October 2012 Grocery Challenge

[Deleted User]

keeping up with this thread for another 2 days. lol.

declaring a £3.37 spend today. will probably spend another £1 or so tomorrow as we are out of cheese, but will update sig tomorrow with regards to that.

meg72

Tiglath wrote: »

Our October ends tomorrow night. We've come in £2.49 over budget which I can live with, and it's £25 less than what we spent in September. I got a real shock when I analysed our spend though - a third of the budget went on non-essential treats like trifles, pork pies, packs of salami, milkshakes, sweets etc. Although November's budget will actually go up as I'm planning on stocking the freezers with 2 months worth of meat and fish AND increasing catfood by 25% for the winter months, a lesser % will be spent on rubbish, and I will meal-plan diligently. DH has been very good at handing me receipts, but I'm definitely leaving him at home when I shop on foot from now on.

Just signed up for the Farmfoods email and got lots of 10% off vouchersin multiples of £25/50/100 valid until 30th November which will be put to good use.

Well done on finding out where the money has gone. I well remember the shock I got when I first kept a spending diary, as advised on here, but not as much a shock my DS got when I cut out all lthe rubbish:rotfl: and told him to buy his own.

vanoonoo

I think we might do it! I've got meals planned for today and tomorrow and then we are away til monday but as pay day is this friday i think I will end my october month there and maybe have november as a five week month oh decisions decisions! good luck to all those still in october spending it's been a tough one for me this month partly due to such a big spend for us at the start but also with prices creeping up all round - keep with it x

jedi82

Morning all, as expected I have gone over this month . It keeps happening and I have been trying to work out why cos we should cope with £400pm and I think the problem started when I added our alcohol to the budget so next month I am going to keep them seperate (and this will also prove to DH how much we are spending on beer and wine!). Also, I need to mealplan, make a list and stick to it!

We are away visiting relatives from Friday so gonna try and make do with what is in the cupboards...some strange concoctions coming up I think! We are going up to Bradford and am actually really looking forward to finding some asian food shops to get lots of rice/spices etc and also there are home bargains and wilkos. Am actually looking forward to going to the big smoke but will be glad to come back to my little 'middle of nowhere' (stocked up of course :rotfl:)

Have a good day xx

fedupandskint

I've gone over by £30 for October - my first month at trying to come in at £100, Didn't quite make it but will give it another go for next month

declaring at £130/£100

[Deleted User]

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I am here to the end although DH gets paid on Friday. I know everyone likes the bright shiny new thread but I like it when it thins down to the stalwarts at the end of the month! :hello:Keep it going everyone:hello:

SL

I have to say, personally i don't understand why the thread is split. I get that some people start new budgets early, but as most of us keep our budgets in our signature, it doesn't make any difference. I end up missing sometimes 10 days of posts, which i know i could be reading alongside October, but I dont. The fact we are one thread, that becomes 2 at one stage and then one again has always been annoying and you do feel a bit left behind and feel like you are talking to yourself a bit when everyone moves over. I think it would be much nicer to just do it monthly and everyone moves over at the same time. Anyway my opinion and as always, thanks to the lovely people who give up their time to manage these threads. p.s. i have gone over budget and have receipts, which i will update soon.

mummygems

For the first time ever I have managed to come in under budget lol £12 under and am planning on reducing the grocery budget as well.

I have chicken out for dinner tonight but have realised I have no potatoes and was going to make a chicken casserole but not sure now. I have to leave for work just after 5pm so by the time I have the kids from school and are back home think it might be too late to go to shop and get it on, cooked and eaten before leaving. Hmmmm decisions decisions lol.

[Deleted User]

Mummygems well done in coming under budget (im defo a few quid over this month). I have a stash of tinned potatoes - not as good as a bag i must say, but they do sometimes fill a gap and they are only 18p a good sized tin in Tesco.

MrsCD

liz-paul wrote: »

Ran out of time today so defrosting mince went in the fridge for tomorrow and dinner was made in 10 minutes flat - packet of cheese sauce (the shame!), pasta and grated cheese. Followed by tin of rice pudding and fruit purees! Will use my mince to make a hige batch of chilli tomorrow, should get three dinners worth if I add loads of beans & lentils.....

Nothing to be ashamed of - I'm sure we've all done the same

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

I am here to the end although DH gets paid on Friday. I think I will avoid the shops as long as we can and see if we can get to the first weekend in November with only meagre top ups. Except I will need stuff for my half term cooking marathon. I know everyone likes the bright shiny new thread but I like it when it thins down to the stalwarts at the end of the month! :hello:Keep it going everyone:hello:

SL

I'm here until Sunday night , but checking the November thread so I don't have too many pages to catch up with! Have fun with your cooking marathon What are you making?

I did the weekly shop yesterday, and spent £74.50 altogether, so not too bad. Got a few things to stash away, but not counting as GC.

liz-paul

Thats a really good idea to track your grocery spends so in depth. I think I will try that in the New Year - can't cope with it at the moment as I'm tracking ALL of my spending for a few months and that is time consuming enough!!! Still underbudget so its possible I'll make it to the end of the month in budget...... Only thing I NEED is a joint from iceland..... Maybe bread/milk/veg but not much....