January 2012 Grocery Challenge

raphanius

been shopping at a well known supermarket and after lots of MOC's and a conditional spend voucher i have £13.67 to declare. that does include loads of 54p warburtons farmhouse bread! plus i ended up getting 10 blue dragon sauces at 29/30p each....couldnt resist

because i did some non-food shopping (such as a keyboard for DS cos he spilled a glass of ribena over his old one grrrrrr) i had to split the receipt up and then take of a pecentage of the £7 off £50 spend voucher so i didnt cheat with the food and declare less than is fair. i gave up after half an hour and got OH to do it cos it wouldnt reconcile with the receipt.

tigerfeet2006

tigerfeet2006 wrote: »

The mince I got out of the freezer last night has not defrosted in the fridge (meant to take out of the fridge and put on the side and forgot this morning.) So the choice is bacon and brocolli pasta bake or cauli and broc cheese.....hmmm! desicions, desicions!

Any votes either way? What would you cook?

Went for bacon, broccoli and pasta bake in the end. It's just finishing off under the grill now so I will let you know how it went.

Ninno820

Hi all - another NSD here but am really missing the social side of shopping and the whoppsie hunt. Like many others I really have to keep out of the supermarkets so that I am not tempted so am aiming to just top up with veg this weeked. 12th January - 11 days to go and just over £14 left - the finishing sight is in view!

rising_from_the_ashes

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

This place is awesome :cool: and the spreadsheet makes my basic tracker appear somewhat feeble and pathetic by comparison! It still lets me total my spend and filters on the columns let me see how many times I buy things in a month so I know what my bulk buy totals should look like. Thanks for taking the trouble to upload the link - much appreciated. Makes me realise what a naive money saver I am at this stage... Oh well, it can only get better :rotfl:

Ohhhhh please don't feel bad ..... whatever works for each one of us individually is all that's needed - I know a lot of people who only update the tabs in the SoW with the totals (eg Mr A - Groceries - £ spent - £ real value) and don't list individual items.

I do list things individually for a couple of reasons - 1) I still overspend on unnecessary things and if I can look back at the breakdown of the month and see I've bought 8 packs of donuts (yup!) then I can try to do better next month ... (there are already 3 on this month:o) and 2) I find it useful to look back at the prices of things - which I know a lot of people keep track of in their spending diaries. (Esp useful for the pets stuff as I bulk buy this and the prices vary hugely so very handy to know when a deal's really a good one!)

I have been told I'm a bit obsessive but I've spent years trying to get DF - have never budgeted before (always done the "rob Peter to pay Paul" each month) so it's a whole new learning curve for me - I still have a very tight budget and don't have spare money like many do once the debts are cleared (done through 2nd job - now gone:j & e*bay etc) and I'm terrified of ending back in debt again .....

WelshWoofer

THought I was going to have to do a "big shop" this weekend but have just looked in the freezer and realised its still full!
Think it will only be fresh stuff, dog food and toilet roll so hoping to stick to around £20 or so again - we'll see........

totallybored

I'm thinking about using some M & S Xmas present vouchers at the weekend for next weeks food, should I add that spend to my monthly grocery total?

Also, what is a reasonable amount to budget each month on general spending while at work etc ( we take lunches but sometimes buy a coke / coffee etc). And what do others budget for entertainment / the occasional meal out / beer :beer: ?

majjak

I use CWs spreadsheet too, it's fantastic ! I can thoroughly recommend it if you're trying to keep track of all your spending. It does take time to input all the info but you do get quicker at it. I find it very useful for keeping track of prices of fruit and veg per lb and that I can see exactly how much I've saved on my 'whoopsies'.

I've had another NSD here :j Might need milk and a bit of fruit/veg over the weekend but that's it. :T

lemmings1986

majjak wrote: »

I use CWs spreadsheet too, it's fantastic ! I can thoroughly recommend it if you're trying to keep track of all your spending. It does take time to input all the info but you do get quicker at it. I find it very useful for keeping track of prices of fruit and veg per lb and that I can see exactly how much I've saved on my 'whoopsies'.

I've had another NSD here :j Might need milk and a bit of fruit/veg over the weekend but that's it. :T

hi majjak is cw's spreadsheet on here?? or is it your own personal one please?? thanks inadvance

majjak

Hi lemmings,

It's on the first page of the living frugally 2012 challenge ..... hang on I'll go grab you the link x I'm sure she won't mind

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3612005

Under 'My Free Spreadsheet' in the links section

There you go

sproggi

Not had a chance to read through all the pages from the last day and half yet, but will go and read through when I get a chance tonight.

I have been spending again today but I wanted to make the most of a few deals, so another £52.39 for me to add.
Everyone probably knows these, but just in case:

L*dl
Fairy washing-up liquid, 650ml, 2 for £2.50
Cushelle toilet rolls, 24 pack £6.99
500gm Bags of sprouts 19p

Mr T (found a small glitch )

Imperial leather shower cream, 500ml, (sel says on offer at £2, down from £2.29, but scanned at) £1.67

I originally bought one of the Japanese spa, but went back to stock up on more and it also worked on SoftlySoftly, Soft Touch and Purify for men :j

So now just got to find somewhere to store it all!!

Sproggi