March 2019 Grocery Challenge

sinkorswim2018

£28.96 left in the budget to last until Sunday. Happy with this.

Ginmonster

I replenished the stores of various veg, fruit and dairy products again to the tune of £18.13 earlier this week and also replaced a tin of sardines and 3 tins of chickpeas that I'd used from stores for a bargain £1.56. I'm going to need some more milk tomorrow to get us through the weekend and I may pick up some more bananas while I'm there as we always need them.

It's all looking good for coming in under budget this month which is a surprise!

111.69/120

PipneyJane

dollypeeps wrote: »

A quick question if I may....?

How do you all incorporate vouchers?

I've got a voucher from Lidl ... £5 off a spend of £30..... thus will be easily achieved as this is where I do most of my shopping so I won't be spending needlessly to get to £30...

I suppose technically I should end up with £5 more cash in my purse out of the weeks £60 ...... Not sure that will work!!!!

We received something similar on Monday, a Lidl "loyalty card" with 6 weeks of special promotions attached to it: spend XX get YY free. Ours seems to be linked to the opening of a new store in the area, one that is in the most inconvenient place possible (unlike our regular Lidl, which is just down the main road and I can walk to it in 20 minutes).

Anyway, to return to your question: what do we with vouchers?

If it's a "spend XX to get YY off" voucher, we just treat it as a discount on our shop and don't track it separately.

MrT's Clubcard vouchers are treated differently, because we put sufficient spending* through my Clubcard credit card to earn around £20 of vouchers per quarter. Those are set aside and, when we spend them, are treated as cash and planned into the Grocery Challenge budget. The last time we spent any was when my husband was unemployed in December 2017, when I persuaded him to let the vouchers cover his contribution to the housekeeping for that month. I'm not sure what we'll do with the current crop of vouchers - we used to save them for Christmas but don't spend enough in MrT's on special "Christmas food" for that to make sense. (The Christmas bird will come from the local butcher.)

HTH,

-Pip



* Obligatory MSE note: all purchases on my credit card are paid off on the day they are made, so it rarely carries a balance for more than a day.

Graciefields

For the first time since I started this in November I've blown it. I'm already £20 over budget and may need a few other bits before the month is out.
Reason:
1) Cut right back on wine since NYE and used to have a separate wine budget. But have started drinking more this month and to hold myself accountable I have kept it within the food budget.
2) Failing to meal plan which resulted in me having to throw stuff away.

Will have to start afresh for April. Feel very disappointed in myself.

Merlin's_Beard

Graciefields wrote: »

For the first time since I started this in November I've blown it. I'm already £20 over budget and may need a few other bits before the month is out.
Reason:
1) Cut right back on wine since NYE and used to have a separate wine budget. But have started drinking more this month and to hold myself accountable I have kept it within the food budget.
2) Failing to meal plan which resulted in me having to throw stuff away.

Will have to start afresh for April. Feel very disappointed in myself.

No failures, only learning experiences. You'll remember to meal plan next month when you remember throwing the food away, and if the wine is making the food budget unsustainable, then you can make a decision to increase the food budget or decrease the wine drinking, and either is fine, because learning to make conscious choices about these things is what it's all about.

(And £20 over? You ain't got nuthin' on me! :rotfl:)

dollypeeps

Thanks PipneyJane ..... taking all this information on board..

Pamsdish..... no problem ) I just thought I’d done a typo and just couldn’t see it !!!!

2 NSD this week but running out of bread so will need to pop to the shop later .... still in budget though but will be doing the SM shop tomorrow so would’ve preferred to have waited .....

ancientmum

Just a quick update before we flip over into April, wow this year is moving on. I have been mainly shopping in Adli, with the occasional foray into Sainsbugs or Tosco to stock up on cat food and cat litter.
I lost one of my cats just after the New Year, but the one that is left seems to be eating more and being more demanding, in the sense that he wants breakfast at 5am, and a snack at bedtime, which never happened before. Must be a cat version of comfort eating..

When I have gone into the big two yellow stickers seem thin on the ground, hardly worth bothering.
I've just had a Tosco voucher that involves spending £70 to get £10 off, so may use this to stock up on cat stuff and store cupboard items. I do not have much storage space, but the way that Boxit is going …. words fail me. Any room left under the beds will be stuffed with tinned tomatoes, tuna fish and pasta!

JingsMyBucket

JingsMyBucket wrote: »

Another NSD! :j I’m so glad to have the bit of break from food shopping. As I said previously, I’ll get some more bits tomorrow (Friday) and that should last until Monday or so.

TOTALS SO FAR:
$80.50 / $300.00
3 / 12 NSD

Hi all! It’s been such a crazy month over here and I’ve missed posting. I just realized that I haven’t posted since the first week of March! Since then I’ve had $232.33 in grocery spending and another 9 NSDs.

TOTALS SO FAR:
$312.83 / $300.00
12 / 12 NSD

I’m over a bit but I don’t mind since I bought a couple “bulk” things like a huge bottle of shower soap that cost $14, a corned beef brisket that was $10, etc. I think the only thing I have left to get for this month will be a carton of eggs, which I'll buy tomorrow (Friday). On Friday night I’m doing another whole weekend event so I need to prepare food that will make my life easier Friday through Sunday night. That means baking a quiche tomorrow so I have for quick breakfasts, turning these expiring peppers into soup, roasting a chicken and baking some blueberry muffins.

On the personal front, OH and I are getting married in the next three weeks and the wedding is rapidly approaching! I’m trying to nail down the last bits and prioritize the stuff that doesn’t really matter in the long run. OH arrives in town April 9th and it’ll be good to hug him.

Some more good news: we applied for an apartment in Scotland and we got it! He signed the lease yesterday and is moving in today/Friday (Brexit Day!). This was a key component to us applying for my UK Spouse visa after we get married. I’m so glad that’s in the bag now. So yeah, lots going on and I can’t wait to just crash Sunday night and catch up on more of the posts.

Have a good Friday everyone! :j

[Deleted User]

dollypeeps wrote: »

A quick question if I may....? How do you all incorporate vouchers?

I've got a voucher from Lidl ... £5 off a spend of £30.....

I only count what i actually spend. I would find it quite confusing counting non spends as spends when they weren't. Looking back you might think you have had a really spendy year, when most of it could have been money off and you wouldn't really know where you were at or how good you had actually done. Just my thoughts, everyone does things their own way.

Graciefields wrote: »

For the first time since I started this in November I've blown it. I'm already £20 over budget and may need a few other bits before the month is out.
Reason:
1) Cut right back on wine since NYE and used to have a separate wine budget. But have started drinking more this month and to hold myself accountable I have kept it within the food budget.
2) Failing to meal plan which resulted in me having to throw stuff away.

Will have to start afresh for April. Feel very disappointed in myself.

I really wouldn't say 'blown it'. £20 is not much. I don't do a strict meal plan personally, but always check in the fridge what needs using up and incorporate into meals, plus do a shopping list based on what is already in. I think you have done really well cutting back on the wine, so what if you have relapsed slightly, tomorrow is another day. Be proud of your achievements and look to work on the other things (should you so wish).


I have not really had any signifiicant spends - I am somewhat housebound - I have sciatica and awaiting an mri scan. I am on painkillers (don't work), am crawling up the stairs, as I cannot walk mostly and Valium for muscle spasm (which I really don't want to take but i'm desperate for relief), so have very much been living out of my vast stores. Anywho, enough of my self pity, spends of £3.91 on:


A pack of 8 bread rolls 41p (YS)
2 x packs of houmous £1.50
1 x Alpro Yoghurt £1
3 x packs of pitta bread £1


Have updated sig - have a lovely w/e everyone.

MadamMim2013

Payday today so March GC is officially finished & I declare £282.62/£300..