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July 2022 Grocery Challenge
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I AM GOING FOR £400 THIS MONTH PLEASE
I have visitors for a lot of July. Would like to keep it to £375 but as I go over every month I want to give myself a chance. Hoping to use some different tactics this month. Trialling a few new recipes, going back to regular weekly shopping, Poundland and Aldi an awful lot more and baking / cooking a lot more at home.
having taken part for 6 months now I have been able to work out my average for those months. We hardly eat out but do pay when our children and grandchildren come to island as a special treat. I don’t think we hit the average spend even then but as my DH deals with that budget I leave it to him to sort out!
bearing this in mind for the 2 of us we have shaved £62.61 off the average grocery bill, with the more expensive 6 months still to come. I have done lots of research and this does seem to be what the statistics are saying.
Now, don’t get me wrong!!! I am not going to beat myself up about it but somewhere along the line I think they must have their statistics a bit wrong! Or are the statistics just for food items? I have been cutting back as much as I can and you guys have shown me lots of new ways to save a few pennies but Not everyone in the country is doing this and there are definitely people who earn and spend a lot more on their food than I do.Does anyone else think that these numbers are unrealistic or is it just me?craft stash 2023 =161, 2024 = 119 2025 = £25.96 spent, 128 made and 5 mended,
GC 2022 = £3154.96
2023 = £3334. 84
2024 = £.3221.81
2025 = £2043.99/£3300
Jan 413.77 Feb £361.32, March £192. April £438.06 May £261.66 June £204.54 July £172.64/ £250
Decluttering campaign. 2024= 75 and half/52 bin bags full. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🏅💐DH ⭐6 -
After being AWOL for a few years, the latest cost of living crisis has sent me back to my MSE ways - i have been a little lax regarding grocery expenditure and it needs to be taken in hand.
I have finished my June shopping today with an A*DA delivery with no more expenditure between now & payday on 28th June.
My grocery expenditure for July needs to be under £200, this is for just two of us but we have been living out of our Store Cupboard/Freezer this month so they need restocking.
MarthaB x9 -
@Soontobeoap where are you getting the average spend figures from? I’m interested in seeing those!Part time working mum | Married in 2014 | DS born 2015 & DD born 2018
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6542225/stopping-the-backsliding-a-family-of-four-no-longer-living-beyond-their-means/p1?new=1
Consumer debt free!
Mortgage: -£128,033
Savings: £6,050
- Emergency fund £1,515
- New kitchen £556
- December £420
- Holiday £3,427
- Bills £132
Total joint pension savings: £55,4255 -
@ Bluegreen143, @elsiepac adds them to the beginning of each thread just as a guideline and if you Google you will find similar statistics. I know that I have cut my food bill considerably. I just find it hard to believe that with all my careful planning I am still spending the average.craft stash 2023 =161, 2024 = 119 2025 = £25.96 spent, 128 made and 5 mended,
GC 2022 = £3154.96
2023 = £3334. 84
2024 = £.3221.81
2025 = £2043.99/£3300
Jan 413.77 Feb £361.32, March £192. April £438.06 May £261.66 June £204.54 July £172.64/ £250
Decluttering campaign. 2024= 75 and half/52 bin bags full. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🏅💐DH ⭐5 -
Hello all and a big welcome to any new members this month. Specially big thankyou to @elsiepac for the new thread.
Please put me down for £124 for July which covers vegetarian food for me as well as all household items and basic toiletries too. My baking fund will stay at £5 per Wednesday making £20 for the calendar month.
@Soontobeoap - I must admit that compared to my own budget you do seem to be spending quite a lot of money but I'm not sure that we're comparing like for like so wondered about what sort of diet you're eating and what items are included in the budget amount. There again there are people on here e.g. @nannygladys who are spending less than half my budget and managing well so it really depends on your circumstances and preferences.7 -
Morning all
After having fallen spectacularly off the frugalling wagon for the last few months, the cost of everything at the moment has really made me think! We’ve spent over our loose budget for foods etc for the last few months, so we really need to bring the spend down to something manageable so we’re not resorting to C card at the end of each month. It’s a spiral.I’m going to start with £300 for this month
Hopefully we’ll be able to reduce it month by month to something a bit more realistic. There’s only myself and DH so there’s no excuse really!Every act of kindness, no matter how small, isn’t wasted ❤️
"It’ll be alright in the end, and if it’s not alright - it’s not the end"Every pound we spend is a vote for the sort of world we want
2021 wins - 17 -
Soontobeoap said:@ Bluegreen143, @elsiepac adds them to the beginning of each thread just as a guideline and if you Google you will find similar statistics. I know that I have cut my food bill considerably. I just find it hard to believe that with all my careful planning I am still spending the average.
- raw foods (meat, fish, veg, herbs, fruit)
- store cupboard (flour, salt, pasta, sugar etc)
- tins
- ready-made
- toiletries/cosmetics
- cleaning & laundry
- pets
- treats and entertainment (alcohol, ready meals, crisps, sweets, ice cream)
- brands or things you (or someone in your household) can't live without
- others you want to
By the way, I never believed those statistics - there was no provenance behind them and they could have been made up. When I queried where they came from the person who posted them got quite snarky and didn't like it so I shut up.Save £12k in 2025 #2 I am at £4863.32 out of £6000 after May (81.05%)
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I am at £1286.68/£3000 or 42.89% of my annual spend so far
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the Grow your own thread
My new diary is here8 -
Suffolk_lass said:
By the way, I never believed those statistics - there was no provenance behind them and they could have been made up. When I queried where they came from the person who posted them got quite snarky and didn't like it so I shut up.
Soontobeoap - you have been working so hard to reduce your food budget, and have managed to make savings, and learn things about how you shop etc. You're a wonderful addition to the thread - don't get put off by these guideline figures, which at best are a 'beige average' and certainly are not indicative of the kaleidoscope of nuances that make up actual household situations and expenditures.
Greying XPounds for Panes £7,005/£10,000 - start date Dec 2023
Grocery Spend July 2025 £198.77/£300
Non-food spend July 2025 £68.46/£50
Bulk Fund July 2025 £9.10/£108 -
Hello please put me down for £100 and I will see how I do7
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@Greying_Pilgrim, thank you for your lovely comments especially when you are so creative with your meals and budget. I am happy that i have cut expenditure and will carry on trying to skim some more off my grocery bill.
So onwards and upwards. I have decided that we need more fruit and veg in our diet. Smaller portions of meat is my new way forward. DH has a sweet tooth and little restraint where this is concerned. I need to find cheaper additions to our meals. Ice lollies are a good bet in the summer months. I have stocked up on most cleaning stuff and my cupboards are bursting with toilet rolls, washing powder, dishwasher tablets and washing up liquid so that is where some of my budget has gone!!! 😂🤣. I have this illness that makes me go out and fill up cupboards the minute that I think about saving money!!!! DH loves options hot chocolate at £4.00 a pop so when it came on offer at £2.00 a jar I bought 16 jars over. 4 weeks!!! Now he has stopped drinking it for the summer!!!! No more bulk buys for a while!! (unless I see a really good offer of course) 😂.
craft stash 2023 =161, 2024 = 119 2025 = £25.96 spent, 128 made and 5 mended,
GC 2022 = £3154.96
2023 = £3334. 84
2024 = £.3221.81
2025 = £2043.99/£3300
Jan 413.77 Feb £361.32, March £192. April £438.06 May £261.66 June £204.54 July £172.64/ £250
Decluttering campaign. 2024= 75 and half/52 bin bags full. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐🏅💐DH ⭐6
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