September 2011 Grocery Challenge

Archer0710

Hi, please can I join this thread as I can't even begin to imagine what our grocery spend is (huge I guess:( ) and there is only the two of us and two dogs.

I am hoping to concentrate my mind a bit and prevent Dh's random spending by taking £300 out in cash and making that my food budget for the month. The dog food I will budget seperately as that for October will be £61, which is one sack of their food and 31 cans if their food, they share an 800g tin each evening.

Food wise I tend to spend not a lot but DH is very fussy. From the £300 I will also include cleaning bits which in my case is just washing powder and fabric conditioner as I have a p0lti steamer which means my chemical spend dropped to virtually nothing.

So as payday for us both is the last working day of the month it's an ideal time to start.

pepsi-kins

Hi, I have gone over budget this month by £3 and a bit, although my month doesn't end until the 30th, I really won't need anything else, so I am chuffed at that. I've been thinking I am never going to make my annual target, but I had forgotten about the vouchers and Xmas fund, so I really think I may manage it (fingers crossed). Menu planned for the rest of the month, so all is good.

Have a good week everyone x,

Bumpmakesfour

I REALLY need to join this challenge..thing is how do you decide what's a realistic amount to set yourself?Have pet food to factor in too..

carlyh69

minicazzybee wrote: »

Happy sunday everyone, hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

My DS is on a 'boys' only weekend with OH, so it's been wonderfully peaceful and quiet weekend for me. Thought I would have to hit the shops big-time in order to fill the time, but instead have been very productive and had a huge sort-out of kitchen drawers/cupboards/DS's toy boxes in preparation for his 2nd birthday which will inevitably involve an avalance of new toys.

Bit hungover today after a wonderful night out with mummy friends (used a groupon voucher for gorgeous meal-very MSE) and the meal was fabulous, strongly recommend The Olive Tree for excellent Greek food for anyone in the Leeds area.

So due to the hangover I couldn't face AS*A, so trotted off to the local A!di instead and must have just timed it right. Only spent £8.76 for a weeks shop included 2 packs of Beef Stir-fry strips, reduced from £2.19 to £1.53. So will turn one pack into Beef in Garlic and Ginger Noodle Stir-fry and shall probably reincarnate the other one into Beef Pad Thai, or maybe even an egg-fried rice.

Have given their fake Pantene a go too, but not holding out much hope for it; has anyone tried it?

Yes, the fake pantene is amazing and a fraction of the price, actually i recommend the spray deoderant, their own version of ysl touche eclait and their mascara!

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Bumpmakesfour (love the name:D) - this is my 1st month although I did have a pretty good idea of what I spent as I've been doing the Frugal Challenge since January.

How do you normally do your shopping - if cc, have a look at the last couple of statements or if not, do you have receipts from the past couple of months lying around to get an idea?

My budget is for groceries and household things only - I have a separate budget for my pets as I've a few medical things for them that I wouldn't want to include in this.

If you can work out what you spend and it seems excessive, try to cut say £50 off the 1st month and see how you get on (trying to cut huge chunks off can be too much at the start and it's often easier to reduce things bit by bit - not quite as much of a shock to the system!;))

helen_jelly

Zippy - sent you a pm - happy to do it again

Helen x

shell2001

Not checked in for a couple of weeks so thought I had better update. I have £10 left for the week but only need to buy another loaf of bread and some fruit.

I have stuck to the meal plan and still have a few packs of the chicken breasts I bought on offer from [EMAIL="C@-@p"]C@-@p[/EMAIL] to carry into next month:money:. Meal plan all sorted for this week too. Just made some more flapjack for pack ups and BM on for bread rolls.

I also got another load of £12 off a £60 shop for Sainbugs (can spend them in the local Mr Ts too) so thats good. I may do an online shop to be delivered Friday or pop early on Saturday morning at this one runs out on the 1st.

All in all I am pretty happy with sticking to budget. I did spend £17 on backpacks for the girls that came out of the food budget too.

poppy-glos

bought planned shopping in mr t, and spend £2 on whoopsies orgionally priced at £20! :beer:, so total of a £14 spend today.

now is the challenge of where to put them all as fridge and freezer pretty full. Got two organic celery heads at 7p each, have finely chopped those and put 2 sticks worth each in each little bag, and stowed them in the freezer for when celery called for in a recipe (jamie o's tend too).

am roasting the parsnips in butter, oil and water (don't bother to parboil now, the water reduces away in the oven, then will need to stow them in the freezer when have eaten a bit more out of it.

Because they were cheap - i bought beefsteak tomatoes, now about to do an internet search for what to make with them (not had them before), any suggestions gratefully received

£37 to last to friday midnight. have more than enough food in, so challenge is to stick to what we have and not fancy something else and blow it!

good luck all

76rosie

up to 47.64/60.00. i would also like to join for october. My target is 50.00 for 2 people for the month. Have lots of food in still, also back at college so hopefully no time to shop.

Bumpmakesfour

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Hi Bumpmakesfour (love the name:D) - this is my 1st month although I did have a pretty good idea of what I spent as I've been doing the Frugal Challenge since January.

How do you normally do your shopping - if cc, have a look at the last couple of statements or if not, do you have receipts from the past couple of months lying around to get an idea?

My budget is for groceries and household things only - I have a separate budget for my pets as I've a few medical things for them that I wouldn't want to include in this.

If you can work out what you spend and it seems excessive, try to cut say £50 off the 1st month and see how you get on (trying to cut huge chunks off can be too much at the start and it's often easier to reduce things bit by bit - not quite as much of a shock to the system!;))

Hiya,thankyou
Well I pay on my natwest card..that's the acct where all the "spare money" goes...so I went through Julys and stopped counting once I hit £800 :o:o:o Discovered this site so August was a bit better but still more than I'd like.Got a tight couple of weeks ahead so "ideally" would like to get the bills down to a once a week "big shop" of around £120 with £20 top ups budget for fresh milk/bread etc.Will budget for pets seperately as we have a zoo So I guess my proposed budget for october is £560..then can take it down a notch in november when I'm not such a novice,,,stepping back to wait for cries of outrage at my huge overspending habits :eek:
How do you stick within your budgets?Do you withdraw cash at the start of each week/month?Or just keep receipts for card payments? Thanks xx