May 2011 Grocery Challenge

jackieglasgow

Can I go monthly again this month please. Put me down for £250 Thanks

Souk08

Dawning wrote: »

Morning all!
Well - deep breath - here goes, the start of my first full month GC!
Today will be a NSD but I'm starting to do my online Mr T shop for later in the week - I'm out of coffee and tea bags and olive oil, so that's a big chunk out of my monthly budget. :j

Dawning, I buy 100 tea bags for £1 in my local Poundl*nd and they're Typhoo one cup and really good. HTH X

cleggie

Hi can you put me down for £190 for the month please? Thanks!

hannah:-)_2

Oh dear, gonna have to have a very tight month as off on holiday at the end of the month and can't seem to get anyone else in the family to pull their belts in! Don't want to be a party pooper and stop days / meals out as don't have that extravagant a lifestyle, but something's gotta give!! So, am aiming for £100 this month for food, drink, cleaning and animal food.

Flat_Eric

My first spends of the month amount to £12.31. Most of this was on toiletries (£8.28) yesterday and a pint of milk and 400g cheese today oh and the Sunday paper. I managed to get the Times for free yesterday - so saved myself £1.50 there !

I have chopped up 2 packs of leeks today that have been in my fridge for weeks (they had a use by date of early April!!). I have also chopped up peppers, courgettes, lemons and limes. All have gone in my freezer. I am terrible for buying fruit and veg but then being too lazy to do anything with it and finding myself with no option but to bin it because it has spoiled and needs to be thrown. My salad drawer is full of grapefruits and oranges so I have plenty of fruit to keep me going probably for the month!

I must must meal plan and although I have ideas for the next few days, must put pen to paper so that I can plan at least the next couple of weeks.

My fridge is looking more organised - it isn't so full and means stuff won't get forgotton about and go out of date which has happened recently

zpr1c3

Hi,

Can I join for May please?

I have been lurking in these threads for a while, so thought I would actually join this month.

Worked out that last month I spent £297.42 on supermarket shopping and takeaways, which seems ridiculously high as there are only 2 of us!

So, to ease myself in to this I would like to be put down for £250 this month please. My month starts today and I have already started spending, really must find something better to do that go to supermarkets!!

Zoe

Spiggle

destroyerofdebt2011 wrote: »

... Ive had a similar experience penny grabber when someone mistook my monthly figure as they presumed it was weekly and then quite proudly told me for a single person i could cut back my food bill by a comfortable £20 a week when i exclaimed i dont even spend £20 a week the young girl look horrified and said i spend that alone on my lunches at work. and thats before we got to the £100 clothes budget for the year that ended on a whole debate on whether ebay or charity shops were better for getting fashion!:rotfl:

And the answer destroyerofdebt? :question: Charity shops or ebay? :rotfl:

fedupandskint wrote: »

... I have just over £27 to last the rest of this GC. ... Wish me luck as I embark on this challenge!

Now that is a challenge fedupandskint, I wish you loads of luck in your efforts.

Dawning wrote: »

... Well - deep breath - here goes, the start of my first full month GC!
... I decided there are certain things I can't/won't compromise on, and tea bags are one of them. :rotfl:

Good luck with your first full month Dawning. I'm with you on the teabag front. :coffee: I have tried and failed many times to drop down a bit on the teabags but can't even stomach the difference between T*ph** One Cup compared to my 'normal' T*ph** ones! :doh: We have to allow ourselves some little bits of pleasure (provided we can afford it and it's not going to do untold damage in other financial areas ) and for me this is a red line I will no longer cross as it's a false economy.

Barneydee, a stocktake of cupboards, fridge and freezer is an excellent start point be it the beginning of a monthly or first ever grocery challenge. :T In addition, as we all tend to fall at the "Ooops, I just popped out for milk and spent £20 :eek:" hurdle, it's advisable to always check your stock of staples (milk, butter, eggs, etc) before you go on a planned shopping trip. It helps us to avoid the "Ooops" scenario!

Susan, Souk and catslovelycats, using cash for shopping is preferable as Souk says and more especially when starting out. Seeing the amount reduce and knowing when it's gone it's gone is a great boost to putting down the item that's not on your list, that you do not need and is not a bargain because you don't need it.

I have similar feelings about the till spits and email vouchers for which you have to spend a certain amount e.g. £50. If you didn't need or even want to spend £50 this week then what are you gaining by upping your budgetted £25-30 shopping list to over £50? Potential financial hassle down the road maybe? These vouchers are only of benefit if you already need to spend over the required minimum value. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the supermarkets are not our friends, they do not do us favours and they will try every trick in their very thick book to get us to spend more than we need to.

Ooops, I'm off on cynic street again so I'd better go and clean some windows! Have a great day everyone.

All the best,
Spigs

Spiggle

zpr1c3 wrote: »

Hi,

Can I join for May please?

I have been lurking in these threads for a while, so thought I would actually join this month. ... My month starts today and I have already started spending, really must find something better to do that go to supermarkets!!

Zoe

Welcome Zoe, :hello:

'Strolling' in supermarkets for something to do is a surefire way of spending more than you need to. :doh: Remember, they sell some of the necessities of life but are absolutley not leisure or pleasure domes!!! :wall:;)

Good luck with your challenge.

Take care,
Spigs

Fisyear

Hi I would love to join this challenge, can you put me down for £250 for May. Thanks

susan946

catslovelycats wrote: »

I'm the same. Be interested to know how you get on. I'm thinking the amount we might save in spending compensates for the points we wouldn't earn.

Mmmm cats - this is worrying me too. Shan't get to a cash machine for a few days anyway but I guess I shall sit down and work out how many points I would miss out on at Mr T. Don't do all my shopping there by any means so maybe it won't be that much.

As for today - day 1 - an easy day eatswise. Scrambled egg on toasted hm bread for brekkie - so far I have just nicked a bottle of hubby's French lager for lunch but I ought really to have a sandwich at least - and I have some left over cottage pie for supper. Neither of us has been very well this last week so appetites are fragile at the moment. Cottage pie was made with a pack of reduced price 5% fat mince mixed with lentils, oats, carrots, onions, tomatoes, peas and sweetcorn. So far the £1.50 mince has served the 2 of us for 3 meals so a 4th tonight will make 8 portions. We often have fruit and hm yogurt for pud so reasonably frugal fodder.

Sue