October Grocery Challenge

MrsB_2

Sounds like online shopping and home delivery might just suit you down to the ground there Squeaky!! It also means you can buy exactly what you need without worrying about whether it'll fit in your lift's car

jaybee

I'm in too (or have already said that?). September was good for me - just about £135 under my usual budget. Mind you, I've had some strange meals(!!!!) and practically used up my store cupboard / freezer! Got to get back on track as I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to stop working soon.

Thank you everyone on here who has helped me so much to look at where I was going soooo wrong!!!!!!

PS The alcohol is NOT included in my grocery budget now - that was an eye opener!!!!!!

TiaBaby

First of all, Hi, I've just found this board and I think I'm going to cry after reading all your monthly budgets. I need ALOT of help with this, any and all suggestions will be greatly recieved.

Tesco average per month - £280
Bargain shops (toiletries) - £20
Milkman - £50
Dog food - £40

We are 2 adults, 1 child (7yrs old), 2 dogs and a garden full of hungry wildlife.

Yours hopefully, Tia x

squeaky

Hiya Don't cry, it all takes time to gradually ease your budget down without losing any quantity or quality, in fact, with some judicious shopping many of us have found that our quality improves!

It's usually best to start in small steps just picking one, or perhaps two, things from the many hints and tips you see that you think will be of most help to you. Do them for a couple or three weeks and then pick another thing to do.

Try to remember that this should be a painless process and that you should go at your own speed and stay inside your own comfort level. The idea is not to make harsh changes because you're likely to dislike it so much that you'll quit.

And if you don't quite make your target? Don't worry about it. You wouldn't expect to pass your final exams after just one day in school and you can't honestly expect to make all the changes you'll see mooted in Old Style in a single day either.

There's no OFFICIAL Old Style Standard either. You can pick and mix as many or as few things as you like, and it's a good idea to pick all the one's you'll find easy

Finally, by all means take advantage of all the help and support that Old Stylers always provide for each other and for new members

Cheapskate

Did shopping today & spent £54.90 between 2 shops!! I know it's still Sept, but it's all for the next week, so I'm counting it as the 1st spend of Oct. I decided that my budget won't cover bills, so £350 is for all food, groceries, toiletries, petrol, milkman (2 adults & 13 yr old) - does that sound all right?
I take my dad shopping, as he & mum don't drive, & he gives me 'taxi money' each trip. Should I count this in with my pin money? If so, I'll have to up my pin money target, so I can make real savings in other ways. Any tips on how I can sell my hand made cards to increase pin money traget?
Not at work on Monday, so I'm going to do some baking to freeze & seriously plan menus for the next 2 to 3 weeks. It's nice when it comes colder, cos making soups, stews, etc. is so economical!

MrsB_2

Cheapskate wrote:

Any tips on how I can sell my hand made cards to increase pin money traget?

Our small local library has a cabinet selling handmade cards - not sure who supplies them, but it might be worth asking in your local library (if you have one) whether they might let you sell yours in there - maybe suggest a profit share scheme??

Other than that lots of people sell them on E-bay.

Cheapskate

Thanks for that MrsB - will certainly try the library idea! I've browsed on Ebay a few times - d'you know how to sell things, or should I just wander through the site?

squeaky

Cheapskate wrote:

Thanks for that MrsB - will certainly try the library idea! I've browsed on Ebay a few times - d'you know how to sell things, or should I just wander through the site?

We have a whole forum about Ebay that should be of help to you:-

The Ebay (& other auctions) Forum

halloweenqueen_2

Well I feel quite happy with myself - just went over this months budget, doing a major shop over the weekend as I'm scraping the barrel for tonights tea! But at least it will be october so i've really just squeaked in roughly on budget.:D
I've slightly lowered it as well as there were a few bits and bobs I could have done without but still bought, I do have to fill up on basics like rice and pasta but I have been doing quite well at lidls and make sure I have enough for a weeks meals.

miacat

hi, thought i,d join in this month, tryed to cut down on shopping for the first time last month, and i feel sick . i actually spent more. don't know where i,m going wrong i,ve used all money off coupons and made meals from scratch, but i must admit i don,t buy really cheap meat,but we only have it a couple of times a week. have a bottle of wine a week too. it always comes to about £105.00 aweek, whatever i do, for 2 adults, 3 kids and cat and dog. this week however i,ve been popping into sainsburys (usually do a big shop at tesco,s) and have managed to get reduced items, like sandwich meat, yogurt,veg ,fresh meat and today they had taste the difference fresh duck on offer for half price, £5.77 and it,s large, will do for a couple of meals easy. am going to do this every week this month and not get much from tesco,s only basics and see if this makes a diference good luck everybody