January 2016 Grocery Challenge

mrsd

Been to Ald! Spent £40.49 so not too bad, did need few store cupboard items and toiletries so although not as good as last week I'm happy. Managed 5 NSDs this week and one of the days I did spend was because DS had made himself Mac and cheese and didn't tell me he'd used up all the pasta. Quick trip to corner shop and £1.19 on small bag of pasta and dinner was saved. Will go and join for next month and may take a little bit off budget. ��

katkin

Half way through for me and I'm slightly over budget at £137.55 (from £250 target).

Have quite a few meals and whatnot in stock though, so hoping I can make it on target by 12th February.

Kitchenbunny

OK! Final shop of the month means that with a spend of £6.47 I have can declare at £166.28 for January - £13.72 under budget! I know this won't last as I've been using up lots from the cupboards, but ... taking lunches, using what I've got, stretching things til they're soup ... it has really worked for me. Now, I can go on to February (with the same budget) and try to repeat my success next month!

KB xx

Mumof2_2

Declaring at £361.77 for January which I'm pleased with. We have all the food we need and won't need to buy anything til Monday at the earliest.

mildredalien

Ended at £226.84 which is £6.84 over budget - but not too bad for a first go! Just need to get hubby on board with not spending £5 a day in Tesco on random bits and pieces...

MoneyMission

Declaring at £402.30 for January which for a long month is pretty good for us.

ancientmum

Morning all,
Just popping in to say i managed to come in under budget at £154.02/160. Going to try for better on February challenge. I don't post often, but keep up with all the news so see you all over there. Cheers:beer:

rising_from_the_ashes

Hi everyone - sorry not been posting much. I do read at lunchtimes at work but can't log in to 'thank' or post.

Well done to everyone taking part .... I need this now more than ever as I've been doing a temp job which has ended (I do have another to do to but it's quite a salary drop unfortunately)

GC has been going OK - but, I have a question please

My GC runs to 31st Jan - but I had to go to town last night (nearest big range of shops incl places like B&M, Lidl, Aldi etc which I don't have here) so decided to stock up with stuff like loo rolls, tissues etc etc while there :T - but most of this stuff is going to be used in Feb & even March! :eek:

Currently sitting at £181 (so only £6 over!) but I do still have my 'everyday' stuff like milk, bread etc to get this week so prob about £20 or so still to add.

I tend to do a stock up every 2/3 months when I'm in town - how would you tweak your budget to cover this sort of thing?

mrs-moneypenny

Did last weekly shop of January so just added £55.55 to my sig. If I get any more spends till I get next weekends money out they will still be from hand money. I'm quite pleased as I'm still in budget.

Suffolk_lass

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Hi everyone - sorry not been posting much. I do read at lunchtimes at work but can't log in to 'thank' or post.

Well done to everyone taking part .... I need this now more than ever as I've been doing a temp job which has ended (I do have another to do to but it's quite a salary drop unfortunately)

GC has been going OK - but, I have a question please

My GC runs to 31st Jan - but I had to go to town last night (nearest big range of shops incl places like B&M, Lidl, Aldi etc which I don't have here) so decided to stock up with stuff like loo rolls, tissues etc etc while there :T - but most of this stuff is going to be used in Feb & even March! :eek:

Currently sitting at £181 (so only £6 over!) but I do still have my 'everyday' stuff like milk, bread etc to get this week so prob about £20 or so still to add.

I tend to do a stock up every 2/3 months when I'm in town - how would you tweak your budget to cover this sort of thing?

Hi Rising, sorry to hear about your job situation. I can offer my view on what I do re stock shops.

I divide my annual budget (£3000 in 2016) into 13, with the extra £10 going to my 13th month. I use this for stock shops. When I remember, I then try and transfer out of that 13th month back into the month I use the thing in, so that I have an extra £240 to cover all the extra things I need at Christmas. I don't always remember, but it is OK as I have accounted for it.

The other thing I do in my stock shop is try to only buy things when they are on offer. So I bought 6 shower gels when they were £1 instead of £2.20 each. Coffee and laundry detergent are my big things this month. If I was following the famous second purse system I would pay full price when I use these from my stores - but I am not saving for anything except paying off my mortgage so I don't always worry. I know the coffee and detergent were £4 each so if I want to top up my stores fund I "buy things out" when I have a holiday (so when I have an easier month for food).

I hope this helps
SL