September Grocery Challenge

squeaky

Hi all

September is almost with us, and with it a new Grocery Challenge, so here in the quote are some helpful tips.

Remember to be kind to yourselves


Good luck to everyone taking part.

Galtizz wrote:

I have said this before, but for all the newbies to the challenge;

For the first month I took a guess at the budget but I really had no idea how much I was spending.

I found the best thing is to have a guess the first month but SAVE ALL OF YOUR RECEIPTS (and yes, that does include the ones from the local shop when you run out of milk ), then at the end of the month add them all up and have a look if you were on budget, if not, it doesn't matter because your budget was a guess. For the next month you can use the total of your receipts and take a bit off to get a realistic budget, just shave off as much as you think you can, it could be £1 a week or £20 a week.

If you are currently spending £200 a month don't suddenly drop it to £100 - you'll never do it but if you cut £20 a month off for a few months you'll get there eventually without feeling you're missing out on anything.

You might think you've done everything you can in the first month but someone always comes up with a new idea and, if you try it you often find you save a bit more (unless you are SarahSaver who is an expert at this and could only save more if she turned her back garden into a paddy field and lived on rice ) In the first month I thought, I'm planning meals, I couldn't possibly save any more, but then I started double cooking and freezing, and making soup instead of buying it in tins.

I've been doing this since Feb but only saved ALL of my receipts last month, it has given me a much better idea of where it is all going. Budget for next month is £80 for 2 of us, I'll start on 30/4. I could probably save more, by eating different foods but I can afford to live on £80, I have saved a lot of money since Feb. and I don't waste food or money any more. So I'm happy with my budget.

MATH

I know ol Squeeks doesn't like us to start these threads too early so i hope I'm not a bit previous off the blocks. I've had a couple of months off during the summer and thrown caution to the wind with regards to budgets, cost cutting and Ol'Style but now the kids are almost back at school, we've moved back to the midlands during the week and especially following Mrs MATH's redundancy it's scrimp and save with gusto!

I've got about £10 is brand vouchers and another £6.50 in tesco points so my first shop of September should be under £15 and I hope to keep it to £40 per week for all food, toiletries and cleaning stuff. - Good luck one and all:D

squeaky

"Squeaks" likes to start these posts off because he can make sure that the opening post contains the helpful advice and tips written by Galtizz for those new to the challenge

So, "Squeaks", who is wa-a-a-ay ahead of you this month, will merge your post into a ready prepared starter.




And less of the ol' if you don't mind! Harumph!

VickyA_2

Well, yet again we're on £100 for the two of us for the month. This level seems to be okay for us, but I'm wondering how to cut it back even more. Any ideas? We're eating less meat that we used to (and padding out meals with lots of veggies) and eating more salads etc. We rarely eat pudding, don't have biscuits or cake in the house - as they're lethal in my hands! We do have loads of fruit though.

FrankieM

I'm going to join in this month..very skint what with 2 weeks in cornwall, DS' birthday and petrol money to Grandma's.
DH got paid today, much to my surprise. Something to do with bank holiday monday.
Anyway paid everything off so gonna join every challenge possible this month and see if I can scrape some money back for youngest DD birthday and 0% cc debt.

So 7 of us at the mo. 3 adults, 4 children, 1 dog and ancient cat.
We're going for £70 per week and lets see how it goes!!!

Bargainloverbec

Worked out I've spent £67.54 so far this month on groceries (should have enough in the cupboard to last me until end of the month).

My target for September is £60, should be do-able as there is only me and I sometimes get meals at work if I am attending a meeting or training day.

Louisa_2

Squeaky, I think that the OS board is worth reading for your posts alone, they always make me chuckle! I love the phonetic spelling, harumph is a great word- and I know your level of mock disgruntlement exactly now as I can hear the sound!

And I am joining you all for the first time this month, normal spend is about £350 for two adults one baby and a cantankerous cat. And that doesn't include DH's lunch at work (I'm still on extra maternity leave and not getting paid hence this site!) Budget was £150, when we added it all up as suggested it was such a shock that we spent so much more.

I am ashamed of the amount of food we used to throw out- when I think about it properly it actually feels disrespectful to waste such a lot when people's effort has gone into getting it from the field/tree etc onto my plate.

Now my ways are starting to change I have already had two home made meals from the freezer this week, and they were put there last week when we were running store cupboard down as we were so skint. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out we had more than enough to last, and even an extra portion over a few times to put in the freezer when normally it would have either got eaten (gluttony in the extreme) or binned!

I have already done quite a few of the suggestions here- planned meals and shopped accordingly, given Lidl a try, picked some free blackberries, and as well as already having made a big difference to the amount of money I would normally have spent by this stage in the month (day 2 today for me, our month starts on 24th) it is so much fun seeing how little money you can get away with spending. New hobby most definitely!

coolbreezes

FrankieM wrote:

I'm going to join in this month..very skint what with 2 weeks in cornwall, DS' birthday and petrol money to Grandma's.
DH got paid today, much to my surprise. Something to do with bank holiday monday.
Anyway paid everything off so gonna join every challenge possible this month and see if I can scrape some money back for youngest DD birthday and 0% cc debt.

So 7 of us at the mo. 3 adults, 4 children, 1 dog and ancient cat.
We're going for £70 per week and lets see how it goes!!!

Way to go if you can manage on that I am so embarassed only 1 adult and 2 kids in my household and thats what I spend . I am a newbie though :eek:

Louisa_2

Coolbreezes I know how you feel this is my first time too and if I can make it anywhere near my target I will be well chuffed!

Maybe thinking about it in weeks instead of the whole month helps- the more experienced MSE stylers seem to do it this way so I am going to try it too!

Good luck

squeaky

Excuses excuses! Pah!

It's not a competition, and there are no prizes except the ones you award yourself for doing well or simply just for trying. It's not so much about cutting back on money spending but about spending wisely, getting the best for your money and, as we all too often find, discovering that we are eating better and enjoying things more.

Doing those things often means that your budget will fall which is great news - but sooner or later it has to stop falling...

..and the best place to stop...?

Wherever your comfort level is. There's no point at all in making yourself miserable to save an extra fiver a month. When you're happy with what you have and with how much you spend and you don't feel the least bit deprived because you're being dead mean with yourself - that's a good place to be.

VickyA_2

Deleted_User wrote:

Maybe thinking about it in weeks instead of the whole month helps- the more experienced MSE stylers seem to do it this way so I am going to try it too!

We add it up as we go along - eg one week we may spend £35 due to needing to "stock up" and the availability of BOGOFs either for the store cupboard/freezer/cleaning cupboard. This means that for us, we have about £65 to spend over the next 3 weeks. Roughly. As Squeaky says, it's up to you what your level is and where you feel comfortable.

For us, it was just a gradual cutting back. Nothing too harsh at all. I have friends who "scrape by" on double our budget - and there's only two of them too - and can't understand how we do it. We do it, because we've cut back gradually and we can still afford to "treat" ourselves every now and again.