November 2011 - Grocery Challenge

ebayqueen_2

Good morning everyone. Hard to believe we are nearing the end of November, where has the year gone!

Well now this week I have spent £64.70 so far. I am happy with that and that brings the monthly total to £294.23 out of £350.

Monday Tesco's ...... 10 bottle fizzy water, 2 packs of reduced bacon, 42 wash fabric softener, 2 x 6 packs skimmed milk...£13.56

Tuesday Sainsbugs ...absolute tonnes of reduced bread, reduced veg, meat, plus cat food, plenty of freezer bargains .....£17.83

Wedneday As*a ....... small shop of cupboard tins, packets, oils, staples, milk, red wine for present, crisps and frozen foods ...£33.31

Happy with my progress this month and have now made a budget of trying to feed us all for a weekly £80 over a 4 week period which is £320 and the extra £30 for whatever bargains or extras I may need. I think this is doable. This is for a family of 5 and cooking for 7 on 2 days a week. When I read the last sentence I feel as I have come so far from this time last year.

All the best and keep out of the supermarkets :):)unless you are on a whoopsie hunt :):)

E

quintwins

hi everyone i think were over budget because it's close to xmas i swear they but pices up around xmas, and there far to many tempting tins of sweets ect, and also cold weather makes us crave comfort food, i'm way over budget but i'm not at all bothered by it and infact i'm still spending, but i will do very little shopping next month because i hate shopping in dec, it's cold wet and far to busy and everyone seems to leave there manners at home, so it will be the farm shop only and maybe a trip to tesco for yogurts and bread

today is a nsd because i've caught oh and ds's bug i hate being sick so i won't be eating and neither will oh or ds (will offer him toast but he prob won't take it) gonna do beans on toast for the other 2 for lunch (half a tin in the fridge) and then lo stew for tea, right now i'd really like a bottle of fizzy water to settle my tummy but i can't see that happening since i have no car and even the thought of walking to the kicthen makes me feel sick best so make them some breakfast i'm thinking jam sandwichs so i don't have 2 stand too long

tessie_bear

hi...been a quiet morning so far but am off shopping later so that could all change...peeled a bit of veg and sorted out tea...we are feeling skint at the moment so might try and live off food in the freezer for a couple of weeks....its that time of year when i feel people are helping themselves out of my bank account and im watching them

need to add up this weeks spends and plan some nice but cheap meals for next week

tata tess

xxlouisexx56

another 5.50 spent in iceland today. reduced beef, meatballs and a chicken for sunday lunch. 4 pints of milk too.

I was made redundant last month and i am currently fighting for at least redundacy pay. My DD (nearly 6) keeps asking for a drink / crisps / sweets on the way home from school.
We've tried to explain to her we dont have alot of money now that im not at work but she just tells me to get some money from the cash machine. She really just doesnt understand. I wish she would stop asking as it makes me feel worse than i already do

Gorgeestwo

Hi Everyone,

I didn't even keep track at all in November but back at it again for December Could I please be put down for £450 in December thank you very much

Spiggle

Long_tall_sally wrote: »

Well, declaring at an appalling £555.88 for November, a whopping £105 over target. Just feel like giving up tbh.

Hiya LTS,

We've had this conversation before so please forgive me.

The comments made by others above are all valid. You are spending less than if you weren't monitoring your spends even if you are going over the budget figure.

You also have to factor in that you have to purchase specialist dietary foods that most of us don't ever have to consider when planning our budgets. I know from when OH suffered some difficulties years ago that the price of specialist foods were astronomical compared to 'normal' foods.

The aim of the GC is to control our spending, reduce it in some cases and feel better about ourselves for that control. Your budget being so low is perhaps unrealistic considering your circumstances, real needs and ever spiralling costs. The budget is therefore having a negative effect on you instead of how it should be.

It may be that your annual overall household budget suggests that £450 per month is what you can afford. However, a consideration all of the constraints above could also be factored into 'affordability'.

You posted a few pages back that your average monthly spend showed £480 per month. Why not start the new year using that average figure as the starting monthly budget and see where you go from there? It's not a huge increase but may go some way towards ameliorating price rises and your genuine needs?

Please don't give up and leave us. I would certainly miss you and I know others would too. You have been so supportive of others throughout the time I've been on here and you would leave a big gap.

Think about having December off, perhaps, and then come back to us refreshed and ready to face 2012 with a more realistic monthly budget. PM me if you want to talk some more.

All the best with loads of hugs,
Spigs

tigerfeet2006

LTS, please listen to Spigs you know she talks sense May I be cheeky and ask what are the special dietry requirements your family has? Have a (((hug))) from me and please don't give up.

Louise, sorry to hear about your redundancy. Could you take a sports bottle of squash and some homemade biscuits/cakes/flapjack type things or a small tupperware container with a handful of smart price mixed fruit for her to munch on on the way home from school.

Quintwins, sorry to hear you are not feeling great. Hope everyone gets better soon.

Recovering spendaholic, It did my three (9 but eats like a horse, 4 but eats like a pony and a 6 year old who can be fussy and I never know how much he will eat of anything.) My DH and me (but I am only eating a fist size portion of anything nowadays due to illness.) I have enough left that I am going to cook up the left over bacon from the hubble bubble and some onion and add it to it.Might bung some grated chedder on top as well. Will probably do some corn on the cob and it will feed my 3 tonight. DH has a parents evening so will eat at school and I will have toast or something. Will probably give 'em pudding as well.

cattysmum

Just a £9.07 spend to report at Tescos after a DTD of £7 for Loo rolls (Andrex) Am going off to Aldi this afternoon with my MOC this will be last spend of the month fingers crossed.

mooomin

I'm out for dinner tonight (Toby Carvery, nowt fancy!!) so won't need to buy food. Currently have stew in the slow cooker which will be tomorrow's dinner. It smells lush too! My slow cooker seems to get very hot even on the low setting, so it's been on low since seven and I'm about to turn it to warm till I get home from work. I can then pour it into a bowl when it's cool when I get back from dinner.

Hoping not to spend anything else until Saturday or Sunday now

Long_tall_sally

Thanks flying-fresian, LittleMissHappy, prepareathome, msnightryder and of course Spiggle & anyone else. I am going to have a think about my budget & spends. The ridiculous thing is that I know I could reduce it if I didn't buy so many treats but because everyone in the house has got used to there always being coca-cola (not for my own 2 kids as they don't like fizzy drinks), crisps & chocolate bars (although these are restricted to one bar a day for my 2) that I would find it hard to reduce them.

The people I am feeding are myself, OH who has a packed lunch every day, my two kids aged 12 & 10 plus 2-3 days a week OH's sons aged 19 & 17. All 4 of the "kids" have their own "fussiness" which often involves cooking different meals for people on the same night. I also never know for sure whether one or both of his sons will definitely turn up on the nights that they are supposed to be here because they both have jobs involving shifts plus social things that they often forget to tell me or their Dad about!

My son aged 10 is type 1 diabetic & also has Coeliac disease. Although I do get his bread & some pasta on a prescription, a lot of his g/f food is purchased from shops & is very expensive. Also because of his diabetes & the fact that he plays a lot of sport, he is always equipped with sugar-free drinks, sugary drinks or dextrose tablets for hypos plus normal snacks to follow up with after a hypo, everywhere he goes. I do do some baking for him. He particularly likes my banana loaf although invariable I end up throwing some of it away because of the time it takes him to eat a whole loaf himself.

Nethertheless, I know that of course it is possible to reduce my spends to a much lower amount even with these circumstances which is why I do keep persisting with the £450 target! I think Spiggle that you could be right though - maybe if I just set it a bit higher, e.g at £480 I wouldn't feel so down about it every month like I often do!