And just as quickly as we had it, our balanced grocery budget is out of whack. Not really sure what happened ... last weekend we were right on target. I actually had some surplus from the previous week, used that for some accumulated diaper charges, but that was fine. Then, a couple of random trips to Target etc. later during the week, we had eaten away about $30 of this Saturday's budget. And all of a sudden we need a water filter, extra wipes for daycare, floor cleaner, razor blades -- all the big ticket items seemed to hit at once. Now we're probably going to go over budget this Saturday, which means we'll start next Saturday with less than the budgeted amount, and if we have little needs that creep up on us over the week...
It's this constant struggle. I suppose I need to up the grocery budget, but it has to come from somewhere else, and I really don't want to eat into our already-smaller (thanks to dental & other issues) surplus this year, which if we're lucky will just barely get us to our annual goals.
Plus, I have this sneaking suspicion that we'll always be struggling, because we had much less money per week over the summer, and we were always struggling at about the same level. I tried upping it a bit and we're still at about where we were. So if I upped it, say, $25 per week, I have a feeling we'd still be struggling about the same amount. No, I think I'll keep it where it is.
I wouldn't normally balk at covering the overage with surplus money, but Xmas was kind of a budget killer, and plus I'm eager to see some movement on our goals. I swore I would be less uptight about spending, but we spent so much more than I expected from October through December, so I'm not sure a looser spending policy really works for us. So back to eating into next week's amount and hoping we catch up at some point.
This is seriously the one part of our budget that never seems to be comfortably managed. The only other variable spending is our weekly spending money, but that's not really a problem because it's optional stuff. If the money runs out, don't buy anything until the next week, or borrow knowing you'll have less money the next week. Either way, at some point you come to grips with your optional spending.
But grocery and household expenses have this weird emotional pull. It's a NEED but it's also a WANT. If you don't crave the food you buy and prepare, the temptation to eat out may be too great. And you want a certain amount of quality in some areas of food -- everyone has their sticking points. For some it's organic produce. For me, it's buying humane organic local eggs and dairy, and vegan cheese and margarine for myself. For NT, it's tons of fresh fruit and natural cleaning products. For him, too, I think, there's this feeling where if there's a slight need or danger of a shortage, he wants the ability to buy right away. He's gotten better about putting things off, but that's where the drainage of grocery budget happens during the week. For AS, there's the need to feel like the cupboards aren't bare -- she wasn't seriously poor at any point, but she had moments at a kid where she worried they would go hungry.
It's silly, I suppose, to quibble over a few dollars. But I feel like this is a dangerous category that could easily spiral out of control and even derail our big picture goals. So I'll continue to quibble.
Grocery budget already floundering
January 11th, 2014 at 06:38 pm
January 11th, 2014 at 06:46 pm 1389465993
January 11th, 2014 at 07:01 pm 1389466919
I think the only way to contain these costs for me is cash. I did manage to throw out the circular ads for the sales for this week because I already shopped and planned the meals. It was liberating, but for one minute I hesitated, thinking what if I miss some wonderful loss leader that I have a coupon for?! Sanity and logic prevailed, and I recycled the ads. The sales and coupons will be there next week when pay day brings more funds!
January 11th, 2014 at 08:57 pm 1389473865
i.e. We make a lot of our natural cleaners at home. It's easy, cheap, and they work great. The all purpose cleaner is particularly nice.
As for eggs. I get my free range, happy chicken eggs from a teenage 4-H-er who raises them for projects and to raise money for college. They are awesome, and only $1.50 a dozen. They're closer to 4.50 at the grocery store.
Can you start sprouting your own microgreens at home?
January 11th, 2014 at 09:19 pm 1389475162
January 11th, 2014 at 09:37 pm 1389476259
The main expensive cleaners are the dishwasher detergent, dish soap and laundry detergent. We did make our own laundry detergent for over a year -- borax, washing soda, Dr. Bronner's soap. But NT felt our clothes were coming out dingy. We added Oxy-clean to our mix, and it still didn't do the trick for him. So now we're back to store-bought.
I'm not sure about finding another source for local dairy & eggs ... it's probably an option, but with no car, every errand we add means a significant time commitment. We already divide our shopping between 4 stores, to maximize cost on the items we're not buying the premium version of: natural foods co-op, Asian grocery store, conventional grocery store and Target. In the summer, NT also has to pick up our CSA share from a 5th place. The biggest dairy expense is local, cruelty free cheese with no animal rennets. And of course my vegan cheese ($4.50 per pack). I thought I'd found a solution by making my own cheese -- then I found out raw cashews cost $4 per cup -- and it takes 2 cups to make each batch of cheese!
January 11th, 2014 at 10:09 pm 1389478179
January 11th, 2014 at 10:42 pm 1389480179
January 11th, 2014 at 11:51 pm 1389484290
Also, have you thought of adding a small budget category? Say, $40 a month for things like razors, floor cleaner, etc. I'm not sure I would include anything I couldn't eat in the grocery budget. And in a month where you might not 'plan' to buy those items, the money could be used to score it when it's on serious sale.
If you made a homemade all purpose cleaner and added tea-tree oil, it would likely provide similar disinfectant properties to the wipes, at a fraction of the cost. Just another idea. (I use recipes in Clean House Clean Planet). As for laundry, I used to use Ecover, but switched to the no scent arm and hammer. With coupons, it can be had for less, and it seems to be less offensive chemically than all the other conventional brands.
There really are no good homemade dish or dishwasher detergents. I've tried them all and they are lame!
January 12th, 2014 at 01:53 am 1389491591
Our government keeps telling us inflation is less than 3% but that must be for stuff I don't buy! Food at the grocery store is much more expensive for those of us who shop the perimeter where they display fruit, vegetables, dairy, eggs, meat, fish and poultry.
January 12th, 2014 at 04:24 am 1389500660
January 15th, 2014 at 05:16 am 1389762993
Another check is to make sure that you are not wasting - you lose a lot of money if you fail to eat everything in time and have to toss it.