December 2011 - Grocery Challenge

bikelesschick

Sorry to hear about A$da holding your money Pixie Fairydust. I don't normally do online shopping but I'd thought they only charged you on the day so if you cancelled the shop, it just seems unfair of them.

I've now gathered all the receipts and I'm happy to say I'm still on target £165.69/£200:j.

I'm hoping we can eat out of the freezer until Xmas at least thus saving a bit more but unsure this will work as we may have some unplanned visits on Boxing Day. We'll see how it goes and plan accordingly.

The bad news is that I'm overbudget on several other budgets but hey ho, it's Xmas after all.

needtosavE_2

No wonder you are so annoyed Pixie! Thats one of the reasons i dont feel tempted y shopping online (even with the £10 off £50 they aways offer). That along with the delivery charge and you cant buy woopsies online! I would probably end up spending more!

Ive just 2 spends to add from firday and sat. £8.32 in Sains for some salad stuff, rolls, milk and some pizzas (were to eat after night out on friday but forgot all about them!)

Also spent £3.20 in co-op on eggs, irn bru and crisps for lunches. Did get a takeaway and some munchies last night too but dont count that in the grocery budget. Thats more of a treat, like a night out would be.

Only planning on spending £10 or so today on some bread,fruit ect for the week. Should manage that ok, fingers crossed! That might even be our last shop before Christmas as we will be eating out from the 24th to the 27th. Im sure the 28th will be a long awaited simple beans on toast at home!

rosieben

Pixie_Fairydust wrote: »

...to cut a long story short, A$da are holding £90 of my money as I had to cancel an online shop. ...

They did that to me a few weeks ago when I sent back my one and only order from them. Its actually your bank holding the money on Asda's behalf. When I rang Asda to complain I was told it can take up to 10 days to show back into the account but in fact it was released back within 3 days, so hope yours will be too.

Spiggle

Pixie_Fairydust wrote: »

Absolutely furious :mad:

To cut a long story short, A$da are holding £90 of my money as I had to cancel an online shop. ...

Feel for you Pixie, hope rosieben is right and it's only a couple of days.

Right, well I managed to get out of going to the dreaded sm and did an online shop instead. It was a mighty total for us at £152ish but there was £27.27 of christmas goodies in there (different budget) and I got 4 of the 16 per pack of C*sh*ll* loo roll for £6 each. I'm only accounting for two of those in this month and two in January.

I bought some a while back when I was in L*dl one day and they lasted a long time. Recently I went back to my 'usual' (being the sm branded 'luxury') and I'm gobsmacked as to how quickly they have disappeared. And *ALERT TMI ON ITS WAY* with long nails they are horrid. :eek: I'll suss them out from *m*z*n in the new year when the price should be lower.

Anyway, back on topic, assuming the whole order comes with no changes that means the total spend to add to December is £111.99. I've also added the many 'little' shops OH has been doing (he has been sternly warned against this today as it smacks of pre GC days and is ruining my count of NSDs ) and we have just under £40 to see us through to the new year. Sig is updated.

The Christmas meat - large FR chicken and rib of beef - will come out of the Christmas budget. The veggies won't though and OH will get those later in the week. Our friend who is with us and the family on the day itself is bringing a ham and if its anything like that which we had at her house in 2010 then we're in for a treat. :drool: We'll need to get an odd bottle of wine and I'll want a bottle of Baileys but I'll get that out of my pocket money (pm). So hopefully, other than veggies and another bottle of milk at the end of the week, we're done food wise. :j

OH is supposed to go to his works do tonight but has a really rough cough and painful chest so he's cried off. I would feel sorry for him but it means I've gained back the £20 I'd given him from the Ents budget so that should get us a couple or three bottles of wine. :T Mind you I have to put up with the moaning monks swarming around 'cos he's so ill! I just remind him of the Boots ad, that always makes us laugh. :rotfl:

Ok, I'm now wittering, please forgive me.

See you all later and good luck with the last minute money saving - don't let them tempt you if you don't need it!!!

All the best,
Spigs

adysmum

Ok, so I went to costco yesterday and spent £20 (was slightly over but my mum paid and wouldn't take any more from me, what a star! :j). Got juice, tissues and 2 pizza's for last night when our friends came round. So at £201 from £300 til friday. Still 2 more shopping weeks this month so have a budget of £500 but am hoping to eat out of the freezer and on leftovers between xmas and new year to make a real saving. Going to aldi tomorrow for the last bits for xmas dinner and still have cash so hoping not to dip into the budget at all if I can get away with it, got my coupons from the mirror to use.

Happy budgeting everyone!

elantan

hi all can i join in ? my month normally runs from the 15th to the 13th as thats when oh gets paid ... but i can just do half a month just now and then start afresh in jan

so from 15th dec to 1st jan i plan on only spending £100 .. so far i have spent £70 already so i really aint going good at all

is £200 a month good for two adults? i wold really like to get it down to £175 or so but i struggle with getting it to £200 never mind anything less ...

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi Elantan - welcome!

It's best to start with slow reductions as sudden big drops can be difficult to stick to, so you're on the right track.

I've only been doing the challenge a few months but have managed to cut back a wee bit and aiming for more in 2012 - it amazes me how little some families manage on tho' so I've a long way to go!

mandco

pixie hope you get your money back soon

spiggs hope your oh is feeing better soon nothing worse than a sick man

well actually doing ok for a change although did give myself a generous budget for dec i have actually managed 4 nsds this wk :j
total spends of £170 :eek: this wk but did include alcohol for our new yr party and most of the food to see us through to new yrs just need meat for xmas dinner then fresh f&v, bread,milk. plenty left in the budget at the mo though still have to get the new yrs party food in but gonna wait and see whats left out of the stocks first.

got a very busy wk so gonna wish you all :xmastree::xmassign::xmastree:
and catch up next wk sometime tc all and above all else enjoy it

tessie_bear

hi...been out for lunch and tea today...great...got to think of some food for the week now...might do sausage and mash tomorrow and steak and chips the next day as it is our wedding anni...plan to use up stuff until thurs or fri and then do the christmas shop

take care tess

PolkaDotsAndLace

Suspect I may be overbudget or very close to it now - did the last big shop of the month this afternoon, but I'll need to sit down with the receipt and take off a few bits like a DVD which don't count in this budget. Will update later (bit nervous about it!)