December 2007 Grocery Challenge

Jacks_xxx

:T Nice one lil_me! :T

You watch..this'll be the month that I fail!

Although I *have* won a hamper to be delivered the week before Christmas which may well help except that I don't really know what's going to be in it!

Let's hope it has actual food rather than ornamental bottles of balsamic vinegar, tiny jars of fennel chutney and expensively flavoured oat cakes in it! :rotfl:

Love Jacks xxx

belfastgirl23

Thanks for that lil'me you have great patience.

Mike on the mozzarella front we have pizza at least twice a week and often end up feeding extra ppl on a drop in basis so that's why we get through so much. BTW just discovered sainsburys are still doing it for 1.05 at the minute tho I'd guess it won't last long cos even Lidl prices have gone up a lot

I've done a bit of selective shopping this week, been to lidl, sainsbury and asda and spent a total of about £50 (will update sig on Monday). Sounds like a lot but I really stocked in with the stuff we eat from Lidl and it should be enough to last for a fair while. BTW plain flour is still only 39p there in case anyone is interested, saw ppl stocking up on it.

And anyone who shops in ASDA the reason I called in was to check on the supposed 2 for £3 offer on Weetabix organic (don't ask, DH's treat and expensive at £2.19 a box) but I think the ASDA I went to didn't stock it. Anyone in ASDA if you could check if mysupermarket.com is right I'd be really grateful - it's about a 5 mile trip to my nearest.

I've also done a big online tesco shop to be delivered on the 12th and including all the Xmas extras. Should come in about £60 once the £12 off voucher takes effect. But that should really be it except for f&V. I've also added in some extra stuff here for into jan to get to the £70 needed for the £12 voucher off so hopefully will be able to go a bit lower in Jan. But lets see how December goes first.

Mike I know you're right about people aiming low. If it's a realistic low then that's good (cranky40 - great name btw) but I agree that if you set it too low and it isn't realistic you can fall off the wagon and end up buying everything in sight cos you've failed anyway Similar to dieting I think. This won't affect the people debbiedeejay is talking about since they wouldn't be able to do this in any case probably...think we're all agreed on the need to set a realistic budget according to your own needs and available cash...

Anyway off to head into town - I need to pick up a new cash notebook. WHS do good ones btw...

High_Peak_Lass

Hi Belfast Girl
Do you have an aldi nearby?
We get our Mozzarella from there for Pizzas and I think it's 59P at the moment.

atypicalblonde

Hi everyone, thanks for putting that together lil_me! Well, so far I have spent £10.50, that included some cheeky alcohol last night from the shop. Meals are planned for the rest of the week -should only need some fresh bits which I am budgeting £10 for. Off to update my signature now xx

MRSMCAWBER

Evening everyone :wave:

well , my first spend of this month has occured
I needed loo rolls - have a thing about keeping plenty in although they will last several months -especially as we are away for 2 weeks soon .... and a crate of clementines... my fave :drool: ..

So:-
20 toilet rolls - 2.49 euro
clementines - 1.99 euro
= 4.48 euro...about £3.30

hope to be using up Hm meals out of the freezer as much as possible for the next couple of weeks... and want to clear the shelving off in the basement for the supplies im bringing back from the UK... going to set up my own "supermarket" :rotfl: .... and with the help of you lovely people i'm going to be saving like a demon in 2008 :T ...

off to change my signature...

Moniker

debbiedeejay wrote: »

Mike D,Moniker Have you thought that maybe some peoples budgets seem quiet low because their income already may be low and that they may be just skimming maybe just a few pounds off anyway?

For that reason maybe those already on a tight budget may already be good at GC but without knowing it and are just "tidying" up the edges?



(Sorry,hope I didn't step out of line and just made myself look silly:o,if I have then I shall go to the back of the queue....)

I did think after I had posted my comment last time that perhaps I had been a bit insensitive and that I am very lucky to be able to afford to budget £500 for the month. If that's the case, I apologise unreservedly.

I am full of admiration for all those here who manage brilliantly on a lot less than I have to play with. However, I am not speaking from complete ignorance as I have had to struggle and count every half p in the past and can only afford to be a bit more relaxed about things now that I am working full time and one of my DDs finished uni and left home. Even though we're not completely broke I still think it's important to keep track of spending so that I don't waste anything ( it comes of being born whilst they still had rationing!) However, I do think we can all be a bit too hard on ourselves and set ourselves up to fail which is not a pleasant experience!

So keep up the good work everyone - you continue to be an inspiration!

TheDoolallyDilly

I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to join in with the grocery challenge or not. Partly because I am at how much we spend - about £450 a month, for 2 adults, two sons, aged 15 and 12 and a cat. I haven't been buying anything different lately, but with the price increases, the weekly amount has gone by about £10 (from Tesco).

I think I will do a weekly challenge for December, as although we host Christmas here, people bring food with them, so we only really buy a turkey, and my husband gets lots of hampers so we get lots of treats that way.

After much thought (my brain is hurting :rotfl:) I have set a budget of £105 a week for the three 'non-Christmas' weeks in December. I know it's not much of a reduction, but I am not sure how I am going to cut back (we already use lots of own brand stuff - and have demoted the cat's Kit-e-Kat to Tesco's own cat food this week, don't know how that's going go down with him :rotfl:)

Will be avidly reading this board for tips.

TDD xx

mikeD

debbiedeejay wrote: »

Mike D,Moniker Have you thought that maybe some peoples budgets seem quiet low because their income already may be low and that they may be just skimming maybe just a few pounds off anyway?

For that reason maybe those already on a tight budget may already be good at GC but without knowing it and are just "tidying" up the edges?



(Sorry,hope I didn't step out of line and just made myself look silly:o,if I have then I shall go to the back of the queue....)

Hi there debbiedeejay. I quite understand that quite a few people posting here are on low incomes. If I have offended you I apologise unreservedly. I think Moniker has said it all, and looking at my failures over the past six months perhaps it should be a case of "Physician heal thyself" before I start advising others.

Anyway looking on the bright side I have done pretty well in November :j, not sure went right but keeping my fingers crossed for December. :santa2:

Great job there Lil_me. Well done

specialhat

Hello!

I have been doing this without knowing about this thread! My month started on Nov 27, and my budget for one person is £130. This has been factored in with all my other expenses for the month and may seem high but I think I used to spend about £200 just on me - prob even more as I was buying lunch out in London almost every day (I work in Soho). With the changes I have made I think I will come in at about £90 for the whole month.

So far I have spent £36.10 and I have enough in the cupboards and freezer to see me through at least until next weekend (Dec 8/9). I have just made a big chicken and mushroom curry (4 portions), plus I have a portion of chilli and some sort of lentil shepherd's pie languishing in the freezer, plus the option of omelettes or fish & veg.

I also won't need to shop in the week from Dec 22 - 29 as I will be back at my parents'.

My first tactic has been to reduce my lunch bills. I am a keen cook so have been experimenting with various recipes for lentil-based soups (dal, lentil & bacon, lentil & tomato etc - a big bag of yellow split peas costs about 70p and makes about 12 portions of soup). I have cooked up a batch of that which should last me 4 days, plus today I made a batch of wholemeal bread rolls with seeds to have with it every day at work. So I have worked out that my lunch each day will be costing me 35p as opposed to the £4+ that I used to spend. :T

ETA: Plus I've done an inventory of all the toiletries I have hanging around the flat, and have realised I probably don't need to buy any top ups for months!

irishwexford

Best of luck everyone for December. As i said before I will not be taking part in Decembers challange as I have my jam jar savings, top up vouchers and £7 off £50 spend from Mr. T's so am hoping to save quite a bit of my £160 budget. Since coming on these boards shopping wisely has become a way of life and so is saving. I have to remember which account is for what but am getting there, for the first time ever I have some money in a holiday account and an allowance for clothes so what is in bank is savings. Have a great Christmas and see you all in January. By the way we are aiming to spend New Year (next year) in the sun so all my spare cash will be going towards that.