October 2024 Grocery Challenge

LotsOfTea

I've had to restock on lots of stuff including baking supplies and a few different spices that had all run out or got very low at the same time this week so I'm now up to £243.57/£300. It feels high but I have to remind myself there's not that much of the month left now. 

Nelliegrace

We stopped at Waitrose on the way home on Saturday for the milk and free mugs of coffee.
£11.69 spent on groceries, milk x2, W. loose leaf tea, malted wheats, a cauliflower, oatcakes and 2 packs of kippers, (on offer).

Today I shopped at Aldi, and then crossed the road to M&S for whole milk as A had not had any delivered. £17.92 spent with the milk.



Grocery Budget £155. £91.19 spent, £63.81 left.
We have had cod fillets, beef mince, sausages, bacon and cheese from the freezer. 16 eggs from the hens in the last week.
We have plenty of apples in store.

thriftwizard

Sigh... those "little treats" for OH are going to take me over budget; £1.72 left for tomorrow's market run for fruit & veg! Mind you some of today's £68.23 between the butcher & the supermarket is because we'll be 8 for dinner on Sunday, which might count as "family contingency" & therefore be outside the normal budget. And some of tomorrow's anticipated £40-odd is £14 for a sack of decent potatoes, which is a bulk-buy & I had been going to take out of the leftover money from the other month, but I hadn't seen any worth buying until now. Already washed (won't keep) or smelling foul with damp patches on the sack? No thanks... it's been a rotten year for growing, sadly, and £14 is the most I will ever have paid for a sack. But it's worth it if you have the storage, especially when you never know how many you're feeding!

elsiepac

November GC Now Live!

thriftwizard

Well, there we go - £40 spent, but £13 of that was on the spuds (they'd gone down by £1, but there were just 2 sacks left & they don't know when or if they'll be able to get more) so I've added £27, which takes me to £445.28. There will be a little more spent early next week, just on sliced bread & salad leaves I think, so £450-ish seems to be our "new normal", catering for 3 adults, all with "special dietary needs", not all of which have been sorted out yet, plus other family members coming & going on a fairly regular basis! 

Pennypincin

I've got around £30 left in the budget, but will double check and post soon.
I popped into Tesco for a few bits.
I will probably pop into Morrisons tomorrow and hopefully Lidl today for a small shop.
I will update the spending as soon as I can.

MessyMare

Well, that was my last shopping week of October. A bit spendier as husband ran out of jelly beans (he’s type one diabetic so they’re more a necessity for treating low blood sugar believe it or not). Somehow though I’ve come in at 

£251.20/£400

And I don’t fully know how! It makes me feel a bit ill thinking about how much money I’ve frittered away because I haven’t had the energy to think about it and plan better. 

Soontobeoap

 Well I am declaring for October at £187.50 /£200. For the first time since February I have finally come in under budget


Feeling rather smug! 

carboot_karaoke

Congratulations @MessyMare and @Soontobeoap it's a great feeling to come in under budget 😀 

I, however, have had the opposite experience this month 😅 

Far to many visits to the supermarket at the beginning of the month meant l was always on the backfoot.  I did manage just two visits this week totalling £54.95 including some flowers @£8 for a friend to cheer her up.  Also spent £57 on fuel to hopefully last half term week (we've got a few longish journeys planned). 

New totals £546.49 / £650
Food £330.94 / £430
Fuel £215.55 / £220

Although technically we have about £100 left l have still got breakfast to pay for at the premier inn we're staying in. That's about £25 and we're visiting a national trust site costing £22.50 entrance for me and the kids. Plus I'll buy things for a packed lunch etc so really the budget is fully spent.  

As a side point ...I was considering getting a national trust family membership a lot of my friends have it.  It's £159 a year or £13.25 a month.  We're scaling down our holiday, entertainment spend next year,  to try and direct the funds of our mortgage. I thought maybe it would be good to have. Any thoughts??

joedenise

If you have lots of NT places near you and you'll use the membership it's probably a good idea.  My DH and I used to have membership but found we'd done all the places near us several times over the years so gave it up a couple of years ago.