July 2011 Grocery Challenge

rosieben · 3 July 2011 at 8:20AM

Welcome to the GC peony40, well done for deciding to get things under control;

welcome back OrangeFairy

I'm out for lunch today so my meal plan will stretch another day

hope everyone has something good planned for the day;

for plenty of sunshine

pepsi-kins · 3 July 2011 at 8:59AM

Hi everyone,
Went over budget last month (there's a surprise!) however thats partly due to thinking i needed to really stock up on bits and pieces we're running low on, I wanted to make use of the sainsbugs voucher £12 off £60 so thought I would spread it over two weeks, but when I got there even though I had a list I did stuggle a bit to get to £60. So I need to look at what else I need this month and see if it will make another £60 or if it will be better to go to Mr. A.
I'm about £100 over where I should be in my annual budget. My dad's been giving me the voucher codes for the daily mail rewards, and i received £5 off Mr. T as a giftcard, and i after today I'll have a £5 Mr M voucher, not bad at all really, something for nothing..i like that.
My OH has had promotion at work this week, which will make a big difference to finances, and bless him, he bought me a Kenwood Chef that I have been wanting for ages, so I have had great fun, playing with that today. Is it that sad to be so happy with a food mixer. (probably lolx)

Have a good week everyone x

sistercas · 3 July 2011 at 9:25AM

morning all

sending DH out with a list this morning as i have run out of potatoes and greens for the guinea pigs

hoping he will stick to it , i have checked it on my [EMAIL="superm@rket"]superm@rket[/EMAIL] and it comes to £7.02 so will wait and see :cool:

medsdemon · 3 July 2011 at 9:51AM

Good morning everyone and what a lovely one it is.

My GC has gone all doolally thanks to going out yesterday and leaving OH at home somewhat bored. He went to the SM and bought loads of random things that we didn't really need ( expensive bacon, Kitchen Roll, bottles of awful juice and beef for his dinner last night even though I'd left stuff out for him, so will have to just add it up and hope this won't tip us over.) On a plus side his delivery of GF bread and pasta came AT LAST so we have tons in, and I think it will be pasta a couple of nights this week in various guises on my menu plan, which I must sit down and do. Will be a NSD today and hopefully tomorrow though and then I am planning a biggish shop on tuesday/wednesday with next weeks £50).

Hopefully off out to the beach for a walk and a paddle and an iced coffee from Starbucks with our £5 giftcard so pretty cheap afternoon out planned.

rej-c · 3 July 2011 at 10:21AM

PennyGrabber wrote: »

It's the 2nd of the month, and so far I've spent £0.40! And that was only because I wanted to buy my children a treat. I got them a fudge bar each. They're really good, actually, and they understand money really well. In fact, they're the ones who want to buy everything value, so I can use more money on days out and treats! Bless them!

That's superb, and reflects so well on you. You're clearly doing a great job there

£6.32 in Superdrug yesterday [a bagful of clearance items - when they're getting rid of hair dye for 10p a box and things like good quality toothpaste, mouthwash and floss for 20p a go, it seems rude not to stock up], so I'm quite happy with that.

Much less happy with £11.26 spent in Tesco. I popped in on a whim rather than on a mission, no list, just a vague idea of things to look out for, and ended up with some barely-reduced whoopsies and a couple of squeezy flavoured mayos for Him Indoors. THIS is where so much of the spends disappears, with little worthwhile to show for it.

So, it's £17.58/£250 so far, but this renewed self-awareness on my part means a new strategy for the rest of the month.

Him Indoors will deal with the main shopping; I will provide a list on the basis of what we need for our meal plan, and he will stick to it [because he does stick to shopping lists, whereas I am prone to following them but then going a bit freestyle too - the worst he might do is add a 500ml bottle of mineral water or cola 'for going', but that is fine because it's far less than the extra I'd end up spending on 'general stuff'].

I'll carry £10 housekeeping, for use on weekdays in case I get a text on my way home from work saying he suddenly needs something like bread or milk, or didn't make it to the shop for something specific I asked him to get toward dinner. It'll be tough, the way my brain works... I seem to have 'control issues' in relation to food

I'm also thinking I may have to resurrect the store cupboard challenge thread - I started an inventory last night, and I'm only through the stuff stashed in our bedroom so far, but I'm already appalled. I've definitely crossed the line between stockpiling and hoarding. Not good, but, now I've registered what I've been doing, I can address it. And consciously using that stuff with help with the GC, of course

quintwins · 3 July 2011 at 11:25AM

spent £5.87 so on pepsi and ice cream, also had takeaway yesterday (50% off) but were doing a seperate takeaway budget this month

emmad5689 · 3 July 2011 at 11:33AM

pretty sure I should be able to have the first NSD of the month today as long as I can keep the OH in the house but I will have to go to Ald* tomorrow for some veg and salad stuff. Buns out of freezer defrosting for chicken burgers tonight, chicken in the oven for this weeks sandwiches and salads and have planned, chilli for tomoro night, lasagne and salad for tuesday, frozen beef in gravy and veg for wed night and fahitas for thursday night, thats about as far as I like to plan and i am trying to use things out of the freezer as I would like to defrost it sometime soon.

spendlessmummy · 3 July 2011 at 12:12PM

First big shop of the month set me back £39.56 at Mr T this morning. I only bought items on the list and used £3 of coupons I have been carrying around for ages so quite pleased really. This included stocking up on baby wipes on offer so all in all it was ok!

Will need to nip in midweek for a couple of fresh bits but am mostly eating out of the freezer as I need to make some room so I can do some batch cooking.

cyclura · 3 July 2011 at 12:34PM

well we have had 2 NSDs so far and it looks like today may be a third :j, I know I will be buying something tomorrow though as I only have 3 pints of milk left and with a 2 year old that wont last 5 minutes

emmad5689 · 3 July 2011 at 2:08PM

emmad5689 wrote: »

pretty sure I should be able to have the first NSD of the month today as long as I can keep the OH in the house but I will have to go to Ald* tomorrow for some veg and salad stuff. Buns out of freezer defrosting for chicken burgers tonight, chicken in the oven for this weeks sandwiches and salads and have planned, chilli for tomoro night, lasagne and salad for tuesday, frozen beef in gravy and veg for wed night and fahitas for thursday night, thats about as far as I like to plan and i am trying to use things out of the freezer as I would like to defrost it sometime soon.

Oh well not a no spend afterall, mam was going to Mr Ts so decided if she got me the couple of bits I was goin to get tomoro I wouldn't be able to be lured into anything else so now tomoro should be a NSD, will update sig later when I know what i've managed to spend without even being near a shop lol!!

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July 2011 Grocery Challenge

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