October 2013 Grocery Challenge

Pandora_2

Oh dear, another £10.24 spent over Wednesday and Thursday but I did manage to get quite a lot of stuff. Made a massive chilli in the slow cooker yesterday which was big enough for 6 portions. So that was yesterdays tea, todays dinner and tea, tomorrows tea and 2 portions for the freezer Definitely going to be over budget this month, but with lot's of supersize cooking, there will be plenty of meals going in the freezer so November onwards will be much more manageable. Not going to beat myself up about going overbudget this month as it's been pretty hellish meaning all meal planning went out the window. Luckily, I've just got a tax refund cheque for nearly £700 which means I can actually afford to be over budget and even afford to stock up a little bit so that if I ever get really desperate for money again I will have a little emergency stash of food to keep me going From Novemeber onwards, I'm going to stick to my budget of approx £10 a week, but have an extra £10 a month for emergency supplies and bargains which will take the pressure off a little bit
Right, I best go and get ready for work!! It's going to be a lovely shift as we're watching a film and then having a discussion, and there will be popcorn provided by work!!

meg72

Billie-jo wrote: »

Now at £95.77 for this month so still good.

However yesterday's shopping trip made me realise that mum needs watching a little bit more closely. We usually drop her off in Te$co while we go over the road to A1di then go back to pick her up. Yesterday she was stuck as she had forgotten her pin and also was trying to pay with a club card, she also told me that as big as Te$co was they had no cheese what so ever in the store!!!! (she wouldn't dream of asking someone where it was) . So we are having to deal with confusion and some memory loss and I now feel I have to go shopping with her, watch her round the store and help with the paying if she gets stuck. We have decided to do our shopping on a different day from next week but am thinking - am I going to be tempted to spend more when I go with mum?

On a different note chicken curry in the slow cooker for tonight.

Aww feel for you Hun, I remember the first time I realised my Mum was needing help and how sad it made me to see her struggling but on a lighter side there were some smiles too, like when she put her tescos club card in the ATM and swore like a trooper when she didn't get any money, when I pointed out her mistake she apologised profusely to the machine and then blamed me for letting her do it.

Nelly11

Somehow I managed to go over budget by 31.00 this week, my issue is I have to leave my teenager son in the house for two days while Im away and i kind of know that every bit of nice food will be gone when i return home. I cant meal plan until Im back home, or should i leave a meal plan for him to stick to. Got a shocker of a bill this morning, I had made an agreement to pay a loan off at 5 per month, sorry my pound sign isnt working, which ive been doing but they sent a letter this morning saying im in arrears by 1000, shocker, straight out of the blue, so im feeling a bit paniced today.

candygirl

Have done a big shop at ALDI today inc flowers for Mum, and Dad's grave as it is his anniversary today:(Also got wine, and chocs for mates Bday, and all my shopping for £44.Will sort my receipts out and do a subtotal this weekend:j:j

flyinggiraffe_2

I spent nine.forty yesterday, on onions,peppers, gammon joint, mousses and some selection boxes for Christmas presses.

I need to nip out tomorrow for something for work lunches next week but should have enough fruit and yogurts in for breakfast, and my freezer is groaning its so full!

marris

NSD here today. eating down my freezer

meg72

Bluegreen143 wrote: »

It's up to you how you play this. Some people are happy to buy the offers then take them off the next month's spend if that's when they'll spend them.

Personally I almost never go for them - I prefer to stick to each month's budget (and haven't gone over budget since January looking at my sig so it must be working!). If I think the offer is that worthwhile (e.g. on coffee or razors, both things we tend to buy expensive brands of) I will rejig the shopping list/put other stuff back to fit them in (often the new budget is only a couple of days away and then you can restock), but I don't go over budget.

However I tend to buy value/savers of most stuff so don't get swayed by offers as they're still more expensive usually. If you often use branded stuff it certainly makes sense to buy when it's on offer - just, like you say, there's no point setting a budget then going over all the time. Maybe set aside say £10-20 p/m that can be used on offers guilt-free so you're not continually going over your budget? HTH!

Absolutely with you on this, but what I am saying is that sometimes an offer is too good to miss.

I have just bought 16 packs of jusrol puff pastry down from 1.50 to 50p, so paid 8.00 but its a promotion pack that gives rewards. 7 packs gives me a 5.00 gift card, so have spent 8.00 but will get 10.00 back and my pastry is free. Well worth going over budget for I think

Soworried

Can I join back in please? I will budget £200 between now and the 31st. This is for two adults and two children for everything. Food, drinks, cleaning products and toiletries. We have a lot of food in already and I just need to refocus to use all of this instead of spending more money we don't have.

Sequeena

£9.49 in morrisons on coke, olive oil, quorn, dog food, yoghurts and babybel. OH bought it so went for branded stuff.

Dinner was the last of the chicken from wednesday. I shredded it and put it in a garlic and herb cheese sauce with onions, mixed peppers, onions and pasta. 2kg of chicken did 2 adult roast dinners, a toddler roast dinner, 3 adult portions of soup, 1 toddler soup, 2 adult chicken dinners(tonight) and a toddler portion. My oh also had all the dark meat. Not bad

He's gotten some great whoopsies lately, pack of fresh chicken legs for 39p, 2 chicken breast quarters for 39p, a massive dessert for 9p and 2kg of frozen chips for 39p a bag.

Annie_99

Thanks for your kind replies.. i forgot to mention that we have spent the last year and a half getting down debts of 23,000 and we are now debt free so its ok if im not quite sticking to my budget all of the time but i cant get out of the worried phase of spending money.
Does that/ will it ever leave me? My husband has agreed to pay me back some money from our savings for the christmas presents and im going to have a separate food and household budget and a "other" budget.. So yes ill try that and see how it goes. I have £72 pounds to last me till next friday so ill see how i can make that last and will hopefully carry some over! You guys rock! :T