February 2017 Grocery Challenge

Islandmaid

I get paid tomorrow, so I have done a stock check of Cupboards/fridge/freezer today and written my meal plan.

I will take out £200 cash from machine tomorrow, that goes into a separate purse, and the purse with my 'cards' in will get left in a drawer for the month.

This worked really well for me in January, so I hope it will for feb. My £70 underspend from January has bought DS2 a new Swissgear backpack as his rubbish one broke and being a poor struggling uni student has tried (and failed) to repair it with gaffer tape - that leaves me with £30 to buy some meat/fish for the freezer

JingsMyBucket

Well, I just sent through my Amazon order and it totals £245.80 ≈ €288.24. I'm going to count this toward the February amount though since it doesn't seem fair otherwise. That leaves would €111.76 for February.

The order consisted of various sugar free products and low carb snacks for me, toiletries/laundry goods, and some household tools like a can opener, pepper grinder and a toilet roll holder. Would you still count these physical tools in the budget? If I remove those, that takes the total down to roughly £211.35 ≈ €247.84. That would leave me with €152.16 for February.

What say you all?

ETA: I think I'm going to use the €152.16 figure and plan out our February as such:

€32.16 - Boots UK vitamin top ups when OH is in Scotland
€30.00 - Feb 1 – 7
€30.00 - Feb 8 – 14 (OH leaves to Scotland on 12th)
€30.00 - Feb 15 – 21 (OH returns on 21st)
€30.00 - Feb 22 – 28

Franalamadingdong

Karen, if you go to Amazonn and enter "organised mum budget book" in the search bar it'll come up. It's the budget book, not the receipt book.

lynnejk

Suffolk_lass wrote: »

.........but more importantly, I feel tired and my joints ache. I suspect sugar so I am going to try to reduce this. There, a public declaration of intent! Now I have to stick to it!
SL

Good luck with the sugar challenge. I gave up 'added' sugar about 15 months ago and went 'cold turkey' as I found it easier. Now I have the occasional 'afters' or one piece of dark chocolate and that's it. I really don't fancy sweet things anymore.

Flat_Eric wrote: »

............
Does anyone use an app to keep track of their grocery spends? I was looking for one last night and downloaded (several) but found them all a bit over complicated so I think I'll stick to pen and paper!

I find it easier to use pen and paper and some 'bull-dogs' :rotfl:

NewShadow wrote: »

.....
I just use lots and lots of bits of paper and then lose them all

I do my meal plan on a sheet of lined A4 and use blue-tack to fix to the inside of a kitchen cupboard. I do keep them after as good for reference and copying.
Lx

karenccs67

Franalamadingdong wrote: »

Karen, if you go to Amazonn and enter "organised mum budget book" in the search bar it'll come up. It's the budget book, not the receipt book.

Thank you, I was looking at the Busy B budget book but at £10.99 plus postage seems a bit much to me.

summerlady_2

Hi, could I come in too please with a target of £190 for this month.


I have saved all my receipts from January and need to do a final count-up.


I also did a big shop on Saturday - half belongs in January and half was food for February for a batch cooking session.

pamsdish

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Well, I just sent through my Amazon order and it totals £245.80 ≈ €288.24., and some household tools like a can opener, pepper grinder and a toilet roll holder. Would you still count these physical tools in the budget? If I remove those, that takes the total down to roughly £211.35 ≈ €247.84. That would leave me with €152.16 for February.

I don`t count those sort of things, I try to keep a seperate budget for household items and clothing

meg72

Thought I would share my Windowsill cabbage patch. I bought these reduced on Christmas Eve, put them in pots of water so they keep growing and just take off leaves as I need them.

[IMG][/img]

meg72

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Well, I just sent through my Amazon order and it totals £245.80 ≈ €288.24. I'm going to count this toward the February amount though since it doesn't seem fair otherwise. That leaves would €111.76 for February.

The order consisted of various sugar free products and low carb snacks for me, toiletries/laundry goods, and some household tools like a can opener, pepper grinder and a toilet roll holder. Would you still count these physical tools in the budget? If I remove those, that takes the total down to roughly £211.35 ≈ €247.84. That would leave me with €152.16 for February.

What say you all?

ETA: I think I'm going to use the €152.16 figure and plan out our February as such:

€32.16 - Boots UK vitamin top ups when OH is in Scotland
€30.00 - Feb 1 – 7
€30.00 - Feb 8 – 14 (OH leaves to Scotland on 12th)
€30.00 - Feb 15 – 21 (OH returns on 21st)
€30.00 - Feb 22 – 28

I wouldn't count these things in my grocery budget.

zafiro1984

meg72 wrote: »

Thought I would share my Windowsill cabbage patch. I bought these reduced on Christmas Eve, put them in pots of water so they keep growing and just take off leaves as I need them.

[IMG][/img]

What a brilliant idea I'm going to give it a go - thanks

Hopefully, a NSD, maybe another one tomorrow!!