September 2018 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

Since last post we have spent £52.13.

£114.03/£195.
£80.97 left.

Edit: not in my grocery budget but am completely angered by this. Went to Mr A yesterday as it was near where I was and they had a vodka on offer, so to save a bit of money went in to get two. Paid by card. Have looked at my account today and the payment isn't yet on my pending transactions but when I look at available amount I've worked out that it is double the total the payment should be! How can they justify this? Yes I have the balance available but why should they have the right to charge my account twice even in a 'ghost' way? I haven't shopped there in years and admit when I did in the past did so by cash so I didn't expect this. I will make sure I pay cash there if I go again though as I think it cheeky at best for them to do this.

pamsdish

£20.78 in Aldi, in fairness £5.04 is for others but as we work a loose "quid pro quo" it will all count for my budget.

Josie2003

Hugest congratulations Mrs FrugalinShropshire ! I spent £59 in Iceland and £6 in Lidl on Sunday. The main shop if you like isn't the problem. It's the popping in for something that you don't actually need and several more (and more) things get added to the basket/trolley through out the week/month that's the trouble.

Hopeless_Case

£10.98 today on groceries - £62.58/£240 so far

ancientmum

Just caught up. Congratulations Mrs. FrugalinShropshire.
I bought a loaf from Adli and have made a cake to use up some bananas which had gone soft. I like them better when they are a bit over ripe but these were too far gone even for me. Made a decent cake though.

Mrs_Cheshire

Could you put me down for £400, to include any food and drinks eaten outside the house (not including food eaten whilst at a wedding last weekend, as I'd budgeted for that)

Currently have spent just over £121, got an online delivery coming tomorrow which should be around £40. Have still got quite a bit in the freezer and I've got a free hell* fresh box coming on monday (I'll be cancelling straight away but can't say no to a freebie).

I'm finding the online shopping is really helping with keeping the costs down as I'm only buying what is needed for my menu plan.

Horwich_7

Hello
Can you all please help me with this dilemma?
I struggle to manage my money and at 50 years of age this hurts a lot.
Let me explain a scenario.
So I told my dh it bothers me that I don’t have any money for myself.
So he puts £50 in my acc and I go out for a cuppa. Lovely so far...
Then I have my coffee and mooch around the charity shops but then think, oh hang on we need something for tea, so i buy that £34 cos there were Christmas biscuit etc so I got those as well.
Then I picked up white shirts for uniform.
And suddenly I have spent all of the money
So I’m back to square 1.
How do I separate, my money from food money that I’m not normally in charge of.
I’m feeeling pretty upset as now my acc is empty again yet others have benefited .
How do I manage this

pamsdish

£37 between the new iceland food warehouse and lidl, plenty of veg, meant meat and a nice mix of veg in stock.
Harwich7 you need to speak to your D.H. about the purchases as should not be coming from your budget.

flubberyzing

In future Horwich7, take the money that is just for you out of the bank as cash!
Keep it in a separate little purse, then you know that money is yours to do with as you like, and it stays separate from the rest of the household money. Easy!

JingsMyBucket

Horwich_7 wrote: »

Hello
Can you all please help me with this dilemma?
I struggle to manage my money and at 50 years of age this hurts a lot.
Let me explain a scenario.
So I told my dh it bothers me that I don’t have any money for myself.
So he puts £50 in my acc and I go out for a cuppa. Lovely so far...
Then I have my coffee and mooch around the charity shops but then think, oh hang on we need something for tea, so i buy that £34 cos there were Christmas biscuit etc so I got those as well.
Then I picked up white shirts for uniform.
And suddenly I have spent all of the money
So I’m back to square 1.
How do I separate, my money from food money that I’m not normally in charge of.
I’m feeeling pretty upset as now my acc is empty again yet others have benefited .
How do I manage this

Hi @Horwich7. I would say that you a proper housekeeping fund that is kept separate from your own money. Try tracking every single expense and for whom it is: you, household, family, etc. From this £50 it seems that you only really even got about £10 of it for yourself. This means you're constantly doing without which isn't fair at all. Part of this is a mental exercise to put yourself first instead of others and to have a bit of self control too. Sometimes we buy things for house that the other household members don't really need or appreciate, if you see what I mean.

Try upping your hand money £200, and dividing it as £100 for you and £100 for the household for food, etc. If your DH balks at this number, then I think there may be a more concerning issue going on in that you have no true independence.

---

For my update, I seriously can't be bothered to dig through all the receipts from last weekend and I'll just add €25.00 onto the previous amount. That should cover a lot of the weird last minute purchases. Sunday through Tuesday have been NSDs and I finally bought some items today.

€6.60 for a tray of 30 eggs, a large pack of garlic powder and a packet of ramen at the halal store.

€2.66 for 1kg of chicken wings at the halal store butcher counter.

TOTALS SO FAR:
€332.56/€500.00
3/12 NSD

I bought the chicken wings to do this Nigel Slater recipe of chicken wings with harissa and tomatoes for dinner later tonight: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jun/28/chicken-wings-tarte-tatin-nigel-slater-jane-grigson. I'll do a lazy version of it that doesn't involve the boiling water and will just roast everything together. I'm really worn down. I've been fighting some kind of low level cold for the last week or more. So much sniffling and low energy!

I'm going to pop out to Delhaize to get some halloumi and babaganoush for OH so he has some low carb bases for a few meals. Tonight I'll probably saute a bunch of the salad greens and make a frittata with them before they spoil. We have about €6 in vouchers for Delhaize, so hopefully that'll come under budget.