February 2014 Grocery Challenge

LESLAMP

Count me in!! After failing in January to beat the target I'm gonna try again in Feb so put me down for £250. That's for 4 adults and a rapidly growing lurcher pup.
Our month won't start till 1st Feb.

Here goes x :j

kayester

declared for jan at being nearly £70 underbudget, so have cut my target by
£50 so is £400
shorter month but i had lots in house from christmas.
I used some of my jan budget today to stock up on a few bits though cya all on the 1st

XSpender

My Feb budget will start Monday 27th Jan and end Sunday 23rd Feb.

Last month I managed to half what we had been spending (£400 to £200) so I am going for £200 again this month. This will include all food, toiletries and cleaning for 2 adults, 1 child (who eats at DMIL and nursery 5 days) and 1 small dog. I also include any takeaways DH has but exclude any alcohol drank at home or food/drinks outside the home.

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Budgets done to here

Welcome to:
babes21, Dia Pita, and dogmom

Good luck all
Coxy

debtfreefuture

redbooties wrote: »

I know these figures are still much higher than most of yours but this is just the start, each month I intend to lower my total until i get to a much more reasonable amount, hopefully with your guys help.

My figures are also very high. I tend to spend about £60 a week (£240 a month).......for ONE! Mine also seems to go on toiletries. I have saved all my receipts last month and realised I spend £10-£12 a week just on fruit and veg (sometimes more). :eek:

So this month I'm going to try for £200

debtfreefuture

Coxy11 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Budgets done to here

Welcome to:
babes21, Dia Pita, and dogmom

Good luck all
Coxy

Can I join please.
I am aiming for £200 ( X £50 average per week).
My month goes from Saturday 25th January to Friday 21st February.

Thanks
DFF
x

dogmom_3

debtfreefuture wrote: »

My figures are also very high. I tend to spend about £60 a week (£240 a month).......for ONE! Mine also seems to go on toiletries. I have saved all my receipts last month and realised I spend £10-£12 a week just on fruit and veg (sometimes more). :eek:

So this month I'm going to try for £200

This is reassuring - I was feeling embarrassed that my monthly amount is £200 for 2 adults - much higher than some of you. Last year, using tips from this forum, I brought average spend down from over £400/month to around £320. I am pleased with this, but year I am determined to stay focused and get it down even further whilst still eating well.

aimeemum

Hi all,

Please can I join in? I'm a complete novice to all of this but have been monitoring my budget almost to the point of religion for the past 6 months so now I think it's time to up the game to give myself a challenge. Too late for january but for February I would like to aim for £240 please. This wont include baby formula but I do get vouchers for them so it shouldn't make a difference.

That's for 4 weeks for 2 adults and 2 under 5s plus 1 under 1 as well who eats veggies, fruit and not a lot else at the moment lol.

Thanks in advance :-)

BlueCow1975

Thankyou for taking the time to organise us.

I am shaving a bit off the Feb budget so could you put me down for £375 please.

It is looking like I will be coming in under budget for January, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we had such a lot in already. I know Feb is a slightly shorter month so shaving £25 off original budget is keeping it realistic and I will see how I get on with that. I hope to shave a bit more off each month as I learn more tips and tricks re: beating the supermarkets!!

BlueMoo

HI Everyone, especially the Newbies! It's a great thread and sure you will all feel right at home
:wave: :wave:

*****
To those who have slightly higher budgets - do not worry about it and do not be ashamed! Everyone has a comfortable figure, and there is no judgement here.
Perhaps if you post your shopping trips on here, everyone could take a look and maybe make suggestions. Sometimes it is much easier from an outside perspective where you can save money as I find sometimes I can get engrained into a routine and certain things to buy.

**********

BlueMoo - I'd love to know what you get, as I cannot and I've tried to get our
shopping lower than £150 without buying meat from some dodgy unknown country
lol!

Well, I will have to dig out my receipts to tell you, but I do rely heavily on YS goods. Is that something you can do (I know some SMs are rubbish) I in particular buy YS meat (organic/free range/British) and stock up my freezer. Even if I see YS bread for example - you can save say 50p, but with meat you can save a lot more (maybe £5) so best to save room for meat, rather than lower value goods.

I also pretty much make everything homemade (ready made curry sauces I buy as I like the taste).

Also, I make the best use of deals and offers. For example if chopped tomatoes go on at 4 for £1 - I will buy a whole tray - yes it may make it tight for that month but it tends to even out as I would have bulk bought something else the month before which I don't need to then buy the following 3 months.

***