June 2014 Grocery Challenge

Solstice_3

Well it's raining today so I've decided not to go out, I need some stuff but it can wait until tomorrow. I have a tin of soup in the cupboard to use up and some 2 day old focaccia which I am going to turn into cheese on toast that and some fruit should do us for lunch and tea is already sorted. Not an NSD though as meat, fruit and veg box coming today - £48.80 but will last a week with just top ups.

SazzleDazzle1

Well, I have decided to declare a few days early on £410. Not brilliant as I was hoping to reduce my spends but next month - hopefully. I spent yesterday in Tesc0 but on nappies and bits for next week so July budget.







Here's to a thrifty July :rotfl::T

Frizzle_2

Frizzle wrote: »

There is a voucher for aldi in the mirror. £5 off a £45 spend. There is also money off vouchers for two loaves of bread (50p each), malt load, breaded fish, cream doughnuts (naughty!), cheese topped rolls, summer fruits chilled juice, salad dressings. Can't remember any others!

I went shopping today for our weekend away. Spent £43 (after the vouchers). But also stocked up on a months supply of cereal, tins of toms etc. so not just shopping for the weekend. I will get mum to nip and get me some fruit on Monday as I am at work all day, which should do me until next Thursday when I will use my other vouchers up! Doing quite well this month. The fruit will be part of this month's budget and next weeks shop at aldi will be in my July budget!

Just realised that £6 of my weekly shop was on children's head torches for our camping weekend. They were so cute; a frog and a monkey! So the shopping was only £37!

Frizzle_2

Just updated my signature and can't believe I have £48 left this month. I will need some fruit on Monday so might spend about a tenner then but still really impressed. This is my fourth month and all the other months have been about £250. I think my plans are now slotting into place. My freezer is fit to burst so probably about 10 meals in there at least! :j

Cleosmum

My month ends today and I'd like to declare a spend of £285.26/£500 :j:j:beer: very happy as I didn't cut it back anywhere near as much as I could have and nobody noticed any difference :T

joedenise

Cleosmum wrote: »

My month ends today and I'd like to declare a spend of £285.26/£500 :j:j:beer: very happy as I didn't cut it back anywhere near as much as I could have and nobody noticed any difference :T

WOW, that's absolutely amazing! I'm happy if I actually come in under budget - even if it's only a few pence, LOL!

Denise

Luiem

£41.16 more spent which means a total spend of £130.25/£160 for the month. I think this is the first month we have had money left at the end of the month.
We have been adding more vegetables to dishes such as casseroles and pastas without adding more meat and making them stretch to two days rather than one. I think that is what has ended up saving us money.

Billie-jo

Adding £5 to spends although it was slightly less but I cant remember the exact figures.
Still using a bit of stuff from the freezer and if I was too move things around I should imagine there would be a shelf empty.
Well done Cleosmum - a great saving made keep it up.

[Deleted User]

Declaring this month closed at $275 with 21 NSD's.
This is the first month that I have meal planned, and although I always have all the protein in the freezer, its all the other stuff that sends the budget skywards.


Next month will be more difficult as I have multiple grandchildren for two weeks, and as it is midwinter here, they tend to spend more time in the kitchen to the detriment of the biscuit tins etc.


Large family gathering tomorrow ( mid winter Christmas lunch), so I am off to spend some serious time in the kitchen, will be making venison casserole with herb dumplings for my contribution to the main and chocolate cream for pud! Will also do some bacon and cheese breads and sausage rolls with hm sausages.

lynnejk

Hiya everyone :hello:


Kiwi-blue - your food and way of life always sounds great and interesting

nursemaggie wrote: »

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.

DH get paid weekly and I get bits and pieces all over the place :rotfl: . We budget monthly as most things are paid out monthly like leccy, rent, council tax except the things we can pay yearly and get cheaper like telephone, insurance etc. So it just seems easier to do monthly.


What I did initially was add everything up for the year, food, car costs, leccy, etc and divide each by 12. As our monies go into bank I used to draw out the relevant monthly total on the 1st of every month for things not paid by direct debit such as household expenses and put the money in an envelope with a sheet of paper with the amount written on it. Then, every time I spent money out of the envelope I wrote it on the sheet of paper. Then at end of month did a reccy and added next month's money. Monies over went to the odd treat or saving for a day out.


Now all the money stays in the bank as it earns interest everyday and I just keep the receipts and a record of what spent as we go along. Then do a reccy at the end of the month and move monies around as needed. Everything goes on the cc as we have a 123 account and get cashback so another plus.


Sorry such a long post but hth.

Cleosmum wrote: »

My month ends today and I'd like to declare a spend of £285.26/£500 :j:j:beer: very happy as I didn't cut it back anywhere near as much as I could have and nobody noticed any difference :T

Luiem wrote: »

£41.16 more spent which means a total spend of £130.25/£160 for the month. I think this is the first month we have had money left at the end of the month.
We have been adding more vegetables to dishes such as casseroles and pastas without adding more meat and making them stretch to two days rather than one. I think that is what has ended up saving us money.

Well done both of you and it seems you are starting to see where you can save money - Woop woop :T


Spent £2.70 at MnS and £2.42 at Mr T so going to struggle now to make end of Monday but we'll see.


Hope you all have a super Saturday
Lx