May 2011 Grocery Challenge

SavingJane

Result, Oh I do like it when I feel like I've got 1 over the supermarkets lol

Had my A$da shop come today, the ice cream was soft and starting to go runny, so I got a refund on that, it had been price matched as they didn't have the 1 we wanted so got a brand pack for cost of their own version and free.

Then the big 1 which is main reason I rang to complain, the tuna was priced as £3 but came today at £6.98, SHOCKING price, I said it wasn't that price last night and the guy looked online and said something wasn't looking right on the site about the price and he would ring me back. He rang back and said yes it was a mistake on the site and thanked me for bring it to their attention. So they refunded the difference

So they shall be refunding me just over £5 of my shopping, Oh I do like that as before I started GC I wouldn't of properly even looked at the bill or complained about the ice cream.

Thanks to GC I'm saving even more money by complaining when things arn't right.

I shall update total when I've worked out what the total comes to

sistercas

nessie216 wrote: »

Out of interest sistercas - do you know how much you spend on your guineas every week/month?

What things do you do to try and save money in regards to their food/bedding etc.???

Curious as i have 8 guineas & 1 rabbit (DH's) and it quite scary when i tot up how much i spend with them - i know they are worth it though!

i'm just trying to tot up what i spend
approx £12- £15 a month on bedding and dry food
today ive bought them :
a bag of kale £1
2 packs of green beans £1.18 for both
romaine lettuce £1
2 cucumbers £1.38
£4.56 and i do this twice a week
so probably around £50 a month :eek:
i have supplementing them with dandelions this last few weeks

what do you feed yours?

MumOf2Beasties

cannot believe it is only may 12th and i have spent a ridiculous £165.26 of my £215 budget:eek:

really not pleased with this as i need to get another two weekly shops out of the £49.74 that's left:(

am thinking maybe a two week meal planner would help a bit?anyone have any tips on how to do this? but also be a bit versatile as we may fancy something different on the day IYKWIM:o

looking in the freezer and cupboards, there's no chance we are going to starve lol and we've got plenty of nappies and cat food (m'sons have wh*skas pouches are 3boxes for £6, another member posted the offer, can't remember who:obut Thank You!!) and pasta and rice and pasata so hope we are ok.

Really cannot afford to go over this month, hol coming up and OH and i have decided to move in together so really want to clear off as much debt as i can before we do so i'm upping a few monthly payments, only slightly but it all makes a difference:)

Had my first ever veg box delivered from the local veg shop on tuesday, really happy with the quality, although will swap a few things next week as we eat lots and lots of bananas and i had to get a few more poatoes from m'sons as there weren't enough for this weeks meals!! it was £8 and when i worked out what it all would have cost in m'sons it came to roughly £10 so a saving made and better quality:Tfree delivery too:D

hope everyone else is doing well;)

Sue14

I had to go into town today to post some ebay parcels, so I got a couple of bits that I needed, not too much as I had to carry it back as still no car, so only spent £1.54 in Mr T's. This no car lark is saving me a fortune, but dreading getting the bill for car repair and m.o.t:eek:! Will have to go shopping at some point over the weekend as we're getting a bit 'mother hubbardy' cupboard stores wise, lol!

nessie216

sistercas wrote: »

i'm just trying to tot up what i spend
approx £12- £15 a month on bedding and dry food
today ive bought them :
a bag of kale £1
2 packs of green beans £1.18 for both
romaine lettuce £1
2 cucumbers £1.38
£4.56 and i do this twice a week
so probably around £50 a month :eek:
i have supplementing them with dandelions this last few weeks

what do you feed yours?

Just added up total for last month £50.45 on fresh food for 8 guineas & rabbit

Normally buy spinach, kale, celery, spring greens (fantastic buy @ mr t - pack for ~ 97p but you have to cut up yourself!), cucumber if on offer, carrots, peppers, sweetcorn (normal or baby), apple, parsley if on offer, sprouts (if in season & not too many!)

Also give them any bits of my food i won't eat e.g. broccoli stalk, little bit too ripe bananas, outer leaves of cabbages, any fruit that won't last! e.g. if i buy a punnet of grapes that i don't fancy any more (all good intentions of eating them when i buy them!:rotfl:)

I try as much as possible to get the reduced veg - but making sure it isn't bad iykwim - if it doesn't look fit for human consumption they don't eat it! (DH has OCD and cuts everything up in little pieces for them! :rotfl:)

Spend ~ £20 every 2/3 months on p@h nuggets (10kg)

I scrounge off neighbours/family/work for newspapers, i get my wood shavings free from a mate from his work, hay i buy in horse size bales @ ~ £4-7 each

Also growing my own veg for them! Whole raised bed dedicated to them!

If you have the space, i would reccommend buying in bulk - especailly the hay - dry food not so sure as the vitamins depreciation - bedding especially - depending on what you use of course!

P.S. nothing is cheaper than letting them be lawnmowers!

quintwins

my AF order arrived, i had some credits on the account and went halfs with my mum so my amount is acually only £8.01 i will update my sig once i get it all put away

Billie-jo

Pixie_Fairydust wrote: »

Do you think I would be mean asking dd's boyfriend to pay a bit of rent

Not at all Pixie, lets face it where else could he stay and not have to contribute anything at all. I think it teaches them how to budget as well.
When our now sil lived with us he paid us a little. We took into account his wages, his outgoings and also the fact that they were saving for a deposit on a house and came to an agreement that we were all fine with. It wasnt a huge amount but it certainly helped. He now says that it was something he would have never thought about himself but now they have their own house and budget etc he realises how expensive everything is.

Spent £39.23 between Te$co and the butchers but did get enough gammon, pork and steak to last two weeks so have frozen some.
Will need some milk at the weekend, some tomatoes and veg.
Fish, new potatoes and salad tonight.

Hope everyone is well and doing ok.

hex2

A little flurry of activity in the co-op, aldi and lidl yesterday. I had to take the boys so a few none essentials crept in, but I was quite impressed that thye had the sense to suggest that £1.99 on ten ice creams would only buy two ice creams in the newsagents - they are 6 and 8 :A.

Co-op has PG Tips - 160, 2 for £5. We had very nearly run out so a timely offer.

Working hard to use up stocks and make do as much as I can.

sistercas

nessie216 wrote: »

Just added up total for last month £50.45 on fresh food for 8 guineas & rabbit

Normally buy spinach, kale, celery, spring greens (fantastic buy @ mr t - pack for ~ 97p but you have to cut up yourself!), cucumber if on offer, carrots, peppers, sweetcorn (normal or baby), apple, parsley if on offer, sprouts (if in season & not too many!)

Also give them any bits of my food i won't eat e.g. broccoli stalk, little bit too ripe bananas, outer leaves of cabbages, any fruit that won't last! e.g. if i buy a punnet of grapes that i don't fancy any more (all good intentions of eating them when i buy them!:rotfl:)

I try as much as possible to get the reduced veg - but making sure it isn't bad iykwim - if it doesn't look fit for human consumption they don't eat it! (DH has OCD and cuts everything up in little pieces for them! :rotfl:)

Spend ~ £20 every 2/3 months on p@h nuggets (10kg)

I scrounge off neighbours/family/work for newspapers, i get my wood shavings free from a mate from his work, hay i buy in horse size bales @ ~ £4-7 each

Also growing my own veg for them! Whole raised bed dedicated to them!

If you have the space, i would reccommend buying in bulk - especailly the hay - dry food not so sure as the vitamins depreciation - bedding especially - depending on what you use of course!

P.S. nothing is cheaper than letting them be lawnmowers!

my 2 love spinach but it is expensive, but they dont seem to like fruit apart from the odd grape, ive never tried them with spring greens - will try that thanks

we do have a run for the garden so when its dry they go in there

unfortunately we dont have any storage space

brilliant idea them having their own raised bed lol

quintwins

hex2 wrote: »

A little flurry of activity in the co-op, aldi and lidl yesterday. I had to take the boys so a few none essentials crept in, but I was quite impressed that thye had the sense to suggest that £1.99 on ten ice creams would only buy two ice creams in the newsagents - they are 6 and 8 :A.

Co-op has PG Tips - 160, 2 for £5. We had very nearly run out so a timely offer.

Working hard to use up stocks and make do as much as I can.

AF have pg tips (i noticed after i ordered so i'm gutted)
80 pack £1.29
or 2.5kg (1150) £7.49