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Has MSE helped you to save or reclaim money this year? Share your 2025 MoneySaving success stories!
August 2025 Grocery Challenge
Comments
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Trip to the community grocery for me today - got the following for £7.50
2 boxes of branded cereals
2 boxes of branded oat bars
4 pint milk
2 soreen packs (1 loaf and 1 bars)
6 eggs
bag of chips
bag of new potatoes
Needed bread but they didn't have any so stopped at Asd@ for a loaf, picked up cheese and bottle of fizzy pop too. Spent £4.37
Hubby went to Iceland as he wanted coffee sachets and spent £11.35 - I know he bought pringles as well but not sure what else!!
Total for August £669.44/£600
Need to tighten the purse strings as that's a lot of money on food/drinkGrocery Challenge 2024
Feb £419.82 Mar £599.53 Apr £405.69 May £531.37 Jun
Declutter challenge 2024 0 items5 -
I'm declaring for August.
Grocery Budget £294.38 / £380
Entertaining £83.83 / £70
Total £ 378.21 /£450
I went shopping today but everything is for September so I'll add it onto the new thread.
Does anyone know if it's live yet? I could have missed it.
MFW
Opening Mortgage Balance 16/06/2024 - £99569.04 term remaining 80 months (Feb 2031)
Current Balance £24,000
MFW 2025 #31 £39,000 / £28,000 OP
MFIT - T7 £39,000 OP
0%CC May 2027- £5,000
0% Loan £600.00
Grocery Challenge
Jan £387.89 / Feb £ 355.67 / Mar £418.63 / Apr £478.37 / May £426.52 / June £376.18 / July £462.54+£103.32 entertaining / Aug £294.38+83.83 entertaining /Sept £328.93 / Oct £381.10 /Nov £282.13
The final countdown to June 2026 - Page 4 — MoneySavingExpert Forum2 -
August Grocery Challenge for Two, £5 a day, £155.
Shopped at Aldi on the way home from the local hospital. They had the kilo packs of coffee beans still at £8.99.
£22.38 spent.
We have a glut of eggs to use. DH made a wholemeal loaf.
We have been given some damsons and another marrow, and have been picking apples and blackberries.
There is still a lot of meat, fish, cheese and butter in the freezer.Total spend for August, £120.07
6 -
weenancyinAmerica said:@PipneyJane - And he is not your deceased late ex? You have a lot of restraint there.
.
No, but he is the cause of my extremely tight February when, after paying all the household bills out of my salary, I was left with £20 to feed us for the month. I was broke before the month started and he didn’t contribute a penny. Luckily work provided lunch, because I wouldn’t have been able to afford to buy it/make it and take it in. (Theme of the entire relationship, really. I paid for absolutely everything. He spent his salary on eating out, books and bar bills. Took me a couple of years to realise what was going on.)
- Pip"Be the type of woman that when you get out of bed in the morning, the devil says 'Oh crap. She's up.'
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!
2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge 66 coupons - 51.5 spent, 14.5 left
4 - Thermal Socks from L!dl
4 - 1 pair "combinations" (Merino wool thermal top & leggings)
6 - Ukraine Forever Tartan Ruana wrap
24 - yarn
1.5 - sports bra
2 - leather wallet
8 - two t-shirts
2 - grey scarf7 -
Well I am truly busted this month. At least I'll be starting September with a full fridge, freezer, and pantry. I'll not be buying household, dog food and personal items in September so I'm hoping for a good month.GSDMum said:Well I've busted my budget! Was trying to go extra tight this month (£175) as I'm aiming to spend £350 month on average over 2025. I just couldn't do it.
Total cost for August is £448.18, apart from a treat of a couple bottles of wine, I don't believe I've been extravagant in the least.
Average spend per month so far for 2025 £392.15.
5 -
Just creeping in to say I've completely lost control of the food bill this month - some of it is because I've been doing nice summer things - lunches in pub gardens or evening exhibitions (also Battersea Park festival) and some was sheer laziness and not making my own lunch.
Then since I'd gone over anyway I gave up and decided to spend £25 on freezer purchases. £82.69 over in all and I still need coffee and bread.Fashion on the Ration 2025 - 1.5 coupons remaining
December Grocery Challenge £160.89 of £250 spent
Declutter 7 things (net) in 2025. Done, now trying to keep it even (4 under at present).5 -
August was not a typical month for grocery shopping as we were away for 10 days. We were self catering so some money was spent from grocery budget and some from holiday. We were catering for 4 adults and 2 children so it was not comparable to our usual shopping.
There is a healthy looking underspend but it wouldn't do well if it was subject to in depth analysis.£40 underspend7 -
September’s GC isn’t up, is it? (I’m wondering if I’ve missed it.). Has anyone heard from @elsiepac? Is she OK?
- Pip"Be the type of woman that when you get out of bed in the morning, the devil says 'Oh crap. She's up.'
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!
2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge 66 coupons - 51.5 spent, 14.5 left
4 - Thermal Socks from L!dl
4 - 1 pair "combinations" (Merino wool thermal top & leggings)
6 - Ukraine Forever Tartan Ruana wrap
24 - yarn
1.5 - sports bra
2 - leather wallet
8 - two t-shirts
2 - grey scarf4 -
She looked on 26th (last active) after someone tagged her then, but did not put it up - you could send a message to one of the other old style ambassadors @PipneyJane. To be honest, elsiepac has not been active other than putting up the new thread each month, for the whole year and beyond. Maybe @MSE_James or @MSE_JC could help. I know we are all volunteers but not accepting help and not doing it on a thread like this is a bit of an issue, in all honestySave £12k in 2025 #2 I saved £14,660.97 of £6000 or 244.35% of my target. The 2026 Save £12k in 2026 thread is here
OS Grocery Challenge in 2025 I finished the year at £2880.99/£3000 or 96.03% of my annual spend so I am sticking with a £3000 annual budget for 2026
I also Reverse Meal Plan on that thread and grow much of our own premium price fruit and veg, joining in on the grow your own in 2026 discussion thread
My keep within our budget diary is here4 -
@Suffolk_lass @PipneyJane I was thinking of putting up a temporary September thread. What do you think?4
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