Onward to October's Food Spending Report.....
Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for October 2023.
I have posted October'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 October. 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. We are a family of 2(and 2 dogs).
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ALDI
OOP $0.00
Value $45.17
Savings 100%
CVS
OOP $1.29
Value $12.58
Savings 89.75%
KROGER
OOP $106.28
Qs/Gift Cards $74.83
Value $181.11
Savings 41.32%
TURKEY HILL
OOP $0.00
Value $8.49
Savings 100%
WALMART
OOP $272.80
Qs/Gift Cards $90.83
Value $363.63
Savings 24.98%
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My best Store Savings Total was at Aldi and Turkey Hill with a savings of 100.00%. My worse rate was at Walmart with 24.98%.
I shopped at 5 different stores in OCTOBER.
TOTAL Spent in October......$380.07
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$230.91
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$610.98
TOTAL Savings of........37.79%
This closes out the OCTOBER food/toiletries/etc. spending.
THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....The travel stipend helped pay for some food/takeout both in Ohio and after we got home. I also made strategic purchases with rebates as is my want.
The Monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by 1.18% in October to 37.79% compared to September's 36.61% savings average. Between all factors(and no Rite-Aid where I use to get "paid" to bring things home from there)it's nearly impossible to have a savings rate of more than 30%....and achieving that 30% is with trying very hard! 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)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 10 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $4,154.27 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2023.
2023 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$4,154.27
2023 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$6,897.91
2023 Grand Total Saved...............................$2,743.64
2023 Yearly Savings Total..............................39.87%
The average per month amount spent is $415.42 in 2023 at this point.
LOOKING AHEAD TO NOVEMBER......Not sure what we are doing for Thanksgiving. I really am not up to traveling to see my youngest son yet in PA(and I'd miss a lot of PT). I really don't know if I'll feel like cooking all that much for Turkey Day if we stay here so still unsure of the plans. We'll deal with whatever comes. Of course, I'll try to hit all the Thanksgiving deals coming up(or have Hubs go to the store for me depending on how I am progressing).
Remember that I withdraw all my cash rebate monies(Ibotta, Coupons dotcom, Shopmium, 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.
At the end of the third quarter of the year, I'd accumulated--$962.99 in Ibotta(most in my bank account as I don't like to leave Ibotta monies on the platform), $309.40 in Paypal from Shopmium ,Coupons dotcom as well as an odd rebate or two from another source, $43.35 in Kroger Cash Back I haven't spent, $36.78 in Shop Kick, $62.20 in Swag Bucks to redeem, $16.75 on Alexa for Amazon gift cards and some points on Fetch that aren't even worth considering at this point. Without counting the Fetch that's $1,431.47 in cash or scrip total to put toward the grocery spending in 2023 which lowers my OOP on food spending to $2,342.73 give or take at this point in time.
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 October?
* Do you track your yearly food spending? It's really not that hard or time consuming; just have 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
