January 2016 Grocery Challenge

mummyjane

Thank you Familyhistoryresearcher, I shall keep an eye out for some ys meat to freeze

Pepperoni

How do you all keep on top of your spends?

Unfortunately my 'one weekly shop' has gone a bit pete tong this week and I'm struggling to keep on top of the total spend as don't want to include my husbands indulgences this month! Is it just keeping receipts? Spreadsheet? Any tips, let me know! Thanks.

AimingForBetter

Hello, slightly late but am in again please. Budget £250 please.

Will need to do a shop for mainly fresh stuff plus some washing liquid at the weekend, still reasonable amount of stores to use up so doing ok at the mo.

Thanks everyone.
AFB.

lucielou5

And it was going sooooo well!
3 NSD's then £15 on a takeaway & wine.
Grrrrrr!

counting_stars

Hi all,

I recorded all my spending 2015 and have found that averaged out I spent monthly £109 on food, cat food, toiletries/ household products and a whopping £64 on takeaways/ eating out/ lunches and coffees out. Probably more spent on holidays, which I budget separately. This is for one person and my partner has likely spent the same.

Whilst some things I wont change, such as buying mostly organic dairy, meat and veg I have got a few ideas to save:

1. I recently started making keifer rather then buying natural yoghurt.
2. We have agreed to stop takeaways and only eat out at places for date nights, which will hopefully reduce spending and make it more entertainment then just convenience.
3. I foraged this autumn and made loads of jam and chutney. I plan to do this much more this year. I have recently started putting frozen nettles and blackberries in my smoothies and would like to freeze a year supply next time.
4. I have just taken on an allotment and would like to make a profit on money saved over spent. This should cut down the shopping budget a bit as veg is a large part of our shop.

I'm hoping a knock on effect will be better health and maybe some money saved if I can gift my preserves!

Looking forward to picking up some more tips, especially around cheaper toiletries and household products. Also, is there a preserve/ foraging thread anywhere on here??

counting_stars

Guess I should make up a total. I'm going to aim for £10 less then my shopping and eating out budget was last month so £163 of which I have spent £25.15 so far on a meal out.

Islandmaid

NSD day number 3

Chilli planned for tonight is turning into spag Bol at the kids request

Mozzakate

Made my way to my local MandS S!mply food this morning and used some of my £15 voucher on a reduced veggie meal, bread, milk, two boxes of Super Fibre Porridge and other stuff which came to £12.44, so I've got a bit left over for emergencies. So, technically, a no spend day and my budget is still intact :j

Hope everyone is having a good day

FoxFace

Pepperoni wrote: »

How do you all keep on top of your spends?

Unfortunately my 'one weekly shop' has gone a bit pete tong this week and I'm struggling to keep on top of the total spend as don't want to include my husbands indulgences this month! Is it just keeping receipts? Spreadsheet? Any tips, let me know! Thanks.

I always take my budget out in cash and don't spend any more than I have! I also find updating here daily helps massively

Another thing I find is that if I try to have as many NSD's as possible, it makes me more determined to find a creative way around a missing item, rather then just nipping to the shop to buy it; I try to wait an extra day or two and then have a little top up. I take a shopping list and rarely deviate from it.

And as for DH and his indulgences, he has his own money. I may treat him if I see something I think he will like, but anything above what I provide from the household budget, he buys himself and I don't count it

Edit: sorry I may have misread. If you buy things for your husband that you don't want to count in your budget, a little spreadsheet might come in handy

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

Huge apologies for not updating the budgets sooner. I wasn't able to log on for a few days and when I did there were 9 pages to catch up on!! Sorry for neglecting you all

Budget list updated to here

Welcome/welcome back to:
Frugalgurl, monks, Living proof, Lynxe, Pepperoni, Walnut, crunch_time, georgiebrown0, Meliemops, nessauk, mildredalien, mummytogirls, FrugalinShropshire, rgr, summerlady, moneytree1, MoneyMission, loopy53, lucylollipop, THIRZAH, cleosmum, Mumof2, wooftastic, Mrs Cheshire, Snottycat, cabsy83, Chihirosen, jollymummy, Familyhistoryresearcher, Tall_order, Urchhhh, cowboymum, FurryBeastOz, selement, Faete, lucielou5, misty6, patentgirl, angel1985, lynneee and counting_stars

Lovely to have so many new joiners, welcome

Hi to Gorgeestwo - would you like to set a budget for this month?

Congratulations to lushlifesaver on your engagement

Off to Costco tomorrow and I will be bulk buying chicken, minced steak, meatballs and sausages. I haven't been for about 8 months so I'm looking forward to going and having a stock up. Need to work out how this fits into my monthly budget - might restart my second purse. Dinner tonight is SW sweet chilli chicken with rice and veg.

Have a good evening all
Coxy