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October 2007 Grocery Challenge
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Well done, everyone!!
Confession time for me though:eek:
Well, I have blown my 200.00 budget good-style despite being really good up till now. My friend who is a farmer offered me a whole organic lamb for 70.00 (now which money saver is going to refuse that?) and so my spends for last week came to 113.11!!! However, I am not going to beat myself up about it because the freezer is now jammed pack with 22kg of lamb which will last for ages hopefully and it will help with the next few months budget too. Have ordered a wee tesco shop for later in the week but then that's me, no more spending!!! Will be over this month but hey ho!, I like lamb and I've got flippin loads!!:T:j
Thanks for all your help!!!:T0 -
Flossyblog - I know what you mean about this challenge being an eye-opener. I have always thought that I had a rough idea of what we spent as a family (3-5 adults, depending on who is home from Uni, 3 cats & 2 dogs, just in case anyone wanted to know!) I have been suitably chastened by the experience & hope to be able to trim the budget in November by using the OS boards for inspiration.0
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oh poo i am so useless went to asda as i needed pasta and a new ironing board as kids knocked mine over last night a broke it. come out spending £34.12 on food as there was lots of offers on and it meant i could save lots off my tescos order that will arrive next week. My food bill for this month is ridiculas i have over spent by over £73 but i have managed to get out next months meal plan and got 20 out of 30 meals before next months shop so it cant be that bad and i did get my xmas turkey already. Think next month food bill might have to take into account some or most of my overspend to compensate and to make me feel better as i had been doing so well lol.
Hopefully wont be on again now until Novembers challenge good luck to everyone in there last week. let hope i do better in Novemeber lolStill TryingGrocery challenge July 2016
£400/£0000 -
Hi All
will update my sig in a bit but just popped on to say.....well done to those who are getting there and.....commiserations to those who are not doing so well.
I've noticed one or two of you, particularly the newer ones, beating yourselves up a bit and saying you'll have to take the overspend off next month's money. Don't do it!
If you try and cut back TOO much you'll only end up getting downhearted about it and giving up! Just think about the positives of joining the challenge like:-
how much you were spending before compared to now,
how you've at least become aware of what you are spending now
how well you have done really.
....and give yourselves a pat on the back.
Fishface and flossyblog - I don't know if this applies to you, but one of the things I realised was that a lot of what kept my bills high was the amount of stuff I threw away! :eek: :eek: - I used to let stuff go "off" in the fridge just though lack of planning! If it's any help, I found meal planning really useful as it allows me to make sure I use up everything I buy....for example, I bought a small cabbage at the weekend, we had some with Sunday roast, we had some with Tuesday casserole and the rest was chucked into the coleslaw to go with our lunches - thus, not a scrap was wasted!
Anyway, sorry if this turned into a lecture - I didn't mean it to!
HTH
cheers
B0 -
Hi everybody,
Just updated my signature as I have been shopping again this morning.
I have made a huge amount of chilli which I shall be freezing. Altogether I have 5 bolognaise, 6 chicken fillets (already prepared) in the freezer. I think there will be about 7 batches of chilli, that's a total of 18 meals.
hi dobs, I have just updated my signature, the €15 has already became €19.46 and will be going up before the week is out. I can't take any credit for that. I also wish it was only €15.
hi Suzialwaysbroke, I'm really loving this. I have used alot of tips from os. I like that it has made me more resourceful.
hi bobbykins, thank you, that's so sweet of you. It's not waste at all, I am of the "less is more" philosophy. I bought some cream cheese, 4 packets of wotsits (dutch version) some peanut butter,duo pennoti, golden syrup, pickles and some honey.These are things that I didn't need but they are being used.
I think I may have started the menopause as I am having raging flushes, which means I have to get something to drink whilst I am out. As this is a recent event (2 months) I will be prepared in the future.
I'm not too worried about the spending, It's hardly wild. I'm just so grateful that this is here, with lots of lovely people, who are always ready to help.Grocery challenge year budget €3K Jan €190 Feb €225 Mar €313 Apr €202 May €224 June €329 July €518 Aug €231Sep €389 Oct €314 Nov €358 Dec €335 Total spent €3628
2021Frugal living challenge year budget €12.250 Total spent €15.678
Jan €438 Feb €1200 Mar €508 Apr €799 May €1122 June €1595 July €835 Aug €480 Sep €957 Oct €993 Nov €909 Dec €26980 -
Hi all
Joining back in this month and hoping to keep myself motivated each month going forward too. Though this month is a major cheat for me as we've just had a week's holiday out of another budget and my Mum and Dad have loads of vouchers to use up for Mr T so are getting me mega cheap shopping as they've filled their cupboards already...
So I normally £200 this month, and will usually aim for £160. This is for 2 adults, a toddler, a baby and 2 cats. This month though I'm going to say £100 and expect to be well under with help from Mum and Dad...
So... today I paid £10 and got tonnes with the vouchers. Need to write another list apparently too. Arghh!!April 2021 Grocery Challenge 34.29 / 2500 -
YEEEESSSS!! hehe
Shop came to £29.50, 50p under budget** Mummy to little Jenna born on 23/12/07 **
• Pigsback - £11.25 (£30 cashed!) •
• Valued opinions - £5.75 (£0.25 pending) •
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:heartpuls :heartpuls :heartpuls0 -
:mad: I'm not doing very well at all this month.
In fact, I still have to do the number crunching to work it out... but I know I am over budget. And I still have 2 weeks of my month left. :eek:
Ah well... I will work it out now and post later how much over budget I am.
On the plus side... I still have only spent £38 on fuel. So not all bad news.0 -
Well a no food spender for me today which was good! I rarely chuck stuff out now, athough I used to! Problem with living on your own! I do tend to have a full freezer most of the time though so am aiming to just eat whats there instead of panicking!! ...Its just so hard when you see others living on nowt & you pp into tesco fr a quick shope & come out with £16 of stuff - that was all on the list!! I just dont get how people do it thats all!! What d you eat for that little money!Nerd no 109 Long haulers supporters DFW #1! Even in the darkest moments, love and hope are always possible.0
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Grr! Wrote a medium length reply but got thrown out before I could submit the post! Why does that happen does anyone know? I am writing this one in Word first so I can just cut and paste it in.
Well, I am hoping that I am going to be on target. I only spent 51p today on a pint of milk on the way home from work (to make some custard) leaving £34-90 for the last week of the challenge. I think I can do it.
Made the chocolate crunchy stuff from the recipe Nopot2pin gave me and it was really tasty and popular at work! They all wanted the recipe too.
Mind you I am feeling a bit fed up as my OH has been working all hours since last week (including all day Saturday) to finish a project and won’t be taking tomorrow off after all. It’s my birthday and we had planned to have a day off and go out. Now I will spend the day catching up on chores and doing my food shopping for next week (which I normally do on a Thursday morning when I work the evening shift) as I have to take my MIL to a hospital appointment on Thursday as OH is too busy to do it. Never, mind he has promised to take me out on Friday for a meal and I will be having a girly lunch with my DD1 on Saturday as it’s her birthday soon too.
I feel a bit guilty as we have eaten out twice this month and I haven’t included this in my budget. To be honest, it is a fairly rare occurrence, so I don’t normally have a separate budget for it!
I have found doing the challenge really helpful in keeping tabs on my spending, and I have been strict in saving all the money from bogofs etc. For example, I went to Boots and paid for my stuff with points, and then put the money I would have spent in my savings. It’s amazing how it mounts up – and this is money that would just have got ‘lost’ in the system before I started the challenge.
Thanks everyone for your encouragement and bright ideas! Good luck for the final push0
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