September 2022 Grocery Challenge

Doom_and_Gloom

From the last post I did until yesterday we spent another £3.61 at Mr S

£282.61/£285.
£2.39 left over.

Happy that we came in budget, as it has been a while since we have.
Off to work out October budget.

Suffolk_lass

Spent a total of £223.51 this month on fresh plus cleaning (£41.21), stores (£65.81), and direct debits & subscriptions (£116.49). More than I hoped for in what was supposed to be sensible September. Here is to Optimistic October being lower. I am aiming for £100 but we are going to stay with my Mum for a few days before going on up to a cottage in the (low) highlands. So milk and egg deliveries paused, and our (self catering and pub/restaurant) spends are coming out of the treats and entertainment pot that includes our trips away.

Our budget is an annual one and our year to date total is just over 73% to the end of September. If I don't trim it back the festive period won't be much fun!

Well done everyone, I can see lots of you really working hard at this. Little wins...

bupster

Checking in with £230.04 out of a budget of £200, so still not managing to hit it. Most of this month's overspend was because I was away for a wedding; I bought food to make lunch for myself and the friend I was staying with, and stopped at an M&S on the way home.

I say that, but actually a large chunk of it is buying cake and chocolate from the pound shop and the Co-op because I don't add those to the big supermarket orders as I'm on a permanent bid to lose weight. This plan is clearly not working and I need to revisit: either I actually need to stick to the cutting down sugar thing, or I need to accept that I want to have sugar in the house and buy it cheaply as part of a plan. Not sure I have the brain space to decide! Has anyone else got strategies they use for sweet stuff in the house?

JingsMyBucket

One last spend to declare. Mr. Jings slipped in a £10.30 spend at M & S on the last day. So our new September total is £363.80 — over by £63.80. 

Wicked_Lady

I say that, but actually a large chunk of it is buying cake and chocolate from the pound shop and the Co-op because I don't add those to the big supermarket orders as I'm on a permanent bid to lose weight. This plan is clearly not working and I need to revisit: either I actually need to stick to the cutting down sugar thing, or I need to accept that I want to have sugar in the house and buy it cheaply as part of a plan. Not sure I have the brain space to decide! Has anyone else got strategies they use for sweet stuff in the house?

@bupster I'm much the same but not having it on view in the house is a great help; it gets put straight in a kitchen cupboard. 
That saying, I've had great success with the Blood Sugar Diet and genuinely don't fancy sugar laden cupcakes etc any more. And one square of Lidl 85% plain chocolate sorts out my cravings. 

cinnamon123

Hi @bupster - I have a few suggestions that we use:
1) Decide what is actually worth splurging your sugar "allowance" on. Think of it as I can't have everything sweet but I can have anything sweet. Use this mindset to narrow down to exactly what you really like. Many of us like sweets but we all have favorites. If you prefer cake to biscuits, eat cake. No point in having biscuits only to later get a piece of cake.
2) If you like chocolate, aim to increase the % - @Wicked_Lady mentioned Lidl 85%. Personally I love Montezuma's 100% Absolute Black and I'm utterly gutted that the store I frequent (across the pond) has discontinued selling it. It's a UK brand and yes I may actually pay $$$ to have it shipped to me because I love it that much. The benefit of a higher % is that there are health benefits the higher % you go.
3) Look at the year and identify the months/seasons where you will eat more sweets and just accept it. For us it's December (the holidays!) in part because we get sweets as gifts. So in December we minimize the sweets we buy with a plan to eat the ones we are given guilt-free. (Two years ago I stopped baking for the holidays and now just buy good choc as gifts - at the time this was due to the "world's on fire and I can't be bothered anymore" attitude I had, but now I realize I just don't want to have the excess ingredients at home since I am always left with something.)
4) Don't make extra trips if you can avoid it. It's food, incorporate it into the food shop if you can. Exception being if there is a shop you go to get that one special item (nothing wrong with the pound shop if you prefer their sweets). (If it helps, set a separate budget - @LadyWithAPlan does this.)
5) Give yourself as much grace as needed. And when you do eat sweets (or anything else that one fancies) - relish it  

Suffolk_lass

@bupster I also recommend the low blood sugar diet. I would read the first part about how it works and has changed some people's lives. Then you will feel able to do it. I don't have opened packages of sweet things in the house when we are doing it (or a follow up version to reset). Nuts, seeds and chopped veg were my friends when I was craving things. It really only takes less than a week to get rid of that initial craving (beyond that it is a  boredom/habit rather than real physical craving thing). Oh yes, and eating frozen berries as a snack is a lovely way to satisfy my picking instinct. 

I have a treats and entertainment budget that includes all the naughty stuff from the SM, wine, going out and drinks and food away from home, plus any takeaways - it is helpful to track it but I don't include it in my GC total. It is also the place that gets reined in when pennies are tight.

I find not going shopping is the best way to avoid temptation and managed one SM trip in September but have let the temptation of bigger discounts, persuade me to spend more in subscriptions. I think knowing what you are tempted by is at least a third of the challenge!

HelenaPinky

Logging September spends, my first month's grocery challenge and I see I set myself a goal of £300. I spent £288.84, not sure how I kept under budget. Looking at the receipts, I can see that we'd be better off meal planning and buying more at the Ald1 shop, rather than popping to the local. Hooray for coming in under budget on my first challenge month!!!

SausageDogSandwich

First spend of the month was at ald1 on Saturday that cost £21.54 and was mostly fruit, veg, cheese, milk, crackers and two bottle of diet cola. Definitely don’t need anything the next few days but aiming to get to Sunday when Husband is of work until we go shopping 🛒 will see how we get on!

£21.54/200 spent.

Soontobeoap

well done @HelenaPinky that’s amazing for your first month. Even better that you can already see ways of reducing it more. Welcome to the club.