May 2017 Grocery Challenge

pamsdish

£16.80 in aldi for salad and cream, decided to get a few extra veggies and 8 cartons of long life soya milk, hopefully nothing else needed but won`t wrap up as tempting fate.

YorksLass

FurryBeastOz wrote: »

Way over this month, and couldn't be worse. I'm going to be unemployed come Tuesday with little chance of getting a new job. No reference likely.

That's tough , sending you good wishes for an upturn in fortunes soon.

Rachiedabbler70

FurryBeastOz wrote: »

Way over this month, and couldn't be worse. I'm going to be unemployed come Tuesday with little chance of getting a new job. No reference likely.

Sorry to hear of your difficulties - personal reference might be worth a go from colleague and don't lose hope of getting another job. Hope it sorts for you quickly.

I'm moving over to the June thread for postings, but will continue to read May until the end. Good luck everyone.

mcculloch29

FurryBeastOz wrote: »

Way over this month, and couldn't be worse. I'm going to be unemployed come Tuesday with little chance of getting a new job. No reference likely.

Have our the rental property on the market. Tenants move out in August, but if it doesn't sell quickly we'll have lost that income as well.

Belt tightening on the cards again. Thankfully I have a fairly full freezer. I just need to streeeeetch things out a bit more.

Don't lose hope. I can only work from home as a tutor, and my main online teaching source of income has dried up, but on Thursday I started a new post. I had applied online, completely forgotten about it, but last Monday I was told that I had secured a post, by Thursday I was working. Things had looked bleak, as bona-fide online teaching jobs are fairly rare.

I am continuing to economise, though. £11.19 spent in Lidl and Poundland Friday on groceries brings the amount left to £140/£49.25. Going to come in under budget despite the month being 11 days longer than was originally envisaged.

amandaatnumber7

FurryBeastOz wrote: »

Way over this month, and couldn't be worse. I'm going to be unemployed come Tuesday with little chance of getting a new job. No reference likely.

Have our the rental property on the market. Tenants move out in August, but if it doesn't sell quickly we'll have lost that income as well.

Belt tightening on the cards again. Thankfully I have a fairly full freezer. I just need to streeeeetch things out a bit more.

Sorry to hear this, hope things get better for you

Argh I did a couple of shopping trips this week and have overspent, I'm struggling with the new diet my dr has put me on and I tend to get a little obsessive with diets :eek::eek:
In total I've spent $233.03 I am still under my predicted budgeted but that was for 5 weekly shops and I've only had 4 plus top ups
Hopefully I can make it to June without having to go back to the shops so it balances out

mhagster

Good rnorning from chilly Melbourne. Well I think I'm under in my first months grocery challenge !

I was very kindly sent a $200 supermarket voucher by a school friend who now lives in New Zealand...she had said it was in lieu of a hot meal. I was rather gobsmacked at the amount. ( my husband has recently died which is why she'd sent it)

So off I toddled to supermarket on Saturday and thought I'd be spending half of it, no, I was $7 over. I needed lots of cleaning / loo paper/ toiletries so I think that's what bumped it up and not the RTC profiteroles! So I now need to rethink how I buy these items and think I should get a couple a week and put by rather than getting them in one fell swoop and it pushes the bill up dramatically.

So I think by default I am under budget but shall move on over to June with the same target of $600 aud as I think it is doable. This is my second month of not having a big salary arriving kindly into the bank account. But if I'm canny I can just about afford what we need to live on, off my part time wage.

I must make sure there's no food wastage and that everything is used up.
I'm glad I've joined in, makes me think before I buy.

Good luck with June targets!

armchairexpert

I'm so sorry for your loss, mhagster. Do you have a friend with a Costco card? That's how I buy cleaning products and toiletries and things. No help for your voucher, obviously, but in the future?

Nothing to report here. I'm going to have to make a loaf of bread if I'm determined to skip the top up shop though. My chickens also appear to be on egg strike thanks to the dire weather, so that's no help. Currently I have three grown hens, one of whom is old and seems to have stopped laying (but still eats!) and 6 adolescents who aren't quite laying age yet but eat like adults. I am definitely spending more money to feed the little blighters than I am getting back!

pinkypig

I have been beyond rubbish at posting this month . I have however been keeping a spending diary and using up cupboard and freezer stocks.
I'm declaring at £141.51 which frustratingly is just over but I had an spur of the moment family meal which required an extra chicken and I ran out of coffee two days before pay day. I can make do without most things but not that :rotfl:
Hope you've all had a thrifty month, see you over on June
PP xx

thriftwizard

Pinkypig, you've done better than me! I too haven't done a lot of posting, and depressingly have to declare an overspend of £36.94, partly caused by sheer inattention. Things have definitely gone up significantly, and I've just not been keeping track properly. The next 2-3 months will be - different - as I'm hosting students, mostly energetic early teenage boys, who require vast quantities of food, so I'm really struggling to set a sensible budget as I haven't bought that kind of food for a while!

maisymoo5

I am declaring my final total for May. This is the first month I have participated in this challenge and would like to thank you all for focusing me to keep to a budget. I kept a record of my spending two months prior so that I could come up with a reasonable budget figure. March spends were £414.20 which is shocking for two people and two dogs. April's spend was £336.06 so I decided to give myself a budget of £300 for May. By thinking about where and what I am spending my money on, I have managed to come in well within budget at £186.21/£300. Now this could be just a one off. We shall see but I feel very hopeful that I can keep us within a far more reasonable budget now. For those interested, my breakdown was as follows: £82.75 on meat, £2.98 on fish, £6.00 on frozen food, £29.08 on dairy, £1.78 on veg/salad ( I am growing my own), £4.10 on bread ( I need to start making my own again), £13.16 on drinks, £1.99 on treats, £19.74 on pet food (should last at least a month), £18.65 on kitchen and toilet roll, £3.98 on cleaning products/bin bags etc, £2.00 on other. Thank you to you all for the motivation and best of luck to us all in June.