We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
April 2019 Grocery Challenge
Options
Comments
-
Hi all would love to join if I may ?
at this stage I'm more collecting information on how much and what we spend our money on, groceries have been a pain in the neck for us for years, something that I have tried and tried again to get on top of and yet I still seem to constantly spend too much.
i have been including takeaways and alcohol in my shopping bill as i feel it is part of our spending that needs addressed.
it would be helpful if I could join just to add our spends with a view to start reducing next month ( well to be honest probably more likely in June as we are away for 9 nights in May)
the aim is to get me used to logging, checking, altering and trying again.
so with this in mind so far this month we have spent
£36 alcohol
£21 takeaways
£273 on food ( I'm just heading back out to Asda to get stuff for soup and salad for dinner)
and were only on the 8th ... sigh
there is just OH and myself living at home0 -
Welcome, elantan! You're off to a good start there; keeping track of spending is the essential first step, so that you can work out where to start cutting back.
A quick trip to the farm shop this morning has added £12 to the grocery spend, on a sack of Wilja spuds, and £11 to the pet & livestock category, for sacks of poultry corn & layer's mash. The mash gets mixed in with just about all the fruit & veg peelings, cooked up overnight in a Wonderbag, for the Girls' breakfast about twice a week. Beak-smacking good! Mash & layer's pellets only get bought 2/3 times a year, but the corn only lasts about 6 weeks thanks to the pigeons, collared doves, jackdaws & Mrs. Crow & her babies, who turn up for breakfast each morning, not to mention the blackbirds, robins & sparrows who live here & also dine at our expense. And the wren in the bush by the gate. The finches & t1ts generally don't come down to the ground & stick to the bird-feeders, but things are getting slightly ridiculous - there was a heron in the pond yesterday evening! We don't keep fish, it's a wildlife pond, presumably with a few less frogs in it now...
Not sure that expenses incurred in keeping the local birdlife thriving count as either groceries or pet & livestock feed...Angie - GC Jul 25: £225.85/£500 : 2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 26/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)0 -
Time to 'fess up to an extra pound spent on eggs yesterday.
Hopefully things won't be as tight as they are now for much longer. I'm knocking my coffee habit on the head for a bit. Have loads of herbal teas that need using up. There's a small veg mountain in my cupboard and fridge so I shouldn't need to buy anything else for a few days"A thousand candles can be lit from a single candle without shortening the life of that candle."
I still am Puddleglum - phew!0 -
Spent £76.84 on Friday so £8.16 left to spend to stay in budget this week.0
-
Welcome elantan, it's really good to start by keeping track of spends, that's the hardest part I think!! Sometimes it's difficult seeing how much we have spent but it's important to be aware of it. Nice to have you with us!
thriftwizard if I was a bird I'd be visiting your garden too, it sounds great!!I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-130 -
Budgets updated to here
I've done my reconciliation and things are not looking good!! I have £8.64 left as it stands. However, I've just sold something on e8ay for £62 so I'm going to add some of that money back into the GC so that I don't go over. This is just the way I do things - I'm not saying it's ideal but the point is it's extra money that I'm using to offset my overspend. In fairness, that £16 on tea has not helped matters :rotfl: But it's definitely not the only problem here. My issue is DEFINITELY going to the shops too much. I'll try and focus on that for the rest of the month and next month when I have new budgets.
...............................£202.50 Budget
Date......Shop......Amount....Remaining
24 Mar....A5da......£12.12....£190.38(WEEK 1)
26 Mar....eBay......£08.00....£182.38(STOCK)
27 Mar....Sup3rdrug.£20.01....£162.37(STOCK)
27 Mar....H&B.......£04.98....£157.39(WEEK 1)
28 Mar....C0-0p.....£02.90....£154.49(WEEK 1)
28 Mar....T3sc0.....£05.39....£149.10(WEEK 1)
29 Mar....T3sc0.....£06.54....£142.56(WEEK 1)
31 Mar....M&S.......£04.00....£138.56(WEEK 2)
31 Mar....Tesc0.....£01.89....£136.67(WEEK 2)
31 Mar....Tesc0.....£16.09....£120.58(WEEK 2)
1 Apr.....Tesc0.....£44.67.....£75.91(WEEK 2)
2 Apr.....Tesc0.....£26.02.....£49.89(WEEK 2)
3 Apr.....Tesc0.....£02.68.....£47.21(WEEK 2)
7 Apr.....Tesc0.....£29.85.....£17.36(WEEK 3)
7 Apr.....Co-0p.....£00.34.....£17.02(WEEK 3)
7 Apr.....Tesc0.....£08.38.....£08.64(WEEK 3)
I’m a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on the Old Style, Crafting and Techie Stuff boards.If you need any help on these boards, do let me know. Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any posts you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button, or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com.All views are my own and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.GC: May 22 £tbc/£250 Vegan 27-8-130 -
spent £4 today on bread and milk ... all written down and added to my wipe sheet
did manage not to buy anything I didn't need though so that's a bonus0 -
I'm just about on target with spends of £21.89 so far. Mostly milk, bread, eggs, fruit and veg. Plus some quite unnecessary Jaffa cakes, but they were half price. No meat yet, but that'll be coming later this week.0
-
We really shouldn't need anything else this week except perhaps carrots; there's plenty in the freezer & the cupboards. Let's see whether I can restrain myself...!
Ooops... forgot I hadn't been to L!dls yet! £83 spent on general household stuff like washing & washing up supplies, loo roll, coffee, orange juice and a shipping order of butter & chocolate; the girls are planning to make all the Easter supplies this year. Now standing at £255/£420, which is rather more than I'd like at this point in the month with 3 weekends left to go and the budget out of my own control for the last week... a bit of discipline is called for!Angie - GC Jul 25: £225.85/£500 : 2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 26/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)0 -
Well this is my second 3 person week. Boy 2 took 3 bagels and snacks for his lunch today! So you can only imagine how much is left of my big Saturday shop. Fridge is running on empty. Trying to emphasise that this is a good thing as it means nothing is wasted. A NSD day today. So jubiii and more details later.Isa help to buy: 1000/3000 33%
Emergency fund: 100/1000 10%
Weight loose 8.6 kg - while having fun. 0/8.6 0%
Focus debt to clear HSBC £10/1111, 0% updated May 250
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.4K Spending & Discounts
- 243.7K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.8K Life & Family
- 257K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards