January 2011 Grocery Challenge

1256257258259260262»

Comments

  • Hi Please can I declare £139.06 for Jan :j
    Please can you put me down for £200 for Feb
    Thanks
    MAR GC /£346
    The great, good and not so good bits about growing your dinner 2017
  • katholicos
    katholicos Posts: 2,658 Forumite
    Hiya folks, today is my first NSD of the month and my tea and supper were generously sent over to me by Mum. So we had baked potatoes with a pork chop for tea and i've just had a lovely beef and onion casserole she cooked too. Feed a cold starve a fever, that's how the saying goes innit?

    :D

    I haven't updated siggy yet but yesterday i spent about £8 in Home Bargains.
    Grocery Challenge for October: £135/£200


    NSD Challenge: October 0/14
  • katholicos
    katholicos Posts: 2,658 Forumite
    Oh, forgot to mention that today i received 4 tescum vouchers for £6 off a £30 spend. This means that i will probably go over budget this month because i want to take advantage of this significant saving. I may not use them all but then again i may :-)
    Grocery Challenge for October: £135/£200


    NSD Challenge: October 0/14
  • Declaring at 127.31 which is just 7.31 over budget - but still over :mad:. However I have just done a large shop which will see me well into feb as I had a friend give me a lift to stock up (no car). I'm sure it will all even out over the year :whistle:
    & as for some happy ending I'd rather stay single & thin :D



  • janie-h
    janie-h Posts: 78 Forumite
    :wave:
    Evening all

    Bit late declaring - but total for the month £239.50 :T

    See you all on the Feb thread & good luck everyone x
  • 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.

    :T:T:T- what a fab post and makes so much sense, a must for me to try this year x
    march Grocery Challenge 2012 £187.00/£285:D
    Weekly spend 11th march £0.00/£20.00
    5/17 NSD march:o
    10/14lb..2012 loss...1st/5st
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.8K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.3K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.4K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 606.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.7K Life & Family
  • 247.2K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards