Grocery Challenge Savings

belfastgirl23

Hi everyone

We did discuss on the December Grocery Challenge having a thread to look at our overall savings for 2007. I figured I'd start one and see if it took off. It might also be interesting for the people just starting out to see what sticking with the GC has done for some of us Personally I've finally managed to start making small overpayments into our ginormous mortgage :j :j

So here are my final totals for 2007:

2006 2007 Target 2007 spend Saving 06-07
JANUARY - £170 Pre-GC 280.03 -110.03
FEBRUARY 227 £200 208.48 18.52
MARCH 356 £150-£200 175.08 180.92
APRIL 331 £150-£200 189.26 141.74
MAY 262 £150 173 82.27
JUNE 429 £150 169.82 259.18
JULY 515 £150-£180 251.69 263.31
AUGUST 350 £150-£170 232.41 117.59
SEPTEMBER 183 HOLS 75.14 107.86
OCTOBER 267 £180 195.97 71.03
NOVEMBER 440£170 171.17 268.83
DECEMBER 573 £200-£220 215.85 357.15
TOTAL 4103 2344.63 1758.37

You will notice 2 things. First that I hardly ever manage to stick to target but second that between 2006-2007 I have made a 42% saving on my spending. My final saving between 06-07 was £1758 :money: :money:

For myself I've also noticed that my 'problem' times are in the summer, which is worth knowing.

What have you saved??

ps sorry if the list looks wonky, I tried to paste from Excel and it turns out this doesn't work

Bobbykins

HI Belfastgirl, great idea!

Unfortunately I haven't been doing the challenge long enough yet to establish what I have saved - only been doing in for 5 months or so, and with limited success:o .

It will be interesting to see what everyone's saving are.

Angelraesunshine

wow thats great i'll sit down later and roughly work out what i think i have saved so far in the past 6 months since i have joined. though i will be looking forward to June to see how much i have saved in a year oh joining this site.

tooties

I to just started this on new years day so i am interested in everyones savings. all savings i make will go towards debt busting.
regards
tooties

lil_me

I haven't got all of them, I'm not quite so organised.

I can say the following

I spent less than half what I did in 2006
We ate better even if I spent less
I managed to put away enough spending money to enjoy the holiday without worrying over spending
We managed to move into a nicer house because of the savings, couldn't spend what we were and afford this place!

Sassamac

wow those results are amazing. even though you didnt necessarily keep to budget you werent often far off.
p.s. if you use the tab key it should strighten the columns for you.

this is my first month in the grocery challenge with a target of £150. In Dec we spent £225 and in Nov we spent £210. If we can stick to it (or even stretch it further) and save £60 - £75 per month we will be saving roughly an extra £800 per year.

Angelraesunshine

Well it has been officially a year since i first stared the grocery challenge and i am really please with the outcome. I would never of guessed that i would save so much and enjoy the way i now cook and plan so much either.

I love the meals i now cook and appreciate the support i get from this board, and really appreciate the money i have saved.

The total is now in as yesterday i did the last shop of the month and i have totted up the figures.
My guess is that i would of normally spent at least £5400.00p in the last 12 months but my actual figure for the last 12 months is .............. £3439.51p a saving of at least £1960.49p.

I must say saving about £2000 has got me thrilled and though is is 12 months on i am still learning and still know i could do better if i really wanted. I feel at present that i am in a comfortable position and happy with my current situation but if things should change again i know i could cope.

just wanted to share my happy thoughts

fizzel81

well done thats a very good saving

things have been hit and miss ive had so much going on there has been months where i have not kept an eye on what ive been spending however now ive moved, got settled and no longer have a housing worry may was the month i re started the grocery challenge and i am to stick at it, back in the years before i was a dfw and with the ex i was spending more a week than i now spend in a month

between this board and the dfw board the support has and is fantastic

sunflower76

Cor blimey - that s a brilliant saving. I've not yet attempted the grocery challenge although I have started ordering the shopping online once a month and only buying fresh fruit and veg from the local market. In two months I've reduced my bill from £450 to £270 without a huge effort. If I can keep this up it will be a yearly saving of £2160! It's silly how much you can cut back without really noticing - it isn't like we've starved this month!

belfastgirl23

Well done! It's amazing isn't it!