Grocery Challenge - February 2012

Went to sainsburys in the hope there might be some good bargains and though the store was really quiet, not much of interest in the reduced section. No reduced bread which is all I needed really but did get some half price belgium chocolate eclairs (60p from £1.19)for pudding, and some free range turkey steaks reduced to £2.25 from £4.50. Ended up spending £14 when really I could have had a NSD, but on the plus side I have all my dinners sorted up to the 22nd, enough milk to see me through to next weekend so really no excuse to buy anything until next weekend especially if I can dig around in my freezer for a loaf of bread. Have a good week everyone, and I would also like to send my deepest sympathies and hugs to anyone who has lost someone recently or has someone who is not very well. February can be a very cold and miserable month, and next week is the 4th aniversary of my Dad's death and though I was absolutely devestated at the time and I couldnt see the wood from the trees, time is a wonderful healer but I hate the miserable weather so roll on the sunshine!

NSD today as I didn't leave the cave again! I spent the afternoon baking again which has now becoming a relaxing Sunday afternoon routine. I made my usual cheese, tomato and pesto muffins, a batch of toffee apple muffins, a focaccia which has been my first bread machine disappointment (it just went hard and horrible) and now I have the bread machine on to make rolls.

Need to update my budget spreadsheet and my signature - few more bits used from store (a bit more in terms of ££ than I'd have liked by this point of the month), but the big hit (which may make it tough to stay within budget this month) was £11.40 on a chinese take-away for me and my fella last night !!

But it was yummy, he deserved it (for surving a couple of hours meeting my DD, her OH and my 3 GDs, immediately followed by over an hour meeting my parents and DS2 - the two households are only a few streets away from each other, but a 90 minute round trip from me so it made sense to do both in one day), and it was long overdue my turn to pay (he's paid for a couple, and also took me out for an Italian as a belated birthday treat last weekend) - so I don't regret suggesting we hit a take-away, nor for making the move to pay well before he had a chance to do so

can I join in this challenge please, budget will be £80 a week for myself and two teenagers age 18 and 14 who eat day and night.
have already cut my weekly bill from £100 a week to £80 from start of year . love this thread have picked up lots of ideas.

Just filled two of those collapsible crates with toiletries from the bathroom. Shocked at how much is in there; literally hundreds of pounds worth. :eek::eek: I've seen people with signature references to toiletry spend - can someone point me at a thread please? (I have serious quantities and varieties to resolve).

Good news is that the work starts on the bathroom to replace the shower tomorrow because the snow means the builders need an indoor job. Not so good; this means mess from ceiling coming down and no shower for probably a week plus - they want to take it out to investigate the false floor and waste pipes - we really need two inches more height in the shower as both DH and DS are 6'4" (and still growing in DS case) - plan B is to raise the ceiling by exposing the beams and plasterboarding in little panels.

Prepared to work from home tomorrow if it doesn't improve tonight. Plenty I can do here.

Have a good week everyone