Shortie's Shopping Spends Diary

Shortie

Hi all

I hope no-one minds the self-indulgence here, it's just that I really feel I need
(a) A kick up the bum to be organised
(b) Advice on where I can improve things (like same money spends but better health)
(c) A diary to really force myself to keep an honest track of my shopping spends

My reason for this? I've dotted it in a few threads, but basically I'm trying hard to cut the monthly shop down from £200 a month to £100 a month. This is to feed DH, DS (4), two cats and myself. It's for an evening meal each night for the three of us, plus (starting now) to do lunches for DH and myself Mon-Fri (I may put extra budget in for this, lets see how it goes...). I sometimes have toast or a banana before I leave for work, and DS has breakfast lunch and a snack at the childminders. At the weekends it's for 3/4 meals for the 3 of us.

Okay, never done one of these before so if anyone has any pointers along the way on how to maintin this I'd appreciate it. Even if I'm the only one reading it, it'll really help me keep myself on track..

Oh, and I already join in the weekly menu plan.

So, this is definately work-in-progress, and so far I've costed out the monthly cat food, Veg, Cleaning and Household bits, and suggestions on the below welcomed

TV = Tesco Value

Cats (half a tin in the evenings, with plenty of biscuit, bowl of biscuit in the morning)
2x TV cat crunchies = £2.52
1.3 packs of Tesco catfood (12 pack) - £5.20
*Edit* They also get the bits of chicken roast I can't rubberise, and any other meats that won't do well strecthed to another meal.
Total £7.72

Cleaning
TV Fabric Conditioner x2 = £0.66
TV Washing Powder x 2 = £2.82
Stardrops = £1
TV Washing Up Liquid x2 = £0.26
Tesco DW Tablets (1/4 of pack) = £1.50
TV Thin Bleach = £0.28
TV Loo Bleach = £0.26
TV Kitchen Roll (4 pack) x 0.5 = £0.50
TV Scourers pack = £0.14
TV J-Cloths x 0.5 = £0.16
Tesco Loo Roll (4 pack) = £1.69
Total = £9.27

Fresh Veg (Most from a £1 per bowl market stall where I can buy fresh and cheap as I need. They're generous amounts too...)
Potatoes x2 bowls = £2
Sweet Potatoes x1 bowl = £1
Bell Peppers x1 bowl = £1
Carrots x1 bowl = £1
Bananas x 4 bowls = £4
Broccoli x2 bowls = £2
Onions, one netting bag = £1.50
Apples (Mr T)... not sure yet
Misc Fruits as fancied/needed from this stall = £5.50
Total £20

Household
DS nightime nappies (these may stretch to 2 months...) x0.5 = £3.49
TV Foil x 2 = £0.68
TV Cling Film = £0.44
Tesco Baking Parchment = £0.78
99p shop food bags x 0.25 = £0.25
DS Tesco Strawberry Toothpaste x1 = £0.51
Tesco Kids Mildmint Toothpaste(Normal mint buns my mouth) x1 = £0.51
Soap (bubblebath, thanks for the tip apple_mint) = £0 (see below about shampoo)
Shampoo (at the mo I have TONNES of normal and kids stuff to work through) = £0
Conditioner (DH really likes this one...) = £1
Total = £7.65

Total so far = £44.64 leaving £55.36 for other food/drink stuffs

Any suggestions/help so far would be fab (good or bad)

Shortie

Sorry, I should also add that I will post a weekly menu plan with the shopping I needed to buy for it, again in the hope for suggestions.

I'm not a SC fan (oops, not the place to admit it) or a BM fan, sorry. Also at the moment I work long fulltime hours so don't have much time to bake, my cooking time goes into batch cooking from scratch whivh I feel is a more important use of the little time I have....

Ooooo, and I'm adding frozen veg in later under the General Food Stuffs bit. I need to double check this with DH incase I've forgotten tonnes of stuff before I post it up

:A

mioliere

Shortie wrote: »

Hi all

I hope no-one minds the self-indulgence here, it's just that I really feel I need
(a) A kick up the bum to be organised
(b) Advice on where I can improve things (like same money spends but better health)
(c) A diary to really force myself to keep an honest track of my shopping spends

My reason for this? I've dotted it in a few threads, but basically I'm trying hard to cut the monthly shop down from £200 a month to £100 a month. This is to feed DH, DS (4), two cats and myself. It's for an evening meal each night for the three of us, plus (starting now) to do lunches for DH and myself Mon-Fri (I may put extra budget in for this, lets see how it goes...). I sometimes have toast or a banana before I leave for work, and DS has breakfast lunch and a snack at the childminders. At the weekends it's for 3/4 meals for the 3 of us.

Okay, never done one of these before so if anyone has any pointers along the way on how to maintin this I'd appreciate it. Even if I'm the only one reading it, it'll really help me keep myself on track..

Oh, and I already join in the weekly menu plan.

So, this is definately work-in-progress, and so far I've costed out the monthly cat food, Veg, Cleaning and Household bits, and suggestions on the below welcomed

TV = Tesco Value

Cats (half a tin in the evenings, with plenty of biscuit, bowl of biscuit in the morning)
2x TV cat crunchies = £2.52
1.3 packs of Tesco catfood (12 pack) - £5.20
*Edit* They also get the bits of chicken roast I can't rubberise, and any other meats that won't do well strecthed to another meal.
Total £7.72

Cleaning
TV Fabric Conditioner x2 = £0.66
TV Washing Powder x 2 = £2.82
Stardrops = £1
TV Washing Up Liquid x2 = £0.26
Tesco DW Tablets (1/4 of pack) = £1.50
TV Thin Bleach = £0.28
TV Loo Bleach = £0.26
TV Kitchen Roll = £1.05
TV Scourers pack = £0.14
TV J-Cloths = £0.38
Tesco Loo Roll (4 pack) = £1.69
Total = £9.99

Fresh Veg (Most from a £1 per bowl market stall where I can buy fresh and cheap as I need. They're generous amounts too...)
Potatoes x2 bowls = £2
Sweet Potatoes x1 bowl = £1
Bell Peppers x1 bowl = £1
Carrots x1 bowl = £1
Bananas x 4 bowls = £4
Broccoli x2 bowls = £2
Onions, one netting bag = £1.50
Apples (Mr T)... not sure yet
Misc Fruits as fancied/needed from this stall = £5.50
Total £20

Household
DS nightime nappies (these may stretch to 2 months...) = £6.97
TV Foil = £0.34
TV Cling Film = £0.44
Tesco Baking Parchment = £0.78
99p shop food bags = £0.99
Total = £9.52

Total so far = £47.23 leaving £52.77 for other food/drink stuffs

Any suggestions/help so far would be fab (good or bad)

Can help with the fabric conditioner! White vinegar works just as well - one capful in the conditioner drawer. Doesn't make the washing smell of vinegar at all, is dead cheap and helps keep the washing machine clean! Will have a look at the rest of your list and see what else I can come up with.

apple_mint

I use brown vinegar which I find is even cheaper (and doesn't stain the washing as its diluted by the water). Your fruit and veg sounds good value to me (we don't have a cheap market being a touristy area) and it's not something I'd cut back on.

We've found microfibre clothes to be very good (as opposed to j-cloths) and they can be thrown into the washing machine.

You've not put down toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc. Are you costing these separate. These are things that can bump up the monthly shop if you are not careful. I buy a supermarket own brand 'anti-plaque' toothpaste which only costs 49p. I also refill carex liquid soap bottles with Asda's white cream bubble bath (48p) - costs around 15p to refill the soap bottle (if you look at the ingredients they are very similar).

I'm sure lots of people will be along to help shortly

Shortie

apple_mint wrote: »

<Snip>
You've not put down toothpaste, soap, shampoo etc. Are you costing these separate.
<Snip>
I buy a supermarket own brand 'anti-plaque' toothpaste which only costs 49p. I also refill carex liquid soap bottles with Asda's white cream bubble bath
<Snip>

:rotfl:

I did go to my Mum's after posting this and go 'Uh-oh... everyone's going to think I'm manky as I've not mentioned toiletries!

Thanks for th tip on using bubble bath. I've tried TV soap and it was like washing up liquid and would slide off my hands before I got to use it! Bubble bath sounds like a very good alternative :T

Shortie

mioliere wrote: »

Can help with the fabric conditioner! White vinegar works just as well - one capful in the conditioner drawer.

Thanks mioliere. I've use white vinegar before, and have no problems using it again, I totally agree it doesn't smell and does make the clothes very soft. But.. I started to wish my clothes had a slight smell again so recently converted back to fabric conditioner

Shortie

I've updated the top post to add bits and change quantities...

I'm not sure how to post the rest of the food stuffs as we may do different meals each month... I might have a guestimate stab though...

angelatgraceland

I bought a sack of spuds for £6 which would have cost about £13 if I had bought them in small bags. Also got a sack of carrots for £2.50. I only ever buy toiletries on bogof if possible. You could try soapnuts to make the washload cheaper. Do you get reduced items and bogofs or do you buyy value range and not question other brands? Dried foods often work out cheaper than tinned. Soya makes a great filler to use along with mince and is much cheaper than quorn. I also bulk-cook generally once a week(Sundays)and find that this is the most cost-effective and timesaving way.

Shortie

I might go for a larger bag of carrots you know... I've realised they're good for bulking up certain dinners too...

The potatoes.... I used to buy the cheap value bags to last most of the month, but I found they became decidedly ropey towards the end of their 2 / 3 weeks. Hence getting the weeks worth in a bowl at a time so that I can always have fresh in.

Or is it just the fact they were Tesco Value that affected their longevity?

Here's next week's evening menu plan, a big bit of cheating this week as I'm trying to not buy anything (except milk and bread) as we've already waaaay overspend on the Grocery Challenge in my first month.. oops

Sun: Chicken, roast potatoes, sprouts, broccoli, sweet corn, carrots, gravy - all in the freezer / fresh already
Mon: Egg & veg fried rice - store cupboard/freezer bits
Tues: Lamb chops, mash and frozen veg - freezer/fresh bits
Wed: Chicken curry and naan bread - all in freezer already
Thurs: HM chicken burgers (if I have enough meat left from the roast) and chips - hmmm..... lets see how this one goes.... but in theory I have it all in store ready to make
Fri: Sausages with sweet potato wedges - got ingredients already
Sat: Tuna or bacon pasta bake - got in all ingredients

As my store cupboard 'wears thin' I'll be buying bis in and will price up the cost. Some of these things I have no idea how much they cost to make at the time

angelatgraceland

Or you could make it with campbells soup or something similar? Tuna pasta bake with mushroom soup.

Shortie

You're a total star.... :A

I've just remembered a tin of tomato soup in the cupboard. We're not soup fans so don't tend to have it in unless someone's ill (far a not easy meal for them)
Righto... Tuna or bacon pasta bake is on the menu!!