September 2013 Grocery Challenge

b_girl

Hi all.

Went over budget in August so determined to be a bit stricter for September. I'm back at work part time after being off since end of Jan on maternity leave so need to be much more organised with meals and packed lunches. Going to try £150 this month. That will include all meals for me, DH and DD. 2 rabbits, 1 cat. All household bits, baby wipes etc.

Hope I can do it this month! Good luck everyone :money:

kezlou

Thanks for starting the grocery challenge.

Please could we be put down for £200 for the month.
This is for everything including school meals and pets.
Thanks xxx

Annie_99

Ive bought a cash tin to store my money in and bought a calculator and a book to record my purchases.. Ive been so upset all day as my DH thinks Im mad to draw out my money for the month and keep it in a tin.. but Im a visual learner and my tin will help me see what is happening to my money.. He is worried it may get stolen or lost etc and we have had "words".. Also im rubbish at spread sheets so what other ways can I have a written list of what ive bought and a running total? Ive got every receipt on what ive spent so far and made a list in a book but its not so clear.. Am i making sense? So far ive spent 115/350 and the cash is in my tin for me to count to my hearts content!

getting-sorted-sarah

Hi Annie, sorry you fell out with your DH, maybe it would reassure him if you took out money weekly and added it to the tin? Anyway whatever you choose I hope it helps you! You could try this website, it is very visual because you get to make a pie chart out of your spends! It isn't high tech but it is free! http://www.spendingdiary.com/

MrsCautious

Hello,

Good luck everyone, please can I be put down for £200?

That's for all food, household items and toiletries.

I want to be strict about this and need to check in here more. In all honesty I'd like to try and see if we can manage on £175 but am giving myself some 'leg room' at £200.

Thanks to all who run and contribute to the thread, I'm hoping to follow closely x

chickadee

Hi everyone, I've never done the GC before but I've had a look at what we've been spending and although it isn't extortionate I think a challenge will motivate me to be more creative.

I have had to go through my online bank records to work out how much we spend on groveries but it is looking around £315 a month for two adults and two cats including toiletries, laundry and cleaning stuff. This is about £40 a week each which I think we can reduce to £250 a month (£31 a week each).

So I'd like my September budget to be £250 please. I'll only start this in September and as I have store cupboard supplies I think I'll be able to manage this quite easily.

When I looked at the joint account (we each have our own current account and we transfer money into a joint account for shared spending such as food and eating out) we spend far too much on eating out so I'm hoping that I can make some interesting meals that will stop us taking the easy option and going out for a meal because we can't be bothered to cook!

Good luck everyone with your respective challenges!

MissRikkiC

I've replied to this already but wondered if someone would just be able to tell me how I can access this thread quickly when I log in? I'm having to search for it each time, is there a faster way to do this? Thanks RC

cattysmum

Hello September GC thread, my budget for September is £190, im trying to reduce it very slowly. We had a very sad day on Saturday, we got back from our holidays and our neighbour who was kindly feeding a little feral cat who adopted us almost 12 years ago informed us that he had found her dead in his garden.:sad: She was as wild as can be would not let us near her but would follow us around the garden whenever we were outside. In winter she made herself comfy under our kitchen table but still would not let us stroke her. She came and went over the years but always came "home". I miss her hanging around in the garden and her little face at our back door. So no cat food to buy for a while, and the stock of food I have will be going to a neighbors cat.

WantToBeSE

MissRikkiC- you can subscribe to this thread by clicking on 'Thread Tools' in the green bar just under the title 'September 2013 Grocery Challenge'.

Then, when you want to find it again you just click on 'User CP' on the top green bar

WantToBeSE

cattysmum wrote: »

Hello September GC thread, my budget for September is £190, im trying to reduce it very slowly. We had a very sad day on Saturday, we got back from our holidays and our neighbour who was kindly feeding a little feral cat who adopted us almost 12 years ago informed us that he had found her dead in his garden.:sad: She was as wild as can be would not let us near her but would follow us around the garden whenever we were outside. In winter she made herself comfy under our kitchen table but still would not let us stroke her. She came and went over the years but always came "home". I miss her hanging around in the garden and her little face at our back door. So no cat food to buy for a while, and the stock of food I have will be going to a neighbors cat.

I'm so sorry to hear that, Cattysmum