June 2018 Grocery Challenge

supersaver1000

I've got £195 this month to put down as my target budget please.

Going to be a challenge but have started well, with a double soup recipe and large lasagne providing leftovers for a couple of days.

PipneyJane wrote: »

......... Payday is tomorrow but I will not start until 1 June, because if we dont stick to calendar months it messes with my husbands brain.

- Pip

I know what you mean, MrSS can't even join in :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Suffolk_lass

Welcome to the newbies - I recommend you read and thank (then you know where you are up to), and start by reading the very excellent advice at the beginning of the thread.

I think the biggest thing is to audit what you have in, then meal plan to use up things, then list your shopping around this and only buy what is on your list.

There are lots of things beyond that but a first month of "consciously" spending to see what your (bad) habits are will help you know what you are tackling.

Good luck! Mine was over £700 the first month but is regularly under £200 these days (8 years on). There is always room to improve

chirpychick

Hello.
We!!!8217;ve just had a surprising bill for the car repairs and have realised that we are spending far too much on food. At one point 2 years ago we were spending £40 a week for 3 of us and now we are spending who knows what but over £400 a month!

We only have £200 (only ha! Some of you will probably be thinking) the rest of the month for the 3 of us. That includes all cleaning, toiletries and 3 meals a day for 2 adults and one child. Also 2 dogs, one of whom is on a special diet but i should have enough in for them as their food was on offer and i stocked up.

We have fallen in the trap of a lot of old habits. I am determined to start trying to use up what we have in. We don!!!8217;t have a huge amount In but I!!!8217;m determined, even if it means we have some odd meals.

We are down by about £500 a month now incomings wise and its become a struggle so i have to get things under control.

£200

mylastpound

Can you put us down please?


There are 2 adults, we will do ours from Friday 1st june untill Sat 30th june. Budget is £250


we are saving for a house and want to cut back on our shopping as we are spending around £350 PM and mostly on rubbish and top up shops.


im going to go through this months reciepts as i keep them all and im going to see how much we spend on beer, sweets, crisps. Im gobsmacked!

JingsMyBucket

Thanks @elsie for posting the new challenge for us this month.

Could you please put me down for €300 this month? It lasts June 1 – 30.

I'm ratcheting this down a bit because there will be several household items I need to buy between now and end of June so would like to make space for it in the budget.

We'll be away on holiday June 20th – July 1st. Any food buying during that time I'll count towards my travel budget. If I deliberately get anything to take back home with me such as wine, cheeses, etc, I'll count that as part of the GC.

Good luck everyone!

CRANKY40

Thanks for the thread elsiepac

I totally lost track in May (May is never a good months for me, too much emotional stuff going on) but I'd like to try again for June please. I'm going to keep the pet food separate this time. Including it makes things too complicated as it has it's own budget.

£200 for me please. That's 4 weeks for one adult and one teenager who is about 5 inches taller than the adult and always hungry :rotfl:

JingsMyBucket

elsiepac wrote: »

I'm in for £160 please, this is lower than usual and I will struggle, but I need to.

So far I've spent just over half of this replenishing dry goods stocks and on my first weeks shop. I've got £22.50 per week left. It's totally do-able but I'll have to get my head round this from scratch because I've had the funds there to blow the budget but this month I definitely don't!

My budget is running from 25 May - 25 June.

What I find tends to help me is that I say, "Okay, my total budget for the month is €300. There are four weeks. I'm going to trying keeping it to €40/week and then I'll have about a €140 buffer for the bulk buys and if I go over one week."

Doing it that way helps me push certain large purchases to the following week or re-evaluate if they're really needed at all. I realized that I ended up focusing on just what was needed to make meals and use up what was in the fridge. Also by leaving room to do bulk buys or stock ups, I don't feel immediately hemmed in and eventually rebel against the budget.

Would doing that mental sectioning at the beginning of the month help you instead of spending a lot the first week then having to scrimp for the rest of the month? Or is the impulse to buy about something else? No worries if not and I'll shut my yap.

I think it's taken me a while to get there mentally. By dropping my budget down by another €100 this June, I'm testing to see if I feel too constrained or not.

JingsMyBucket

Actually, thinking about it now, I think may allocate it this way for my budget this month:

€35/week x 4 weeks = €140
Bulk purchases/buffer = €60
Holiday treats to bring home = €100

---

TOTAL = €300

Hrm, I may aim for 10 NSDs as well. Okay, I'll stop posting and clogging up the board now! :rotfl:

Hopeless_Case

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

What I find tends to help me is that I say, "Okay, my total budget for the month is €300. There are four weeks. I'm going to trying keeping it to €40/week and then I'll have about a €140 buffer for the bulk buys and if I go over one week."

Doing it that way helps me push certain large purchases to the following week or re-evaluate if they're really needed at all. I realized that I ended up focusing on just what was needed to make meals and use up what was in the fridge. Also by leaving room to do bulk buys or stock ups, I don't feel immediately hemmed in and eventually rebel against the budget.

Would doing that mental sectioning at the beginning of the month help you instead of spending a lot the first week then having to scrimp for the rest of the month? Or is the impulse to buy about something else? No worries if not and I'll shut my yap.

I think it's taken me a while to get there mentally. By dropping my budget down by another €100 this June, I'm testing to see if I feel too constrained or not.

That's a really good idea!

I've already gone the online shop to try and buy staples for the month route this month, but I think your way makes more sense and I'll try it next month

caronc

Please add me for £230 this month, lots of visitors & catering so a hefty one. Thanks.