October 2012 Grocery Challenge

milky1991

EverTheOptimist wrote: »

First spend of Oct budget today. Attempting another new approach. Have got a budget of £150. Have taken £140 out of the bank. Have split this into 2 x £40 and 2 x £30. (have left £10 in bank as back up) I have never attempted a weekly grocery budget before as i always thought one biggish shop and smaller weekly top ups works best as it keeps me out of the shops, but never get enough stuff to last the month so end up going back to the shops and going over budget. As i spend £80 - £100 in the first week then the £50 never lasts the next 3 weeks.

I think I shall be trying this approach, weekly seems a good idea. This my first go at this and I have thought about what my budget will include it will include all food (including any bought lunches etc) cleaning stuff like washing powder etc but wont include alcohol that will come out of another budget I have set up for entertainment .
I have quite a bit of food already in and several meals in the freezer . so here goes day 1 tomorrow.

EverTheOptimist

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

Hi there EverTheOptimist - I'm very interested in how you get on with this approach. I hope you will update regularly on how it goes. I know a couple of people have switched to weekly and it really works for them.

Best of luck
SL

Thanks SL.

I'm hoping this will be my turning point. Will probably be updating 1-2 x per week as i am hoping not to be shopping more than that. I guess it depends how long my fruit and bunny's veg lasts!! Should have enough in the house until Weds now. Apart from sawdust which i will need to get tomorrow.

she_who_can_not_cook

The last spend of my week 6.90 wow wow in asda and bm(next door ) my oh likes the 1.5 lt juice but its a bit heavy when i get three in my ruck sack along with my other bits and bobs. I to do my envelope with cash in for each weekso this week i have 1.35 left haha

rising_from_the_ashes

Sorry if this has been mentioned (as mentioned earlier have been missing fora while) but has anyone else noticed the shrinking washing gel bottles?

Used to be 28 washes & now down to 24 or 25 (depending on brand) and the price has gone up :mad:- did look at A*riel ones (getting low now!) which were on offer but still not worth it IMHO

Couple of offers at Mr A:

Persil Small & Mighty - 54 wash for £6 (also A*riel gel for £4 but only 24 wash)
Whiskas 48 pouches for £10
Cleaning stuff - various things like Det*tol sprays etc for £1
Big tins of Cele*brations, Her*oes, R*oses etc for £5

Still to add up as a few bits were non-grocery & have now started the C shopping (didn't want to say the word:eek:) thanks to the tinned sweets!:T

Nicky_Noo_Na

surf small and mighty is also on offer at Mr A and Mr T for £3 (28 washes)

Suffolk_lass

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Sorry if this has been mentioned (as mentioned earlier have been missing fora while) but has anyone else noticed the shrinking washing gel bottles?

Used to be 28 washes & now down to 24 or 25 (depending on brand) and the price has gone up :mad:- did look at A*riel ones (getting low now!) which were on offer but still not worth it IMHO

Not just shrinking laundry detergent - the Trop1cana juice has gone from 1.75L to 1.5L to 1.4L this year (yesterday in Mr A). :mad:

And I am so cross with their sneaky ways I am reposting this from September -

Mr A put 500g packs of Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes on the end of the aisle under the big £2 sign, but hidden behind the stand at the end they had tucked all the 750g packs at exactly the same price. :mad: I had checked MSM before leaving so I knew what I was looking for but it took two cruises up and down the aisle to find them!!

I shall be following the weekly spenders on here because I think it may help me adjust to DS moving out - I can't afford for it to take 18 months to adjust like it did when DH lost his job some years back. From being well off by anyone's standards our money dropped to 25% of what we had been spending but my grocery spend didn't really change. I feel slightly sick when I think what I used to spend without a thought. I'm sure we could have paid off the mortgage instead of chucking it away (I used to throw out stuff all the time too).

Good luck everyone
SL

Make-it-3

So this is my fourth month GC and as I have failed to come in on budget for two of the previous three months, there doesn't seem to be any point in reducing it and making myself depressed at continuing to fail at this so making it £200 for me again.

I just don't know how you guys are managing to reduce, I rarely by brands, stick to my list (mostly), I rarely see anything YS that is a bargain and something I actually need. I'm not sure where I go from here ...

We are two adults, one baby, one cat household.

ej22

Hi everyone,
I have been reading through all the savings threads for ages but would really like to start taking part in your challenge.
Not sure how it works though as I usually skip to the posts with all the great savings tips. :embarasse

I would like to spend 200 pounds per month, hopefully less.
Can somebody tell me if I put the 200 in my signature myself and update it from time to time or do I tell somebody my updates?
Sorry if my question is silly but sometimes people on here seem to post their updates and they appear in their signature.
thanks

Coxy11

:wave:Hi ej22

It's your choice whether to keep track of your budget in your signature or to appear on the list at the beginning of the thread. Some people prefer to have their name in the list to keep them focussed If you want I can add you to the list. Let me know.

Coxy

Christi

Hi everyone, I'd love to join please.

It's just me and my OH and I think we spend about £250 if I am honest and add up everything including lunch for work (only occasional but it adds up) and top up shops in the week.

So....think that can be trimmed drastically with some focus and am setting my target at £150 for the month. This won't include any spends from tomorrow to Wednesday as I'm going to be away in Edinburgh so will be cheeky and count that as holiday.

Good luck all!