October 2011 Grocery Challenge

slowandsteady_2

hi everyone!

omg ashamed to say i havent been on the GC for sooo long but have had a very variable income over recent months with work etc so its been hard to know from one week to the next!

Anyhow would love to rejoin if thats ok? I have been on maternity leave since 29 wks pregnant and now have a fixed income until april, i am being induced on 11 october as i have gestational diabetes and apparently baby is huge:eek: so i am trying to think ahead as to what extras will crop up but still reign in my spending.

I recently got rid of my car as insurance due to renew but i dont need one till i go back to work so i have less ability to shop around as hubby is not as fond as me of visiting various shops so ive gone from being able to shop around when i felt like it and knowing where the little gems of local shops are to going just once a week. I feel like im spending loads though (around £40-55 depending) as its in one go but i was probably spending that anyway when i go to different shops. However now i give all my cash to Mr T:( and dont seem to get half as much for my pennies.

In terms of thinking of new baby we have everything we need including a good supply of nappies in etc. I am planning to BF but this wasnt possible with dd1 as i was very poorly so i will be playing that by ear and hoping for the best.

Ive done budget with the assumption i will need infant formula just in case and im going to set it at £220 for October please:D

I think that is plenty for us. The freezer is stocked and i want to start running it down for Xmas and the cupboards have plenty of staples. I doubt i will be doing much shopping this month so should be fine and i'll revise it at the end of the month.

My month is running from 3rd October-31st October as i rely on my 4 weekly WTC for groceries.

I am just really hoping DH doesnt end up spending a fortune on convienience food when i go in for my induction and he is at hospital with me, that is worrying me but he knows me too well and will probably make a packed lunch for himself!

I am going to asda tomorrow with hubby for a few personal bits for my hospital bag, not out of GC cash, but i do need shampoo and baby wash for dd1, oh and some onions lol so will be adding those to my total.

Will start to catch up on thread although i have read a few pages.

Have a good month everyone x

freakyogre

I lost track of September, but am pretty sure I didn't go over. I must try harder!!

Please can you put me down for £55.00 for October. I've spent 89p on milk today and bought a sandwich for lunch yesterday (£1.80). I usually take my own lunch, but every so often wil buy something instead.

Twiceblessed

First update. Was cheerfully avoiding the shops when the Avon catalogue arrived. £6.50 on items i decided were essential. Think its all the little bits i buy throughout the week that add up rather than the occasional big shop.

Prefer shopping online because i dont have a car but then miss out on all the really big discounts

Still this is really making me think before spending, hope i can keep in my budget :money:

buddiebabe

Hey

Well we did a big shop before start of October.... had a voucher to use and it was the only day we could get to the shops.

I've already managed to spend £4.18 this month on the following:
- bread 21p (reduced in Mr Ts)
- potatoes 59p (Reduced in Mr Ts)
- toilet rolls £2.00
- 2 sweet thai chilli sauces and 2pts milk 58p (they were free with a newspaper, which i got discount on, should have been 65p for paper)
- tikka masala sauce 30p (free with newspaper)
- french bread stick 50p

So far its not too bad! I wouldn't have normally bought the newspaper that had the coupons in it but i needed the milk and it worked out cheaper to buy the paper than the actual milk itself and when my mum went to M to get the sweet thai chilli sauce it was on bogof so they gave her 2 for my coupon :jwhich is an added bonus.

Tonight we have had the reduced potatoes and chicken for tea and the remaining chicken will be used to make a curry for tomorrow night. I don't usually meal plan and need to try and start to get into the habit of it but find it hard to do as i work 2 jobs and my OH works shifts so this week there will be 3 nights i will be making dinner for myself.

Will look into meal planning in greater detail when i have the time

Buddiebabe x

kerrirobberts

I've been terrible, the OH visited this weekend and my grocery shopping budget flew out of the window. £40 spent on not a lot, although I did make a lovely casserole and told him we weren't going out for breakfast when we could in fact make it ourselves. The only saving grace I have is that we stayed in and watched a film on Saturday instead of going to the cinema.

supersally01

Evening all. Need to rejoin the challenge as been missing in action for the past 2 months. This is due to moving and starting new jobs etc. Now just me and dd13, ds04 so can lower my monthly budget to £300 This is still really generous, and I hope to take it lower depending on how I do this month.
So far spent £25 in mr m, £17 in mr a, got some glitch yogurt, £11 in lidl, and £5 in pound shop.
Got a £6 off £40 coupon for mr m's for next weekend, just need to stay out of the shops till then. Good luck all!

ChasingButterflies

Hi,

.com delivery due tomorrow, but there would have been a milk crisis in the morning so £1.85 spent... just need to figure out how to put it in my sig!

Hope everyone has had a nice evening.

angelatgraceland

Well its a NSD I am pleased to say! DS wanted chips from the shop tonight but I said no so he had hotdogs in bread!(he wanted sausage and chips) Pulled a few bits from the freezer to use-HM soup and some bolognese so hoping to use those in the next couple of days. I must make a b it of room in there for some bread when I next buy some! Tried soapnuts in the dishwasher again today with perfect results-well-it should bea fter the superclean I gave it the other day. I feel as if Ive been scrubbing pans and my cooker all day today as the cooker top was awful-its ok other people cooking but they just dont clean the cooker after. Tried my tub of Astonish for the first time and liked it. Uneventful day realy but thats good sometimes ;+)

readyforchange

I'm going to set my first grocery challenge at £200. As I don't get paid until the third of the month that's my start point (which also means today has been a NSD):D

I think this is reasonable for a family of 2 adults & 1 child (possibly very generous) but it's going to be interesting to see just how far I can reasonably bring this down.

I'm going through this forum with a fine tooth comb tomorrow. So much info to take in. It's making me feel a bit dizzy. :eek:

Ches

NSD's yesterday and today so nothing else spent. Today I made bread and cooked a ham joint I had in the freezer so it was poached eggs on toast for breakfast and ham salad with cous cous for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I may make a quiche with leftover ham for dinner to go with the leftover salad and some HM weggies. Breakfast will be tomatoes and eggy bread. With a bit of luck it may be another NSD tomorrow as well.