of a target of £200. I still have a lot of cat stuff, but i am running low on nappies. Ideally DS is old enough to be out of them, but he is rather reluctant, so i might just leave him again until March when it will be warmer.

SuziQ1962

Mothership -you are an inspiration! I love your purse/bank idea and will sit down and start planning mine-but where do you store all the stuff you buy-I have a very small house with no storage-though if I ever get round to listing stuff on ebay that might make room:)
Good luck with sorting out your life x

ebayqueen_2

Mothership wrote: »

I thought this might be a good time to tell you all about my OTHER Purse. I'd have told you before but I didn't have time to sit down and explain how it works.

About 30 years ago I started putting £10 per month in a separate purse in my handbag , that I keep JUST for special offers and bargains.

Its saved me many a time when funds have been low especially when the children were small (4 of them).

The purse works like a BANK, if you do it like I do and build up a good stock, that stock effectively becomes your own STORE, for eg; if you buy three bags of sugar that are usually £1 each and you get them for 50p each, you've saved £1.50. What I do is when I use one of the bags of sugar £1 goes in the purse along with any other money I owe it.

If anyone would like to know more about the PURSE/BANK and would like to start doing it, and need any help I'm happy to help.

At first I kept a list of all the stock I had and ticked off as I used one, then I knew what was running low. Once a week I would pay the PURSE/BANK what I owed, once a month the £10 was paid to the purse.
So for example if I had used £5 worth of my stock, the following month there was £15 in the PURSE/BANK.

I buy as many as I can of what's on offer, usually in multiples of three.
This month sugar was only 50p a bag so I bought 12 = £6. A years supply (check items will be in date by the time you use them.
Last month it was teabags on B!!!F I use 1 a month, but had 3 in stock , so I bought nine of those, think they were £3 each full price.
The month before that, coffee was on offer I use 1 jar every two months so a years stock is 6 Jars, if it has a LONG date I would buy more maybe another 3, so I would have 1 1/2 years worth of coffee.
The month before that it was the pasta we use all the time it was 3 for 2 normal price £1 per pack. I use about 1 bag per month. I only had one pack in stock so I bought 6. 7 months pasta all dated Aug 2012, so will be well used before then.

When I first started doing this I just bought 3-6 of everything. Up to the value of what I had in the PURSE/BANK.

After about a year of doing this I had a great stock. There was about £150 in the purse. At the time that was about what I spent to feed the whole family for 2-3 months. And the things I needed on a weekly basis became less and less. Until all I had to buy on a weekly basis was meat fresh fruit and veg and perishables.
Occasionally if an unexpected bill came in or one of the kids needed shoes in a hurry, I took the money from the purse, I didn't ever pay this back .
At one time I had around £1000 in the PURSE/BANK I put £900 of that in a safe place, leaving only £100 in the PURSE.

Heres the good bit.

After my shopping lists, I have a wish list, and a never in my wildest dreams list.
It meant if I saw something I would like I could buy it for eg: I LOVE Le Creuset, so I'd maybe buy myself something from the range. That was on my wish list.
My TV ariel got struck by lightning and blew up my TV, I got £500 from my insurance to replace it. I took £500 from The PURSE/BANK. And purchased a TV that I would NEVER have been able to buy so that was classed as being on my Never in my wildest dreams list.
This was my REWARD for being thrifty. And I'm still ENJOYING the TV:D

When I joined MSE I had £900 in the PURSE/BANK. I was able to take advantage of any GRABBITS or GLITCHES I found. I had a grand old time LOL. It took my STOCKPILING to a whole new level, as before I only really used the PURSE/BANK for groceries/ household /supplies etc.
I now have a great stock of toiletries/ makeup/gifts, all things that will be used within a year.

I've never spent so little and got so much. Or had so much fun doing it.

I used to visit the old style threads and read the posts, I LOVE the idea of the grocery challenge. I had been taught all the basic survival skills, all the old school ways, and stopped using them. I had become what the BIG boys had made me, the rebel in me played them at their own game and my family got the benefit of any profits.
But I hated what I'd become, there was a time when you couldn't buy convenience meals, and I would never have dreamt of buying them. But little by little I ended up buying what they wanted to sell me.

I hope you will all forgive me for not telling you all about the PURSE/BANK from the outset, I mentioned in an earlier post that there was a great sadness hanging over my family, I cant talk about it to anyone just yet as we are LIVING it at the moment, and I'm having to be strong for my family, even though I'm just about to bawl my head off.

I found something totally unexpected when I joined this challenge, and it isn't on ANY other thread 'human kindness' and like minded people.
In spite of my PURSE/BANK cushion I was still not doing it right, but I'm getting there, with all your help and support, thank you for that. All of you.

What would we all do without you:happyhear
You are an inspiration and I love reading your posts.
I am sorry that you are having a difficult family time, my thought and prayers are with you.:)
Keep up your posts.We all get alot out of these boards and its members like yourself that help us new ones:p get a grip with living the right way.
:T:T

sistercas

Mothership wrote: »

I added the links to my websites, I had them on before but took them off, when I got reported for offering the free wool.

This might be a good time to tell you all I'm working on a POUNDSTRETCHER book at the moment. My PURSE/BANK stuff will be going in and possibly my Grocery Challenge experience too. It wont be like Martins book. Just based on my own experience. My girls have adopted my ways, and are doing really well.

i'll buy it
I love the purse /bank idea and would like to have a go , I will have to re-read the post as i havent quite assimilated how it works
(((hugs))) hope things sort themselves out x



just made millies cookies , which should keep my lot going for all of a nano second :rotfl:
got enough bread till tomorrow , so wont put the bm on today

have to go to home [EMAIL="b@rgains"]b@rgains[/EMAIL] to get some foil and sandwich bags in a few mins

cjj_2

Hi everyone
Can i just say im loving this thread. Only came across it the other day ( im always on grabbit while you can thread). I need to cut my spend down to £50 pw. 2 adults & 2 kids although one is now 18 so i guess its 3 adults & 1 kid.
I started saving my receipts on Weds so should i finnish the week today or should my £50 last until tommorow. I hope its today as ive spent the last of it today on milk, grapes and reduced sausage. How do you guys run your week ?
I am very grateful to all the helpful people on here and am quite excited with the challenge. I need to cut back as my little business is not doing too well. Been applying for jobs but no luck and im pretty sure what im saving by having a bit of time is more than i could earn in a minimum wage job and good fun too. Does anyone else feel like that. My friends who work full time seem to pay top whack for everything as they dont have time to shop round.
Anyways lovely chatting to you all x

OrkneyStar

Mothership wrote: »

No offense taken in any way shape or form

I feel its only fair that you all know what I'm doing. This challenge will most likely form a chapter in the book, its too good not to write about, all the effort and work of the folk who maintain it and originated it will have credit where its due.

Surely anything written on here is property of MSE ? So if, in a book, you mention this thread (and any of the specific tips), you have to clearly state that people were sharing them on here, and not to you personally. Of course you will have your own wealth of knowledge/tips gained aside from this thread and that is yours to do with as you wish. Just a thought .

Billie-jo

£13.48 spent in Morri$on$ which takes my total up to £129.57 leaving me with £70.43 to last until 31st Well if I fail I want my backside kicking is all I can say.

wssla00 - well done on the new job hope you enjoy it. :T

angelatgraceland

Took my son to town today to do his theory test(he passed first time)went into wilkies and got reduced milk and Xmas crackers! Milk was 4 pints for 68p so had 2 bottles and crackers had 75% off so just 62p-that made hubby laugh!!!

MummyEm

Just a note on the dishwasher tablets as everyone seems to be talking about Finish. I tried DW tablets from Lidl this week - W5 Dishwasher tablets all in one. I decided to try these as budget wouldn't stretch to Finish this time. I am completely sold on them and am recommending them to everyone I know. I was very much a one brand lady when it came to the dishwasher but not anymore! Considerably cheaper, and doing a great job. I have as yet to remove anything that hasn't been washed properly, glass is very clear, no overpowering smell which I don't like much either.

Hope this helps someone

Jolaaled

rosieben wrote: »

some great recipes there Robson, I've added that link into the index :T

Just come across this site too...may be of interest.

http://www.bakingmad.com/ideas/bread-maker-recipes.

I am hoping to vastly improve my novice breadmaker skills as I'm getting series of dense, hardly-risen loaves which taste deeelish, but don't last long (and hence costing a small fortune).

HTH