April 2012 Grocery Challenge

sistercas

just starting on the april GC , i havent totted march up yet but i think im either just under or just over , will check it in a moment

been to c0stc0 today and spent around £45 on toilet roll, haloumi, chicken,soap powder , soap ( dh put 12 croissants in) and£2.97 in the pork shop

need to tot it all up

Florenceem

sabrina_the_mid-20s_rich wrote: »

Thanks cleggie! I think we spend about £300 a month, which includes toiletries, cleaning products, dog food and alcohol. Maybe if I could get it down to £250 in April?

Re toiletries - there is a thread on here - use up all you have before buying more - I am sure we all have stuff sitting around and not being used. There is just Mr F and I plus a large dog. I cook from scratch and we allow £100 a month - never spend all that. We don't buy alcohol. There is also help on here with cutting the cost of cleaning - people often have lots of cleaning stuff in that is not being used. Have you got a good stock of food in cupboards and freezer to start with?

Need2bthrifty

Just finished updating March and even though I went over I am still keeping it at the same monthly amount - most of March's extra spends have been spent on things for the garden so will hopefully reap the rewards when the produce starts coming from my small patch and pots (green-fingers crossed)

So can you put me down for £50.00 for April. please.

mumofthetwins

Well i have just updated sig as i have bought a few niceties in for after dinner tonight (just me and hubbie - kids are sleeping out :j ) so i am planning a romantic meal. I have a batch of scones in, bread is rising ready for tonight and i am planning some pasta and chocy dip with marshmellows, starwberries and fudge for dinner.
I am going to use what/if any is left of the fudge and mmellows for brownies tomorrow

Lisa

jumblejack

£10. 06 spent just in an Asian supermarket. Don't mind though as I bought 8 tins of toms for £2! The sugar was 2kg for £1.60 and I also bought 3 jars of brinjal pickle... My absolute favourite thing to consume with cheese crackers! The toilet tissue was £1.09 for 6 rolls too.

So I feel like I've stocked up a little in things that will save me money. Still under budget. Just need another soya milk later and I'm done. :T

PennyGrabber

I put this up in post 1237 of Feb challenge, but may be useful again this month, as there are some newbies?

Useful Acronyms gc - grocery challenge
pm - private message
ms - money saving
mse - money saving expert
os - old style
op - original poster

dh - darling husband
dp - darling partner
ds - darling son
dd - darling daughter
dss/dsd - darling step son-daughter
dgs/dgd - darling grand son/daughter
oh - other half
db - darling boyfriend
dm/df - darling mother/father or df could be fiance!
lo - little one(s)

NSD - no spend day (some of us do nsds just for groceries, others are more hardcore!)
ys - yellow sticker
rtc - reduced to clear
dtd - double the difference
jtd - just the difference (te$co price check vouchers)
MOC - money off coupon
TC - tax credits
BOGOF - buy one get one free
cs - customer services
OOD - out of date
LF - low fat

sm - supermarket
CS - charity shop (but also cust serv!)
Mr M/T/S/A - the four big sms (a being a$da)
Sainsbobs, Horrorsons, Amazing - pet names! (the A one is Amaz0n)
AF/AppF - approved foods (web shop selling cheap food, some ood)
FR - free range
F%V - fruit and veg
WW - weight watchers
SW - slimming world
ob - own brand

dw - dishwasher
sc - slow cooker
umo/ufo - unidentified meat/frozen object
gf/df - gluten/dairy free

dfd - debt free day/diary
dfw - debt free wannabe
lbm - lightbulb moment
mfw - mortgage free wannabe
Sp - sealed pot

hth - hope that helps
tia - thanks in advance
iyswim - if you see what i mean
MIA - missing in action

And thanks to Suffolk lass for adding these ones:
IMHO in my humble opinion
TOTM time of the month (sorry chaps!)
OS is also own stores
RK Road Kill - money picked up in the street
Waitflower - pet nickname for John's place
OTTOMH - Off the top of my head

Please tell me if i've missed any out, then maybe someone clever could attach this to the front page?! Sorry if I've overstepped the mark - just want to make myself useful!

PG x

wow, reading this make makes it look like a whole other language! No wonder newbies get a tad confused!!

MunniMuncha

Well this was my first week of doing a weekly budget instead of monthly and came in just over budget by £1.76 so well pleased with that. Stocked up on b&m for the week and went to put in freezer (of which I have 3:eek:) and forgot that I bought a load of whoopsies last night and, guess what...... all freezers are choc-a-bloc, so have B&m sitting in the garage - is it only me that is now happy the weather has changed?:rotfl::rotfl:

Welcome to all the new peeps on here - good to see so many newbies - you will find this a lovely thread with lots of lovely people, so pull up a chair, join in the fun and feel the lurve:smileyhea

rising_from_the_ashes

Just wanted to say "thanks" for the kind words ..... it's really sad as he was wonderful on a one-2-one basis and so friendly and happy :sad:. Fingers crossed he finds the right place for him soon - the rescue is a small one and is fab - and really hoping he can be placed as a service dog as even from the short time I had him, I think he'd be great - his sense of smell was fantastic so think he'd be a fab drugs dog (or similar).

I will keep looking and fingers crossed that I find my new companion soon as it's beeping lonely without one.

Don't want to hijack the thread (sorry) so won't reply to ever great post individually - hope it's suffice to say thanks for all the suggestions and I will be looking into them. I did volunteer walking for an older gentleman for a while (took his dog out with Ben) but sadly not needed in that role anymore but may have a look around locally again.

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Welcome to the Newbies!

Sabrina the Mid-20s rich - the quickest way I cut down my grocery budget to start with was by shopping in Lid! (A1di also cheap) - their quality is really good; and by meal planning. The front pages of this thread are also really helpful

PennyGrabber

S-I_am wrote: »

I know it's early in the month but by reading everyone else's posts I'm already inspired by the little some people spend on food. I know it's not a competition, and I'm really looking forward to learning how to further reduce my monthly spend. Until last sept we used to spend over £400 a month :eek: Now by cooking from scratch and meal planning we've managed to reduce that to £250 :j
But since we're frantically saving to extend the house, every pound saved off my food bill is another brick

That's such a good way to look at it. Could you approximate how many bricks you need for a wall? Then you have a total to aim for as well.

tessie_bear wrote: »

hi...nice here again got the washing on the line and a lemon cake baking...smells nice...we have lamb chops for tea which look nice might do some roast potatoes as well

think i will do some salad based meals the rest of the week...that will open the flood gates and the mercury will drop

take care tess

So, it's your fault then, is it?!!!

lovelife79 wrote: »

May I join in please?

I've been lurking around these pages since the turn of the year but have now decided to take the plunge and join in.

I'm in a lucky enough position to have cleared my debt and car loan is completely paid off as well :T. So I am now saving towards a deposit.

I work shifts (days/nights) and find that i quite often end up either buying food in the canteen or from garage on way to work. And even the dreaded vending machines in the middle of the night when nowhere is open

Which is stupid as i have a freezer full of hm soups and meals ready to be zapped in micro and eaten!
So basically i need to have a bit more self-control and try not to spend spend spend! :mad::rotfl:

I'm going to set myself a budget of £100 for this month as im not really sure how much i will need!!!

Wish me luck!

How about not even taking your purse out with you? That way, you can't spend any money!! If you also make it part of your routine to get something out of the freezer, eg before you go to bed, then you'll always have something to eat. What about giving yourself one day a week where you can eat at work, and the rest you need to do from home? That way, if you forget, you don't have to beat yourself up about it.

My April starts tomorrow, and I don't think I will be shopping. I don't need anything, anyway. I will print off some bread vouchers at work on Monday, so may go then, to get the VERY FEW bits I need. The children are away with their dad from Monday until Friday, so it's just me. That means I can eat lots of ood stuff, in an attempt to lower the stocks.

Dinner tonight was cheese and bacon pasta, enough left over for at least the children tomorrow. If there's not enough for me, I'll make a start on the ood stocks! There's some soup, some stir fry sauce, some pasta sauces, some batchel0rs-style pasta and sauces, and I can't think what else at the moment.

Good luck with April everyone. March felt like a really long month, and I have a sneaking suspicion that April will feel very quick, as I am on Easter hols!! Why is it that time flies when you're on hols?!!!:question:

Going to take my gc money out and put it into my gc purse tomorrow. I find that has been the best way for me to be more :money:!!!

Catch you later!!

PG x