Onward to May's Food Spending Report.....
Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for May 2024.
I have posted May'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 May. 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).
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ALDI
OOP $41.74
Sales $23.64
Value $65.38
Savings 36.16%
CVS
OOP $.98
Sales/Free CVS Script $13.00
Value $13.98
Savings 92.99%
KROGER
OOP $388.87
Qs/Gift Cards $702.55
Value $1,091.42
Savings 64.37%
WALMART
OOP $84.85
Qs/Gift Cards $46.12
Value $130.97
Savings 35.21%
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My best Store Savings Total was at CVS with a savings of 92.99%. My worse rate was at Walmart with 35.21%. Not a bad savings rate average overall.
I shopped at 4 different stores in MAY(if you can call what I did at CVS shopping lol).
TOTAL Spent in May......$516.44
TOTAL Coupons/Sales/Gift Cards....$785.31
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.....$1,301.75
TOTAL Savings of........60.33%
This closes out the MAY food/toiletries/etc. spending.
THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month....
Well so much for my Grand Plan to NOT Grocery shop in May. lolol Sluggy plans and the shopping gods laugh, right? I did do well with my clearance finds and deals however in May. I got a lot of meat/seafood and fresh produce clearance deals in May.
The Monthly food spending savings percentage went UP! by 15.11% in May to 60.33% compared to April's 45.22% savings average. A substantial increase in savings rate and well over 40% which is what I like to see. 8-)
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 5 months accounted for, I have spent a Total of $3,282.38 on groceries/HBA/paper goods/etc. in 2024. Food prices have gotten to the ridiculous level, haven't they?
Let's Go Brandon!!!
2024 Yearly Grand Total Spent....................$3,282.38
2024 Yearly Grand Total Value of Items.....$6,658.25
2024 Grand Total Saved...............................$3,375.87
2024 Yearly Savings Total..............................50.70%
The average per month amount spent is $656.48 in 2024 so far but that's before all the rebate monies are added in.
Just a rough off-hand calculation of all the rebates I've gotten for the year is $1,876.40.
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 JUNE 2024.....The deals seem to be slowing down so I'll try to concentrate on using up what's in the freezer. If Kroger ever fixes my KCB account that will free up some script that should be in there to pay for about $70 worth of groceries. It's ridiculous that a major food corporation won't fix an obviously broken system and hold it's customers funds due them as hostage. If this keeps up, I'll be carting lots of items back to them(may need a truck)since I have every receipt from when I bought this stuff.
Anyway, I'm going to shoot for $400 as a budget this month. Can't grow anything here to supplement the food budget, except wasps, weeds, and mudbugs so it's pointless to try to garden...the ground goes from too wet and boggy to everything planted dies in the extreme heat and turns into crispy vegetation.
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 May?
* 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
