January 2022 Grocery Challenge

Smoosh

I have made quite a few spends since last time - £21.75 on the month's supply of dog food. £39.45 on cat food and litter and another £10.99 on litter as we couldn't wait for it to come in the delivery with the food. At least this means less should be spent on litter next month.

This means we're already at £114.53/£200. We might be able to get away with only doing 3 more shops this month. 

No money has been spent on takeaways yet

nannygladys

No money spent so far, hoping to last until  the community pantry reopens
Nannyg

Balancinglife

Did a big shop today. 

£57 in Quality $ave (toiletries and washing liquid)
£52 Ald1
£4 te$co
£4 Lidl 

Doom_and_Gloom

First spend was today in the way of a delivery from A&C at £34.47. It would have also had a little shop from Mr S as well, however OH didn't realise the time when he wanted to go and it was shutting when he went due to holiday times.
So I will be back to update tomorrow, should only be a few bits so not a lot.

£34.47/£250.
£215.53 left.

candylucy

No spend day today! Was working lates so had fruit and snacks during the day then leftover bolognaise with pasta for dinner. Just finished and have arranged to collect a few bits including yoghurt, fruit and veg from an Olio FWH tomorrow morning which should last us for a few days! 

Might pop to L*dl tomorrow to stock up on non perishables with the gift card I have 

StickyTheStickInsect

£8.10 spent at the Co-Op today, sausages (2 packs), gravy granules and a loaf.

January total £26.30

DanielleNic87

As a Olio FWH I collected a lot of surplus food from Mr T on Sunday. Some of it needed to be collected that evening but was never requested so I turned it into a stir fry with chicken I had previously cooked and frozen. 

Needed to get a stir fry sauce, but managed to pop to the shop and only buy that. 35p spent 😀

Suffolk_lass

EskarinaWeatherwax said:

rtandon27 said:

@EskarinaWeatherwax - If I remember correctly, it's a combination of the number of posts you've made & the length of time you've been a member that allows you to edit your signature.

Thank you! I will keep posting and keep trying then. I think the sig will help me keep accountable!

@EskarinaWeatherwax the best way to keep yourself accountable is to start a diary (possibly DebtFree Wannabee) because unlike editing your signature (where the previous version disappears) you can look back and track your progress. There are masses of really supportive people on here who will chip in to encourage, cajole, advise (rarely admonish) you on your journey. Lots of additional opportunities to thank, question, contribute and vent. Marvellous!

Suffolk_lass

thriftwizard said:

I'm already "into" my January budget with a spend of £83.25, split neatly between the butchers, the bakers and those purveyors of fine candlesticks etc., W8rose! Spent more at the bakery than usual (£13-odd) as they're off on holiday now for the best part of 3 weeks, so I bought some extra for the freezer. But bless them, they've given me a pot of sourdough starter to "keep us going" as best we can over the gap! It won't be nearly as good as their bread, but I'll do my best; luckily I still have plenty of flour. Shouldn't need too much for the next week, as the meal-plan's sorted & everything's here, but I expect bananas & sliced bread for OH will need updating at some point. Otherwise we're still eating stuff up.

One of my resolutions for the New Year is to regain tight control of the grocery budget so that the massive increase in fuel bills won't hit us too hard. Our "fix" ends at the end of January & with 5 people (two of them WFH in office-y jobs requiring jackets, shirts & ties rather than woolly jumpers, bobble hat & a duvet) in an old & leaky house, it's going to be painful. Oddly they seem to think thermal underwear is a step too far! So - every penny's a prisoner, within reason.

Hi @thriftwizard, I used to work from home every Friday and my trick was to put an oil-filled radiator (500w with a dial control) on low under my desk and if it was really cold, put a hot water bottle into play, behind my back on the chair, or occasionally on my lap, with a hot drink to clasp if my fingers were getting too cold for the keyboard. Much cheaper than heating all the rooms in the house I was not using. Ours is a 17th century thatched cottage so no modern insulated hermetically sealed options available here. Good luck with yours

thriftwizard

@Suffolk_lass, that idea's a winner, thank you! I might take it a step further & Japanese-style, add a quilt around the desk-top & legs to keep the warmth in, as long as it's not touching the little radiator. We do have a couple of the radiators in the porch, left over from the last time we had to "do" Christmas for 8 without the boiler, before we had the stove installed.