August 2011 Grocery Challenge

meg72

rej-c wrote: »

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Oh, and I've finally found a way to make a start on a '2nd purse'-type strategy [couldn't quite get my head around it for a while there]. I spotted that a local Mr S was clearing out a washing detergent I like for less than half price, so I nabbed... erm, let's just say enough to keep us going for years ...and paid for it out of my 'pocket money'. Every bottle I use from that stash, I'll buy 'from myself' with housekeeping money as and when [and put an equal £ amount into a yet-to-be-decided savings pot].

What a great idea.Think I will go for this in September.As virtually all of my stocks are either whoopsies or or too good to miss offers
I like the idea of bargain shopping from home.:T

medsdemon

Morning all.

Well yesterday ended up not being a NSD as I walked to town and visited the butchers to buy sausages so that's another £4.00 on to August budget. I asked if he sold pigs cheeks and said he could as they get them in for popping in the sausages so I have a supply for a couple of HFW recipes I want to try. I'm declaring at £229.25 for August

Septembers budget starts for me today and i plan a NSD. Please put me down for £200 for September please. I'm determined I will come under oneday, but not sure it will be this month since it's a 5 week month for us:o
Sausage and herb stuffed aubergines and potato gratin for tea tonight..nom nom.

quintwins

morning all nsd today, i thought i had a hospital appointment but when i went to check the time it was friday lol so nice quiet day at home

i don't include fuel in my budget as we usually spend more on it than on food :O it's not like we go far either

dinner tonight is baked taties with spag bol and cheese

i'm lowering my budget way down for sep as we don't need much and an online shop showed that even if i did need everything i could feed my family for £130 with a few treats thrown in, i was gonna go for £100 but i remebered we have to pay the school £4 a week so.... Can i have £115 for sep please

the bigger 2 will be on school dinners so that will help a little bit and they will get atleast 1 peice of fruit in school so i can buy slightly less, budgets looking good this month

those people in m&s could have made 5 toasties for what they paid for 1, saying that if i'm meeting friends i tend to feed the kids before we leave and then get them a bun or drink of milk as it gets expensive buying all 3, and i've been known to grab a packet of biccys before we leave and just give them them and a bottle of squash i brought with us, it's not that we can't afford it it's more a case of i bregrudge paying it as it's all seriously overpriced even in cheap places

fil gave me about 20 plums off his tree yesterday i might stew them and serve with rice pudding, my own tree should be ready very soon aswell and i'll have pears soon, he has apples aswell so i'll hopefully cut down my fruit bill

xXLauraXx

Can I please join this, as of Friday i'm in desperation to not be spending all our spare money on food, its just getting silly.

If i can add my total for Sept to start off at £300, almost half what i'm spending now. With meal planning and avoiding supermarkets at unneccesary times i'm hopeful i can easy do it, and then start to reduce it month by month.

medsdemon

Arghh Had to buy milk in the end as hadn't realised I was so low and need it to make the gratin for tea tonight. I also bought a bottle of squash beacause I'm out and it was half price and 2 jars of cheesy vegetable bake sauce for 74p for both as thought it's cheaper and quicker for emergency meals than making my own sauce. So that's £2.48 to start my September challenge with. NSD's the rest of the week...!!!!!

MummyEm

I havent had time to catch up on the thread as v busy with the kids at the mo, but a quick update on my totals so far ...

Had a few spends over weekend and today taking me up to £369.99 /£450. It's gonna be close!
Need to do a mealplan for the rest of the month with what is in the freezer to keep it down as low as poss. Have a very busy first weekend in sep with lots going on, and family staying so need to try to get food organised for that asap or it will end up costing a fortune which we cannot afford!!
Think I will do a mealplan up to the 6th Sep. Writing a shopping list of bits needed up to the 31st - which I will then buy in next few days, and a list of things to buy on the 1st of Sep - so this can go in the Sep budget.

Fingers crossed

eveie189

Hi everyone,

I would like (or maybe not) to declare £436.24 for July. That's 107% of my original budget of £405. To be honest I don't think it's that bad considering I regularly spend over £500 per month usually even though I have been a lurker/occasional poster on here for ages!! I would like to go for £400 for September please. I am determined to get under this time.

cookie9

Had a small top up as running low on milk. Came to 15.64 so technically will be under budget however have had a few meals out so need to try harder.

mrs-moneypenny

i havent finished Aug yet but will go for £400 for Sept.

got everything out of the cupboards on monday and listed whats in there with the hope of using some up. last nights tea was what was left of a bag of dried beans and pulses that i soaked overnight then boiled, i added them to a grated carrot,grated courgette, a few sliced mushrooms and a handful of shelled peas ad a bit of soya mince. i served it with mashed sweet potato.

dad and step mum visited this morning with a lovely big bowl of tomatos so had cheese and tommy sarnis for dinner
tea will be quorn and leek pie with cheesey pastry

zebredy

Quick question, if my husband got paid on the 19th of August and gets paid every 4 weeks, do I count any money I spend on shopping in Augusts budget. He doesn't get paid again till the 16th of September.

I'm not officially taking part in the challenge by declaring what I aim to spend on here in red, but I do have a figure I would like to stick too just wasn't 100% sure if I should count what I spend, in August or September (assuming August for now)..