September 2024 Grocery Challenge

TravelCrystal

Good afternoon everyone.

I said I was hoping to come in on budget this month.

Oh dear, things didn't quite work out!!
I now know why I don't eat out very often. 

We had 6 lunches out and one evening meal £245.90 spent.

Will need to rein it back in for October.
Still we had a nice few days away even if the weather could have been kinder.

I am declaring now for September £364.35/£300

Have a good evening everyone

T.C

Frugalistamama

Haven't technically come to the end of my month but i have spent all the money. I won't buy anything until my next week and month which starts next Thursday.

So £500/£500 - 5 weeks £100 a week for a family of 4 - 2 adults 2 teens. I was hoping to do better.... There's always next month!

t14cy_t

well september budget was hard, but we did it!!  will up octobers budget as a reward!

biggerpickle

Well, that was an epic fail for my first grocery challenge - I said I'd £350 for groceries, lunches and coffees out (me and 2 teens on shared custody).

Clocked up a whopping  £518.07  - groceries was £365.26 and lunches out etc £152.81. Well over £100 of that total was extras/ treats bought when we were camping with friends August bank holiday week (my month starts the 24th when I get paid) but there was still too much frivolity the rest of the month too.

Am going to try better this month though I have 2 weekends away with DP planned so may go off course again but attempting £350 again.

diminua

£9.71 over. My aunt had tickets to the Chelsea Physic Garden and of course that trip ended in tea and cake. Then there was a pop up market on the way back and I bought some Kombucha (I've been drinking it with cranberry juice and fizzy water as a v low-alcohol cocktail).  I probably need to add £1.20 to that for my breakfast pastry tomorrow. 

Despite the fact I always go over I do think I'm spending less than I would if I wasn't doing the challenge - there was a period where I would just grab a coffee every morning or any time I was hanging around at the train station and get lunch out most days. I also think if I put the budget up I'll go over the new target, so I'll leave it where it is for now. 

carboot_karaoke

Evening all,

Just reporting our final total for September. I did several shops totalling another £60.54. Included in this was £7.83 spent at Tesco on reduced meat including chicken breast, pork mince and a fish pie mix. I also spent £10.96 at home bargains on toothpaste, shower gel and cleaning products.

Altogether we spent £519.79 a £80.21 saving to the reduced target and a £130.21 saving to our official target

Really chuffed with this outcome. I'm going to bank the savings for future months ie Xmas when l will inevitably overspend. 

crazybunnylady4

Ugh, what a fail this month was - super busy with end of summer season at work so I wasnt checking my sums weekly like I did in August and I think that had a partial effect.  However I have reined in the lunch/coffee/takeout spends. Next month will be better hopefully as I get lunch provided for me at work outside of peak season

Declaring £454.25/£400 on groceries, and £206.31/£180 for coffee/lunches.

See you on the October thread.

JingsMyBucket

biggerpickle said:

Well, that was an epic fail for my first grocery challenge - I said I'd £350 for groceries, lunches and coffees out (me and 2 teens on shared custody).

Clocked up a whopping  £518.07  - groceries was £365.26 and lunches out etc £152.81. Well over £100 of that total was extras/ treats bought when we were camping with friends August bank holiday week (my month starts the 24th when I get paid) but there was still too much frivolity the rest of the month too.

Am going to try better this month though I have 2 weekends away with DP planned so may go off course again but attempting £350 again.

@biggerpickle I've found that updating on the thread with each grocery spend really helps to keep me on track. Would you be open to doing that for October? 

JingsMyBucket

I'm going to declare today because I can't get to the store today for incidentals due to schedules.  £379.96 / £386.00 spent. £6.04 remaining. We still have about £30 in Love To Shop vouchers for M & S that I'm going to roll over to October. 

Pennypincin

Went over last week.
The first part of the budget from this week and into next month has been spent is around £19.84 on eggs, various fresh items plus a couple of cheap jars of sauce.
I also treated myself to a small sachet of Horlicks too.
I've decided to take a break from slimming world and try to eat healthy.