September Grocery Challenge

brummiebabe

Great - time to start again!

Was pleased with August's challenge, so am going for £280 for September!

Am on hols for the next week, so won't include this, but will start again when I get back around the 3rd September!!

Good luck everyone and happy shopping!!!:D

pink_fairy_7

Good luck to everyone.

This month I am setting a target of £190 starting Monday for 4 weeks.
I'm going to have a delivery from Tesco fortnightly and top up using coupons for bits as I go along. I have about £9 in coupons to use so far.

Fingers crossed

Pink Fairy x

Oberon_2

Hi all,

I'm sort of new here, and thought I'd try the challenges this month. W've just bought a new car, and the novelty of actually being able to get to the supermarket had us spending £60 klast night - I've actually budgeted £15 per week! There's 2 of us and a 6month old - I know it sounds harsh but we have cupboards full, and a chest freezer half full, so until I can see the bottom it's not been a too unreasonable target. I'm pretty good at planned meals, and the average week shopping list is usually only 10 items!

Anyone got any tips for a first timer?

Oberon

tiredwithtwins

hiya,
have been reading all these threads for a week or so now, and decided to take the plunge with the grocery challenge. we (me, dh, 2 4yr olds and an 8yr old) usually troop round asda without a thought to what we are having. usually come out having spent abuot £100!!
so, my plans are;
1. meal plans for the week, based on meal plans made and shopping done on internet,
2, stick rigidly to meal plans - this will be hard as we have various relis nipping in for tea throughout the week!
3. use slowcooker more...especially now we are creeping into september (what DID happen to summer!??)

my only worry is that we recently converted to buying only organic/free range meat, which is more expensive than the supermarkets usual stock....no more nipping into the market/local shop for cheap mince (although on reflection it was usually revolting so kept swearing not to buy it). Will however use more vegetarian options in cooking......
.....WISH ME LUCK!!!

Sue

Oberon_2

Hi sue,

We tried the organic route recently, and was shocked at a) how little 'basic' organic groceries our tesco extra have - plenty of posh biccies, no onions and b) how much it bumped up the cost! There is however an organic farm nearby and I have my little allotment, so hopefully by next summer there'll be plenty of veg!

Good luck to everyone, and may the savings commence!

squeaky

Oberon wrote:

Anyone got any tips for a first timer?

Hiya

Yep! Tip Number One - take it easy, step by step, and don't try doing it all at once. Having a good read of the first post in this thread will help you catch on to the basic idea.

Tip Number Two - take it easy, step by step, and don't make it hard for yourself. If you're too mean with yourself you'll end up resenting the changes and give up; so stay at your own comfort level.

Tips Numbers Three to Three Thousand will follow shortly as everyone else checks in...

Petal_3

Hi all

I'd like to join in for the first time this month having never, ever budgeted...at all...for anything! Overdraft to show for it too I have absolutely no idea what to budget for pw - 2 adults + a 3 yr old. We don't eat ready meals etc. I s'pose £50 pw could be a starting point?? I'm planning to draw the money weekly and see how we go. We had a "trial" last month and using cash rather than debit card worked really well...it certainly made you think more about stuff rather than just stuffing it all in the trolley. We're also going to try our local farm shop and try to eat more organic produce.

Good Luck all!
x

squeaky

You can by all means try a first month working to a budget - as long as you have at least some idea of what you normally spend...

If you go over, don't fret.

But the big thing for your first month is to keep track of what you spend and what you actually get for your money. Then at the end of your first month you can look at where the money is going and decide on what small changes you might make for the following month to reduce your actual spend one step nearer to what you come to think is a realistic budget for your own needs without being mean to yourselves.

Or something like that

Miss_Behaving

I'm going to join in for the first time this month. In September I become a full time student again so things will be tight and also we are soon to come off our introductory mortgage rate which will have a major impact on finances!!!!

I'm aiming for £240 for two adults and two children. I've gone organic too so it will definitely be a challenge although I visited a friend yesterday and she gave me 5 free-range eggs so I feel like I've got a bit of a head start!!

I'm also hoping to save a little on fuel this month by cycling rather than using the car for short journeys so I may join in with the pin money challenge as well.

Good luck everyone!

Petal_3

Well....I've done pretty badly so far! DS's torch wouldn't work despite new batteries so I took him out to buy a bulb. Nice man in Halfords opened the bulb pack and a pack of batteries to fix the torch but it still didn't work....soo....I paid for the bulb and batteries that he'd opened and a new torch £5.99 for DS...so ended up spending £14! THEN....went to Waitrose cos I really, really wanted squid and pasta for dinner tonight and enough squid for 2 of us is only 90p...they didn't have any and I ended up spending £17 on milk, cheese, pasta sauce and a *couple of bits*. Feeling thoroughly ashamed and will try harder tomorrow.....:( I really AM going to do this!

x