I've set myself an annual budget of £100 a month or £1,200 a year to spend in the supermarket/shops 😱 This will cover all food for myself, toiletries and cleaning products. I'm not including the dogs in this as they have a separate budget but they will eat some of the veggies.
£1,200 a year doesn't seem like a lot but I'm taking inspiration from Toni over at Simple Frugal Life where she has a yearly budget of £750 for 2 people. Read her post HERE that's full of good sensible advice. I was so pleased to see that I already do many of the things she does but there's always room for improvement!
I got a Sainsbury's delivery this morning. The photo shows the tiny amount of stuff I got for £76.95. Some of it was stocking up as they had ridiculously good Nectar prices on things like Ecover laundry liquid and double cream (to make butter!) Apparently I 'saved' £7.78 on this shop. I saved myself even more money by going through my online basket last night and removing about £20 worth of 'stuff' I can do without!! Although I kept in my diet Coke! 😳
It's a good start to the year but we're only on day 3 of 2024!!! 😂
I need grocery deliveries but when the minimum spend is £40, it makes it very hard to set a lower budget. There's no shop in my village and I no longer have a car, so can't just nip out for bread or milk etc if they run out.
ReplyDeleteI buy frozen vegetables as there's no access to fresh ones, buy 4 pints whole milk and water it down to fill 2 x 2pint containers (one for the freezer). Always on the lookout for more tips on how to cut down on deliveries.
I just do one big delivery a month for that reason and choose a saver slot. Sometimes I'm lucky and get a £1 one. Today was a £2 one! Basically I freeze everything that won't last a few weeks. I cook a lot of fresh produce into 'ready' meals and freeze those. I'd be lost without my freezer and need to consider where I'll keep one (or two!) when I move house!! :-) xxx
DeleteWow, I always admire your frugality and staying cheerful while pulling your belt tighter x
ReplyDeleteAlison in Wales x
I try to stay cheerful because I'm choosing to live this way and I like to challenge myself. I see that other people can do it. Like Toni and Vivi and think well, I can too. This is my pay off from walking away from a stressful job and lifestyle. Can't remember who said it but I like the saying 'Build a life you don't need to escape from.' :-) xxx
DeleteI read Toni's post earlier and it was so useful. Like yourself I already do a lot to stay frugal but it's a good reminder to keep at it and some new tips as well. Think there will be a lot of us on this frugal journey this year and it's great that we can support each other xx
ReplyDeleteI love reading and watching what other frugal people are doing. There's always something to learn or at least reassure yourself you're on the right path :-) xxx
DeleteThat's a very good and realistic budget, it will be interesting to see if you can manage it. I'm not setting myself any challenges this year, just eating well, and keeping the food simple and in season which should automatically keep the cost down.
ReplyDeleteOh, and from the look of my garden only eating home-grown onions all Summer. I put some onions sets in all the raised beds to make them productive over Winter and they are already growing really well.
In theory it's totally doable but I need to be more disciplined than I've been recently! I have a ton of seeds and the space to grow but as I'll probably be moving house around the time the work needs doing at the allotment I really need to be more organised this year!! Well done on the successful onions, a very useful vegetable indeed! :-) xxx
DeleteI love that budget for food. I hope that you can manage to follow it. I can see the harvest season being much easier though.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I'm going to try really hard to stick to it. Fingers crossed I get enough produce from the allotment during the growing season :-) xxx
DeleteThis is a great target. I really do have no idea what I spend on any sort of groceries. I have no sort of regular routine for buying and just sort of top up here and there which isn't ideal. I should try to be more organised in this sense. I will go and look at the post so thank you for sharing the link!
ReplyDeleteUntil now, I've never actually set budgets for all the things I buy except clothes. I just added it up as I went along. But then I've always had a decent salary and savings I could dip into if I spent too much. Not any more!! It's all about being organised and sticking to it! :-) xxx
DeleteThat is an impressive budget! I allow myself $200 a month for discretionary spending but that is over and above my grocery shops which are usually between $40 and $60 a week. The discretionary money usually goes on eating out, hair cuts, beer and wine, birthday cards and gifts, that kind of thing. My only New Year's Resolution is to limit meals out to one a week which is quite doable. Oh, and to cut back on the booze!
ReplyDeleteI need to work out an amount for discretionary spending but think I'll wait until I move. Then I'll have a clearer idea of how much I need to cover my fixed expenses. And yep, already cut back on the booze!! :-) xxx
DeleteIt is good to set a budget, check what you have already, and make a shopping list. I found it easy to reduce my spending by buying just basic ingredients for cooking and baking at home. We don’t buy fizzy pop or ultra processed breakfast cereals, or fruit juice, they are not food.
ReplyDeleteThe food industry finds ways to make profit by adding cheap ingredients. There is not much fish in fish fingers, plain fish is better value, and frozen fish is often cheaper.
I have set our food budget at £5 a day for two adults, increasing the spending on meat to £3 each a week. We have a well stocked pantry to start the year, and the four chickens are providing enough eggs for our use with a small surplus to sell.
I miss having chickens and fresh eggs! I do hope I have a big enough garden in my new house to keep a few rescues. The diet Coke is my only vice now and I'm trying to cut it out completely. Everything else I eat and drink is made from simple unprocessed ingredients. £5 a day for 2 adults is impressive :-) xxx
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