June 2007 Grocery Challenge

GreenNinja

My "June" finishes tomorrow and hoping for a no spend day tomorrow. Unfortunately I am around £15 over my £80 budget for the month. I obviously spend more a month than I think I do! I actually kept ALL my receipts this month for the first time, so its all in black and white.

Will try again in July for £80 for the month. Note to self! buy multipacks of quavers in Sainsburys rather than buying at 35p or whatever on the days when I fancy them, ditto yoghurts, bring my 10p (does 2 days) economy strawberry jelly in instead!

:A

rosieben

BerkshireBird wrote: »

Also when does the next grocery challenge start?

grocery challenge starts first of each month so hope to see you in July!

meantime keep receipts and try to keep notes of what you're spending - it will help when you are trying to figure out what to set your monthly budget at.

I've just spent an hour going through receipts going back to 2006 when I found this site. I am horrified by what I used to spend :eek: and even more horrified to see evidence of what I used to spend it on :eek: :eek:

Over the last 4 months my spending has come down so much it's amazing. I need to get into the habit of getting receipts for everything (petrol, take outs etc) so I dont forget to list them as well as groceries and general shop spends.

I'm really pleased with my progress since February thanks to all for the good advice I found on this site; I dont mind that I'm a tad over budget this month, its still good!!!!

Linda32

BerkshireBird wrote: »

Hi, I'm a newbie, desparate to save some money and get back in control. Can someone tell me what's a PMS challenge? Also when does the next grocery challenge start? Need to feel I'm doing something concrete to move forwards!!
Have spent hours reading loads of past posts today, this site is addictive.
Looking forard to joining in.

Hello,

I don't do PMS so can't help there.

The Grocery Challenge starts whenever you want it too. Its only or the sake of an organised forum that posts are kept under the current month. You taylor it to your circumstances, for instance if you get paid on 1st of the month then you can count your month from 1st to 30/31st, or if you work on a weekly budget you can count yours from 1st June - 7th June, 9th June to 14th June and so on.

Personally, I get paid weekly and OH gets paid monthly and after bill I divide our money into 4 weeks so my grocery callenge lasts for four weeks, it dosn't matter if that spans over two months, (say if you started now) you can just follow on with your own record into July's thread.

Personally I just copy and paste my most resent post and update from there.

Hope that helps

irishwexford

to Mike D
On Flylady board they suggested using white vinegar. I poured some into washing machine and ran a hot wash. I also use it some days instead of conditioner to keep machine descaled. New on here so hope I am replying ok

rosieben

Linda32 wrote: »

... The Grocery Challenge starts whenever you want it too. Its only or the sake of an organised forum that posts are kept under the current month. You taylor it to your circumstances, for instance if you get paid on 1st of the month then you can count your month from 1st to 30/31st, or if you work on a weekly budget you can count yours from 1st June - 7th June, 9th June to 14th June and so on.

Yes, sorry I oversimplified. The actual thread starts on July 1st, but of course we each set our budget in the way that suits our particular circumstances best.

Linda32

rosieben wrote: »

Yes, sorry I oversimplified. The actual thread starts on July 1st, but of course we each set our budget in the way that suits our particular circumstances best.

Whoops, sorry for the confusion to new people. Rosieben, I didn't notice our crossed posts

rosieben

Linda32 wrote: »

Whoops, sorry for the confusion to new people. Rosieben, I didn't notice our crossed posts

no probs Linda, you gave more useful information than I had thought to post :beer:

BerkshireBird

Thanks, that's really helpful. OH gets paid on 25th and I've managed to spend only £6.50 so far this week using what's in cupboard and freezer.
I'm going to try doing shop differently this week, go to Lidl 1st and get everything on list possible, then only get fav cereals and stuff at Mr T's.
Wonder how much difference I'll notice?

Have saved a fortune already on cleaning stuff by using only what's recommended on forum, and converted my Mum and Sister too.

Thanks again,
BerkshireBird.

sav4it

Found this thread after doing a search on the word groceries.
I remember many months ago seeing a fab thread offering advice on how to reduce grocery bills but can't remember where I saw it.
haven't looked at this thread in depth but it seems as though people are reporting on their success/failures ( I'll join this once I've started). If I'm wrong I'll start from the beginning and read thoroughly.
Otherwise can anyone advise please. I really need to work on this area as hubby and I seem to manage to spend loads.
many thanks.

Linda32

sav4it wrote: »

Found this thread after doing a search on the word groceries.
I remember many months ago seeing a fab thread offering advice on how to reduce grocery bills but can't remember where I saw it.
haven't looked at this thread in depth but it seems as though people are reporting on their success/failures ( I'll join this once I've started). If I'm wrong I'll start from the beginning and read thoroughly.
Otherwise can anyone advise please. I really need to work on this area as hubby and I seem to manage to spend loads.
many thanks.

Hi, the general idea is to try to reduce your shopping bill, by basically keeping a note of how much you spend - its surprising :eek:

Then trying to to see area's where you can save money. A tip from the weekly email which I use alot is, lets say you buy kellogs Fruit and Fibre, well instead of that, go one level down and buy Tesco own brand, to see if you like it.

I bough OH Basics Tesco Fruit and Fibre and he says its fine so the only difference between Kellogs F&F and Basics is about £1.50

What I did was counted my receipts up for a month and if I remember correctly it came in at about £270 - two adults no children or pets, but includes wine

So I tried for £265 this month, my budget is blown

I did used to keep a list on a spreadsheet of foods bought, say for instance cooked meat for sandwiches (pack lunch for work). The tried to find a cheaper filling, say sandwich spread for instance, then you could use that every other day - Just an example.

Also, lots of people on here swear by cooking from scratch once you've built up a store cupboard.

Abit of a waffle there, hope you get an idea