September 2011 Grocery Challenge

20somethinghousewife

Right, I've just left the August thread after declaring myself £1 under budget:j

I'm actually thinking that my budget needs to start going down considering how much I've been able to buy with it BUT this month's all different because we're going away for a week in the middle of it.

I've decided to set my budget at £200 for Sept instead of the usual £250 but it's only going to be for 3 weeks instead of 5. So actually I've got more money to spend which should allow us to have a few nice restaurant meals while we're away but will still force me to be careful while we're still at home.

So my month is going to run from today, 5th Sept to 25th Sept then October will be a five week month, starting early, which seems to work well for me.
7 days before holiday, 9 days away, 5 days after.

rosieben

recovering spendaholic, your Paradise Buns recipe is added to the front page recipe index and I've added a link to crockpotgirls :T

quintwins, I've added a link to crockpot365, thanks :T

rosieben

1836laura, welcome to the GC; if you have to skip a meal because plans have changed, could you freeze the ingredients (meat etc) to use another time, I tend to keep all my meat and fish in the freezer anyway and just take out as I need it

and yes, please give the link to the website for the spag bol recipe

poppy-glos

been to mr t this morning, got into a bit of a tiss over the b1g2f scampi, as the sign wasn't up in the shop advertising it. looked at the four brands of scampi, the value one had the highers proportion of scampi in it!! (albeit reformed). so decided to buy a bag of that to trial rather than the 3 for 1. if the till hadn't put through the b1g2f then i could have got double of their mistake back? is that right? bit naugty it isn't on the shelf but our mr t is a bit rubbish tbh. have now gone over the £50 mark which i shouldn't have until after the 7, so now concentrating on staying within 100£ by the 14.

picked pears this morning so preserving pan out to make some bottled pears, bought sugar and vinegar for those this morning so that could partly justify my overspend (as they go in the cupboard for xmas and celebrations)

good luck all

FoxFace

I am on a NSD today, and doing fine. :j

I had an inset day this morning for DS's school (for which I am a parent governor) and was particularly worried about spending on lunch, however we finished early and so I get to eat some of the soup that I popped in the slow cooker this morning, using up some decidedly old but still edible veg that was lurking in the fridge, and 3 chicken drumsticks which have been in my freezer quite some time awaiting inspiration

However I was tempted to hang around when I found out they were providing sandwiches for lunch, I could have taken a doggy bag to bring home

september1986

£9.99 spent on a jumper at lunchtime, but I did need it for work.

Bringing my own lunch from home is saving me a small fortune too

Long_tall_sally

Hello

I haven't posted yet on this thread for September & I am having trouble keeping up. I have kept my signature up to date though with my spends & looking at my total so far, it seems as though my finances are running away with me at the moment. I must try harder!

Hope everyone is ok.

ButterflyBee

I was quite a lot over budget Last month and MUST stick to the plan this month because I now have more credit card debt to pay off than I would have liked.

Can you put me down for $240.00
$60 a week for the two girls, three cats and I. This should be much easier now that schools are back

sproggi

Another NSD for me:T
Took DD1 for her hospital appointment this morning and had to pay for parking:( but then got home to find that the garage had unexpectedly dropped some change off for me from when my car had it's mot last week (I had forgotten about the change), so that made up for the parking charge

Sausages for tea tonight and roast pork tomorrow, both from the freezer, so hopefully nothing to spend until at least Wednesday.

Sproggi

kahunababy

Afternoon all,

I have just added up my spends from the weekend and I am now at £94.72/£250:eek:

It's only the 5th of the month for crying out loud!!!! Never mind, I now have loads in and plenty of stuff to make some homemade treats for lunch boxes. It's the yogurts that I find are soooo expensive but as my kids won't eat cheese or drink milk I like them to have so dairy in their diets. :mad:

Will not be going near a shop for the rest of the week as we have a number of meals planned with the ingrediants already in and there is plenty of fruit for lunchboxes so fingers crossed I might just stay within budget this month (although it will be very, very tight).

My kids after school activities are all starting up again soon and I may have to sell a kidney to pay for them all:rotfl:
Between, Cubs, Beavers, Swimming lessons, Rugby, Football & Youth Club I need to find and extra £100 this month for their registration:( Thats not to mention the £1-2 per child per activity. September really is a bad month although I shouldn't complain as I do try to encourage them to take part in as many activites as possible and I am just glad they are healthy and active (socially and physically) children. Takes some juggling though but worth it I guess;)

Aiming for some NSD's this week so fingers crossed on that front!