Showing posts with label sticking to a budget for groceries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sticking to a budget for groceries. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

2016 Food and Toiletries Spending......June Update

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

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



Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JUNE 2016.

I have posted June'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 June.  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(3-5 at home this month). No kids under 20.

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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $11.00
Value  $39.51
Savings 72.16%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $65.52
Value  $111.64
Savings  41.31%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $40.63
Qs/Ads $16.32
Value  $56.95
Savings  28.65%

WEIS MARKETS
OOP  $292.96
Qs/Ads  $180.15
Value  $473.11
Savings  38.07%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Bakery Outlet at 72.16%, Maine Source at 41.31% and Weis at 38.07%.  My WORST savings rate was at the Shursave Market at 28.65%.

I shopped at 4 different stores this past month.


TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$410.11
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$271.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$681.21
TOTAL Savings of...................................39.80%
As I did no Rite-Aid shopping this month 39.80% is also my total w/out Rite-Aid.


This closes out the June food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into June wanting to do a $400 food budget for the month.  I ended up going over by $10.11.
That's not bad considering we have 5 eating/living here(for 3 weeks out of 4 weeks of June)and I have no clue what my grocery/toiletries budget needs to be yet.
I am still feeling my way to what I need to put toward these bills each month going forward.

It's a bit discouraging that my savings rate dropped to 39.80% in June when the budget expanded by $100 BUT also keep in mind that I did NO Rite-Aid shopping at all in June.  My savings rate is very high when I shop at R-A so I sort of got a double whammy this past month......more spending OOP overall and no R-A deals.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went down by 5.73% in June to 39.80% compared to May's 45.53% savings average.   Not quite at my 40% minimum savings rate threshold I like to see but the drop from the previous month isn't as bad as the drop from April's to May's savings rate(14.97%).
But I would like to try to get the rate back up over 40% if possible.

With 6 months accounted for, I have spent a total of $1804.65 on food/toiletries so far in 2016 which averages out to $300.78 per month spent.  The average in May stood at $298.91 per month spent to that point in 2016 so we are up $1.87 spent per month from last month's year-to-date tally. Compared to this point in the year to 2015's totals we have spent $547.01 LESS on food and toiletries in 2016.
Of course, June of 2015 we spent over $600 that month on food(which was a much higher than normal amount).

I can't say what our yearly spending will end up being now that I have 2 more mouths to feed.  I am guessing we won't stay under $4K for the year.

LOOKING AHEAD To July 2016.........

I will continue with my usual shopping ways in July....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 $450 for July.  We spent $410 in June and we have a cook-out planned for this weekend which will mean more food to buy/prepare/serve to guests.  I am still adjusting the budget to find our sweet spot on food spending.

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 June?
*  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

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

APRIL 2013 Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending


 

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2013.

I have posted April's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2013 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in April.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(4 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
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MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)
OOP  $123.12
Value  $204.13
Savings   39.69%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $243.20
Qs/Ads  $86.00
Value  $329.20
Savings  26.12%

WEIS MARKETS
OOP  $69.17
Qs/Ads  $10.25
Value  $79.42
Savings  12.91%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN April.....$0.00
GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES
Zero

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Maine Source at 39.69%, the Shursave affiliate market at 26.12% and Weis Market at 12.91%.  l only shopped at 3 different stores this past month. 8-)


TOTAL Out of Pocket........$435.49
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$177.26
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$612.75
TOTAL Savings of...................................29%

This closes out the April food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into April with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  Overshot the budget by $35.49.  Not bad considering I didn't do any of the shopping the first half of April.
Exactly 1 ManQ was used in April.  I did NO Rite-Aid shopping in last month either.
Looking ahead to May---We'll stick to our $400 food budget again this month.  With the sudden changes I need to make to my diet this month I am not sure how this will affect our food budget.  I suspect we will need to spend more on food. May will see even more changes in our food spending.

 
And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far--
2013 Total Saved $1109.98

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $2527.45

2013 Yearly Total Spent $1426.47

2013 Yearly Savings Total of 43.56%

How much did you spend on food in April?
 
Sluggy