May 2022 Grocery Challenge

pamsdish

May done and dusted £380.34 total spends, hoping for a lean June.

Kaylataste

I was trying for £220 this month but I end today on £261,I did treat DH to a smallish bottle of whiskey though and bought a couple of TooGoodToGo magic bags 😬

ragz_2

Greying just want to say a huge well done to you, you're a massive inspiration here and I know it's been a really tough few months but you've tackled the challenge with grace and humour, while taking the time to help/advise and share recipes. Hugely appreciated. 
Hope you have some less tight months to come. 

Ginmonster

I'm declaring for the month and I've gone over a bit. I popped into Aldi today as we were running dangerously low on cereal and young master GM seems to be a bottomless pit. Anyhow, I grabbed some cereal (and was annoyed that they no longer stock the low sugar granola that he likes) and also some seeds and dried fruit for my morning porridge. So far so sensible, but then I also got excited by the square crumpets that fit in the toaster, the caramel wafers, the bag of cashew nuts and the jubilee branded cans of beer with pretty pictures on the cans which will be perfect for taking to the street party down our road on Friday. None of the things on this second list were strictly necessary.

Still, £16.89 spent and it will all be enjoyed. Onwards to June!


£205.19/£200

Doom_and_Gloom

£16.70 spent since last post between A&C and Mr S. 

So our May is a shocking

£258.03/£170.50.
£87.53 over budget! 

Will have to work out what the budget will be for June. 

DawnW

Declaring a total spend this month of £208.28 / £250. Shopping needed tomorrow, and I will need to pay the milk bill, but that will come under June.

Many thanks for the challenge @elsiepac and I hope that everything is ok with you.

Greying_Pilgrim

ragz_2 said:

Greying just want to say a huge well done to you, you're a massive inspiration here and I know it's been a really tough few months but you've tackled the challenge with grace and humour, while taking the time to help/advise and share recipes. Hugely appreciated. 
Hope you have some less tight months to come. 

Aww, thanks ragz - that is such a kind and supportive comment.  But I literally could not have got through the 3 months without having the thread to vent, celebrate and cheerlead on.  Either everyone in my RL at the mo is fairing mucho better than our family, or they are keeping schtum about shrinking budgets, because the type of convos we have on here are not being replicated in RL.  Don't get me wrong - i don't want others to struggle, but if you only have your experience to go by, you tend to think it's something that you're getting completely wrong budget wise.  At least on here we can be honest when we find things tough, suggest work arounds and celebrate when one of us hits the YS'd motherload 🤣

Tea this evening was not quite as slated, but kept within the spirit of using up what was in stock, and I didn't dip into June's 'bounty'.  We had tinned potatoes (warm - haven't had them like that for an age), with an omlette, baked beans and steamed carrots.  The carrots were from my 20p YS shop last week, the beans and potatoes were storecupboard essentials and I had bought the eggs in last week's 'main' shop.  I have 6 eggs left - and hopefully can make something cakey with them for any BH meanderings that may occur.

Greying X

bargainbetty

MissRikkiC said:

bargainbetty said:

Managed to lose track entirely this month. NO idea. 

I have put an order in for next week, but that is June's budget. I really need to find a way to stop losing track... 

do you have a Monzo account or a separate account you can transfer your groceries budget to for the month? Spending on that card/from that pot only would help keep track?

In theory, but that doesn't always work in practice - if I am using cash at a local market etc or picking up smaller bits from a friend, it gets lost in the wind. I know I'm not having massive overspends because I have money left at the end of the month, I just lose track of the details

Bluegreen143

Declaring for May:

Food £492.59
Cleaning/toiletries £23.18
Household misc £35.18

Looks terrible but is actually about £60 less on food than we spent in April (!) so I’m feeling a bit cheerier. Still a lot for a family of four. I can’t remember what target I set now but I’m just going to draw a line under it and move on to June.

K9sandFelines

I've just had to go the shops incase I run out of stuff over the weekend, because I didn't think to check the store opening times for this weekend.
I know it's slightly cheating; but some stuff I won't use immediately, but i bought because it's not been in stock for weeks. So I going to put them into stores and check off as they are used. I can't cope with these price increases at the mo. There's only so much you can stretch the budget. 
Will update sig soon. 
Good luck for June everyone.