May Grocery Challenge: results
I set a goal of $95 per week for Amanda and I. Let's have a look at how we did.
Week One: May 3.
Total: $88.05. A pretty slim week of shopping, even including two Mother's Day cards and a big pack of paper towels.
Week Two: May 10.
Total: $111.53. We went over this week. The budget-busters included a bouquet of fresh tulips at $7.99 (or two for $15, but we only got one). They looked great on the table when my parents came to visit. Also note a $6.99 3-in-1 set of food storage containers. We needed these because Amanda's cat food container was worn beyond use. I suppose we could've gone to the dollar store for those. A $5.89 roll of foil, $2.69 roll of parchment paper and $8.98 giant box of kitty litter also beefed up the bill. None of those things are technically groceries, but we got them all at the Superstore.
Week Three: May 18.
Total: $110.71. Over again! But we got some deals! A big bucket of Electrasol dishwasher tabs for $13.99 -- I don't remember how much we saved, but the per-unit cost was the best on the shelf, by far. $5.99 for kitchen garbage bags. And, pop was on sale for $2 off per case of 12, so we stocked up. Otherwise, we'd be on target.
Week Four: May 24.
Total: $84.97. Now that's more like it. T-bone steak, premium toothpaste, and we still came in under budget.
Finally, week five: May 31.
Total: $104.63. Oh? I don't know what broke us this week. The Angus Burgers were on sale, and we spent nearly $8 on grapes, but ... yeah, that's a mystery.
Number-crunching: Total for the (long) month: $499.89. Divide that by five and I get $99.98. So, just under a hundred bucks a trip.
That's a fail. Five bucks a week average over the $95 budget. Now, the $95 was just a made-up figure ... and the analysis shows that if I were looking at strictly grocery items, we'd be on track.
All in all, a fun exercise, and thanks to Krystal at Give Me Back My Five Bucks for running the challenge.
---
See the full receipts: http://www.bigasssuperstar.com/bigass-groceries-may2008.zip
posted by BigAssSuperstar at 4:42 PM | Permanent Link 
The 2000 debut album 
2 Comments:
Interesting! I'd been curious as to what other couples budget per week. Chris and I have been on $100 per week for ages and Chris feels like we are living like poor people with such a budget. I find that meat really adds to the total and we have to be quite choosy in that regard. Now with Ewan, it is a bit more of a challenge to stick to the budget when diapers take such a huge chunk of the allotment. But we're still in the neighbourhood of $100 a week.
By
little sister, at Sun Jun 01, 05:37:00 PM ADT
I think you're doing really well if you're spending $100 per week!!!
Meat can really add up ... we have a standing item on the shopping list: meat if it's really on sale. Half-off steaks, 60% off ham, whatever. If it's really cheap, we'll pick some up. And if it's one of those last-day-of-sale items that's marked down even more, great. We've bought hams that've lasted for five meals. The t-bone steaks were a sale item. Stewing beef. Pork. If it's a deal, it's buyable and freezable.
By
BigAssSuperstar, at Sun Jun 01, 08:15:00 PM ADT
Post a Comment
<< Home