With those items I am closing the grocery year off. Budget was $575/month for a yearly total of $6,900. That includes all personal items like shampoo, deodorant, makeup, hairspray, all otc medications. I ended up at $7,062.30. That's $162.30 over for the year. Yes, I didn't have to buy $80 worth of Ukrainian sausage in Alberta and fly it home (from specific plant from hubby's hometown, best in Canada). Neither did I need that yummy cranberry soft cheese that I sampled at Costco and then bought. And when that real Canadian maple syrup went on sale for $8 a bottle right before Christmas I didn't need to buy that either. But you know what? When you eat at home 90% of the time you like a good variety of things to eat, and we tend to eat much better than we do when we eat out. So, yes I went over but at just over $13 a month over I think I did ok. I didn't have to buy 28 lbs of flour yesterday - but since I didn't have enough left to even make cranberry banana muffins tomorrow (using cranberry sauce leftover, and some frozen bananas and cranberries) it was time. Rather than try for a lower monthly budget I went to buy the biggest size I could for lowest cost per point. That is why I carry over overages/underages from month to month and start fresh each year. Thanks to the complete idiot for a president next door there were tariff wars on some of our food items but I am still trying to buy Canadian wherever possible (or any other country that is a fair trading partner) so it didn't effect me that much.
We had a lovely Christmas. Lots of eating and drinking and oh so much cooking. I think next year rather than 3 really elaborate meals in a row (Salmon chowder, Ukrainian Christmas Eve and Turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas) I need to figure out an easier menu on us. Hubby did at least 40% of the cooking over those three days and we both still ended up exhausted. My foot is swollen, tendonitis again so no more 10,000 steps. The last three days I have mostly spent off of it except for grocery shopping. I need to get it healed up! Not sure why it keeps flaring up, shoes have been examined and such, maybe just an aging sign.
Since my last post we have heard from several others on the island regarding our windstorm. We were very very lucky not to lose power. There are still many that don't have power back. One of our friends in Sooke, a suburb of Victoria lost power for 28 hrs. Some friends of Mom's in Chemainus only got power back yesterday! They had a generator but due to so many trees down on their road they couldn't get out for 3 days to get gas for the generator. They fortunately have a wood stove. Many here have no other form of heat than electric - thank goodness it has been several degrees above zero for all of this unless you are on high mountain ground where they have lots of snow.
Speaking of which, one my goals in 2019 is to become more self-sufficient in case of disaster. I need to make a better first aid kit -- we have one but it could be improved. Make sure our water reserves are always up to date and stockpile canned goods that would be easy to cook on the bbq. On December 22nd we ordered a portable generator for $687. I had some money in an appliance fund, it was time to pull the trigger and be prepared for future wind storms this winter. All of the generators on the island have sold out other than a low wattage one, we ordered a 4000 wattage one and it should get here sometime this week. I have no need to power our entire house if disaster struck but would like a few plugins for lights and electric fry pan. We have heat through natural gas, hot water tank is natural gas and so is the bbq but in case of earthquake we might not have access to that so can't count on it. What this storm has shown everyone is how easily our power grid is taken out in a lot of places and how long it can take to repair. BC hydro men as well as their counterparts from other Provinces that have assisted have spent 24 hrs a day trying to get power back to everyone. They hope to have it sorted by New Years Eve. That means several thousand people went without power through their Christmas, can you imagine a week or two without power? They are now saying it was the worst windstorm in decades, with the most amount of damage to BC Hydro. I am also stocking up on candles, for shorter power outages or between shutting the generator off. I usually have a lot of candles in the house as love them, but I need to buy several boxes just in case. We have battery chargers, vehicle chargers for our phones and usually have both vehicles with over half a gas tank. We definitely could do better in several areas but buying the generator was the first step.
Tonight we are having a friend over for a very simple dinner, BBQ kielbasa burgers and a salad and some cards. In 2019 I hope we spend more time with friends and family and more time having fun. I think that is a pretty good goal as I really don't make resolutions. We intend to stay home for NYE, as we do every year. I prefer to be in the safety of my home tucked into my own bed to ring the new year in. New years day is spent taking down and putting away Christmas stuff for another year and cleaning the house - a fresh slate if you will.
Happy New Years Everyone, may 2019 be the best year yet!
If you live on an island, perhaps you should consider moving inland. Preparedness style: generator- candles - batteries, is not going to be relevant any longer, in the near future.
ReplyDeleteHappy 2019!
Vancouver Island isn't wide across. It's a beautiful place to visit.
DeleteThey had some of the same issues mainland. I would never live anywhere else, most of the year it is the very best place in Canada to live! Other places have other issues so you take the good with the bad.
DeleteYou did excellent on your grocery budget. I'll have to tally mine, but I think I must be in the $5500 range-so over where I hope to be in 2019, though I had some good self directed challenge months. Spending more time with friends, simple suppers and fun games sound like a winning goal for 2019. I think I'll join you!
ReplyDelete$5500 usd is about $7500 cad right now. Canadians suffer from high food prices but our non-food items are often ridiculous. I usually only buy them when on sale, usually keep items on my list for a few weeks before I find them at a price I can live with.
DeleteNew Year's Eve at home is a great idea. We're going to friends, but it's a 10-minute walk through town. I love Clementines!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Years! Enjoy your evening out. If we didn't have to drive everywhere here we might consider going out....or not (lazy)
DeleteNot sure how many in your family. We have a food program here in United States called snap family of three could recieve $504 a month but family of four could get up to $640.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
We don't have food stamps in Canada. Just "welfare" which is basic income providing food and shelter. We also have low income supplements for seniors which helps too. We make a decent income from our business, we mainly have a food budget just to keep our finances in check.
DeleteHappy New Year and all the best for 2019!
ReplyDeletewww.travelwithkevinandruth.com
Thanks - to you two as well!
DeleteI too want to be more self sufficient. I think that's a good goal. We have a generator and I am trying to make a hurricane prep kit now before the season starts again in June, but it's not easy. One thinks or assumes they will be sheltering in place, but the scary thought of the roof blowing off and having to bug out is what I worry about the most. Having to evacuate my home would be a very hard thing to face, especially with 3 pets. I am so not prepared for something like that and I really should be.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, your family and Buddy too!
Ours are not so high wind as to blow off roofs (yet) but many trees fell on houses so those are uninhabitable. We have a lot of old growth forest - we purposefully bought a house that didn't have big trees around it as had that in Alberta and were always worried the gigantic tree over our house would fall on it. I usually have enough food for Buddy for a month but that needs to be taken into account too. Some times technology is great but when I was a kid we all had a woodstove as backup and also to cook on. We also had home-canned food and our own chickens, even our own drilled well. Life is different these days.
DeleteThose clementines were a really good bargain. I love clementines - for me it is the signal that "Christmas is here" but sadly this year I haven't found them that great. Oh well, first world problems. It's interesting to hear of your preparations for major weather events though. I guess when you don't live in that kind of region you don't think about it although I would have some problems without electricity to be sure. I have a wood fireplace, I use gas to cook but there are so many other things dependent on electricity I don't think we realize do we. I remember reading about the fires in California where a lady had painted her telephone number onto her horses' hooves just in case. Never thought of that kind of thing (not that I have horses but you see what I mean).
ReplyDeleteAnywhere along the coast is subject to these high winds, that storm also flipped semi trucks over in Washington State, killed a homeless lady here on the island who was in a tent during the storm with several others. At least now if we have an outage we won't be as worried. Even places like Ottawa, major cities have issues - they had tornadoes this summer right in the city that knocked out my stepson's power for 2 days. Montreal had an ice storm that wreaked havoc for weeks and knocked out power in the middle of winter many years ago. Better to be prepared for the worst than caught off guard
DeleteI think that the the generator was an excellent purchase. Good to pre plan, who knows what the future will be with all the climate changes.
ReplyDeleteExactly. It is hard to believe but the power grid here and even on the mainland (many outages there too) is so delicate. We get annual wind storms Nov Dec Jan so this is a necessary purchase that I hope we never have to use!
DeleteYou are pretty amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda, Happy New Year to you!
DeleteWhen I buy a pineapple sometimes it goes from unripe to bad in a jiffy and that pisses me off! on the preparedness side...we always have a stockpile of candles, battery powered lights in every room, plenty of water and an extra tank of propane, but I admit the generator is a cool idea! In my new place I plan to have a small stockpile of foodstuff to tide us over in case of bad weather. Happy New year!
ReplyDeleteI might freeze some of the pineapple, often cook with it on pizza and in muffins as can't eat it that fast.Happy New Year to you too!
DeleteYou did well with your purchases. I did buy a few groceries on the weekend, but did not see any such bargains in the fruit aisles. Our local Co-op did have good prices for meat so I picked up some stew beef and a small roast to add to the freezer. I also stocked up on the sales for canned beans, tomatoes and corn as these are staples for my homemade soup.
ReplyDeleteThe plan is to start using up what is in the freezer and cupboards (I tend to buy before I run out of anything), and budget no more than $450 a month for groceries for the two of us, my adult son and I. Since I rarely pick up his personal items and don't often entertain, it should be do-able. (You are an inspiration to me!)
My cousin and her husband lost power in the storm, but were fortunate to be able to get home in time for Christmas. They stayed with my uncle in the meantime. The men and women who work for the power companies in B.C. and those came from outside the province truly are owed a lot of gratitude. I'm assuming many of them did not get the chance to spend Christmas with their families.
Your preparations sound like a good plan too. Have a very Happy New Year and all the best in 2019!
So glad your cousin got home by Christmas - many didn't have the option of going elsewhere. I am glad we live close to Mom, she has no alternate source of heat so should she lose power we would pack her and her cat up and bring them over (allergic hubby and dog would have to live with it). Happy New Year!
DeleteI love clementines and tangerines - they're not too costly here, usually around £1 for a large bag. I rarely buy pineapples here, they can't compare to the sherbert-y deliciousness of the ones we buy from the fruit markets in India.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you! Have a lovely evening. We're having a quiet night but will go to the pub tomorrow morning, nothing like an early beer all fresh faced and hangover free when the rest of the town are suffering! xxx
Most of our pineapples come from Costa Rica - this one is super sweet. Happy New Year!
DeleteThose were a great deal! I eat one every day especially during the winter to get my Vitamin C. Love them.
ReplyDeleteI love them too - way better than boring apples or bananas
DeleteAm loving oranges this time of year. We put them on salads since tomatoes are horrible in the winter. I make pizza from scratch so when I saw the 00fine flour on sale for $2.69 per bag (it's a small bag, usually $3.49), I picked up two. You are right, if you eat at home 90% of the time, it isn't a sin to splurge on quality.
ReplyDeleteAnd I apologize for our idiot. He's screwing up plenty of lives in our country too. I don't know how anyone could have voted for him!
No need to apologize, some of my dumber relatives voted him in and still support him (which makes it so much easier for us to ignore that when we live in Canada, I might get into arguments with them otherwise)
ReplyDelete