- Groceries has consistently been one of our biggest expenses. It is also one of the expenses that I monitor very closely using this blog! I was able to find my groceries expenses all the way back to 2011 this morning! Which we will discuss in depth in just a few minutes.
- Last night, I decided that I would finish up my grocery shopping for the month. Mom and I went into Aldi to grab some fresh veggies and other things in ended up spending $110, this was much more than I had anticipated. I had also decided to grab both Zach and Kendall and head to Costco. My grocery budget does include paper goods, cleaning products and most other things you can purchase at Costco. We also needed to purchase some extra drinks to take with us to Florida. My total at Costco for last night was $650.
- I decided the last week of November, right after Christmas to try out Walmart grocery delivery. I will not be continuing mainly because I am too cheap for it. But I am also disappointed with the level of service and being able to get all the things I want. I had an order for today which is around $70 and probably one final order before we leave if needed.
- Wow that sounded expense and it is! For the month of December, we will end up spending around $1600! Ouch
- My next step was to see what my average monthly spending was for 2023. We have spent over $10,400 in 2023 which is an average of $866 a month. My goal was $975 a month so YAY! I did manage to stay under budget for 7 of 12 months! Totally unexpected that I managed to stay in budget this year, but this is a HUGE success! One that I plan to build on see below.
- Lets’ review some numbers for fun: in 2011 which included diapers for one kid we spent an average $821 per month. which was the high amount spent prior to the this year. Our lowest amount spent on groceries per month was $460 a month in 2013. A more shocking comparison is that in 2019 we averaged $506 a month. Rising to $550 in 2021 which is expected as we were stuck at home and rarely ate out. Finally the average for $2022 was $700 a month.
- After taking all the in and mulling over the numbers. I am going to maintain the budget at $975 for 2024 especially with a teenage boy in the house and the planned purchase of a cow next summer.
- Starting in January, I would like to start saving to purchase another whole cow in the summer. Ideally, I would put $500 a month in a saving account for six months to make this happen. We have a ton of food in multiple locations, and I am really working on keeping it organized and to work through the food that is here before buying new things. I also need to start to clean out the freezer of all the prepared meals that I made this summer. I will definitely need the freezer space. My plan is to start the year by participating in the pantry challenge for both January and February which should also jump start the saving fund.
Teens Tots and Everything In Between
Life, Love and Coupons
