April Grocery Challenge

moggins

Lillibet they will still deduct the voucher, there were a couple of things not available when my order arrived and the whole order after discount only cost me £29.

lynne have you tried not getting cashback at the supermarket, the trouble is when you take that money out it's so easy to spend it.

Or have you tried taking what you need out in cash at the start of the week, it always seems more 'real' when you are spending cold hard cash.

I'm still getting myself sorted out and there are far brighter people on here who will be able to give some great advice.

JCL

moggins wrote:

Or have you tried taking what you need out in cash at the start of the week, it always seems more 'real' when you are spending cold hard cash.

This is what I'll be doing. Take £60 out on payday and that will be my grocery money until next payday. If I use it and have nothing left with a week to go then I'll just need to make do. Hopefully, with a bit of self-discipline it won't come to that!

The only drawback with this method is missing out on potential interest on the £60 but given the pennies involved I'm pretty sure I'll save more than I miss out on by doing it this way.

Will see come April 30th!

flea72

ok im setting myself £100 for 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 cats and 2 fish - starting on 1st April

i find it hard trying to work out my average spend, because depending on if it was a washing powder month, or a restock the freezer, because we ate out of it the previous month shop, means my spends vary quite alot

i must admit this month, my cupboards are fairly full, so i dont think i will spend the £100, but i suppose carrying over the extra to next month, should even things out, as if i eat everything in the cupboards this month, then next month i will obviously need to replace more things

Magentasue

I am so rubbish at this. I use Microsoft Money and break downmy receipts into Food/Household (light bulbs etc)/Cleaning and Pet Food. I average £400 a month just for food. That's four adults and two children (I'm counting 16 and 19 year olds as adults because they eat as much as we do) and includes four packed lunches every day for school/college. It also includes a few bottles of wine at £1.96 a bottle, £10 a week just on supermarket milk and an organic veg box every week.

So my challenge is to cut down to £350 for April. I felt I had to justify this because so many of you manage on so little!

monkeylugs

I'm setting myself a target of £220 for all supermarket, nappy and food-related expenses for April

(This is my first challenge! and I need to spend less at Morrisons)

Curry_Queen

I'm starting my April challenge next Tuesday, as I work on a 4 week cycle to match the benefit payments, and setting it at £150 for the month for everything. I've knocked £50 off this month as I didn't spend all last month's budget, plus I need to do the bulk buy cat food shop next week which will cost that, although I've managed to find it on special offer so I can get a full years supply instead of the usual six months for the same price :j

Curry_Queen

Magentasue wrote:

So my challenge is to cut down to £350 for April. I felt I had to justify this because so many of you manage on so little!

Hi Sue

Don't forget when people post their budget figures that these are all personal to their own family/financial circumstances and it's not a competition to see who can spend the least

I know I've felt at times that I must be overspending compared to some people's budgets, especially if they have a bigger family than me and their budgets are less than mine, but we need to remember these challenges are our own personal goals and it doesn't matter if one family's budget is £1000 a month for a family of four, when someone else with the same size family can manage on £100

We don't all include the same things in our budgets either ... for example, I include the cost of my tobacco and wine because I buy it as part of my grocery shopping anyway, but maybe others have a separate budget for things like that.

Please don't take any offence by what I've said as I just want to reassure people that this isn't a competition but an aid for us all to look at our spending habits and see where we can make savings. Some people might need to do it to pay off debt ... others might be trying to save up for something ... but at the end of the day it's an individual choice and we set limits we feel happy with

halloweenqueen_2

Well my challenge is still gonna start on the 1st April, but I got a boost today the job I applied for - i got it! woohoo!! I've been out of the workplace for a few years and this one fits round the kids so I get to be a stay at home mum still but with a job. I've just got to be more organised as i don't want to earn more money and then spend more on groceries so I'm thinking of investing in a slow cooker, which will be handy anyway.

Mrs_Thrift

Congratulations HQ, that's brilliant news!

greenlogo

congrats HQ :T

I'm joining in - Because I'm just me I'm giving myself £50 a week for all non-DD expenditure rather than just groceries etc..

mostly because if I'm eating out I buy less groceries etc.

I started a week and a half ago and thus far it's sustainable .

I should get on the store cupboard challenge too - I move house in just over a month and I'm not moving food (again )