January 2012 Grocery Challenge

Brassic_Park

2 NSDs in a row.. finally!

Got a cheesecake in the oven but the mix looked really liquid so hoping it turns out ok

HappyNow

Hello , I am new to this thread but would like to set myself the challenge of £100 to cover us from 13th Jan to 14th Feb. There are two adults in our family, with occasional weekend visits from our son who is usually away at university. £100 is only about one third of what we would normally spend, so it might be totally unrealistic, but I have arrived at that figure because it is all we have!! We do have some bits and bobs in the cupboards/freezer so we're not starting completely from scratch.

Thanks

Byatt

ufcufc1 wrote: »

In our house there is me, my wife and 2 children aged 3 and 1 and we spend around 150 pound a week on shopping. I do the shopping so the reason it is so high is down to me as i tend to stray from the shopping list and buy more than we need or use. Starting Monday we are going to do a meal this for the week so i only buy what we will need. Then at the start of next month we are going to try to do two thing. One is to make a list of what we will need for the whole month and then buy what will last the month, i.e tinned food, frozen food and soft drinks (we are lucky we have two freezers and 3 fridges in our kitchen so storage will not be an issue) then we will only need to pop out once a week for things like veg, bread and milk. Then we will look at what we buy and try to down grade a brand and shop for bargains. I will post before next month what i hope to spend next month so i can see how well i do. The hope is for the first month to cut the cost from 600 pound to 500 pound and then try to reduce to cost again in March.

Hi, and welcome! Look forward to hearing how you get on.

Just spent £3.55 on whoopsied bread and toms, cheese and beetroot. I'd gone to get cheap chocolate as posted on the grabbit, but none to be found. Sig updated.

123budget

Hubby phoned bcard today as I couldn't understand why we had been charged interest (we transferred old card to 0 % to try and pay it all off) it seems I was a couple of days late with a payment last month - oops!!
Anyway before they had told him that and he had asked why we were being charged the lady on the other end said oh! ok I'll give you a refund - it obviously pays to query your bills!!

tracey12_2

majjak wrote: »

I took my 2nd purse too with the £15 in it, and bought some cereals (half price in Mr S) and some toilet roll - £6.50 for 18 rolls which is nearly as good as the Lidl offer .

I usually pay approx £4 for 9 rolls (try to buy the packs with the 3 extra free in) so I'll separate the pack I bought today and pop in £4 once I've started on the first 9 and another when I've started on the 2nd lot - have I got the right idea?

Yep that is fine. I love the second purse system. I have a piece of paper in my second purse and I just write down what I have bought with the second purse money and how much it is full price so that I know how much I have to pay back when I start using product.

I usually put a star on the packet so I know to refund second purse for example I stocked up on my Simp*e face wipes the other day and I just put a star on the front of the packet just to remind myself. Don't forget to cross off your list when you have paid.

It has saved me a great deal of money as I can buy in bulk when price is low and hopefully by the time I have run out of that product it is back on offer again so keeping costs lower :T

Tracey

stardrops42

Went to A*di today and spent £54.43 and then had to pop to MrT for a few bits which came to £15.58. That means I've spent £209.61 so far from my £240 budget with £30.39 remaining. I've only got about 9 days left to pay day so I reckon I should be on target, got plenty of stuff in:D

I love this challenge so much! I was spending in excess of £500 before I joined:eek: So if I manage to stay on budget I will have more than halved my grocery bill:j
Thanks so much to everyone who helps to keep it running:beer:

sistercas

went to pick up DD from work and thought i would pop into the c00p as people seem to get really good whoopsies

anyway they hardly had anything , but i did pick up some bread rolls for 55p instead of £1.08. was a bit disappointed , maybe i need to go later on

Ninno820

HappyNow wrote: »

Hello , I am new to this thread but would like to set myself the challenge of £100 to cover us from 13th Jan to 14th Feb. There are two adults in our family, with occasional weekend visits from our son who is usually away at university. £100 is only about one third of what we would normally spend, so it might be totally unrealistic, but I have arrived at that figure because it is all we have!! We do have some bits and bobs in the cupboards/freezer so we're not starting completely from scratch.

Thanks

Welcome - this tread has really helped me reduce my food budget so good luck!

I have been pondering about this second purse and think that I understand it now. My problem was not having the spare cash in the first place to stock up on the bargains but I have just had a lightbulb moment in the bath:T
Upstairs I have a small stash of winter warmers - ie tins and packets to tide me over if we got snowed in. My plan is to make a list of this stash and find out the current price - gradually paying the cash into my second purse as and when the items are used - thereby creating a second purse from nothing - what do you think? It should work shouldn't it?:p

mumsiemum

mumsiemum wrote: »

TBH I didn't notice that! I always keep my dried yeast in the fridge - will be using it tomorrow so I'll let you know what happens

Yeast worked fine from the fridge. Tomorrow I'm gonna try using some from the pack in the freezer. WTS

raphanius

sproggi wrote: »

Well my toilet roll dilemma was solved for me, after having decided to get 2 more packs, I toddled off to L*dl only to find that they had sold out

i went in tonight for loo roll and mozarella...they had neither so i walked out without buying anything. the first time i have ever done that, normally i would buy something to go through the checkout. go me!