January 2011 Grocery Challenge

boysma

Oh dear just totalled up my spends from yesterday and today. Declaring 277.95 for January (77.95 overspend) absolutely gutted:(. I guess i underestimated just how much we spend on food and groceries. Bearing this in mind can I please up my Feb budget to 275.00.

Different game plan for next month - going to try an online shop (Mr T) for most of the essentials and take advantage of offers etc and then still use butchers to buy meat parcels. I suppose it takes a while to see what will actually work for us but i reckon i still have saved from what i normally spend.:)

Ilona

Spiggle wrote: »

Hi catslovelycats,

Eating out is entertainment for me. Hope that helps.

All the best,
Spigs

Think I must be the odd one out here, eating out is a rip off for me. The food is never as good as what I cook in my own kitchen. My portion sizes are just right, never over or under cooked, tasty, nutritious and cooked from scratch. No warming up frozen ready meals like some restaurants seem to get away with.
I dont feel very entertained when I have spent £20 on a meal which would have made me two weeks of dinners at home. :sad:
Ilona

rosieben

I count meals out (a rarity for me) as Entertainment too, and keep a separate budget but I included the weekly takeouts I used to share with my aunt in my GC budget.

Baileys_Babe

catslovelycats wrote: »

How many of you peeps include eating out in your grocery challenge?
As you can see, I've gone slightly over anyway, but am out for lunch today and debating with myself as to whether to count it as an entertainment spend or a grocery spend... Decisions decisions...

We include eating out, take aways, etc as otherwise I think occasionally we might be inclined to cheat by eating out to save the grocery budget

Trinny

Hello All

Declaring £73.82 for this month looks better than it is - single person in the house ATM rather than couple - usual spend is £150 pm so trying to work out what one adult plus hungry cat will use.

Just about to change the target for next month - trying to get down to a reasonable target for one plus cat.

See you in February

Trin

zarazara

I'm going to try for £310 or less for February.

MummyEm

2 NSD days for me this weekend. Have £5.65 left in budget but DH bought OJ yesterday so this needs to come off, just need to find out how much it was! No spending planned for tomorrow so should be in budget for the month. Off to work out budget for Feb this evening.

Spiggle

Ilona wrote: »

Think I must be the odd one out here, eating out is a rip off for me. The food is never as good as what I cook in my own kitchen. My portion sizes are just right, never over or under cooked, tasty, nutritious and cooked from scratch. No warming up frozen ready meals like some restaurants seem to get away with.
I dont feel very entertained when I have spent £20 on a meal which would have made me two weeks of dinners at home. :sad:
Ilona

Ilona this had me roaring with laughter! :rotfl: We rarely eat out, in fact the last time was in August for my 50th! I was only saying that if I were to eat out it would come out of my entertainment budget.

In all honesty both me and the OH feel the same as you about eating out, probably the OH even more so which is why I laughed so much. Good thing I wasn't drinking hot tea when I read that! :rotfl:

Well, I'm very excited people! :dance: I have today spent £26.79 on veggie seeds for our garden. :T We've decided to forego spending up to £100 on raised beds and just turn the plot over (love the way half me garden has just become a 'plot' in my head with so much ease ) then section into probably 6ft-ish by 4ft-ish veg beds. That way we can still reach everywhere and slab/path/gravel around it for easy access. :j

So why so off topic? Well, I've decided that as we're so well under budget I'm going to add the cost of the seeds into my gc for this month. In reality these should reduce our veg costs in the summer, autumn and even winter for some of them. :beer: We will still need onion sets and seed potatoes and I will do the same with those when I get them. Anyone got any suppliers they would recommend? I used a smallish nursery today and know I've saved a fortune from the cost if I'd bought from S*tt*ns and the like. Just got to get my fruit trees now and we'll be away. :T Wssla I love the look of the trees and canes etc on Blackmoors website. Thank you for that tip. Were your trees as good as they look to be if you don't mind me asking?

Wonderful declarations coming in again today! :T:T:T Keep up the excellent work, you're all doing brilliantly. :A

Ok, I'll update my sig in a minute. See you all tomorrow evening.

Have a great week,
Spigs

looie

Hi all, I am declaring £99.29 for January.

I am more determined this year to keep on eye on the grocery shopping as we are saving for a garage and ideally would like it for spring next year.

We have eaten out of the freezer a lot this month ..... getting through all last year's veggies from my sister's lottie

Take care x

martafdz

minnie2 wrote: »

they are £3 for 10 disposable razors - so you buy the replacement blade ones? well he has got one of those - but he doesnt use it! argh men!! i would be rich and certainly less stressed if it wasnt for him!!

he shaves atleast 5days a week - hmmm i am a very bad liar hehe!! and i bloody hate facial hair! hehe!!

ok i will have a look for those and have another talk to him!!!!!!!! ask him why he doesnt use the other one and where and how he thinks hes lost the lead! i knew there had to be a cheaper way!!

Oh, I see. Well, for what you say, chances are he shaves every day lol. That makes it £9 a month for 30 blades. You could spend those £9 in one of the packs with a razor and 2-3 blades to start with. I think one blade should last almost the whole month but even if he uses one every 10 days, you should go even. At least to try. My OH used the disposable ones 3 years ago and ended up throwing them away after a couple of days, otherwise they used to cut him. The replacement blades, however, last ages.

http://www.boots.com/en/Gillette-Fusion-Phenom-Razor_857761/ This one is £7.80 with 2 blades. I know it looks a expensive price to pay but the blades last for a long time. Also, once you buy the razor you just buy the blades. The packs of 8 are at about £18, which work out at about £2.3 each blade, which should last way over the 10 uses you get at the moment with the replacement ones. For me, a cartridge of 8 blades last way over a year for both of us, but mine does not save as often. However, I think 8 blades should last a minimum of half a year. Which means that you would be paying £3 a month for blades instead of the £9 you are currently paying. And that only in the event that your OH uses a new blade every 15-20 days.

Superdrug has the same in a gift set with gel, moisturizer and deodorant for £7.99 http://www.superdrug.com/toiletries/gillette-fusion-bag-set/invt/215964/ Also, a smaller gift set with the razor, the gel and the deodorant for £5 http://www.superdrug.com/toiletries/gillette-fusion-grooming-box-set/invt/215957/ This is an absolute bargain, since the razor costs usually £8 on its own. I would give it a try. You can order online, delivery is free. Idk what's the minimum order though. The razor usually has 2 blades in the packet.