June 2014 Grocery Challenge

XSpender

Declaring at £387 against a target of £265. The target was a bit random but my spends are still way too high.


I am on a mission in July:rotfl:

K9sandFelines

£59.72 spent today at Tesc*, was £71.00 odd before offers and £5 off £20 spent on frozen food.
£1.00 spend on milk at the C*-*p.
Also spends at Asd* online yesterday of £27.01.

Solstice_3

Small spend on £1.50 today on aubergine and spaghetti. Also bought chocolate but that and alcohol doesn't come out of the grocery budget.

x_raphael_xx

12p spent today on a red onion, didn't bother with the bacon, and didn't like the look of the mushrooms so just got that.

nursemaggie

Sorry I have been so long in getting back. As only one reaction I think I have done wrong. I do not want to know how to save for my funeral I think you misunderstand. I just want to still have enough left in my savings and not fritter it away on bills.

I have been given 5 years to live though I think I could double that now I have been moved to the Christie Hospital. It is certainly not as bad as I was led to believe.

I think we are sorted on most bills but food.

I do not want to get off on the wrong foot but I think I have. Being in an older age group I was brought up on rationing and in an age when no one had much. I ought to know how to budget but somehow I think we all forgot. Many of you will remember your parents counting out the wages on a Friday night into tins for the gas, the electric, insurance, rent etc. Everyone did that. Now we are used to it in a bank account and using a card. I am finding my son forgets the receipt. He does understand what I am trying to do though he does go over the top and has brought me some horrible bread because it was cheap. I do think I can estimate what we have spent.

What I need to know is, is it easier to break things down to weekly? With everything coming in on different days of the month I think it may be easier to go either weekly or two weekly. JSA is two weekly and I will have that' most of it in cash, for his keep. I think I will start in the middle of next month after my DD and family have been from Saudi Arabia. We are bound to spend more with three more to feed.

LilMissEmmylou

Just added on this weeks bits although I do still need to go buy some spuds and meat for OH this weekend. Perhaps £10 more.

Failed drastically at my target BUT this week has been closer to what we need to be spending than the first 2 weeks and I think we have learnt a few coping strategies for July!

Also got a few things stocked up on for July e.g. 2.5kg of rice, dogs denta sticks for the month etc. So here is to July being a better month with more no spend days for us

cw18

nursemaggie wrote: »

Sorry I have been so long in getting back. As only one reaction I think I have done wrong

I missed your original post as I only skim quickly at weekends (precious time with my OH).

Do you qualify for Disability Living Allowance to any degree? When my (now late) hubby was being treated for cancer in 2007 he managed to get the highest rate of both parts - but his prognosis at that time was only 6 months, otherwise I suspect he'd have been on lower amounts (he actually lived for a further 16 months).

He'd been made redundant a couple of months before the diagnosis, so all he had initially was Incapacity Benefit (as it was then). I was also off work on long-term sick (6 months basic pay when I was used to lots of out-of-hours standby and overtime, 6 months of half my basic, and then I think 5 months of Incapacity Benefit before I got back to work), so without the DLA we wouldn't have managed to run the house (especially with the extra heating he needed) or stay on top of the grocery bills with his very faddy eating which became even more so (meaning I was having to shop daily when he'd decided what he fancied that day) and having to stop relying on reduced to clear items (his immune system was shot, so everything had to be as fresh as possible). He was also treated at Christie's, and we always found the staff there to be very friendly and helpful

As to whether to set weekly, fortnightly or monthly budgets, that really is a case of finding what works best for you. We had all sorts of things coming in at different times of the month, so I put what was needed for one month into an account and then topped it up as each income arrived - keeping my budgets monthly as that was how we paid all the household bills other than food.

cw18

Just updated my records with spends in A1di on Tuesday, and H0me Bargains, L1dl & Mr T today - I'm now £33.29 over budget, and still need more fresh stuff before month end.

The majority of the stuff I bought today won't even get started until next month (some's even for August), but I'm not often in (or even near) a H0me Bargains so I picked up while there. I did momentarily consider splitting across relevant months but decided it's not worth the effort of changing the way I record spends.

nursemaggie

Thanks CW18. No I am not that ill though I have to agree with you about the heating I even feel cold if the temperature drops below 21c in the summer. DS is sweating and I am icy cold he likes the feel of my cold hands when he is too hot.

I don't actually need anyone to take care of me though I do struggle with the housework. I am not sure I would qualify or not. It is automatic if you have been told you have 6 months or less to live.

I think I may be best on two weekly for groceries. When DS gets his JSA he gives me most of it and I spend that for food. I got a bit panicky when we first moved here and did a budget and found we were spending a lot more than we had coming in. I do think this grocery challenge is a very good idea. I have picked up lots of tips from reading most of the threads on OS.

cw18

I think a chunk of today is going to be spent compiling shopping lists for Mr T and A1di......

While in Mr T yesterday I was given a till spit for £6 off a £40 spend, valid until 6th July. I need some long-life stuff from there for 2 weeks away in July and 1 in August, but most of it is low-value (such as value bottled water), so it may take some work to reach the £40 but I'm going to give it a try

Then DS1 came home from work this morning (he works nights) and presented me with the A1di vouchers out of yesterdays paper - he picked up a copy that was lying around to read while on a break, spotted the vouchers, and figured the paper was about to be thrown out so he may as well remove them and bring them back for me :T He said he didn't expect me to use the 'big one' as he knows I don't spend that kind of money in there in one trip (unless there's a weekly special electrical or clothing type thing I want), but thought I might make use of some of the MOCs Shame they don't run an extra few days though, as I need to stockpile bread on 5th/6th for taking on holiday, but they run out on 3rd and I don't have freezer space However, I was planning on getting some long-life stuff from here for when OH and I take 2 of my GDs and his niece away in August, so it may that I can manage to reach the £45 if I stock up now (no guarantee I'll get the coupon again at the end of July).