March Grocery Budget
$425 plus extra from February $9.30 = 434.30
Actual $487.46 Coupons used $12
Overage $53.16
Frugal fail! Our costs seem to be escalating and it is tougher and tougher each month to meet budget. Our 2 year supply of Splenda arrived, purchased at a discount from Staples. I bought a grade A turkey at .95 cents per pound for Easter but then we decided to do smaller easier dinners so that turkey will be cooked later this month. I still have ham, chicken, beef and some fish and the cupboards are mostly full. On the non-perishable front I bought dried navy beans as an additional frugal long term staple.
The budget buster this month is over the counter medications. We have been trying to buy large quantities at the cheapest prices but hubby had several allergy issues so at least $50 was spent combating that.
We also had company this month - my mother in law for four days and my Mom for three. They don't eat much so the overage certainly is not from them. I am hoping due to all the bulk purchasing that later in the year things get a little better as we are already scratch cooking 99% of the time.
This week I am trying not to buy any groceries as Saturday we drive back to Alberta to clear out our home there that has sold-we are out of eggs but can live without until we get back from our trip as I do not want to buy produce for it just to spoil.
Hair Budget
Annual budget $250 - Left in Budget $208.53.
There were no hair costs this month at all. I still have one color in the cupboard and will need a haircut in April.
Clothing Budget
Annual Budget $200 - $187.50 left
.25 cents was spent in March on a really nice pink blouse bought from a thrift store. Frugal Fail again as it shrunk when I washed it which doesn't usually occur on thrift store clothing as it has already been used. It has been re-donated. $187.25 is left for the rest of the year.
This month was tough on our budget. We spent $700 on an air ticket and car rental at the last minute so I could escort my Mother-in-law to her sisters funeral. It was a financial decision we made and one I didn't regret at all - until the $157 speeding ticket charge showed up on my credit card from the car rental company. Alberta has photo radar. I never get speeding tickets as try not to speed - but I was worried about getting to the airport on time. Crud!
We tried to reduce our expenses for the trip to Alberta next week as much as possible. We are driving thereby not having to rent a vehicle nor use points for our flights. We will eat at home. Money from items we sell will pay for the travel expenses and we have already pre-sold one room of furniture to someone who knows us for $600 so feel confident we will have extra money from other furniture sold to bring back with us for some changes to our home here. I am taking our inflatable Coleman airbed in case our bed sells right away so we have somewhere to sleep. We can bring back our extra vacuum and some other items that will save money in our BC home as backups.
On the bright side British Columbia voted out a harmonized sales tax and as of April 1 things like eating out and drycleaning will be 7% cheaper for us. There are some other items that have reduced tax too and I estimate a total annual savings from this change to be around $200 for our household.
Hopefully April will be easier on the wallet!
Grocery costs seem to be rising all the time,it's getting really costly.
ReplyDeleteJanex
It is, I try so hard and each month feel defeated - and this is after increasing our budget from $400 to $425 per month!
DeleteI am posting about our grocery budget here as well tomorrow. Just can't win can we?
ReplyDeleteGood news about the HST, wish they would do that here, so not so far.
Gill
No, we can't win. I can't wait to cross border shop when we go to tax free Oregon :)
DeleteOnce again -- our totals are almost the same!!! What a relief to have sold one house and now you have the requisite experience to sell the next. In our part of the world, the market is dry -- a low inventory. It means properties sell fast. I hope it is the same for your mother's locale.
ReplyDeleteMy mothers place is a little mobile in a senior park on the Ocean so hopefully it will sell quickly!
DeleteGlad to hear your harmonized tax has disappeared.
ReplyDeleteThey voted it out 2 years ago but it two two full years to phase it out again!
DeleteI went over in March, too. But I figured a lot of it was stocking up on meat and butter. I can already see that I won't need to buy much this next month, so that helps me feel better about it. And some of the meat will be for 2 April family birthdays. Since I planned the menus already for those events, we'll skip eating out, and save some money.
ReplyDeleteGood luck selling your household of stuff! Have a safe trip.
On the plus side our eating out last month constitued one business lunch (the company paid) and one takeout from A&W when I spent 3 hrs weeding the garden - we save so much money refraining from eating out.
DeleteI'm impressed with your numbers. Just a bit over if you consider that the majority of that was medication. Good job!
ReplyDeleteLovely to hear that the sales tax has changed. Our oldest son just moved to Vancouver. This will be helpful for him as a young adult establishing himself in a big city.
Enjoy your trek back to sunny Alberta. It rained last night, which we truly need now that the snow has almost gone, leaving behind a brown, dusty earthscape. There is a rumor that we'll get snow on Friday but often they're wrong, so we'll wait and see!
I am hoping it doesn't snow when we are on the road but I still have proper ice tires on and we hope to drive the 16 hrs straight through but if the weather turns bad will pull over and get a hotel.
DeleteI didn't hear anything that was really a frugal fail. By monitoring and managing your budget, you are succeeding overall. - Margy
ReplyDeleteThanks Margy - the speeding ticket was bad though - that included the $50 fee the car rental company adds (I didn't know they did that).
DeleteGood luck for April CC!
ReplyDeleteSft x
Thanks, but I fear it is a trend!
DeleteYou were able to vote down the HST!! Wow, sure wish that had happened here! We find food prices continuously rising around here also - we used a lot of non-perishable items from the Bulk Barn to help allay the higher prices: navy beans, lentils, rice, bread baking flours, quinoa etc. and have cut our meat consumption to almost zero. That has been a huge help to our food budget.
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame about the speeding ticket - they sure are expensive!
Yes, I was pretty upset about the speeding ticket as I rarely speed at home. Oh well, life goes on.
Delete