July 2007 Grocery Challenge

Gemma7_2

The_shuffs wrote: »

Would love to join the challange I spent around £250 a month on 3 adults and 2 teenagers and my step kids once a week nobody in my family is interested all think im SAD and should get a life so i need all the support i can get

I'm new to this and i'm starting the challenge next months so your not alone and everyone on here has given me so many tips and pointed me in the right direction! Thanks everyone!:beer:

shelovestobuystuff

I have gone over my first ever grocery target I had set myself for July already!!!but it does include all the food for my engagement BBQ tomorrow:j ,a banquet for 10 people so still not too bad.
I still have to buy the wine and bubbly later today so will go over by about £50 this month:rolleyes: .I am lucky in one respect that my family have very cheap tastes in wine and prefer asti to chamagne(nasti spewmante I call it).I keep the good stuff for myself;) .
Maybe I should do what the government do with their financial targets and alter my figures by putting the BBQ spend in a totally different category so that it looks like I am still hitting my targets!!!:rotfl:

rosieben

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

Maybe I should do what the government do with their financial targets and alter my figures by putting the BBQ spend in a totally different category so that it looks like I am still hitting my targets!!!:rotfl:

I think thats exactly what you should do! And its not cheating like the govt do!! Many of us on the challenge have a separate budget for celebrations/special occasions or whatever you would like to call it. I certainly wouldnt take the spend for a party from my normal grocery budget.
And big congratulations on your engagement :heartsmil:happylove:heartsmil:happylove:heartsmil:grinheart
Have a great party!! _party__party__party_

Moniker

I have tried to do this kind of thing before and given up, but think if I join the challenge it will help me stick to it. I think the key is to use cash and not the credit card, also to cook from scratch as much as possible (which I do quite a lot). Currently I spend about £300 per month for all groceries and cleaning materials for just two of us, which seems a lot to me ( though sometimes the children come for the weekend - ditto M in law). Don't forget August is a five week month. I have visitors in the middle of the month too, so I think I will just try to keep to the current £300 mark and see how it goes. Good luck everyone.

Curv

Hi to all the newbies jumping in this time - good luck to you all and make sure you listen to rosieben... she rocks at this!

I've just done my first shop for the August budget and it looks really bad as I've taken out cash to cover this month's milk bill and veg boxes so I've included that. I'm hoping that the remaining £47 per week will hold out.

I've managed to drop my budget again, but only by 10% - although that's not bad going when I consider that back in April and May I was spending around £600 per month, not including takeaways. We've come a long way...

Well done to everyone and here's to a fabulous, frugal August

Curv x

rosieben

Thanks for the vote of confidence Curv, just passing on the wisdom I've gleaned from many others on these threads! :j

Its great that so many new people are signing up, welcome all!!:hello:

I was just thinking about the various 'budgets' I have -

Grocery, including cleaning and laundry items
Christmas
Birthdays/Partying!
Take-outs (really have to reduce this one!!)
Car - giving up the car soon, but will keep the budget for travel costs

I dont have anything put aside for maintenance and repairs as I rent. I obviously have my utilities and insurance to budget for but not including those here.

My biggest downfall is books, and books, and books, and books, and then some books ................................. did I mention I like books? maybe I should have an Education budget for ummmm.... books.....

I'd be interested to know what other budget we all have? :question:

lil_me

• Normal bills inc every household expense from insurance to utilities and rent.
• Christmas - currently have £400 put away, aim at £150 a month June-December but put much more in last year and hope to do the same.
• Holiday - been now so empty, that goes Jan-June
• Birthdays - reduced this by using vouchers and things like boots points to buy them
• Car tax & petrol, tax money goes into a pot
• Groceries, which incs all cleaning, pet stuff, toiletries and since March all eating out/take aways which I found helps me cut down these as I think I can make 2/3 meals out of that. This is for 4 of us, inc 2 boys and my partner and ALL meals inc pack ups for work/school
• Emergency pot - like to have it for unexpected issues like car problems, illness, washing machine/vacuum cleaner breaks (both showing signs now) etc
• Kids pot
• Clothes

Don't tend to go out so entertainment budget for us isn't needed but put a seperate aside for kids stuff (hence Kids Pot) which can inc sports activities, play areas, cinema, fuel to get there etc. Think that is all ours.

Well I've ordered my first shop of August but doesn't get delivered until next week so can still start my budget then. That way I know I'm getting what I need then and don't need to dash out thinking I might run out of something. Have ordered everything I need to go with what I have for meal plans, stocked up on juices etc for the boys & us but this will of course be on August budget. Will take what I have spent out of the budget when I get it out og the bank, they didn't take my card so paid with DPs and have to pay it back. Still trying to decide what to set the budget at, 5 week month would be harsh to stay at current target I think. Will have a think. 5 week month aswell as being holidays I am finding rather scary!

Oh and PS going to blow the last of this months budget on eating out on Sunday so DP just told me we're going to the air show and no way I'm cooking when we get home, will take lunch however.

Moniker

My biggest downfall is books, and books, and books, and books, and then some books ................................. did I mention I like books? maybe I should have an Education budget for ummmm.... books.....

Why not take a visit to the Library? If they haven't got what you want they will often order it for you at a fraction of the cost of buying it. Charity shops are also a good source - Oxfam has just opened a shop in our town just selling books. I know it is nice to 'own' them , but how often do you read them again?

Mind you, my other half always forgets to take them back on time and ends up paying fines - even though you can now renew them online too!

The_shuffs

do you think it would be better to use cash or card i want to get this right i think cash and a menu that has got to help i did that before but the kids got bored any ideas

lil_me

I prefer to use cash, I did order online but like I said take that out of my cash budget, I find it too easy to blow it on cards. I usually do a stock list (of what is in) meal plan to use up as much as possible, shopping list of what I need to go with it.

feels wrong trying to offer advice to someone who already spends less than I do but I suppose everyones lives are different and what comes out of that budget.

I also do the charity shop for books, we always end up being late returning them where as the charity shop I take them back so they can sell them again when I want to. Not mainly for me as I rarely have time to read and have a pile I haven' touched from ages ago but DP reads a lot.