January 2017 Grocery Challenge. NEW BEGINNINGS!

Poppycat1

Can I please join? I am a single Mum with two sons aged 14 and 9. We all eat vegan at home and my oldest gets a free school meal and takes some extras from home.

I have a budget of £50 a week/£2,600 a year for all food including takeaways which is normally chip shop chips once a fortnight.

I have just handed my notice in at work so will have more time to prepare food from scratch but obviously less money.

The allotment should help a lot in the summer months.

I have a separate budget for toiletries and cleaning products. I make my own laundry gloop and don't clean much! Just found a local shop that sells Astonish which is not tested on animals and is very reasonably prized.

elsiepac

Hi all - Hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Christmas!

My January budget is 5 weeks and 1 day (ugh!) to run from 21 December up to 25 January - £140 for the month please!

Thanks zippy and Coxy as always for running the thread.

I'm aiming for £20-£25 a week on average with a surplus. I've actually spent just over £40 the first week, but as the 2nd week starts tomorrow, it means I still have £24.94 per week available if I want to spend that much. I would prefer to keep it around the £20 mark for the next 3 weeks, as in that final week it's my birthday (and an 8 day "week") and I'll want the extra cash as I usually have people over and I do a bit of a spread of hot and cold nibbles. We'll see though!

Plan:
21-27 Dec: £25 (actual £40.22)
28-3 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)
4-10 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)
11-17 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)
18-25 Jan: £24.94 (actual tbc)



Date.......Where.....Amount.....Remaining from £140 Budget
21 Dec.....T35c0.....£09.00.....£131.00 (Veggie Mains and Prepared Veg - lazy)
23 Dec.....T35c0.....£06.14.....£124.86 (Crisps, Nuts and Snacks for get together)
24 Dec.....H&B.......£03.88.....£120.98 (Mushroom Tofu Pate and Sandwich slices)
24 Dec.....T35c0.....£21.20.....£99.78 (Proper Grocery Shop and Toiletries)

WantToBeSE

Poppycat1 wrote: »

Can I please join? I am a single Mum with two sons aged 14 and 9. We all eat vegan at home and my oldest gets a free school meal and takes some extras from home.

I have a budget of £50 a week/£2,600 a year for all food including takeaways which is normally chip shop chips once a fortnight.

I have just handed my notice in at work so will have more time to prepare food from scratch but obviously less money.

The allotment should help a lot in the summer months.

I have a separate budget for toiletries and cleaning products. I make my own laundry gloop and don't clean much! Just found a local shop that sells Astonish which is not tested on animals and is very reasonably prized.

My local poundshop and also the 99p store both sell Astonish

suzeesu2000

Hanging my head in shame here - please dont judge me

Just did an inventory of freezers, oooh my wordie.

We have an awful lot of stuff in them which is going to be used over the next couple of months me thinks.

You know what happens? You buy new stuff and other stuff gets squidged to the back of the shelf and you forget its there. This challenge could not have come at a better time for us - time to (pardon the mixed metaphors) pull our socks up or heads will roll.

pajama

Please put me down for £360

LesP50

So, completely lost track of spending in December! Have been paid so budget is 160.00 from now until 31/1/17. 1 adult and DS who will go back to Uni 16/01/17. This is food, cleaning and toiletries.

thriftwizard

Another one who totally lost the plot in December here; it probably wasn't as bad as I feared, but it certainly wasn't good!

So, time to tighten the belts in January. For us that runs from 30th Dec to 31st Jan, so a five-weekend month, and weekends is when I do my main shop at the local market, meal-planning around whatever is best value. I'm now feeding 4 adults full-time, 2-4 more on occasion, plus two cats, two cockatiels and eleven chickens. We are reasonably well-stocked up, but after failing to hit my target a number of times in 2016 (mainly due to time pressures, as someone else noted earlier in the thread) I shall be fairly unambitious & aim for £350, which I'm reasonable confident I can do even if my mother's ill & I have to stay away again. IF I manage to stay within that, I'll aim a bit lower in Feb.

ETA: lowered it, on inspecting the contents of the cupboards & the freezer. I CAN do better, I MUST do better, I WILL do better!

willkeepontrying

Could you please put me down for £350.

Thanks x

NewShadow

Right - Okay.

4th attempt's the charm.

£225 per month please

Aiming for that to include everything that isn't a direct debit - food, cleaning products, anything from work/out of the house and any 'extras' I pick up - and aiming to spend a little more on fresh/better quality as I want 2017 to be the year I actually shift some of this extra me.

Paid on the last working day of the month so £50 per week plus £25 'impulse' money.

Domestic_devil

Hi I would love to join the January challenge. I have been reading for a while now, we currently spend around £600 for 2 adults and 1 child, which I know is ridiculously high. I would like to set our budget at £200 for this month as my freezer etc are full to bursting. Our budget starts 30th December