January 2011 Grocery Challenge

Souk08

Well, not a great month for me money wise as I spent £100.84 and my tgt was £60! :eek:

However I was on South Beach for most of the month and lost 8lb's in the first two weeks which i have kept off so not all bad :j:j:j

Back to normal for Feb so my tgt will be £60 for all food for me. X

Ilona

No spend day for me today. Looking after friends dogs, no time to go to shops. Dinner tonight was a plate of steamed veg with mushrooms, all reduced from Tes&co. A piece of cake I bought from a cash and carry. My Kippppling fruitcake, two for £1, instead of £1 20 each at the supermarket. A treat, I only eat cake if it is cheap.
I'm glad I don't have to shave, ha ha.
Ilona

minnie2

martafdz wrote: »

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.

thank you so much!!!! will give them a look!! he has got one where you replace the blades - he says its a gilette one - not sure which version but may be better off starting from scratch!! i just cant believe how much these things cost.

alicemskinner

Hi there

Can you put me down for a total of £55 for January. Well under my £108 target but I think that's because I got free massive lunches for one week at university.

Can you put me down for £104 for February (I've got a gradual reduction strategy to get me down to £78 per month).

Quite impressed at how little one can live off but I've got a massive storecupboard of cereal and soya milk - life might get more expensive when they run out.

Cheers

Alice

beemuzed

OK, Well I've spent my budget now and not planning on buying anything tomorrow. However, £115 was spent on fuel for the cars! So I don't feel too badly about that.
£350 spent in total - break even month!
Please keep me at the same level for February.

*Twizzle*

Declaring £166.?/£200 :j

Reducing this to £150 in Feb ....will see what happens!

Thanks to everyoe for the support and inspiration x

Spike xxx

LittleMissHappy_2

Hi everyone

I am going to declare £199.15 for January....85p under budget :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: And I only got under budget because I asked my sister and MIL if I could have a few of their dishwasher tablets so I didn't have to buy any before Feb Very MSE :cool: (but obviously I will replace them!) I have everything in I need for tomorrow and a Mr T delivery for Tuesday so am confident that my total won't change!

I think I am going to stick to £200 for Feb please as we used up a lot of stuff in the cupboards, so need to replenish those as much as possible Good luck for everyone who still has to declare, well done to those under budget and well done for those over as (like lots of others have said) you have still spent a lot less than you would have and you are thinking about how and when you spend you're money which is half the battle, after all See you all on the Feb thread x

Missus_Aka

Am on £133.86 so far after spending £2.79 on 4 pitta bread and a pack of chicken sausages (10), i might get dh to get some juice on the way home probably sunpride tropical but i will not go over budget for the month. Will update sig and what i end on tomorrow night, i think i will treat ds to a choc on the way home from nursery tomorrow as well

catznine

Calling it at £79.95 which means that out of £150 allowed this month and money saved from what I would normally spend (£200) I saved enough to buy a portable gaz heater! (Gas repairs going on in area) :j with money over to go into dd's wedding fund!

lemanie

Good Morning Everyone

I'm hoping you'll let me join in. I have tried before and soon gave up but I really need to get a grip of our finances and 2011 is the year. I have decided on the 'a pot for everything' way of doing things. The pot for groceries, toiletries and household cleaning is £400/month.

I have been meal planning and reducing our spend for the last 3 or 4 months of 2010 and know that this is a realistic amount. Having said that January didn't get off to a good start as I was quite poorly for the last two weeks so hubby bought convenience food and we paid for school lunches to make life easier and went over budget at £454.99 for Jan.

I'm not too disheartened though because the freezer is still full of meat and other ingredients for 2 weeks worth of meals so February should come in a lot under budget.

See you all on the Feb challenge board and thanks.

Mel