Saturday, July 30, 2016

2016 Food & Toiletries Spending.....July Update

* I've closed out the July books a couple of days early as I am done shopping.  Anything bought in the next 2 days will come out of August's funds. *

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



Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2016.

I have posted July's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2016 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in July.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(5 at home this month). No kids under 20.

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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $11.93
Value  $35.72
Savings 66.60%

BOYER'S MARKET
OOP  $39.50
Value  $77.17
Saved  $37.67
Savings  48.81%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $11.18
Value  $18.18
Savings  38.50%

FOOD LION
OOP  $24.93
Value  $36.55
Saved  $11.62
Savings  31.79%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $52.29
Value  $89.46
Savings  41.55%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Value  $19.29
Saved  $19.29
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $85.78
Qs/Ads $144.54
Value  $230.32
Savings  62.75%

WEIS MARKETS
OOP  $348.96
Qs/Ads  $376.40
Value  $673.94
Savings  55.85%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Bakery Outlet at 66.60% and Shursave Market at 62.75%.  My WORST savings rate was at Food Lion at 31.79%
I shopped at 8 different stores this past month.


TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$574.57
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$489.95
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1064.50
TOTAL Savings of...................................46.02%

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased w/R-A.....$1082.79
TOTAL Savings including Rite-Aid shopping....46.94%


This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into July wanting to do a $450 food budget for the month.  I ended up going over by a whooping $124.57.
Ouch.

Again I am still trying to find the spending sweet spot.  Some of my spending in July was due to picking up good deals which we'll use later on in the year and there were many good deals to be had since July 4th was this month.  I picked up more meats/proteins for the freezer than I used in July so the freezer is fuller at the end of the month than it was at the beginning.

At least my savings rate is up again to 46.94%(only a bit of that was due to Rite-Aid shopping)while in June it had dropped to 39.80%.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went up by 7.14% in July to 46.94% compared to June's 39.80% savings average.
I'll take that savings rate all day long!

With 7 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $2379.22 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $339.89 per month spent.  This is $39.11 higher per month than the average in June was.
But then again, I am feeding 2 extra people this year so that increase is not so bad.


LOOKING AHEAD To August 2016.........

I will continue with my usual shopping ways in August....buy loss leaders or great deals which we can use, use a few coupons, cash in points for gift cards or buy discounted gift cards to food stores when possible.
I am going to give myself $500 for August.  Not sure if this amount will work for August as Hubs and I are going away for 9 days and I'll need to leave some cash here for the kids to buy groceries and you know they won't be as careful with their purchases as I am.  ;-)

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in July?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

7 comments:

  1. I keep my spending in check by price-matching at WM. Since I can no longer eat meat or milk, that helps. When my bread, cheese and other dairy products run out, I won't be buying those. No more citrus!

    Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were $1.38/lb.

    Brussel sprouts don't cost much, do they? Green beans?

    I just cannot get behind this tracking of spending. I know I don't spend much. I keep the receipts. sigh

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  2. I think you are doing amazingly well for 4 adults in the household. I know it is not as low as you would like but given a couple months I am sure it will be. An increased budget makes sense rather than banging your head against the wall. Stocking up in another state where things are lower priced makes sense - we did that this month with over the counter meds and a few groceries in Washington State. Spent $150 USD but got at least $400 CAD worth of stuff ($308 USD) based on the prices being so much lower. If we go again I will hit up US Costco too. We just ran out of time.

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  3. Let's just spend like we have it. Go us as Den would say.

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  4. I budget $100/person per month so $500 seems very reasonable as we have similar shopping habits.

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  5. I'll be reconciling today but thinkin will be $298 and some change. I didn't count hubs treats this last week or would have gone over by$5 but did count a take and bake pizza. Even with my self imposed tiny budget, if I would have come across a great stockpile deal,I would have done it as long term average spending is better,right. Deals I saw seemed to be on processed foods and I'm trying to keep those to minimum. I say well done again despite over budget. Feeding freezer and pantry are a money and time saver.

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  6. I am going to have to stop buying great stock up items unless I buy another freezer. Mine is just about filled to the brim which means I am going to have to start canning my super buy fresh produce. I have all the necessary supplies and jars, but I really do not like pressure canning. Bummer

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  7. I don't think you did bad on your spending for 5 adults. Groceries are expensive and grown people just use lots.
    Our meals last week were strictly by the seat of my pants- things like frozen chicken strips and corn dogs, lots of fresh fruit while the grandgirls were here. Then canned soup, ice cream, scrambled eggs and baked potatoes after husbands oral surgery.

    Hope your trip gets better. My son went to Maine last summer and sent back beautiful photos.

    ReplyDelete

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