Anyone got a nice spaghetti and meatballs recipe?

Kimberley

Brummie

How comes in your sig, you have already filled in week one of the Feb GC? Are you trying to pass the time?

purplevamp

My two little ones are having school dinners tomorrow so that's £4.10 on the first day before I even step inside a shop!! They only have school dinners very occassionally so I don't mind. But my son wants them every day. I've talked him out of it as it would cost £22 per week for the two of them :eek: .

kj*daisy

I'm in again for £260. Managed just about last month as had some savings stamps to use:)

belfastgirl23

BabyMother wrote: »

God I'm so embarrassed to be posting up my ridiculous shopping bill but I spent over £600 this January. There is just me, husband and two boys (4 and 1 - big eaters but not that big!):o
I've shopped in various places (Waitrose, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco) but never seem to get it down! I will say that this month was more than usual as we had lots of family over. We're both Irish so we have visitors that stay over for several days. Usually it's around £400 - but that's still terrible compared to some of you here - OldMacdonald how do you do it with so many children! You'd think I'd learn from being part of a big Irish family (who were by no means well-off and were never in debt) but I'm hopeless....
But I'm determined to to do better this month. Nearest supermarkets are Waitrose and Sainsburys but I do use the self-scanner in Waitrose so I'm actually much more disciplined there. I'm going to check out where the nearest Aldi is as my sister swears by it and she's doing great - however, she doesn't have children...
Anyway,
LI'L ME Can I join the challenge with £300 for this month please!!!
I know it's a bit of a drastic cut for me but honestly I need a good shaking up. If I make less than £350 this month I'll be happy.

Out goes the Tropicana orange juice I suppose....:p

Don't be embarassed, many of us have been there. It's amazing isn't it how easy it is to drift through life spending WAY WAY too much on stupid stuff. And then (in my case) binning a lot of it as well. We would easily have spent £300-£350 a month for just two of us :eek:

Welcome and good luck!

bebee_2

Wow!! thats high, are school dinners are £8 pw and i think you get a disount if thier is more than one child from one family.

purplevamp wrote: »

My two little ones are having school dinners tomorrow so that's £4.40 on the first day before I even step inside a shop!! They only have school dinners very occassionally so I don't mind. But my son wants them every day. I've talked him out of it as it would cost £22 per week for the two of them :eek: .

Sunnyday

Hi all,
I`ve not been too bad i don`t think:D

I did go to the local shop earlier to get some golden syrup to make some of twinks hobnobs, £1.02p :eek: but i suppose it`s better than going all the way to the supermarket and getting overwhelmed by all the goodies.
I hope they turn out ok as i`ve a tendancy to burn the baking lol.
I don`t know whether this weeks shop will be Saturday or Sunday yet but i need to get the freezer inventory and meal planner up to date first. I do keep going off to do this and getting side tracked :mad:
Off to have a look around and see if i`ve missed anything exciting :-)
Good luck everyone!
SD

PS i also hit the thanks button, not only to mark my place where i`ve read up to but so many people post so many interesting things that i like to thank them for their contributions. Where would we be without everyone else?

chardonnay_2

i've noticed a few people mentioning that their supermarket had no free range chickens left - both tesco & asda & probably all supermarkets have comment boxes - let them know and perhaps they will increase their order if enough people complain

mrs-moneypenny

I think the thing i was most pleased with myself over January was i never once used my 'card' to pay in a shop. i used the money i drew out for everything. ive got it all written down in a note book
i did a week to a double spread at the front. one page was my shopping list and the facing page total spends in each shop or market stall for the week.
i turned the book over and started at the back with a few pages for list of what costs how much in different shops then ive left a few pages blank to add to that and done another double page for the whole month with 'extra non food spends on one page then ive totalled up everything ive spent on the facing one, by adding all the non food to the extras. just got to wait for the bank statement to check the standing orders and direct debits etc that also came out this month.
When i go down today to get this weeks money out ill be able to tally that roughly against what the balance was last week.

But it is lovely not to get a horrible shock when you get a hole in the wall statement because of all the 'hidden' withdrawals made by using the card instore.

I got into a mess last year because MIL (mum in law) had an op in the summer and hasnt been able to do her own shopping, i was drawing my money out of the bank but shopping for both of us, because i hadnt got any money from her i was using my card to pay BUT when she gave me the money back it was also getting spent! so i was getting through way too much without realising i was overspending. it wasnt till i looked at a bank statement for december and saw how many times i was givng money straight to MrT as well as using the hole in the wall:eek: I think i spent more than DH earns in dec:mad: .

now i do the shoppping for us both first then once she 'pays me back' i use that to put dinner, milk club etc money away for the week. its working much better like this.

hope everyone has a good february (at least its shorter than the other months:rotfl: )

Kimberley

Even Sunnyday has week 1 in Feb filled in so far, how comes? I thought the Feb challenge starts on the 1st of each month Please don't tell me i'm starting at the wrong day

carolt2

Kimberley wrote: »

Even Sunnyday has week 1 in Feb filled in so far, how comes? I thought the Feb challenge starts on the 1st of each month Please don't tell me i'm starting at the wrong day

Some people do their grocery challenge according to payday. I get paid every 4 weeks so my feb challenge is from fri 25th jan to fri 22nd feb.
Others might do their challenge by the calendar month. It's up to you what you choose to do. You can do a weekly challenge then work out average spend as there are things like toilet roll that you buy this week but wont buy next week etc.

Hope that make things abit clearer for you.