July 2012 Grocery Challenge

MrsCD

jasmin10 wrote: »

Just popping on to say hello.
Had yesterday an today as NSD's which is good, although I have felt thoroughly in the dumps with nowhere to go (due to money), felt sorry for myself.

Dh asked again what I wanted for my birthday (31st) I said the only thing I would like is a bracelet with the birthstones of the children on, but that I can't warrant spending over £100 on it when I can use the money on the children or towards the car he needs. Feel really sad about it as I should have bought a bracelet from some inheritance I got last year so it could be in memory of my nan and passed down to my children, but I used all the money to get our house finished feel really gutted about it, an now we can't afford it and if we did I would feel guilty as I'm working so hard to save what I can, and it would feel like its been spent on that and not what we need. I would so love something for myself without feeling the guilt

Anyhow moan over. Looks like I am just under budget of £40 again this week as I have stuck again to my meal plans and have everything sorted til wed. Tomorrow will be another NSD as I have nowhere to go if the weathers ok and dh (off shift) has the baby I might have a potter an tidy the garden - might cheer me up a bit.

Hope everyone else has had a good weekend x

Hi Jasmin10 - Hope you feel a bit brighter soon
Ok - birthday - write down some things you would like that don't cost much, e.g. a nice day out with a picnic, and take lots of photos to print later (if you can't afford/do this, ask someone to do it as a present for you) to make a frieze of your day out, and put it in a pretty picture frame. Memories don't have to cost much. One day you will be able to afford the more expensive presents, but for now, store up treasure in other ways. It will get better, I promise.
Lots of love and hugs, pet.

[Deleted User]

jasmin10 dont feel guilty, the inheritance was yours to spend however you wanted and finishing a home you all live in is as good as any. you don't need anything to remember people by, they are in your heart, but if you want to buy something do so, decide whether you want to get it now or later based on your situation and then enjoy it, dont feel guilty. It sounds like you are doing brilliant on you GC anyway, so you could always put any extra away from that. Good luck what you decide, im sure your gran is watching over you and wishing you well.

liz-paul

Any idea how I reheat a whole roast chicken? We were meant to have it last night but we have visitors who wanted fish & chips..... Anyway, we'll have it tonight but not sure if I should put the whole thing back in the oven or portion it cold and put i the microwave one portion at a time.....

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

Florenceem wrote: »

You are right but I have made curtains for the other 5 children so have to be fair to them all. The baby sitting was a one off but didn't happen in the end - the DGC's show is once a year. Sometimes everything is happening at once. I am going away again on Thursday!

I know what you mean - I would be the same with my children as you have to be fair even if it means ending up running round like a headless chicken. Hopefully you will have a rest when you get back from your next trip .

In_it_not_to_giveitaway

Crikey ... haven't logged in for a few days and the thread is away like a TGV out of Paris.

Despite a fairly tight week I'm still £98.60 for two weeks which is pretty poor but I have all the meat I need for the rest of the month. I know it is a lot compared to the miracle that everyone else on here works on a monthly basis, but if I can get down to budget this month (£40 per week), I will try £30 per week next month.

As many others have pointed out, it is quite difficult to walk by a bargain - I saw 12 decent standard Cumberland sausages marked down to £1.80 in MrTs and simply couldn't pass them up.

Still umming and arring about whether to by a bread maker. Its the same with milk - I have found that since making virtually all my own meals that my appetite has dropped and I tend to eat more fruit and veg - esp potatoes. I also eat quite a lot of rice and noodles. Will re-examine the bread making decision at the end of the month. Maybe the time to buy is after the summer sporting, especially Olympic, hysteria has died down and retailers aren't walking around quite so swankily!

Determined to drop below £25 this week to get back on budget!

Hope that those in the flooded areas are ok.

Have a great day everyone!

Mrs_Addicted_to_Spending

PennyGrabber wrote: »

Children are taught to budget basically at school, but it's one of those things where you don't take notice because it doesn't apply, and it's taught in with other things, as there's not enough time to do everything in the school day. You only realise the importance of budgetting when you actually have to do it. Maybe instead of saying children should learn this at school (thereby laying blame on schools and teachers), we should lobby local councils to ask for free courses for this for 18 year olds. (Unless such a thing exists, in which case we should be making them compulsory things.)

Sorry if that sounds like I'm ranting, but it's so easy to say they should be taught x, y and z at school, but so hard to fit everything in! Plus, I think that this is something a parent should teach, as it's only ever going to be an abstract idea taught in school. I take my children shopping, and I teach them about saving and everything else I think they will need to know about money.

RTFA - Thanks for giving the link to Thrifty - I would've got around to it. but only just signed on.

PG x

I agree parents should be teaching their children budgeting skills too - I'm trying to do that particularly with my teenager and am being honest with him about our situation and telling him how to try and avoid being in debt. I've basically told him that if I had more knowledge when I was his age, I wouldn't have ended up in our situation. Also I didn't feel I could speak to my parents about debt as they wouldn't approve so when I could have done with their advice, I was (and still am) too embarrassed to ask them. I've made sure my eldest DS knows that he can come to us for any advice and should never feel embarrassed (as we've probably made all the mistakes ourselves anyway ).

However, although I don't think schools should be blamed and I know they have a lot to do, I do think a couple of lessons at secondary school in their PSHE sessions (for eg) would raise the profile of budgeting to teens and maybe make them think about it a bit more than if they just have their parents ranting on at them :rotfl:.

mrs_motivated wrote: »

Hi , I hope it's not to late to join in? I am afraid many of my OS ways have slipped in the last six months due to separating (1half way through divorce), selling marital home, finding somewhere to rent, settling kids ( who by the way are twin girls and were 18 last week, so not exactly babies, but my babies anyway). I am now looking for a home to buy so money saving has become more important than ever.

I currently have no idea what I spend, but I guess it's around£500 per month , which is way to much. Anyway I plan to try for £200 For the last three weeks and try and figure what I am currently spending ready for a fresh start in August

PS anyone know how to change my name to miss or ms motivated

Welcome to the challenge - good luck and best wishes with sorting out all the changes in your life. I'm sorry I don't know how to do the name change - could you check in User Profile?

Soworried

Jasmin10, I think your Gran would love the fact that her money helped you and your children get your home finished. Remember older people do not put much value on jewellery. But a nice roof over a loved ones head, that is worth so much more.:A

Mrs motivated, welcome. I haven't been here long either and the tips and support are fantastic. You will do well I'm sure

I am planning a no spend day today. I have pulled 8 muffins out of the freezer for the kids to take to school.

I have no clue what to make for Dinner yet though. I might do jacket potatoes with the coleslaw I got reduced yesterday with some gammon.

SusanP_2

Not strictly grocery related, but GC has encouraged me this morning to sit down and list where all my money goes each month in terms of bills... Big chunk of that is food!

From there it should be easier to figure out where the other little bits drip away.

I've been watching you tube videos on spreadsheets and am going to hit library tomorrow for a book...

Milk seems to be where a lot of my grocery budget goes, I seem to buy it everyday?!

The main thing I need to do is make more user of the freezer I think??

Hope everyone is on track and doing well....here's to a NSD tomorrow!

bossymoo

hi all

no groceries again today, working from home, but car is in for service and mot :eek: so definitely not an NSD oh dear. everything at once for car, insurance due this week, and just renewed tax disc.

all the more reason to cut back on unnecessary food spends...

ikkle87

The budgetting thing really interests me because I can see the differences in upbringings between things like me and my OH, or me and my cousin even though me and her went to the same school albeit a few years difference.

From the age of 12 I was bringing up my baby brother, coming home from school, cooking his tea's, reading with him, playing games, bathing him then putting him to bed. When I left home at 16 I was able to be self sufficient because I knew how. When me and my OH moved in together he couldn't understand how the budget worked, he'd lived in a shared house where all bills were included and his mum used to cook his tea and do his washing etc, so he couldn't cook and didn't understand how all the bills worked. He's a lot better now, he can cook, clean (sometimes he even does it to my standard lol) and although sometimes he wastes money on the whole he is much better.

My cousin is 18 and pregnant she's just got her own flat ready for bubs arrival. She has two bank accounts, one that she has access to and one that only her mum can access so that her mum can pay all the bills from it then put money into the other account for spends, shopping etc. Purely because my cousin isn't capable of budgetting. She can't cook either, but then none of my aunties 4 children can because they've never been taught how.

On a GC related topic, I can't wait till tea time, we are having beef stir fry and I'm so excited about the beef aspect, I can't get enough of the smell of raw red meat at the minute lol. How scary.