May 2007 Grocery Challenge

lil_me

Tracey04 To edit your signature click where it says user CP then Edit Signature, will bring up a box. Type what you want in there. To change colour highlight the text then click the A symbol above where you type. Will bring up colours.Or you can click the A select a colour then type in between the brackets, if you click quote on my post and look through it you will hopefully see what I mean.

Moneybubbles

OKay hello, first post :-)
Allowing £350 this month

2 Adults, 2 children (both nappies at night), 2 cats, 1 dog
and 6 other children floating in and out due to being a childminder!!!

millionaire_in_training

Well hi again. Count me in for May. Didn't even try in April and failed miserably in March. Bit disappointed in myself and going to pull my socks up right now. Okay £250 for calendar month for food,cleaning and toiletries for 1 adult and 2 kids. Have loads of basics in and freezer is now full so should be doable. Good luck all xx

Shortie

Evening all

Just back from the depths of sorting out the Tesco delivery and it came in under what I expected as The catfood was missing (I don't think I really need any more to see me through May) and pasta and Weetabix. I need a bag of pasta but we can get that one night and suss out the reduced section at the same time :rotfl:

So, my updated May is now starting with £125.84, take off £13.73 for last night's shop and £65.81 for tonights HUGE shop (I don't include delivery charge in the budget as it's me being too lazy to go to Tescos...), leaves me £46.30 for the rest of the month.

I hope not to need milk as I've got a box of dried stuff to try out and I have about 5 loaves of bread in the freezer, so I think it's just fresh fruit and veg now, and maybe some meat if we run out towards the end of the month (I have in chicken breast, mince, lamb shoulder and leg, bacon, sausages and egg already)

Fingers crossed as I REALLY want to manage it this month

heather2209

oohh this looks a good thread, I need to set a budget, as Supermarkets are my downfall, i love looking round the aisles for all of thos offers, but end up buying far too much, take this evening for example I only popped out for some loo rolls, managed to spend 30.27
So I am going to set myself a budget of 220gbp for myself, oh, 2 lads (7&4) and the rabbit.

jswaminathanuk

You are in same boat as I am, I must admit I have a hobby on visiting all aisle and ended up spending £15-£20 extra each visit.
I am changing the way I shop and it had good impact on my shopping please look at my another post (post 27) on this thread:T

Elfinwings

I'm in again :wave:

After last month's success - ok, I was £2.77 over, but I was being really tough on myself, a budget of just £20 for the month, and sticking to larder and freezer food! This month I can afford to be a bit more generous with myself, so a budget of £60 for food and house cleaning stuff.

Good luck everyone!

Elfinwings

Hi *Shortie* I read your posts and just wanted to offer a word of encouragement - you will be able to do it you know. Last month I was on the strictest budget ever for me for food (£20 for just me). Not easy, but I managed to come in just slightly over. Like you a had a good stock in at the start of the month, freezer, larder and so on. One thing I did that seemed to help was sit down with my recipe books and write a long list of all the different dishes I could make with what I had, or that only needed one extra cheap ingredient. Then during the month I could look at my list and use it like a restaurant menu, choosing what I fancied. I know this perhaps isn't as efficient as real weekly meal planning, but I can't face knowing exactly what I'm going to eat in advance, and this helped me not go to the shops for 'a bit of what I fancied'. Anyway, hope this helps, and good luck!

thriftykatie

Hi can I come back please? Joined you in January and February and it really changed my shopping habits and although I have fallen off the wagon since then, alot of the habits gained in that short time have had a positive impact.

However, I know I'm on the slippery slope so going to post this month to help keep me on track. As I'm a teacher and have a daughter, school hols always mean more spending so with half term in May anticipate higher spending. I usually try for £20-£30 per week for the two of us, including cleaning products and toiletries although with the food mountain in the cupboard and freezer (which I started to work through but magically seems to have grown again :rolleyes: ) I should be able to do much better than that.

Anyway, going to set myself a very realistic target (I hope) so that I can feel pleased at myself when I fall within budget at the end of the month and once back on track can start to be a bit stricter again.

I've also decided that I am going to post a monthly budget although will work on a weekly amount. This gives me the leeway to overspend one week and make it up the following week. I love food shopping so I like to have my weekly fix!

So I want to say £120 but am going to say £140 for the month of May - wish me luck!

So - off to do my meal planner as working from home today so have opportunity to organise myself amongst the proper work, and should be able to get out and buy some fruit and veg locally without letting myself getting waylaid to Mr Ts! Will sort out my signature later - still got an old one which I won't post.

dm1465

Hi
Can I join for the first time please? A day late but never mind! I'm fed up wasting money just popping into the shops for a few bits and coming out 20 quid lighter.
I am aiming for £200 for the calendar month of May for two adults, two children and a cat, to include cleaning things, personal stuff like soap and toothpaste, but not extra toiletries for OH and me if that makes sense?
Am going to do freezer and cupboard inventory today and make meal planner.
Fingers crossed - this budget is a complete guess but I have to start somewhere.