October 2012 Grocery Challenge

sweetpea26

Eventually get around to updating my total

£150.36 so far with As*a delivery in a couple of days.

Not doing so bad. Certainly helps when you have to focus on what you are spending.

All the best to everyone.

forever_saving

I haven't updated for a while. Total is now at £245.37.
I hope to come in under budget this month. We will see. I think, like you Save Dosh, i will have to do the fiscal fast again.
Everyone else is doing great. Welcome Lostcause :wave:
FS

sistercas

lost cause welcome , if you can think ahead and do a meal plan for 7 days , check what you already have in your storecupboard and then do a list for the rest ( i use [EMAIL="mysuperm@arket"]mysuperm@arket[/EMAIL] for this to help me get the best deals) this will definitely help you to save money and reduce waste

I went to sainsbugs on friday , the prices seem to escalate daily :eek: however im sorted for the next week but i did go over budget by around £10 as id forgotten to put things onthe list like eggs, shampoo

roast chicken for lunch today with all the trimmings

mummygems

After work last night I needed some bread and DH text to ask for some lager and treats and I told him it was NOT coming out of my grocery budget lol. I used to be a big drinker and a lot of our grocery budget went on alcohol at weekends but since I dont drink we hardly spend any money on it at all (had a very bad all day hangover back in July and the thought of drinking makes me feel quite ill which to me is a good thing lol).

NSD today and then have to do a little shop maybe tomorrow or Tuesday. Still have £70 of our budget left and 2 weeks so I imagine as long as I am careful everything I need can be within this £70 which will be maybe the 2nd time ever of coming in on budget lol

Like others have said, I do a big monthly shop at the beginning of the month then usually run out of money mid-way through! This time, although I still did a big monthly shop I got the rest of the budget out in cash and split it into the amount of weeks and have gone from there which has really helped me. I am considering doing it this way again next month or just splitting the entire budget between the weeks and not doing a big shop - decisions decisions. I have started using the calculator as I am walking around and thats kept me very focused lol.

Am off to my Dads later and he is providing dinner which is a bonus as that means I will need one less meal next week so whatever the most expensive ingredients are I am swapping that day out with the roast we would have had today as I have everything in for a roast

brokemedic

Feel a little disappointed as have been rather sick all week and all my moneysaving (including challenges) has gone out the window:mad:.. Now feeling much better and need to get back on track.. I have spent an awful lot of money this week and am hoping that I am still within my limit.. I am popping out to Aldo to buy some basics for sandwiches for the week and vegetables for the juicer.. but am hoping that this will be under double figures... Anyway will come back and post my total figure so far this month..

she_who_can_not_cook

just back from aldi and got the 39p veg carrot/parsnips and cucumber onioins cabbage and new pot

minicooper272

Got a visitor for 4 nights this week so picked up an M&S meal for 2 (used a gift card from last Christmas to bring that down to £4.22). Went to Tesco yest and spent £17.10, which also included £5 on screenwash and anti-freeze.Also had a £5.50 spend at Aldi on Tue.

Not bad all-in, but nervous that I only have £32 left for the rest of the month, and I need to top-up on perishables (like bread) on Thur.

Spends so far:
£67.39/100

P.S. I switched my clubcard over for a Christmas saver - thanks for the advice. I will start topping up £5 a month for next year, but thought it would be better to just give a £30 gift-card to my Mum this year, because I wouldn't save much before they send the vouchers out.

Suffolk_lass

MrsCD - Thanks, DS is managing fine but I have to let him find out about laundry mountains and the problems drying for himself! I left the pair of them drilling things (so happy as piggies in poo!) while I battled across town traffic to the SM and back - on the way back I realised I had forgotten something so diverted to Mr Azbo for cat food and squash. I did DS's shopping (£30.08 - still to be reimbursed) and tried suggesting stir fry at £6.50 was too expensive but he assures me it does three meals and naturally, I ceded to his vast experience in managing his budget (1 week now) and butted out!

Once again Waitflower offers on the shelves did not match the computer and thanks to using the self-service zapper I went and queued up at CS for a 56p refund on large squeezed juice (for DS) that were supposed to be 2 for £6. I did say that this was the third instance in recent weeks but I was assured it was human error (stating the b-ding obvious) - yes, we know that, what we want is someone to address; who is the human making the errors? and either reassign them or retrain them as this really annoys me (the revenue stream for the business) and if it keeps happening they lose my custom permanently. This only ever happens at this one store so I feel a head office email coming on. I have just updated my spreadsheet and noticed another error - a 25% off sweetcorn red sticker on the shelf is not reflected in the price at the till. Not worth the round trip of 25 miles through roadworks so ranting on here is the temporary solution. (rant over - sorry).

Other than that, the sun is shining and the garden beckons (DH is there already). My spends are down but definitely more to come.

Enjoy sunshine where you have it..
SL

flubberyzing

A £7.25 spend in Iceland, including a free Dove deodorant! It was rattling around in the bagging area, I tried to hand it back to the cashier who said "Oh! It must be from that other customer, you might as well take it!" So I did!
Then a £7.11 spend in Tesco, which I was very pleased with, as I had loads! I did have a £1.50 voucher to spend, but even so. They were doing the 50p tins of Heinz soups. At first I spotted them in an end-of-shelf display, but there weren't any of the flavours I particularly liked. But when I looked at the main soup area, it was ALL the regular Heinz soup flavours!! I ended up buying 12 cans... Whoops! Still, that'll keep me in soup for a long time.
I know I should be making my own, but I only have a quite small freezer, which I prefer to fill with other stuff, and Heinz is my favourite soup brand...
In all, a total grocery spend of £14.36. My freezer and cupboards are well stocked, so will just need fresh stuff until the end of the month now...

Coxy11

Morning campers - is this the right place for a Sunday morning rant?!

I worked yesterday so left DH in charge of dinner. I had defrosted a pack of DR shin of beef to slow cook and already had a MrT fresh veg soup mix (carrot, swede, leek etc.) to add - no everyday value casserole veg on the shelf, so thinking they are phasing that out? - but he still went to Sainsbugs and bought button mushrooms (which the children hate), tomato puree, a range of herbs, various stock cubes, a savoy cabbage (when we already have one in the fridge) - you get the picture :mad: Anyway the upshot is that I have an additional £12 to add to my total. Not a happy bunny.

To make matters worse, a friend invited us round for a takeaway last night, so the 3 children plus DS1's friend were the only ones to eat DHs masterpiece....and he forgot to cook the cabbage..... Thankfully the £20 for the takeaway is from another budget, so every cloud......

Need to meal plan for this coming week. Have a lot of frozen meat so I'm hoping to only have to buy some fresh bits and pieces - and definitely no more cabbage

Have a good day everyone.
Coxy