Onward to March's Food Spending Report.....
Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for March 2024.
I have posted March's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March. 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, Pet Food. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
****************
DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP $7.74
Sales $7.71
Value $15.45
Savings 49.90%
KROGER
OOP $546.02
Qs/Gift Cards $546.23
Value $1,092.25
Savings 50.01%
SUPER 1 FOODS
OOP $14.00
Sales $11.11
Value $25.11
Savings 44.25%
WALMART
OOP $347.11
Qs/Gift Cards $203.43
Value $550.54
Savings 46.95%
********************
My best Store Savings Total was at Kroger with a savings of 50.01%. My worse rate was at Super 1 Foods with 44.25%. Not a bad savings rate.
I shopped at 4 different stores in MARCH.
TOTAL Spent in March......$914.87
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$768.48
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$1,683.35
TOTAL Savings of........45.65%
This closes out the MARCH food/toiletries/etc. spending.
THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....What a mess March was financially as far as food spending goes! Folks, it just keeps getting worse and worse. If I remove all the stuff I bought to give to the food bank my spending would be much more reasonable.....but it would still be high.
The Monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by .34% in March to 49.07% compared to February's 49.41% savings average. Not much of a change from last month so I'll take that, as it's still a high savings rate.
Since we have an adequate income and food should be a pleasure in life(no way am I going to eat unseasoned rice and beans for my remaining days like some people-because I don't have to). I will buy quality food and pay the price at the register. I may not like the price but I will deal with it.
With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $2,227.39 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2024.
2024 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$2,227.39
2024 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$4,373.44
2024 Grand Total Saved...............................$2,146.05
2024 Yearly Savings Total..............................49.07%
The average per month amount spent is $742.46 in 2024 so far but that's before all the rebate monies are added in.
Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Shopmium, TaDa, Checkout 51 and other miscellaneous rebates sent to my Paypal)at the end of the year and add it back into my food budget, so at the end of the year my food spending will go down. The other savings apps like Fetch, Shop Kick, Kroger Cash Back that let us get free gift cards(or $ off your grocery total-Kroger), those are added back in when I cash those points in along the way. Alexa app gives me Amazon credit onto my account but I don't buy food on Amazon(sometimes I buy dog food there)so I really don't know how to count that.
LOOKING AHEAD TO APRIL 2024.....
Who the hell knows where prices will be in a month! I have no crystal ball and the government just keeps printing money willy-nilly which makes our dollars stretch even less further. Case in point, the 1.2 Trillion $ spending bill the Congress just passed without vetting it. Where do you think the $ to fund this is coming from? Taxpayers and the government will just print money to cover what we don't cough up, thus our dollars are worth less. Economics 101. We need a line item veto! And we need to decrease the debt-it's so out of control! *Off my soapbox now.*
I'll keep an eye on what we spend, rebate and coupon like a mad woman when I have to step foot in a grocery store and shop from my pantry when I can. I won't be food shopping for more than half of April so that will help with the spending. 8-)
If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us all.
* How much did you spend on food/toiletries in March?
* Do you track your yearly food spending? It's really not that hard or time consuming; just keep your receipts and either track it in a notebook or on a spreadsheet.
* What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons versus 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
We spent $755 on groceries, for a family of four. I'm happy with that, even though it's a slight increase from plan, as I'm no longer getting free drinks/snacks/breakfast/lunch at work. We try to really keep a close eye on how much processed food we buy, which I think is the area that's gone up the most, inflation wise. We certainly do buy some stuff, and always have one easy snack available for the teens at any given time, but I stopped buying cereal, and multiples of snacks. They are just too pricey. I make protein bars, muffins, etc as needed.
ReplyDelete(Hawaii Planner )
I actually love blackeyed peas and brown rice with NO seasoning, not one bit. I never ate beans and rice growing up. Mama generously seasoned all beans. And, the little rice we ate was white rice.
ReplyDeleteWe buy what we want and need to be healthy and happy.
We don't eat much rice as it's so high in calories, but we do eat our fair share of beans, which we do enjoy. Like you said, keeping an eye on what you spend, rebates and couponing, and shopping from your own pantry are some of the best ways to save money on your food bill. Great blog post!
ReplyDelete