January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

Franalamadingdong

Penny grabber, I hope you feel better soon!

Great news art deco. I'm sure this week has been the week all companies are trying to !!!! us off. Glad you got a win. I've had 2 this week and will resolve the last one by post. Although to have not had my landlords threatening me with legal action for not allowing gas engineer to do a safety check despite several visits and letters to my home would have been nice considering the appointment letter came on the Tuesday, for an appointment on the Wednesday (which I had rearranged for the coming Monday), and the threatening letter arrived on Wednesday dated Tuesday. It was the last in a series of crap via post so the poor lad who answered the landlord's phone got a barrel full!

Thrift and nannyg I suppose it depends on if you want a budget or need a budget. I wanted to cut back and set a budget because we were spending too much on food. I have a series of big spends coming up and I'm happy to spend the money because I've managed to plump up my cushion, but if I go over my budgets it isn't a problem because I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. That said I'm a competitive sort, so if I've put a target for myself I want to hit it. If it's want and not need for you then I wouldn't worry too much.

We've no spends still although if work and everything else keeps peeing me off I might have to spend £100 on chocolate!!! DS asked to go to the shop, but he had some of his sweetie/chocolate stash from home. He has so much!

Also, if you have anything on your Amazon wish list you might want to get it today. £10 off a £50 spend. I bought myself a couple of books and some bits for DS's birthday, although annoyingly most the stuff I wanted didn't meet the restrictions.

greentiger

I'm delighted you finally got a sympathetic ear, artdeco.

Suffolk_lass

Franalamadingdong wrote: »

Thrift and nannyg I suppose it depends on if you want a budget or need a budget. I wanted to cut back and set a budget because we were spending too much on food. I have a series of big spends coming up and I'm happy to spend the money because I've managed to plump up my cushion, but if I go over my budgets it isn't a problem because I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. That said I'm a competitive sort, so if I've put a target for myself I want to hit it. If it's want and not need for you then I wouldn't worry too much.

That's a really good point about budgeting. We are in a similar position where it's not hand to mouth but I am also plumping up my cushion (I love that expression). Last year I joined the "save £12k in 2016" thread and my competitive streak meant I had to increase my target part way through. My emergency cushion absorbed the broken dishwasher and DH writing off his car without us having to borrow on finance, and neither could have been handled without the plumping.

SL

Cappella

Woo Hoo!!! :T:):T
Did my last January shop yesterday. Lots of fruit, veg, yogurt and meat and fish to restock the freezer and I which came to £43.00. So I have MET my target for the Januay challenge and am chuffed to bits.
Have updated my signature and have just over £6.00 of the original £250.00 left.
I admit that I am one of the very, very fortunate people who is doing the challenge to challenge myself, more than cause I have to do it. It is a want, not a need. However it is very comforting and reassuring to know that I can still save from my pension and that I could be even more thrifty if the need arose (you never really know what's round the next corner after all).
Many thanks to everyone here for their support and tips. Be interesting to see if I can do the same now in February,

Florence_J

I have been thinking and I have decided to increase the budget to £200 as I currently have 70p of the budget left, with a few essentials to buy, and it has been a longer month from my early December payday to next Friday's payday.

I have been thinking in general of increasing the budget as now that I have enforced a ban on buying lunches/drinks/snacks at work, so need to bring in food from home everyday (this is hardly a hardship, but as I wasn't doing this before it seems fair to increase the budget to incorporate this)

My OH was off work this week which is why what was left of the budget dramatically took a nose dive as he went shopping. To be fair he mainly bought essentials but it was the lack of shopping around for the best price that annoyed me

Islandmaid

Another NSD here, as not going out.

I get annoyed with Hubby when he (rarely) comes food shopping- he gambles around the aisles like a kid grabbing things off the shelves with Oohs and Aahhs of delight - till I remind him of the budget, his treats, his budget - bless him.....

zafiro1984

I am well under budget for this month but it's only due to my freezers being full of home grown fruit, veg, turkeys and pheasants plus a well stocked pantry so I have decided to include anything I buy (compost, seeds etc) which enables me to produce food for us. This should give me a truer picture of my food/cleaning/toiletries spends.

Maybe I should knock the cost of a gym membership off my total after digging over the veg plot?

Franalamadingdong

That's great Suffolk lass. I have to be careful because I receive some housing benefit and so if I have too much saved I won't get that bit of help. I have my car insurance (just about to complete my first year as a driver) and MOT coming up, as well as my son's birthday and party and mum and dad's birthdays. I also need to chuck out two broken chairs which I'll replace with a dining bench. I'll be decorating the upstairs bathroom and hallway this year and I want to put new laminate down in the hallway, which I might do myself or get someone in (unheard of for me!). And I want to plant some fruit bushes - I've prepared the space already. So I have a lot of expenses coming up! Not wasting money on food we weren't eating has allowed for this though.

Planning on another NSD here. Hoping to get milk on Monday and then doing a bigger shop on Wednesday.

Rachiedabbler70

Just caught up on 2 weeks worth of posts. Some good tips and impressive frugal people and belated happy birthday to those I missed. :beer:

For the first time in ages I've been a bit hit and miss - bought a pizza takeaway mid week cost £14 - it lasted son and I two days so £3.50 per meal which is more than would usually spend. Been working 50 hours per week and then the commute has increased to a couple of hours each day due to closure of a local road for a few months so think it is catching up on me - also costing a fortune in petrol sitting in a queue every morning and evening - should bill council for extra £20 a month. :eek:

Something that is working well is my son has taken lunches to work 3 out of 4 days a week, so I don't give him £3 every day now.

I've added all my receipts together and I'm now at £202.37 out of my annual budget. I do have a reasonable amount of food in the house and although bread will run out today I am going to make some tomorrow to last first few days of next week.

Budget not blown by any means, but slightly higher spend than wanted. Back on track now - will just make simpler food to make up for 12 hours out of house each day. Hope you all have a frugal weekend.

fairy3

Hello all,

Minor spends this week so total spends now stand at £70.53/100 so still on track with 10 days to go - menu planned until next weekend so should only need milk bread and veggies. Have noticed that at least 10% of budget has been spent on non food so will keep an eye on that with a view to separating them for a true figure.
Stocks are reducing and am thinking hard about whether they all need replacing just yet.

Have a lovely weekend everyone