May 2024 Grocery Challenge

Frugalistamama

Can I join again this month. Over been a bit AWOL over the past few months. I need to get my budget under control again. But gawd shopping is getting so expensive and tricky!! I'm uping my budget from £80 per week to £90 per week's so that's £450 this month, food only for family of four all adult sized portions.  Alas, gone are they days I could just feed them mashed veg.....

thriftwizard

OK, I've had A Thought - please be kind, it doesn't happen often - I think I need to "fine" myself by carrying over a debit from previous overspends, i.e. last month I overspent by just over £50, so I should take that away from this month's target. I'm not actually going to do that this month but should do from this point forward, because whilst we are currently lucky enough to be able to absorb an overspend, this may not always be the case... I need to focus my mind & budgetary efforts somewhat.

Yes, our life is perhaps a tad more unpredictable than many, given a large family who are (luckily!) inordinately fond of us and each other. We managed somehow to raise them all and stay solvent, without any state help beyond child benefit. But we're staring the main wage-earner's retirement in the face with one still at home with no income of her own, and likely to stay that way, due to massive delays in the diagnostic processes, partly her own "fault". We don't have much of a savings cushion left, though we are lucky enough to still be fit & healthy despite having weathered a few blips on the way. So I think I need to rein things right in and rebuild some savings (if possible) for the next few months - OH is taking a "career break" of unpaid leave for a few months later on this year, booked before the financial winter from hell, where we lost & had to replace both our vehicles, the kitchen roof, the 50 year-old main fuse board & the (large) boiler, as well as finding a rent deposit for an "independent" offspring who still hasn't had the last one refunded.

So I have a bit of a challenging year ahead, and need to balance keeping outgoings like grocery costs as low as possible whilst still providing the food that we actually, individually, need...

NeverendingDMP

Hello, thought I'd pop on this one to say hi. I've just over 25 pound left until my budget resets on Friday. Hoping to make it this week so as not to affect future weeks. Slightly overspent so far at this point mainly as I threw junk food and pizza at the kids yesterday whilst helping to deal with a friend's emergency. Roast dinner planned for later and meal planner sorted till wed. I'll route around later and organise the rest of the week!

keggie

Thanks again for the thread.

We managed to stay under £250 in March but the entertainment budget took a big hit! Have decided that we’ll try and stick to £250 to see how close we can get for a ‘normal’ month.

May £250

debtfreewannabe321

OMG just had a total nightmare with Mr T online (my fault) I went in to add some items I needed, working from my meal plan but also checking cupboards and freezer out (well done me I don't always do this) and went to make the page bigger and shut it down opened it back up, went into my history, to try and get it back and was all gone. I had spent about half hour doing it
I left it...as was so annoyed and two minutes later it refreshed itself and found the order  phew.
So all done I checked out before I could do it again . 

It is saying £118...but we know what online orders are like that could change. But happy enough with that amount so far. (this includes expensive coffee and some other cupboard staples otherwise it was closer to 105).

So Groceries to now: £133.59 (Mr T first weeks shop) + 10.75 (H&B) + 7.20 (crisps s&s) = £151.54 (end of week 1)
and with the shop that is due Friday (week 2) that will take it to nearly £270.
Which leaves only £115 for the last two weeks going forward. I think that will be tight but I will try and keep beneath £500.

Our meal plan next week is HM pizza (from shop bought naan and tomato paste with grated cheese and whatever toppings they can find), Ratatouille, Roast, Fake away subway plant balls in ciabatta with spicy wedges, chilli & jacket pots, Fajitas. I have tried to put in super cheap dinners with some nicer ones because food is SO expensive now and I am really struggling to keep within these spends, I take my hat off to all of you that are feeding 4 adult portions for less than £500 pm. 

Suffolk_lass

thriftwizard said:

OK, I've had A Thought - please be kind, it doesn't happen often - I think I need to "fine" myself by carrying over a debit from previous overspends, i.e. last month I overspent by just over £50, so I should take that away from this month's target. I'm not actually going to do that this month but should do from this point forward, because whilst we are currently lucky enough to be able to absorb an overspend, this may not always be the case... I need to focus my mind & budgetary efforts somewhat.

Yes, our life is perhaps a tad more unpredictable than many, given a large family who are (luckily!) inordinately fond of us and each other. We managed somehow to raise them all and stay solvent, without any state help beyond child benefit. But we're staring the main wage-earner's retirement in the face with one still at home with no income of her own, and likely to stay that way, due to massive delays in the diagnostic processes, partly her own "fault". We don't have much of a savings cushion left, though we are lucky enough to still be fit & healthy despite having weathered a few blips on the way. So I think I need to rein things right in and rebuild some savings (if possible) for the next few months - OH is taking a "career break" of unpaid leave for a few months later on this year, booked before the financial winter from hell, where we lost & had to replace both our vehicles, the kitchen roof, the 50 year-old main fuse board & the (large) boiler, as well as finding a rent deposit for an "independent" offspring who still hasn't had the last one refunded.

So I have a bit of a challenging year ahead, and need to balance keeping outgoings like grocery costs as low as possible whilst still providing the food that we actually, individually, need...

@thriftwizard That sort of variable spending thing is why I work with an annual budget with an allocation for store-cupboard (buying things on offer that won't perish). I also have treats and entertainment as a heading - you could have an equivalent of "unplanned family" included in yours and keep a (virtual) pot (aka a spreadsheet heading) aside within or outwith the total and just track it for a few months. I also buy on-offer meat to freeze so I'm not so reactive to these things and can always say yes. My T&E is outside the grocery budget because it's things like pub visits, a takeaway, quiz nights, coffee shop trips and anything like alcohol, ice-cream or chocolate that I buy from the SM or big river people.

I think the key thing is to keep a bit of a record and then you can see where it is all going wrong. I hope this helps

Frugalistamama

@thiftwizard I think my brain would rebel if I fined myself for errors that you are then going to have to put up with for a month! I'd end up throwing out the budget and overspending! Let us know how it goes for you!  That's why we all have different methods. 

I do something similar on a weekly basis, so I have £80 per week and if I overspend one week for stock ups I will 'try' to underspend the next. But sometimes there are a lot of good deals on items. 

I haven't started my May spends yet but have already stolen from the budget. Should I start a clean slate or reduce next week? 🤔 

Finstickle

Hi all,

@elsiepac can you put me down for £400 please

We're away the last week of May, we'll bring some supplies but will be getting there mostly and taking that from holiday budget so brought the budget right down and even hoping to be under if I manage to do some proper planning.  We have plenty of protein, snacks seem to be getting demolished at the moment so might look to see what I can make there

Pennypincin

Sorry to be a nuisance, I'd like to increase the food budget please.
Could I be put down for the new amount of £40 per week for may please.

diminua

Hi Elsiepac

Could you put me down for £220 again please?

thank you