Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March Food Budget....torpedoed by Heinz & Kraft & Hormel


Ok, first off, I am insane.

Insane to think that I could anyway possibly stick to a self-imposed food budget of $250 in March for both buying needed grocery items for the weekly menu AND continuing to add to the stockpile in the pantry.

HA!


I sort of kept the weekly spending on food for the menu under $150 as planned. As reported in previous posts I only had to buy 3 or 4 items the last 2 weeks in order to prepare the dinner meals. Add to that the bread, juice & milk we run through quickly w/my 3 teenaged eating machines and you come out at around $150 for the month. That left $100 in the food budget for stockpiling deals I found for the whole month.


Then Price Chopper lured me in with TRIPLE COUPONS & awesome markdowns in their Dairy Dept. at the beginning of the month.

Then I had to take advantage of the Ronzoni Pasta coupons combined with the sale on Ronzoni at the stores in my Teeny Tiny Town to stock up on 14 boxes of pasta @ 50¢ a box.

Then I had to use those dog/cat food coupons to get Pet Kibble for cheaper, to stretch my $$ for the donation to the local Animal Shelter.

Then the chain grocery store in Teeny Tiny Town had Catalina Deals Week. Our Catalina Deals aren't as awesome as the ones at Kroger, Publix, etc. but it's all we gots here, so I had to buy those 10 bottles of Heinz and those 10 LARGE bags of Kraft Shredded Mozzarella(b/c my $1 Hellavu Cheese deal didn't include Mozzarella last month & we need italian cheese in this house, by gum!).

Then I had a stack of coupons for Hormel Chili I had to use before they expired & the grocery store's price freeze on Hormel Chili ended. We go through A LOT of chili here. the Eating Machines have to have something to go with those homemade Burritos, right?

Then the chain grocery store in TTT had boxed Green Giant Veggies for $1 & I had coupons that made them 50¢ a box.

Then that warehouse Grocery Store across the river had really really good price on Toilet Paper for which I had $2 coupons, so how could I not buy 10 packages?

Then it's time to fill those EASTER BASKETS, so finding candy cheaper is put on my radar and eventually purchased.

Then the chain grocery store in TTT clearanced their entire organic grocery dept. to $1 an item. How could I not purchase things we need/use at such low prices through the tears I shed over it's demise?

Then the hubby goes and decides to pick food things up at the store without consulting me.

Then that blasted chain grocery store in TTT said I had to use my Rewards Point last Wed. OR ELSE lose them & the 20% off one entire grocery bill shopping trip discount I had earned by buying stuff there. (This is 20% off BESIDES all the coupons I use!)

Then K-Mart had to go and have another DOUBLE COUPONS Week and I did have some coupons for things that I could stock up on.

In between all this, WAGS & CVS lured me in to get cheap or FREE Toiletries. Cheap doesn't sound dangerous to a budget, but cheap isn't Free and if you buy enough cheap, it DOES add up! Granted some of the cheap toiletries are going to find their way to the local women's domestic abuse shelter in April, but even so....


All this adds up to a combined total expenditure of $855.39 in March for Food & Toiletries.

To put a positive spin on this......

It IS $368.72 lowever than February's total.

And it IS less than the US Govt.'s food plan budget amount for their LOW COST Option of $1038-the option I decided to follow.


So I am not going to beat myself up over this mont's total. It was silly to try to stick to this little amount for 5 adults/teens especially when I was still building a stockpile.


What about April?

Well, let's see......now that the stockpile is pretty much done, I will not have to buy any of these things in April;pasta, ketchup, cheese(except parmesan), tomatoes or spaghetti sauce, chili, soup, cereal, granola bars, canned fruit, bacon, ground beef, frozen veggies, frozen fish, soy milk, sugar, toilet paper, napkins, facial tissue, paper towels(I'll rant about those another day), soap, crackers, seltzer, soda, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, razors, hair coloring, air fresheners & bandaids.

Heck, I shouldn't have to buy any of the toiletries except the paper goods for 1-2 yrs. from now!


So where does this leave me in terms of a food/toiletries budget?

I'm going to try for a $500 limit for food/toiletries for April and I'm going to post a weekly update this coming month in order to try to keep a closer reign on my spending. If I have to check in with weekly totals, maybe I'll be less likely to be suspectible to the Torpedoes the stores have aimed at my budget.
Sluggy



4 comments:

  1. OMG Sluggy, I am exhausted from just reading about your life!! My first impulse is to jump in here with all sorts of suggestions to help, but you didn't *ASK* for help, did you? So I should keep my nose out of your beeswax.

    But I can't help it, one little teeny suggestion HAS to come out! Here it is:
    You may have to let some of those reward thingees go, let them die, let them not be rewarded. Just for the sake of your sanity (see photo at the top of the page!!) let something go.

    You are doing an outstanding, awesome job at couponing, saving your $$$, planning meals, raising fat beagles, raising teenagers, feeding said teenagers, etc., etc., so it won't hurt a thing if you just take one store off your radar for this next week.

    You, my friend, deserve a Calgon luxurious bath with a big bottle of wine with a long straw in it. As long as you don't go to one store for the wine, another for the Calgon and Dollar Tree for the straws. :)

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  2. I just wanted to respond to your comment on my blog about spending $120. I currently only buy for myself, although I do share with my family when I find good deals and have several q's to get a bunch at one time. Some of the totals for grocery do include food I bought while at the store for my trips to see my son, but again it is just me and then what the little bird eats (not much). I also have quite a stockpile already built up from canned goods being on sale over the fall/winter. So at $120 for me with a bit of food for my son and family would be approximately $600 for a family of 5. Although no one in my family (with perhaps the exception of me) could be called "eating machines". So perhaps even higher than the $600....

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  3. LisaPie,
    You are so kind. I invitt any and all advise.
    I WILL take it a bit easier this month on the couponing & hounding! Now that the stockpile is a teetering mountain, oh YEs it is!, I can relax some on the gathering provisions. I have cut way back the last 2 weeks on the # of coupons I've collected too. Having less couponage will help me NOT feel so compelled to use them, right? Well, that's what I am hoping.lol
    The calgon moment sounds wonderful but I'll have to stick to 1 Glass of wine instead of a Bottle.
    1 glass and I'll be asleep now and we can't have that in the tub....
    And shame on you!
    Plastic straws are a violation of the compact!hehehe

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  4. centralillinoisian,
    Thanks for commenting!
    I guess if you look at it that way, my food spending doesn't seem so high....your $120 for a tad more than 1 person(non-eating machine teenagers) extrapolated out to 5 IS $600...plus I have 3 food loving dogs also.
    Sounds like you have a good budget for you and I realize mine is not as high as I thought. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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