September Food Spending Challenge!

fruitbat · **Posted:** Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:59 am

I forgot to buy onions but other than that I think I'm done for the month. I did go over $100 but not over $150 so I'm good. I did buy some non-food items like shampoo & conditioner (which will last several months), knit gloves, and a new mop so I probably didn't spend more than $100 on actual food. Hopefully I'll be able to do some internet ordering next month. I need vitamins and vwg!

stuckunderhere · **Posted:** Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:00 am

I have to keep it at 60$ this week for groceries... food for 4. Ahh! Doable? I dunno. We shall see!

Cornelie · **Posted:** Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:06 pm

Spent €80 ($100) this week. Slightly over the budget, but I restocked the spice cabinet, we got takeout once and my partner really wanted that very special $6 chocolate bar...

daisychain · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:55 am

Thanks to a stomach bug I am saving great money. The thought of fresh fruit and veg is just bleurgh right now.

LittleChicken · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:12 am

mandycoot wrote:

Laundry Detergent:
1 bar soap, grated
1 c borax
1 c washing soda
stir together until well blended, makes 32 oz, use 1-2 Tb per load

Dishwasher Detergent:
1 part borax
1 part baking soda
use vinegar in the rinse

Dish Soap:
1.5 c hot water
.5 c Dr. Bronner's
1 tb vinegar
1/8 tsp tea tree oil
whisk together until blended, store in pump or squeeze dispenser

I haven't made the laundry detergent yet since I can't find washing soda anywhere, but I'm still looking! I'm also having trouble finding backing soda in bulk. We're trying to make our own household cleaners (and some toiletries) to cut down on packaging waste, plastic use and having to ship products that are basically water all over the country, but it definitely has the added benefit of being super cheap.

Have you considered installing a bidet toilet seat? We have a Toto toilet and we are actually ordering one of their Washlet seats to cut down on toilet paper use (my husband wanted to do family cloth since we do cloth baby wipes but I, as the main laundry-doer, nixed that idea). They are supposed to fit onto most standard toilets!

Thanks for the recipes mandycoot (and bodhi)! Do you think the dishwasher powder would still be effective without the borax? I haven't been able to find any locally. The bidet toilet seat is a fantastic idea! Unfortunately the owner of the place I'm renting probably wouldn't allow it here but it's definitely something I'll keep in mind for the day I have a place of my own. :-)

la vie sale wrote:

I make my own all purpose cleaning spray. There are so many recipes online. I always try a new one. You can also make your own room sprays and window cleaning spray. I have never made detergent, don't think I want to venture there. My big Kirkland all natural jug lasts our family of 4 about 9 months or so, so very economical. I have our laundry times down and only do full loads. That saves on detergent as well. You can probably put some cheap vegan shampoo in hand soap pumps. When I was young my friends mom would use cheap shampoo as laundry detergent.

Thanks for the idea regarding the handwash! :-) I've just refilled mine with some shower gel. It was much cheaper than the handwash refill but the ingredients are almost identical (same brand).

daisychain · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:39 pm

I can't believe the difference being on a budget has made to my bank balance. It is a week to pay day and I still have money. Like proper money. Yeah whatever will be left over next week will be paid into my mastercard but still.... in shock here! I was going to relax it a bit next month but I'm going to keep on at the €100 a fortnight.

Limone · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:05 pm

So there are only a few days left in the month and I think we were over my monthly goal by about $30. That's really not too bad, but I would like to get it to the point where I'm spending substantially LESS than my goal. Maybe that's unrealistic, because a lot of shiitake is expensive in NY, and I already make most of our food at home. I think my goal next month will be to purchase only fresh veg and beans and stuff like that, because we have a good supply of grains/flours/stuff in cans etc. Though I may have to obtain more nooch at some point during the month. I CRAVE IT.

GymClassZero · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 7:21 pm

I spent $30 on groceries and $20 on take out (including for mom and brother) yesterday. I need to count, but I may be over? Not sure.

bodhi · **Posted:** Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:50 pm

Well, it's almost the end of the month, so I've counted it all up. My goal was about $100/wk, and my total came to $395. This includes food as well as a few other things like a box of diapers, laundry detergent, etc. I'm also going to have to go to the store for some fruit/veggies, so I expect about $20 there. So pretty close to the goal, overall! Definitely spent more towards the end of the month when I slacked on putting together meal ideas in advance, so next month I'll plan a bit more often and will definitely save a bit that way.

Also! I discovered the best cheap breakfast ever! Peanut butter banana oatmeal! A 2.25kg bag of quick oats was $6.49, a 1kg jar of peanut butter was $6.49, and a bunch of bananas for $1.37. So about $0.08 per serving of oats, with a ~$0.25 banana, and a scoop of peanut butter - didn't calculate that yet. But likely the whole thing is <$0.50 each serving! Yay!

daisychain · **Posted:** Fri Sep 28, 2012 4:29 pm

I still have at least €10 left. I treated myself to a lotto ticket tonight so I'm hoping I won't have to worry about budgeting in October.....

mandycoot · **Posted:** Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:39 pm

LittleChicken wrote:

Thanks for the recipes mandycoot (and bodhi)! Do you think the dishwasher powder would still be effective without the borax? I haven't been able to find any locally. The bidet toilet seat is a fantastic idea! Unfortunately the owner of the place I'm renting probably wouldn't allow it here but it's definitely something I'll keep in mind for the day I have a place of my own. :-)

My chemistry skills are...lacking, to put it gently, so I have no idea. But why not try it?! If your water gets hot enough it wouldn't matter that you don't have the borax to sanitize, I imagine. Baking soda should have a good deal of scrubbing power on it's own.

LittleChicken · **Posted:** Fri Sep 28, 2012 11:41 pm

mandycoot wrote:

My chemistry skills are...lacking, to put it gently, so I have no idea. But why not try it?! If your water gets hot enough it wouldn't matter that you don't have the borax to sanitize, I imagine. Baking soda should have a good deal of scrubbing power on it's own.

With the exception of towels, I wash in cold water so I'll see if I can find some borax. I still have plenty laundry detergent left, so there's still time for experimentation! :-)

jogirl · **Posted:** Sun Sep 30, 2012 3:09 am

My budget was £55 (about $88) a week. I managed to stick to that for the first three weeks, but this week I spent £62, because we had run out of a lot of basics. I think £55 is still a bit high, so next month I am going to aim for £50. I really need to make some savings somewhere. I need to sit down and plan meals for the week more than I do now, so my shopping is a bit more coordinated.

daisychain · **Posted:** Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:50 am

For the entire month I am about €15 under budget. I'm seriously proud of myself because I have problems with spending. I still had great food all month.

fisticuffs · **Posted:** Mon Oct 01, 2012 3:04 am

So... good thing I didn't pick a budget because I would've gone way over. I don't know when I last had this much takeaway or eating out! Also, booze. I'm committed to making it work in october!

Cornelie · **Posted:** Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:25 am

€77 last week. That makes a monthly total of $440 for food and other groceries, take-out etc. for two adults and a kitty. It's more than I would like, but acceptable. We did eat out twice though, and that's not included in the total.

Tofulish · **Posted:** Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:49 am

Are we doing an October one too? I'd love to participate again. I pretty much spent $70 more than I wanted, but probably about $130 less than I normally spend.

lillianp · **Posted:** Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:53 am

Tofulish, I hope so! I'm a month in to a new place so most of my basic staples are filled in (but my spice selection is sadly lacking and I keep forgetting I don't have certain basic spices. Like Cinnamon. And Cayenne pepper. How do I not have them yet?!). Since I'm veganizing Bolivian food for Mofo I feel like my budget may be a bit higher than I want, but if I keep to $40 a week (which means I'm already over budget this week, hah), I should be happy. No more spending for a week and a half, yaayyyy.

Tofulish · **Posted:** Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:59 am

Okay, I'll start one!

Starryeyed · **Joined:** Sun Apr 15, 2012 5:28 pm **Posts:** 25

Well, I made my goal for September. Was aiming for $100 a week, ended up spending $77/week. Wasn't really by choice though, I'm not working and DH is payed on commission and last month wasn't a good month for him. So last week I only spent $60, this week I only spent $24 and next week will only have $21. Yikes. Our fridge is so empty it makes me sad to open it. Its not like we are starving though, and I know that most of the world would be happy to have as much food as we do, just such an uncomfortable feeling to get used to.

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