January 2012 Grocery Challenge

rising_from_the_ashes

angelatgraceland wrote: »

I split my annual amount into 12 regardless of the lenths of the month-they balance out. This means that it doesnt matter when payday is-as I set a total allowable spend for each month, I keep a record of all of my spends for the month in my spending diary. So, my annual budget for 2012 is £4000 so divide it by 12 and I have £333.33 budget per month.

Thanks!:D Going to give it a try as I overspend loads on a "stocking up" month - and then just set the same monthly budget the next month so I'm really not sticking to a "proper" budget - hopefully this way, it'll balance out!:D

recovering_spendaholic wrote: »

Thank you to those who responded about my thoughtless kids! I am guilty of letting them rule the roost and it is my New Year's resolution to try and change this - I think I over compensate for the fact that their Dad left us and makes very very sporadic contact but still I need to get a grip!

Tonight I said no to the request for them to stay but compromised by saying that she could have one kid in tomorrow to make some cakes (I made cakes for hampers at Christmas and have loads and loads of cake making stuff left so it will be a "free" activity!!).

:T:T:T

wishfullthinking

SuziQ1962 please let me know how you manage on £60 per week for 6 and one cat. I have 4 in household and 4dogs and three times a week or more daughter boyfriend and grandchild help much appreciated.

majjak

Morning everyone

I'm starting as I mean to go on . Managed to get some reduced milk in Waitrose last night (19p from 89p) - all now in the freezer and pizzas for our weekend guests down to £1.29 from £4 (the huge ones ).

I've managed to work out what time our local small supermarkets reduce their items so a quick visit after work every day should keep the food bill down :money:.

I'm hoping to continue using coupons and the odd glitch from a certain supermarket (:rotfl:) to keep the stockpile going next year.

recoveringspendaholic I'm a bit guilty of the same thing, I tended to do things myself rather than getting the kids to do it. Mostly because they never do it properly, but I think they know that and 'milk it' somewhat :mad:. They're learning fast though, especially since I went back to work and they found out that dishes don't wash themselves or socks don't walk to the washing basket !!!

wishfullthinking

Going to asda today Harringtons Complete Dog Food is on special offer nothing nasty in it £15 for 15kg sack going to buy enough for the month. If anyone has big dogs like me quite a saving as I was buying Wainwrights at £37 for 15kg asked about and was told about Harringtons £24 full price so saving of £88 for the month.

Newby feeling positive

looie

Thank you for the new thread.

I usually have a budget of £100 but for this month can you put me down for £90 for January please.

There is so much xmas stuff left in the cupboards and the freezer which need using up so I think I can stick within budget quite easy .... famous last words !

rising_from_the_ashes

wishfullthinking wrote: »

If anyone has big dogs like me quite a saving as I was buying Wainwrights at £37 for 15kg asked about and was told about Harringtons £24 full price so saving of £88 for the month.

Wow Wishful .... how many dogs have you got!:D

Another to try when you run out of the Harringtons is Skinners - wheat, dairy & gluton free & hypoallergenic (Duck & Rice, Turkey & Rice and Salmon & Rice only).

You can pick up the Duck for around £18 / 15kg bag online (need to hunt for the offers as diff retailers have them each month). My old lad was on Wainwrights before as well and he did really well on the Skinners. HTH:)

lisakay_2

Well, that loaf of bread that the kids made me forget to buy cost me £22 in the co op... there's no way I was missing out on all the fruit and meat reductions they had. I wont need to buy any meat now until into february:j. That leaves me with £8 of this weeks budget and I might nip into aldi later to see what bargains are to be had to keep next weeks spend to a minimum.

SOT2011

Please can I sign up too.

£150 is my new monthly budget - to cover just me and the small dog, it should be generous really, I cook almost everything from scratch, and have dropped brands etc but I always seem to be over.

Budget needs to be more tightly stuck to from now on though as there is much less leeway with only my wage to pay the bills from following the split with ex-OH a few months ago.

I'm now off to menu plan for next week or two so I can do the first big shop over the weekend. I was kindly given a cheese board as a gift, so have 6 different types of cheese to use, and I want to do something more than just cheese and crackers with it, but still make the most of the variety. A couple are easy - cauli cheese with the cheddar, and I made a huge vat of broccoli and roquefort soup yesterday, now I need to get creative with Manchego, Camembert and Hard goats cheese, but am looking forward to the challenge

meg72

wishfullthinking wrote: »

Going to asda today Harringtons Complete Dog Food is on special offer nothing nasty in it £15 for 15kg sack going to buy enough for the month. If anyone has big dogs like me quite a saving as I was buying Wainwrights at £37 for 15kg asked about and was told about Harringtons £24 full price so saving of £88 for the month.

Newby feeling positive

Wow, well done thats a terrific saving.

[Deleted User]

Morning chums well 5th NSD for me as I am off to DDs this afternoon for a couple of days and will finish off the fresh milk I have for breakfast leaving the long-life stuff in the fridge for when I come home probably on Sunday.Last nights dinner was a couple of sausages, a handful of chips from the freezer and a couple of eggs.Not a normal meat and two veg dinner that I would usually cook but it filled me up and only took ten minutes to make,followed but a yoghurt and an orange.
I am going to have a rummage in the freezer in a minute as I'm sure there is a pork chop lurking in there so I will do a 'proper' meal at lunchtime.
Its very tempting to go to Aldis as there 'special' finishes tomorrow but I am going to try and stay clear of the shops as long as I can as I know if I go there it won't only be the veg that I may be tempted to buy.So padlocks on my purse until the New Year.DD says she has quite a bit of left over stuff I can have if I want so I will be coming home with a 'doggy bag' of odds and ends as she daren't bin anything whilst I'm around :)Keep up the good work chums its nice to see lots of new folk having a go at saving some cash via their groceries.Don't forget 'baby steps' at first and never get discouraged as we are all here to help if you get a bit stuck
Cheers chums
JackieO xx