April 2011 Grocery Challenge

Baileys_Babe

123budget wrote: »

I have a couple of questions -
1. What do people mean when they talk of a second purse?
2.How do most people pay for groceries - to you use debit card and just add up receipts or do you draw out cash weekly/monthly and make it last.

We mainly use the credit card (cash back), in places that don't take this we use the debit card or cash. All receipts are passed to me to record and put in that months envelope (I have one for each month, it is interesting to look back periodically to see what changes, blips have occurred), when OH is away with work he emails me his spends then hands over the receipts when gets home. I keep a running total of what we have spent per month and the year to date that way I know how we are fairing.

sparkle76

123budget I use our Egg Money card and so does OH, it gives 1% cashback on everything we spend. This gets paid each April and this year we got £60 back. However, I am starting to think about getting cash out that we keep at home and only pay some upfront onto the Egg card for the mini shops sort of thing. That way I can see what's left in the purse, as for the 2 of us and one cat we seem to be spending around £180 a month just on groceries, and we used to be much better than this...

brodie1_2

Too Too,
my mums friend borrowed a tin of tuna from her as she had run out and her cat will only eat tuna. Well, the cat wouldnt eat it, as my mum said to her mine is in mineral water, your is the noraml one which is salted water, he must love the salt not the tuna!!
hope this may help
Brodie1

Billie-jo

Went for my weekly shop today and spent the grand total of £3.84 :T
in fact if hadnt had to take mum I wouldnt have spent anything. I will need some milk though either tomorrow or Saturday and the usual fruit and veg.

Have got some mince out of freezer for tomorrow and will do spaghetti bolognaise with it - not had this for a while so looking forwards to it.

If anyone is interested Salmon sides are half price in Te$co at the moment.

Happy Easter everybody and enjoy the sunshine. :easter:

Hippeechiq

Mothership wrote: »

Hi Hippieechiq

I didn't know you were trying the 2nd purse
Just remember the 2nd purse is there to take the pressure off you, not add to it. If you can put aside the £10 per month for stocking up items you use all the time, and buy different items every time over the course of a year, what happens is you gradually reduce your main shopping bill, thus freeing up money to pay back the purse. Why don't you try the £10 per month for 6-12 months just to stock up , then start paying back the purse for the items you use, when you feel you can afford to.
If you have a wee look at my signature, you will see that I'm not spending much, just fresh fruit & veg /bread/milk ( wee top up shops). I've been experimenting to see just how far I can take this, we have been living from the freezer stock and store cupboards for the last two months, I'm paying the purse £3 per day at the end of the month for re-stocking, ( mainly for freezer stock). The beauty of it is 'you still have the money'. I've been re-stocking with prime meat, we eat a little less, it tastes better, and we are feeling healthier. Canny be bad.

Hi Mothership Yes, I started my 2nd purse in the last week of February with £7.14 which was money left over from Jan budget.
I added £20 to it at the beginning of March, and £10 this month, but the only way I can afford to do this is by reducing my GC budget by £10 per month - money really is that tight.
As I am also trying to save at £25 per month from my GB for Xmas it means I am now trying to feed my family for £35 a month less than I was 6 months ago - and it was difficult then! This is why paying back the 2nd purse at the non-offer price (thus making a profit) is so difficult for me.

That said, I'm sure there must be a simpler way of doing it, but I don't think too clearly of late because of the stresses at home I simply need to get my head around it better.

I also have weekly envelopes, a meat envelope and an envelope for DDs $limfast/Weight Watchers meals or whatever her particular fancy is as a result of her meds - so I have a lot of balances to tally on an almost daily basis :eek: But I do keep several documents on the computer to help me, which makes life easier. I also keep £60 in my account so that I can do one online shop per month for heavier items. It sounds complicated, but I know what I'm doing - ish

So far though I have put in £37.14 and have paid back the "non-offer" price as and when I've used things, (with the exception of the last 2 used this week)
I have bought 39 items ranging from cereal- to meat for £39.48 and still have £10.79 cash in the purse, which added together comes to £50.27, so by my reckoning, even though I owe it for a couple of things that I've used this week, I have already made £13.13 profit and I have only used/paid back for 7 items (+the 2 I owe for totalling £4.38) which is almost £2 profit per item! :T So I'm definitely going to stick with it!

I think if I used something and didn't pay for it, even if it was just until I'd got up and running, I'd feel like I was cheating IYKWIM. I can be very hard on myself.

Rebekah24 In answer to your question about the best way to manage your money - it's all trial an error hun really, and finding the groove that best suits you and your life, but for me personally, CASH is the way to go.

As mentioned above, I keep money in my account for one online shop a month and everything else is done with cash kept in separate envelopes. There is no way to "suddenly discover" that you've gone over budget. I have £25 per week cash for non meat groceries, and it's impossible not to notice each time I pay for something, how much or little I have left in my purse. The same goes for my meat envelope money and my $limfast envelope money.

When I first started the challenge back in July last year I did pretty much everything with my debit card, and it's the main reason (I think) that I failed. Good Luck on what ever you decide

Oh, and welcome Bexstars :hello:

spandles

and the beef is half price too!

freakyogre

£2.74 spent in Lidl on milk and Cadburys creme eggs How could I resist the offer when they worked out at about 17p an egg?

angelatgraceland

Ive been experimenting with making yoghurt in a flask the last week or so and I have to say I am impressed. It is much quicker and cleaner than using an electric one with all the little jars and the results are quicker and better. Trying not to let family talk me into shopping for food that we do not need. Not bought anything for Easter specifically-except a cheap egg each a few weeks ago but we have a house full of food. DD wants a BBQ tomorrow and hubby said I needed to buy stuff-so did she but I havent-I sent them to our freezer instead for a rummage and we came up with all we need. Ive just minced up some remains of 3 loaves of bread and put them in the freezer for breadcrumbs so next time we make stuffing we will use those. DD does look for them now so I must tell her. Just caught up with superscrimpers online on 4 OD for anyone who has missed the series-nice to watch but I've not learned anything from them(I am chuffed). I took Martins BBC quiz thing last night about my attitude to money. Im a bit of a miser apparantly! I have to agree.

jintyb

123budget wrote: »

I have a couple of questions -
1. What do people mean when they talk of a second purse?
2.How do most people pay for groceries - to you use debit card and just add up receipts or do you draw out cash weekly/monthly and make it last.

At moment I just use debit card but am thinking of drawing out money for month and putting it in envelope and then hopefully not using the household bank account for the rest of the month . (we have a joint account for household bills, food etc, and each have our own bank accounts for petrol and other personal expenses/ kids expenses).

I work on a weekly budget. My budget is £40 per week for me, OH dog and cat, and includes food and cleaning products but not toiletries. This covers all meals including packed lunches with the exception of a Sat, as we alway have a Chinese takeawa., I draw out the cash every week and only food shop once a week.
Luckily the SM I favour are near to each other.
This is my method:
I write my list, then I key it into mySupermarket to check the prices and print it off. I take it with me. I go to Lid£ first and if anything on the list is cheaper or a better buy, as in pack size, than A$da I buy it there. I then go to A4da to buy anything else on the list.
I've done this for ages and it's a real eyeopener as regards prices. Generally F&v is cheaper in Lid than A$da and they often have good offers.
I know this method sounds llike a bit of a faff, and it's not for everyone but it works for me. So far I'm under budget for the year so far by @£50!

HTH!

Candy_Belle

Over budget again but not by much! Declaring for April £237.79 and would like to be put down for May £235.00 please.

Thanks x