November 2011 - Grocery Challenge

sproggi

First day of the November challenge for me and my first spend.
Went to Mr T as I needed milk, eggs, butter, fruit and veg and ended up spending £30.16.
Our shops never seem to have the mega reductions that others get, just the odd 10p to 50p off high priced items, but for once, there were a few good yellow stickers, 2.5kg baking potatoes down to 44p, I picked up 4 and found that they went through the till on a bogof :jalso got a big punnet of mushrooms for 31p, 4 x packs of 3 peppers for 33p each, 2 x packs of bananas for 48p each and a small punnet of raspberries for 56p.

I did also buy 3 packs of skips on a b1g2f and have to confess to some half price halloween sweets

Sproggi

mildredalien

Updated my total to £25.50 - spent £3 on lunch yesterday as the weekly shop hadn't come in yet. Technically it was October but it's coming from this weeks food budget so I'd better include it!

Ceirdwyn

Well my first spend of the month was £8.40 on a chippy tea for the four of us:o I defrosted the freezer over the weekend so have nothing in, and was in just too much pain to be bothered cooking, so I sent hubby to the chippy. I also spent £38 on snake food, but that's not in my GC budget and is enough to keep all the snakes fed 'till next year.

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi all, loads of pages to catch up on!:D Couple of small(ish) spends for me so far:

Mr A: £11.77

A pal popped in yesterday (counting in Nov spend) and brought me some veg, milk etc which was fantastic of her as it's meant I can put off my online order for another week:j

Co*co -[STRIKE]£20.86[/STRIKE] £10.86

Free chickens!

They had lovely chickens on 3 for £10 and I had a £10 voucher (to be used by December) so couldn't resist:o. I have 2 in the freezer but eat lots of chicken (not great with beef etc) so it was too good to pass up as essentially got them free!:j

Cider = £6.50 / 10 cans - I only buy alcohol a few times a year so this should see me through to 2012!

Sticky toffee pudding* (on offer) and just couldn't resist:)

1 pack of Crunchies and mini Diary Milk bars (both 4 pack - £1) which will go into the winter emergency stash - I can live without chocs but would hate to be snowed in for any length of time without any!;)

*Unfortunately item was put through twice:mad: and didn't realise as DM double parked outside so didn't check receipt before I left. Should hopefully get it back if someone can take me back to the shop in the next few days.


So, total so far of £22.63 / £100 but that should hopefully do me through to next week.

Spiggle

Evening All, :hello:

Some great savings here - free chickens has got to be good rising from the ashes. :T Also some brilliant displays of willpower - congatulations on your 'miracle' with your list prepareathome! :dance: Great gains from family and friends - your mil quintwins and obviously a great friend rising from the ashes. :think: Wonderful whoopsie finds - excellent veg and fruit there sproggi. And a brilliant mantra for the week or month - every penny saved is more in the purse should keep our minds focussed JackieO. :whistle:

We had a small spend today of £9.98 to kick start the month. Needed some loo rolls and a few bits but will need to do an online or big shop soon. Sig is updated.

As I said earlier, we are all different when it comes to budgets though I have to say I don't include Christmas purchases in my budget. I have piggy bank savings accounts for all 'big' spends e.g. Christmas, Birthdays, Entertainment, car tax, etc., into which I pay an amount every month. If I do pick up Christmas goodies at the same time as doing an online or sm shop, I separate the cost of those out and list them in their own special column on my spreadsheet. It could also be a separate column in a spending diary too of course.

Welcome to the newbies who have joined since yesterday :wave: and good luck to you all for November.

Ok, I'm off for supper or possibly a quick game of scrabble first, hmmm. :think: See you all tomorrow.

Take care,
Spigs

Long_tall_sally

tracy12 - I had to read my original comment twice before I realised what I had typed,lol!

recovering_spendaholic

I am in such a bad mood! I had got plenty of stuff in food wise but DD1 (20) flatly refused to eat anything that I had saying it was all rank, which is rich given that she doesn't like anything hm but would eat rubbish all day..

Anyway DD2 and I had leftover hm cottage pie and beans and DD1 went on and on and on and on about not having anything nice - not even anything for sandwiches as we only had wholemeal bread. I can't describe how stressful it was and in the end I gave in and went to the little Tesco round the corner and bought crisps, crusty bread rolls, butter, a quiche, a tin of tuna, bottle of Pepsi max and an Aunt Bessies Apple pie to make her tea. It cost me £9 and I could cry because I now only have about £4 left to last until the weekend. I know I should have ignored her but sometimes it is so hard when she goes on the way she does. She really resents that I don't have the money I used to (got divorced and made redundant a couple years ago from well paid job and have worked self employed on much lower pay since the recession/credit crunch) and is constantly going on about how much money her friend's parents give them.

Anyway sorry to rant on but I don't have anyone else to tell and I feel really upset. Off to update signature...

hex2

Thanks as always for the thread and the support.

Please put Hex2 down for £425 for the month.

mildredalien

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

I am in such a bad mood! I had got plenty of stuff in food wise but DD1 (20) flatly refused to eat anything that I had saying it was all rank, which is rich given that she doesn't like anything hm but would eat rubbish all day..

Anyway DD2 and I had leftover hm cottage pie and beans and DD1 went on and on and on and on about not having anything nice - not even anything for sandwiches as we only had wholemeal bread. I can't describe how stressful it was and in the end I gave in and went to the little Tesco round the corner and bought crisps, crusty bread rolls, butter, a quiche, a tin of tuna, bottle of Pepsi max and an Aunt Bessies Apple pie to make her tea. It cost me £9 and I could cry because I now only have about £4 left to last until the weekend. I know I should have ignored her but sometimes it is so hard when she goes on the way she does. She really resents that I don't have the money I used to (got divorced and made redundant a couple years ago from well paid job and have worked self employed on much lower pay since the recession/credit crunch) and is constantly going on about how much money her friend's parents give them.

Anyway sorry to rant on but I don't have anyone else to tell and I feel really upset. Off to update signature...

Ouch, it's never easy to have someone rant at you Am I right in interpreting that DD1 is 20 years old though?!

TheThriftyScrumpers

Wow. Just checking in for November and 14 pages to catch up on already! Hope everyone is ok. Please put thethriftyscrumpers down for £370. many thanks to all who run the thread xxx