Saturday, March 1, 2014

Food & Toiletries Spending......February Update


Onward to February's food spending report.......



Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2014.

I have posted February's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2014 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in February.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 4(3 at home this month)& 1 dog. No kids under 17.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $10.78
Value  $25.74
Savings   58.12%

DOLLAR STORE
OOP  $17.00
Value  $40.16
Savings    57.67%
 
RITE-AID
OOP  $51.23
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $243.44
Value  $294.67
Savings  82.61%
 
SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $125.98
Qs/Ads  $118.54
Value  $244.52
Savings  48.48%

WALMART
OOP  $23.46
Qs/Ads  $20.32
Value  $43.78
Savings  46.41%

WEIS MARKETS
OOP  $168.08
Qs/Ads  $115.39
Value  $283.47
Savings  40.70%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 82.61%, the Bakery Outlet at 58.12%, and the Dollar Store at 57.67%.  My WORST savings rate was 40.70% at Weis so I think I did exceptionally well in February on the value of what I got!  Obviously I'm not counting the Turkey Hill Convenience store where Hubs picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk and my savings rate was 0%. ;-)
I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.


TOTAL Out of Pocket........$398.43
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$535.81
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$934.23
TOTAL Savings of...................................57.35%

Even without counting the Rite-Aid shopping, my savings rate would be 45.71%.

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into February wanting to cut my food/toiletries budget by $100, to $300 budgeted for ALL purchases.  I failed BUT I did stay under my usual $400 Food Budget.
Yay me.  ;-)


LOOKING AHEAD TO MARCH......

I'm going to try to do this $300 food spending budget one more time in March.
If I can't then I'll stop trying.

I tallied up our Eating Out spending for February and it came in at $94.44.
We had Chinese take-out once, Burger King once, I took #2 Son out for his free birthday burger and spent $24.82 on 2 drinks, my chicken burger and the tip, and $35.85 was spent on dinner for Hubs & #2 Son at Perkins on the audition trip to Mansfield. 
Of course we ate at Bob Evans twice too but we used gift cards to cover those meals.


Without the Rite-Aid totals added in, my February Savings Rate is 43%.  Achieving a savings rate in the 40's is what I shoot for, with or without shopping at Rite-Aid.
 
If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

Total spend on food/toiletries so far this year.....$695.80
The average monthly food/toiletries spending this year so far is $347.90.
 
How much did you spend on food/toiletries in February?
Do you track your yearly food spending?
 
Sluggy

4 comments:

  1. Sluggy
    How many people are you feeding? Bare bones here means $67/person/month. Normally, I go for $100/person. This includes food at home (restaurant food is a separate tally as is anything for Pets), paper goods, cleaning supplies, personal care items. We're in austerity mode as I am on medical leave from work (single Mom)and my paid days are almost all used up. Unpaid leave is UGLY for my budget. I will get on C/S check on the 15th, which will help as the rent is due the same day. : ) Back to austerity budget: while normally $300/mo comes from my salary + $100 from Dd for her portion, since Jan, I moved to $100 from me + $100 from DD for groceries. We are eating down the pantry, cupboards, stockpile, freezer. BUT it's giving me an extra $200 out of the budget to help offset my drop off in income. I went a bit over, but bought 20 lbs each AP and bread flour which will be used into March, so I rolled that over. Stuff is getting used, used up. May be a good thing as we are seriously considering moving.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I haven't tracked my grocery /toiletries spending for years. I used to do it in a small ledger. I fact, I tracked EVERYTHING, even the quarters for the laundry before we had a house! Like my mother before me, you can show me a receipt, tell me the date, and I can recite the items and cost. But, as college looms, I have decided to return to writing down everything again, only this time, I am. sharing it with the kids. I don't think the three youngest have any money sense.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Once again I only tracked about 2 weeks of the month. We had a houseful of company. When I was shopping for the crowd I just said forget it! Having them here was absolutely worth every extra penny! While I didn't track each purchase I can see by looking at the bank account that I did well anyway! I will try again to track our spending.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am saving receipts. However, I am still looking at January. Maybe I will get it all together soon...lol. I did try something different in February that might work to curb spending at a certain point. I will post on it Monday, maybe Sunday.

    ReplyDelete

Hey there! Thanks for leaving a comment.
All Anonymous commentors will be deleted.
Please include your name in your comment, or choose the 'Name' option and put your name or whatever you call yourself, in the box. Thank you.

Though I moderate it's partly to keep trolls at bay but also partly so that I read every comment. I don't often respond to comments so if you need me to answer you please write me at my email addy posted on my "About Me" page, linked on the side bar.