September Grocery Challenge

squeaky

I'd been thinking (see earlier in the thread) that my £70+ all in, not counting another couple of pints of milk, was quite a lot until I noticed that my on-line bank statement shows me as £80 better off now than I was thirty days ago.

That means, for EVERYTHING, food, cleaning, gas elec etc, I'm managing my house on just £49 a week all in. (Except for quarterly things like phone and the TV which is annual.)

So I'm maybe a real £40-50 per month up which goes into the pot to cover new clothes or trips out or replacement of appliances etc... you know, the pot that covers everything else

I'm getting further and further away from living hand to mouth every month.

Good innit?

kiwichick

You guys really are an inspiration to us newbies. I'm doing my first challenge of sorts this month, it only consists of keeping all the receipts so I will know where to start next month but its making me take account of things better than before. I read all the old postings to try and figure out how much I should budget, will work it out for myself over time I suppose.

Makes me cringe when I think about how much we spend now, as a kid I was bought up on good old home made everything, no bl***y chicken nuggets or such rubbish. I t was loads cheaper, and we had a big veg garden too. Can't wait to move so I can start one and show the kids that food is grown, not just bought in tesco!

Keep up the good work you lot, you certainly keep me inspired.

:T :A :beer: :j

Al.

Edit:Does anyone have suggestions for how much I ought to spend on food etc for 2 adults and 3 kids (2 are still in nappies so this cost has to be included)?

rchddap1

Managed to keep shopping down at the weekend and I've come in £20 under budget, which is pretty good for me.

angelatgraceland

ahmilligan wrote:

You guys really are an inspiration to us newbies. I'm doing my first challenge of sorts this month, it only consists of keeping all the receipts so I will know where to start next month but its making me take account of things better than before. I read all the old postings to try and figure out how much I should budget, will work it out for myself over time I suppose.

Makes me cringe when I think about how much we spend now, as a kid I was bought up on good old home made everything, no bl***y chicken nuggets or such rubbish. I t was loads cheaper, and we had a big veg garden too. Can't wait to move so I can start one and show the kids that food is grown, not just bought in tesco!

Keep up the good work you lot, you certainly keep me inspired.

:T :A :beer: :j

Al.

Edit:Does anyone have suggestions for how much I ought to spend on food etc for 2 adults and 3 kids (2 are still in nappies so this cost has to be included)?

Well there are 5 of us too, although 2 are grown up-think this balances on the nappies. I generally allow £200 max spend for everything-except mortgage gas electric etc so when I say everything Im thinking of food, household,pets,medical,garden stuff, fuel-anything which doesnt form the fabric of the house. Foodwise, I used to cook my own babyfood wherever possible as this must be the biggest ripoff ever. You can feed a baby for 10p a meal when its weaning-not 2 fancy tins at 50p each.I used to stockpile my nappies according to whatever was on offer, keeping my receipts in case they became outgrown. had mostly disposables but a few washables-the nice fitted ones for toilet training-this saved a lot of money. Packed lunches for older children-pure juice from a litre carton, put in a bottle-never waste money on the individual ones unless its a daytrip or something. I could go on and on

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for food, guess Id say £20 per adult plus £10 per child as a rough guide-depends if you cook or not! Ive cut my food bill down to about £60 pw for 3 adults, a 16 yr old and an 11 yr old-my cupboards and freezer are jampacked too!

BoltonMinx

Yay! Finished Sept £6.54 over-budget BUT managed to squeeze in a leg of lamb, a joint of beef, 2 x packs of bacon and 2 x packs of Finest sausages for chrimbo into that. At this rate, I won't need the £105 christmas food savings

Curry_Queen

angelatgraceland wrote:

Well there are 5 of us too, although 2 are grown up-think this balances on the nappies. I generally allow £200 max spend for everything-except mortgage gas electric etc so when I say everything Im thinking of food, household,pets,medical,garden stuff, fuel-anything which doesnt form the fabric of the house.

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for food, guess Id say £20 per adult plus £10 per child as a rough guide-depends if you cook or not! Ive cut my food bill down to about £60 pw for 3 adults, a 16 yr old and an 11 yr old-my cupboards and freezer are jampacked too!

Sorry, I'm a bit confused here as these figures don't add up

The only reason I noticed is because your max spend is actually less than mine, and I've only got 2 people here, not 5 ... but then I noticed your food bill comes to more than your max spend on it's own! ... or have I got it wrong and the £200 is a weekly figure and not monthly?

angelatgraceland

Yes, I was spending £90-£100 per week on food. cut it down to £60 for a couple of weeks then it went up lat week-too good to be true. The figures of £20 for an adult are where Im trying to be realistic for someone else-not particularly me with my filled up cupboards. One way or another though, I set that limit at £200 spend total per week-sorry if it sounded like a monthly figure! Well for October I would like it to revert to £60 on the foodfront pw-this week its only been £30 but thats cos this wekk Ive been a ZOMBIE(see "Am I an overprotective parent" discussin forums)and Ive not bought anything realy until Friday when we ran out of mlk.Think id rather go out spending and be normal!