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November 2008 Grocery Challenge

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  • saffouri
    saffouri Posts: 82 Forumite
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    Mrs M - please put us down for £200 for November - thank you!

    saf
    March GC: £147.75/£180 groceries + £36.75/£50 meals out

    February: £163.19/£180 + £66.14/£50 monthly budget for eating out Total £229.33/£230 :j
    January:     £170.01/£170
  • izoomzoom
    izoomzoom Posts: 1,564 Forumite
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    cw18 wrote: »
    (But I have recently started using soap nuts which seem to be doing OK, so hopefully the saving on washing powder will cover the extra on the other cleaners - and I've also recently bought some Stardrops which I have to say I'm impressed with so far).

    Can also sympathise on the milk front...... I know young children get through a lot, but why a 17 year-old boy still feels the need to guzzle the stuff beats me!! Though it's even worse when his 19 year-old brother is home on leave -- I reckon he gets through 2-3 pints a day on his own :eek:

    I try to limit us to 4pts a day with milk, excluding the baby. She is BF, but that is slowly going down, and her cows milk intake going up. She seems to be drinking a pint of full cream milk a day now, so we use 5pts a day.

    Biggest problem is my bloody fridge packed up. nearly 2 weeks now :mad: . am doing well with cooler box and recycling bottles of water to refreeze etc but it means that i am having to shop more frequently for 'chilled' products.
  • Triggles
    Triggles Posts: 2,281 Forumite
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    I have finally cracked through to a better habit this last month that was (for me) the secret to staying under budget. Before I do the menu plan or shop, I am now going through and doing a quick stock of everything in cupboards, fridge and freezer. Then I am planning around what I have in already. Seems incredibly simple - and yes, I should have been better about this much sooner. But so often I just did a cursory check and then when I got to the supermarket, I'd buy something thinking we didn't have it (main culprit - mince and chicken!) and that brings up the grocery expense. Now that I'm buying the mince from the butcher, I have to check the freezer stuff much more carefully, as I only go once a week (they're set up at the market just down the street so that's when I pick it up). I also found little things pushed to the back of the cupboard that I hadn't used and forgot were there. And I thought I was fairly good about rotating stuff in the cupboard!

    Now for a question - we are planning on using the points on our Nectar card for a shop in either November or December. Do I figure that into the monthly budget? Or keep it separate as it's not coming out of our money? :confused:
    MSE mum of DS(7), and DS(4) (and 2 adult DCs as well!)
    DFW Long haul supporters No 210
    :snow_grin Christmas 2013 is coming soon!!! :xmastree:
  • victoriajj
    victoriajj Posts: 132 Forumite
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    Hi, I got a bit lost last month as I was away in Morocco for 2 weeks with my sister (fabulous holiday) so OH was doing the shopping definately no OS.
    Can I try again this month and attempt £300 for the month.
    Thanks (must do better)
  • septemberblues
    septemberblues Posts: 838 Forumite
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    Hello all. Have never done this before, but Mr T sent me a £50 cheque for changing insurance to him, so I'm going to try £50 for the month of November...............there's only me and I waste money which I can't afford to do now it's cold and I will need money for heating (and Xmas pressies)

    Don't know how doable this is but I will try my best. Have full cupboards and an empty freezer.

    Oooooh I hope I succeed - no more waste :T
    KEEP CALM AND keep taking the tablets :cool2:
  • Flylady_Flower
    Flylady_Flower Posts: 2,855 Forumite
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    princess_leia wrote: »
    In an effort to stick to my GC budget easier I am getting one of those pre-paid cashplus cards, I will transfer over my budget and then we can only use that for groceries. At the moment, we are using money from here there and everywhere and its so hard to see how much we have left ;)
    I will have to keep a £10 back in my purse to use in the local greengrocers etc but I can use a compartment to keep that separate!
    Need to pop out for some F&V and milk later and helping out to do some gardening at the school this afternoon!

    Sounds like a plan Princess Leia, but don't forget that they charge you each time you load the card up, so make sure you budget enough for that too. Also I am not sure, but I think it is a straight charge, so might be worth putting as much as you can on each time, rather than small amounts - check with them the best way to do it.. HTH :D
    LBM April 2013 - £29,000.00
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    Weekly Grocery Challenge - £95.00 budget / spend £-
  • frugalswan
    frugalswan Posts: 339 Forumite
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    I hope you don't mind me coming back to this wonderful thread. I've sort of dropped out of the Grocery Challenge for a couple of months due to stuff, and I know I've lapsed badly over the summer. So, I'm looking to rejoin and try and save some more cash, both for Christmas and for the wedding next year.

    To that extent, could you put me down for £160.00 for the month of November please, Mrs M?

    Thanks :)

    Frugalswan
    Continually trying the Grocery Challenge. Gotta keep trying!
  • ravylesley
    ravylesley Posts: 1,105 Forumite
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    Well first day of the new month and I had to go into town to meet hubby for lunch so nipped into Thorntons to spend a £10 voucher I got for doing surveys.I got a big sharing bowl of thorntons Moments to put away for Christmas and just had to get the kids and my big kid a choccy halloween lolly .I've edited my sig with the £4.60 I overspent on my voucher

    Lesleyxx
  • Moniker
    Moniker Posts: 626 Forumite
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    Hello everyone, sorry I have not been around much lately, but I am still in the challenge even if not posting much! Did my first big shop of the month on 30th and also popped into town to buy a few bits of salad and stuff today. Signature has been updated. I have £200 in the budget for the rest of the month. We are away for a weekend at a wedding in Scotland which is all paid for out of our 'holiday' fund and next weekend will be out celebrating DD1 and 2's birthdays (they are a week apart (plus 3 years of course!)), so I am quietly optimistic that I will stick to this.

    I have loads of eggs as MIL gave me some before she went away to stay with SIL and a nice friend at work gave me some new laid ones from her own hens as a birthday present (which was last week!) So I am off to make quiche and some cakes.

    Oh, DH cut the new loaf I made from the wrong end and as a result when we got to the top end the whole thing crumbled and couldn't be sliced. Has anyone got any ideas about using breadrumbs apart from freezing them for topping on gratins and making stuffing etc?

    Thanks.

    Moniker
  • princess_leia_3
    princess_leia_3 Posts: 1,165 Forumite
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    Flylady_Flower wrote: »
    Sounds like a plan Princess Leia, but don't forget that they charge you each time you load the card up, so make sure you budget enough for that too. Also I am not sure, but I think it is a straight charge, so might be worth putting as much as you can on each time, rather than small amounts - check with them the best way to do it.. HTH :D
    Thanks Flower, the Cashplus card is £4.95 a month and don't charge to top up in lots of places but I have now opened a new account (I think we have 4 now :o) to do just this with and it won't cost anything (I didn't apply for O/Draft) :T Then I can start to get the rest of the accounts sorted out :o

    I had a NSD day today due to the awful weather :mad: and I am going to try and make meatloaf for tea tomorrow as I have never tried it before, so I hope its nice ;)

    I have been using lots of recipes on here for stuff that I would normally buy, so I am making lots of small changes that should help to make a BIG difference :D
    Sealed pot Member target £200 - No. 151
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