January 2011 Grocery Challenge

rosieben

minnie2 wrote: »

...But this is the first month that i havent had to worry that we havent got enough money to cover all the bills untill next pay day!!!!!!! ...

doesn't it feel great to be taking control of your money :T

Spigs, I love this:

It's taken our whole lives to get to the spend-y phase and it will take time to relearn the benefits of save-y ways! :T

minnie2

rosieben wrote: »

doesn't it feel great to be taking control of your money :T
:T

Spiggle wrote: »

Minnie2, I love reading about the difference this challenge is making to people's lives. And not having so many money worries in these hard times is a real boon! :T As for things you could do better, we're all learning all the time. It's taken our whole lives to get to the spend-y phase and it will take time to relearn the benefits of save-y ways! It won't all happen over night and baby steps are often the way to go. Well done on your achievements so far and good luck with the rest of your changes. :beer:

See you later,
Spigs

lost my way half way through this month,was expecting results too soon i think - couldnt see the difference so thought whats hte point! - but im back on it now!! thanks to this thread - it has actually made a huge difference! everyone is always here and with som many different situations and views you are bound to find the routine and budget to suit you! I know weve got a long way to go but - we are doing ok so far!

Hippeechiq

minnie2 wrote: »

But this is the first month that i havent had to worry that we havent got enough money to cover all the bills untill next pay day!!!!!!! So i am very happy with that!!

That's a fab result minnie. Well done :T

I'm a tad miffed. Just popped to Ice£and to get some milk, ice cream and bread, and they've stopped selling 2 K!ngsmill loaves for £1.50. They're now £1.15 each! (although they have reduced their 2L Milk down from £1.10 to £1) Had I have realised this, I would have got some from Te$co when I was in there on Thursday, as they are selling 2 for £1.50

I'm afraid I couldn't be bothered to walk all the way to the big Te$co today, so I begrudgingly paid the £1.15 but only bought the one loaf instead of the two I wanted. Along with picky 22year old SS only eating pizza & chips, he also is the only one in the house who likes white bread - so I normally buy one Wholemeal and one White....luckily, I have ½ a Wholemeal loaf left in the freezer and ½ in the breadbin, but had to get the white for him as he only has a couple of slices left! Grrrrrr :mad: I hate paying through the nose for things.

Anyway - total spend £3.15 so tally is now at £240.09, so £9.91 left int' kitty.

Just realised I need carrots & sweet potato on Monday, so I will spend another pound or so, but it does look as though I'm going to come in under budget. Which after reducing it by £25 - and seldom coming in under budget when it was higher - kinda makes me feel :j lol

ma-ri-ella

going to declare this weeks total as 10.63-slightly more than planned but i got some good deals that will last over the next few months is there a thread for feb yet? xx

martafdz

cats... I laughed at your craving of Doritos... again!... what is it with them? Lol

minnie, that is great! This month I also managed quite well and also my first. I think that January is the worst month of the year (together with December) for expenses, so I am comfident I will do good this next month!

I bought a silicone tray today, but it was in TKM@xx and it was £6.99. It is a square one, looks really good. They had some that were a combination of both metal and silicone for muffins and so on. I am going to try this one ans see how it goes first before buying more. I wish I had thougt of £land though! I also bought a tiny juicer so I can use those tasty oranges I had from A&C. Shame I need 2 oranges for a tiny glass! But they were really really tasty.

I still have about £3 left for the month. I will try to stick to it and buy nothing in the next couple of days. I got paid yesterday but in my head it makes sense (= or just plain lazy and easier) to do calendar months than wages, so I am sticking to it!

I will have to look for that Kenk* from Amaz*n.

I am also going to go through my previous online shoppings to see how often I have been buying non-perishable basics, so I can start to figure out how to stock up. I can only do a bit, like 3 months at a time, since I have no room whatsoever (2 shelves in a corner of a cupboard!!), I will have to look for a way to do it. I thought of those leather chests that can be used to sit on top but I have no room for that either. Wardrobes are full to the maximum with books and boxes and I have no room under the bed because it goes right to the floor, no space in between. i am so looking forward to have my own flat so I can buy smart furniture!

Winged_one

I am declaring at €535 (only €85 over my target -ugh), altyhough DH got fish this morning that I will have to add in.

On the other hand, I have done the weekly shop (got a few things in Lidl earlier in the week, DH got fish this morn, and I got liver in local butcher, went into F&V man next door and got mushrooms, courgette, lettuce, carrots, and 10kg of poatoes for €12, and then went into chemist next door again for milton and a toothbrish for DD rather than going to supermarket).

I didn't even have to get lamb for Monday's rogan josh, as I checked freezer before I went and found a family sized portion already there. I have, in fact, a menu of options for the week from the freezer (and I've put them up to remind myself during the week of what's there as MEALS using what's in freezer/fridge and jars in cupboards, rather than as chicken/pork/prawns which need some inspiration).

Tonight, we are having fish (mackeral for DH and lemon sole for me as I can't take the bones)
Tomorrow, he is having a fish pie using the hake I had already taken out for a fish risotto (!!) and I am having a lamb chop and caulflower cheese (he's working)
Monday - the aforementioned rogan josh, with a pack of puppodums in cupboard and basmati rice (may even make proper pilau)
Tuesday, I have to use a bag of fresh pasta, so defrosting a pack of sausages and a HM tomato sauce to go with them, got a garlic bread in Lidl the other day
Wed-Fri: Options include
Chicken (frozen in pieces) with a HM curry sauce (F) and ice
Pork (F in pieces) stir fry with noodles
Prawns (F) with a jar sweet'n'sour sauce and rice
Ikea meatballs (F) and HM potato wedges
Macaroni cheese (with F cooked bacon pieces)
Nasi goreng (cooked rice is F, tin tuna, tin sweetcorn and other veg)

And I still have a load of other chicken and other bits to use up from freezer.

THe only thing I need to buy for the rest of this coming week is bread and milk. Off to join Feb thread with my new target!

Spiggle

ma-ri-ella wrote: »

... is there a thread for feb yet? xx

The link for Feb is in post 2467 on page 124 ma-ri-ella. Hope that helps.

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

rosieben wrote: »

... Spigs, I love this:

It's taken our whole lives to get to the spend-y phase and it will take time to relearn the benefits of save-y ways! :T

Thanks rosieben, I do feel that sometimes we just don't give ourselves enough time to adjust and that can be disheartening. So just wanted to say to all the newbies to not be too hard on themselves and hopefully they'll stay with the challenge rather than feeling it's just too much of a struggle rather than a challenge iykwim.

Well done Hippeechiq, looks like you've got that budget beat! :T

Right, so I didn't go to town as OH reckons we've enough in for a good few days yet. We did get some spuds yesterday from the corner shop and got some more today with frozen peas and some bread rolls. These are for the GD as she refuses to eat our hm bread. Weird or what?!? :huh:

Smack my wrists I didn't update my siggy yesterday and still haven't but promise faithfully to do it after I've posted this.

We are going to be well under budget this month but that's only because the two big shops I did were paid for in vouchers and points. And I really need it to be this far under after I b*llsed up the CC payment. :doh:Nevermind, I sorted out other ways to give myself breathing space as well. :whistle:

Ok, I have to go and have my tea now. I've had a mad cleaning and airing the house day and cut it extremely fine with Arg*s to collect GDs birthday prezzies but they're here now and I'm very pleased. A good few H*ll* K*tty bits for her. She loves it.

Have a great evening all and I'll see you tomorrow.

Take care,
Spigs

angelatgraceland

MummyEm wrote: »

Someone mentioned silicone baking bits a few pages back. £land are doing some which are great. Have bought small cupcake ones which work much better than my tin, seem to rise really well every time. Also have a loaf one and those grippy things for grabbing hot trays out of the oven. I was worried that all these may be poor quality or a bit too thin but so far, 2 months in, they are going strong. They also do quite a bit of other bits but have been limiting myself as am including cookware in grocery budget!

I am just catching up on the thread so have yet to read the last 2 pages so apologies if someone else has mentioned this already.

On my GC front. Still have £5 odd in the kitty and not yet planning any spends. Not spending anything on GC today. Have friends over this afternoon. Making banana bread and flapjacks this morning for grown ups. Homemade pizza, wedges and salad bits for the kiddies teatime.

Hope you all have a nice day.

Ive still got my £land ones from 2 years ago which I got on hols in Blackpool-funny holiday souvenirs! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I did bring back somes strange souvenirs thinking about it-including tetley teabags at £1 a box.The £land silicone items look exactly the same quality as the expensive ones to me!
Read recently about silicone egg poachers(may have been Kleeneze)-well I wont bother as Ive got some silicone cake cases I bought in Waitrose(12 for £5)and I figure they will work exactly the same!
Bought new kitchen tongs and a bottle brush today which Ive been hunting for but not coming out of grocery money. Also got some bird seed and about £17 spent in Iceland-will update that spend asap.
Must get ready for my £4.50 pub meal tonight now! Not the ritz but real food.;)

Jumps

Just popping in to update. I am £64.67 over budget.:eek:
Declaring £364.67 for January:mad:. Please put me down for £325.00 for Feb.
My month doesn't finish until Friday but I have enough food for the rest of this week.