January 2012 Grocery Challenge

majjak

Hi everyone

Declaring at £300.19 ..... a few pennies over so I'm thrilled with that !

Well done to everyone who's managed to stick to budget.

Off to join the Feb thread, see you all over there !

catznine

Winchelsea - just seen your posts and wanted to send some (((hugs)))

scotmumof3

Winchelsea wrote: »

Hello all, I'm not declaring for this month as it has not been at all typical. As some of you may know, my DH Bill died of bronchopneumonia on 7th January. Our fantastic family and I are beginning to get back to normal a bit now, but as you can imagine, spending has been all over the place.

So I'll be back on track for February.

Well done everyone else on January efforts.

So very sorry for your loss my thoughts and sympathies are with you.

SueP19

Kylieminoag wrote: »

I am itching to go and use the shiny new thread:j:j.... (and the shiny new budget:rotfl:) but darent until January is absolutely over, finshed with, caput! My February budget was already going to be a challenge - and then last night BIL announced he was coming to stay for a fortnight (so thats 5 adults instead of 4 on £200:eek:)
Todays job is to inventory the freezer to see how many meals I can get out of it without spending! Then I might nip to Ald* to see if I can stock up a bit more from January underspend....

Had a really nasty shock yesterday - did my tax return on line and discovered that my employer hasnt deducted enough tax.... I owe them over a thousand pounds! :eek::eek::eek:I'm really cross with employer but more cross with myself for not noticing they had been using the wrong tax code for over a year!:mad: Thats my rainy day pot of savings all gone (and some!) and I really dont know how I'm going to build up another one.... all hopes on the sealed pot challenge now!

Ah well - back to counting.... 3 pots of HM broccoli soup....

If you are a PAYE employee as well as self employed you can ask to have your tax code adjusted for April 2012 and taken from your pay.
I am not sure if there are limits to this (on how much you owe) but it will have save your little pot, after all £1000 over 52 weeks is £19
Give them a ring

valerie57

Winchelsea I am so sorry to hear of your loss. I hope that the support of your family and friends can help you through. Big hugs.
Kylieminoag - yikes. That is one horrible tax bill. Can you negotiate to pay it back in installments?
In this house January feels like the longest month ever. I have updated my signature but will have to learn from this experience. I am down for £350 for February and really want to stick to it. We are stocked up with coal so it might be easier this month.
Well done to everyone who has managed their budget better than me this month.

helen_jelly

Winchelsea - very sorry to hear of the loss of your husband, Helen x

Rainy-Days

I didn't - very naughty I know - declare all my GC receipts, but I did keep them on my receipt spike in the study so I could refer back them.

Anyway grand total spend for this month was £213.59

I spent between Sainsbobs and Lidls yesterday 50.37, which means I will not be going shopping for this week and given that this was actually a five week month I don't think it was too bad!! Will try harder though

freyasmum

meg72 wrote: »

Are thel arge chickens included in this offer, I looked but the only ones with the deal were very small.

Sorry, I've only just seen this.

They are medium but they seem rather big!

I cooked it al la Heston - slather in butter and cook at 90'C till the internal temperature of the breast gets to 60' - about an hour and a half. Then rest it for 40 minutes and blast it for a final 10 minutes.

The legs were actually raw. I know there's pink and cheffy people are more likely to serve their chicken like that but this was just. plain. raw :eek: Oh, and the butter burnt during the last 'blast' in the oven (which I completely expected) and set off the smoke alarm :rotfl:

I like the concept - badly overcooked chicken can be really difficult to swallow - but I'll go back to my usual 180', breast down until it comes to temp (70-75 for breast, 75-80 for thigh). I do turn it round so it's breast side up for the last maybe 20-30 minutes or so. It's guaranteed to be juicy - you can actually see the juices moving around under the skin - and tender and no extra faffing. You should always rest meat before you eat it though


Now it's my day off, so I'm gonna go and catch up on as much as I can before I fall behind for February :rotfl:

freyasmum

Winchelsea wrote: »

Hello all, I'm not declaring for this month as it has not been at all typical. As some of you may know, my DH Bill died of bronchopneumonia on 7th January. Our fantastic family and I are beginning to get back to normal a bit now, but as you can imagine, spending has been all over the place.

So I'll be back on track for February.

Well done everyone else on January efforts.

You poor thing - you've had a time of it :grouphug:

I know words are of no comfort at a time like this but if you need to blow off steam or rant or anything else, we're all here

Linzi x

elizabunny

Winchelsea wrote: »

Hello all, I'm not declaring for this month as it has not been at all typical. As some of you may know, my DH Bill died of bronchopneumonia on 7th January. Our fantastic family and I are beginning to get back to normal a bit now, but as you can imagine, spending has been all over the place.

So I'll be back on track for February.

Well done everyone else on January efforts.

Winchelsea Sending more hugs your way and continuing to think of you.

I have decided to declare today one day earlier than I thought. I am declaring at £46.70p for January thank you This is within my target for the month from my annual amount (the amount is low because I started the GC partway through the month). I am very happy with this!

Well done all GCs! Good luck for next month!