May 2017 Grocery Challenge

elsiepac

Hi everyone! Happy Bank Holiday weekend

I have no plans which I'm pleased about as got lots of little jobs I want to get done around the house, plus I need to shift my animal room around to accomodate another 2 rescue degus in a huge cage that are coming at some point in the next few days!

I've been through the 2 receipts I have so far this month and I'm now going to break things into categories so I can get an idea of where my spends go.

Of the fresh/frozen category at this point - £9.69 on 3 packs of tofu and £1.50 on frozen petit pois. Other than that, it's all fresh veg and salad, plus a bunch of bananas! (I'm not massively into fruit!)

I've got all my budgets in cash in an envelope per budget, and I used £6 of my spending money for the month to buy a little cash box to keep them in! I guess I didn't really need it, but it's nice to be able to lock it away and to feel organised.

I'm determined this month! I am totally stocked up dry goods/cupboard wise, so as long as I eat sensibly and continue to follow my meal planning, I should mostly only need fresh veg.




................................£150 Budget
Date.......Shop......Amount.....Remaining
27 Apr.....Wa1tr0se..£80.19.....£69.81
28 Apr.....H&B.......£00.08.....£69.73
28 Apr.....H&B.......£29.45.....£40.28


Date....Fresh/Frozen..Cupboard/Dry Goods..Cleaning/Toiletries..Treats..Bags
27 Apr..£24.14........£11.24..............£28.01...............£16.80..-
28 Apr..-.............£00.08..............-....................-.......-
28 Apr..£20.36........£09.04..............-....................-.......£00.05

YorksLass

All organised for Week 1 of the challenge – rummaged around and found a notebook to record spends and have done inventories of freezer/fridge/cupboards; they’re all pretty full so it’s looking good for the month.

First shop for me yesterday at Mr S while DH went to market for spuds and other odds and ends we needed from there: total spend £45.52 so £114.48 left in budget. I’ve ditched the credit card and gone back to using cash - I find it helps curb the spending impulse!


Forgot to say before, our budget is just for food. I have a small separate budget for toiletries and cleaning products but rarely need to buy these as I’m currently using up existing stocks.

Good luck everyone.

davidsdesire

so sorry for your loss, mhagster. Just sending hugs.

Winchelsea

£50 for me for May please.

This is more than I aimed at for April, but less than I managed to spend!
We'll see how it goes!

candygirl

Winchelsea wrote: »

£50 for me for May please.

This is more than I aimed at for April, but less than I managed to spend!
We'll see how it goes!

I don't know how you do it!:eek:

mcculloch29

*waves to Mhags*
Mhags, did you know that some labradors have a genetic variation that is like canine Prader -Willi syndrome? They are always, always hungry, literally.
It was mentioned briefly on a TV prog this week. I saw that and thought of your boy.

Aldi and Heron today. Aldi was almost out of laundry washing gel, and when that happens they are sometimes out for a while, so I did go over my planned £20 spend with buying a bottle of that, but only just.

£106. 55 left until May 20th - I decided to include a few treats today as well, as I have a few super-economical meals planned. p i s s aladiere (French onion pizza), a Jack Monroe curry, liver and bacon casserole, Jocasta Innes' onion and bacon hotpot. The bacon was Heron's 907g for £1. I noticed some in Lidl yesterday too, but it was a bit more and looked to have fattier pieces.

fendi-bag-lady

Went to Asda yesterday and only bought what was on the list :j couldn't resit buy chocolate later though! £19.10 spent.

Cappella

Mhagster So very sorry for your loss.
I've found this thread a great support, MrC has Parkinson's and I tend to overbuy when the stress is bad (took me months to work that out though)Reading here every day gives me lots of support to stop spending.

Yorkslass said
I’ve ditched the credit card and gone back to using cash - I find it helps curb the spending impulse!

I've done this too, I've set a limit to the weekly housekeeping and take it out in cash. Anything left at the end of the week is split between a 'treats' purse and a holiday savings tin.

Using just cash really keeps me on track, and this week the 'treats purse' paid for a jaunt on the tram to Bury market and coffee and a scone for both myself and my lovely daughter. It was a real treat, and not something we do every week and has given me even more motivation to be sensible and not overspend
I did buy black puddings and a huge punnet of grapes while we were there. I've saved the receipts and updated my signature.

PennyGrabber

Hi all,

I lost the plot in April and ended up not tracking my spends... End result is that I know I was way over, but don't know by how much. Moving forwards, I always used to meal plan a month at a time, based around what's in the freezers and cupboards. This helped me to use up and spend less, although I always knew I could be flexible - the plan wasn't carved in stone!! So, as today is the last day of the month, I shall do it again ready for May. My house is so cluttered with food that this will be really helpful.

Sunday is my shopping day, as it helps me to prepare for the week - I have a really stressful, hard job, so knowing I'm ready for the week on Sunday really helps me. After I've done my monthly plan today, I shall make a list - I know I need cheese as I'm down to the last endy bit, but not sure what else.

I was happier, healthier and spent less when planning monthly, so here's hoping!!

PG x

mumto2girlsandaboy

Hi am going to try to reduce the budget slightly to £380 we cant seem to get it under £400 at the minute so maybe this will help.