My new diet is much more expensive these days. A lot of my frugal meals from the past included fillers like grains, pulses and beans. When it was just myself, my Sweetie and my son living here, I got away with $75 a week ($25 a week, per person). I used coupons a lot more and I could serve a meat dish with potatoes, breads, and pasta. I know that the price of food has also increased a lot over the past few years, but mainly it is the cost of vegetables and dairy that affect my bottom line. My month begins from the date my government pension goes into my bank account, which is approximately the 27th of the month. In February, it was the 26th (3 banking days before the end of the month) From that weekend until this past Tuesday, I spent a total of $396.06 on food items alone. Actually $343.16 was taken from my account because I spent my $25 gift card on food and $27.90 from my lottery winnings of $43 went towards food. The point is I ate just under $400 myself for one month.
I spent $28.75 on non-food items at the grocery store. I spent $18.06 on dog food and $127.12 to the vet. I paid for the dog's license, but that $15 was left over from the lottery winnings (so no out of pocket). I spent $22.76 on postage to mail out a parcel, and $54 on hobby supplies. (planting soil, beads, macrame cords, A2 sized envelopes). I spent $29.49 on a LOL doll for my youngest grand daughter's birthday (also through Amazon Prime) and e-transferred another $25 for her birthday present. I usually give $50 to each grand child for their birthday presents. I spent $32 on Avon this past month, but they are all gifts for others that I have put away for Christmas. I only spent $50 on gas this month. I bought lunch for myself one day when I was out with a friend, but I have counted that already in my food costs. My expenses for non-food items for this past month were...$387.18 My food cost me $343.16, so my total variable expenses cost me $730.34 Fortunately I was gifted a $25 gift card and I was given scratch tickets that won me $43, so that was a bonus this month. I was left with $55 which I applied as an extra c.c. payment.
I will not tell you how much I bring in or how much my fixed expenses are. My own pension and my husband's survivor pension come in on the first of the month and that is also when all my fixed expenses come out automatically from my bank account. I have put out this list of money I paid out on variable expenses so we could see what there is to cut back on. I can already see that I paid too much on craft materials. I will seek out projects using up materials that I already have. A friend has already announced that she has jute to give me for my macrame, and Bless suggested I use several strands of cotton yarn (which I already have). Growing a veggie garden should certainly help with food costs during the summer months and I already have several packets of seeds. Any other suggestions for me? Sometimes it takes an outsider to see the obvious. I will be making up a new list of goals for April in just a few days.
Susan, I think $75-$100/week for food when you are on a special diet sounds reasonable. One way to keep the grocery costs down is probably something you are doing already - buying mostly what is on offer that week.
ReplyDeleteI would sit down with what I have left to spend after the fixed expenses are taken care of, list all the variable expenses (I like to call them discretionary expenses, because I get to have some say in what they are and how much I will spend on them) and set up spending guidelines. Some discretionary expenses are essential - grocery spending, for example. Some discretionary expenses are less essential and crafts supplies might be one of them. I might decide that I wouldn't spend any money on additional crafts supplies until I have used up most of what I had on hand or only buy what was needed to finish a project and keep my spending guideline to $15-$20 per month.
I'll think about this a bit more over the weekend and write more if I come up with more ideas. :)
You are absolutely right Bless. I have used the wrong terminology here. My variable expenses are those that I have some control over, like my hydro, gas, water and sewer, cable/phone/internet, insurance, food and gas. My discretionary expenses are those things I have complete control over. Thank you for making that distinction for me, because I have been making some changes in my variable spending....not so much it seems on my discretionary spending. I can see immediately that if I gave myself an allowance for discretionary spending (like money in an envelope) then when it runs out, it is GONE. This way I can list my "wants" at the beginning of the month, and choose more wisely with what I have. For instance, in April I will need more gas money for traveling, more dog food, dog's pain medication, postage stamps, oil change, tire exchange, more garbage tags, CAA membership renewal, birthday money. Obviously, I will have to estimate how much this will cost and prioritize. Maybe I can buy garbage tags one at a time as I need them. I will buy 10 stamps instead of a roll of 100. I could buy less meat, more cabbage and spinach instead of cauliflower, and less dairy.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I'm glad you are able to see the difference in terminology! :) The term discretionary funds can be empowering, I think! It puts you in control of them, rather than the other way around! You get to decide how much and on what!
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