May Grocery Challenge

Mrs_Thrift

To bring this back on topic (do I get to tell YOU off now squeaky? ) I thought I'd update on my progress, to boost myself more than anything really..... :rolleyes:

"May" for our budgeting purposes is 3rd May to 5th June inclusive, so we're on day 18 of 34, just over halfway. Our budget for the month is a very tight £82, and I think we should spend "only" £115 or so. So far we've spent £76.50 but the cupboards and freezer will be well stocked after next week's shopping on Monday or Tuesday and we're going away for a few days too, which helps (food will come out of the holiday budget, not the grocery budget.)

So we will be over budget (putting us into "debt" only with ourselves - robbing Peter to pay Paul and all that due to sick pay for a while) but not that long ago we were on at least £220 a month, so £115 for the month is pretty good really.......isn't it? <insert hopeful smiley>

squeaky

It certainly IS pretty good. :T

Off topic? Me???? Nah... musta bin somebody else

Mrs_Thrift

Yeah, of course, I must've been mistaken! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the encouragement Squeaky!

squeaky

Have yourself a ball and work out much of a saving that is per year!

Then start planning to spend it

Mrs_Thrift

Oh I've already done that, hehe!!

Going from £220 a month to £115 is a saving of £1,260 a year!!!!

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that at the moment because we're still spending more than we can actually fit into the budget (so we're spending money that was going into our savings), but that's only because hubby is on sick pay at the moment.

But the possible savings we could make will encourage us to keep to the lower budget once hubby is earning full wages again (keep your fingers crossed that he'll be recovered soon!) and we want to spend the money on a holiday.

Magentasue

My budget is £350 for May for six of us, £255 so far with ten days to go. Shopping at Lidls helps but I wish they sold everything I needed (like loose tea, granary flour, dry mustard, caster sugar ...) then I wouldn't have to go to Asda at all. We have an Aldi opening soon, maybe they have a wider range.

spendaholic

Magentasue wrote:

My budget is £350 for May for six of us, £255 so far with ten days to go. Shopping at Lidls helps but I wish they sold everything I needed (like loose tea, granary flour, dry mustard, caster sugar ...) then I wouldn't have to go to Asda at all. We have an Aldi opening soon, maybe they have a wider range.

How do you get on with that loose tea? We keep getting it but then it seems more of a hassle. We have tea in a cup makers (or porcelain strainers that go with the mugs), which are very nice, but it seems just as quick to pop in a teabag.

rchddap1

Freezer almost empty _pale_

But not to worry...its so that we can defrost the freezer :dance:

However, I've been pricing up my 2 weekly shop in order to start to fill it back up again...and so far I've spent double what I spent a couple of weeks ago Mind you, the plan is that this shop will last us for the next month so that we only need to buy the basics such as fruit and veg (still waiting to get an allotment), milk etc...

Magentasue

I buy a pack of ordinary and a pack of Earl Grey and mix them. I make tea in a teapot (I'm getting old before my time), it's a stanless steel one with an insert that you put the tea in. Or I have a gadget that looks like two teaspoons with holes together like tongs that you put the tea in.

Then the tea leaves go straight in the compost bucket. Not as easy as teabags but I don't like tea made with teabags! Don't like instant coffee either - some things are worth the effort!

HappySad

Hi Everyone,

I am hoping that my monthly spend is under £250 for a family of three and this money also includes all my non essencial shopping and my socialising spending... it is basically what I spend on my debit card. I get my month statement and it has an extra section that totalise everthing that you have spent on your debit card.

I am cooking more veggy meals in the week to cut on my meat spending. I am going specially over into town, away from my local supermarkets to Tesco to get extra lean mince at £1.86 compared to local Waitrose £3.30 (my local Sainbury does not always sell extra lean mince..£2.30)

I am going to try out cooking for the first time with Soya mince. I have a meat mince recipe and I am going to replace the meat mince with Soya mince. If I have soya once a week that will be saving me loads of money.

I saved £1.20 by going to Saver to buy my hand wash in stead of buying it at Superdrug. What a bargin! :T