Friday evening, I made a slight detour on my way home from work to stop at a different grocery store than the one I went to yesterday, as they were having a sale on whole chicken for $.89/lb. (regular price $1.39/lb; the price for whole chicken at the store I went to yesterday was $1.89/lb).
I bought 4 chickens. They each weighed over 5 lbs., and cost $5.24, $5.01, $5.17, and $4.96. I spent a total of $20.38 for the 4 chickens.
I had only had $7.86 left in my July grocery budget after yesterday's grocery
shopping. So, with today's shopping, I obviously went over budget by $12.52.
However, I intend to keep two of the chickens I bought today for a dinner I'll be hosting in October (part of the reason why I bought 4 chickens) and I have a separate budget for that. If I keep the 2 bigger chickens for that occasion, then, $5.24 + $5.17 = $10.41 can come from that budget, instead of my regular grocery budget. Deducting that $10.41 from the amount I am over budget ($12.52) reduces the amount I am over budget to $2.11. ($12.52 - $10.41= $2.11) That makes it better, I think (I don't like going over budget).
I put 3 of the chickens in the freezer and kept one out to cook over the weekend.
Do you have separate budgets for different things or do you just have one consolidated budget?
Great buy on the chickens..
ReplyDeleteI only have one budget for groceries..however... when certain occasions occur , such as holidays or visits from the kids that require extra cooking items.. I will
add extra $'s to that months budget.. I usually have an extra misc account for any extras that might come up during the month.. So my extra grocery budget , can come from there..
Have a great weekend...Try to stay cool..
That's a good way to handle extra expenses, with funds from a miscellaneous account. I have a lot of categories in my budget, because I am a bit silly like that, always wanting to know exactly how much I am spending for what.
DeleteIt's actually raining here! Such a blessing!
So glad it's raining there, Bless!
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of categories in my budget too, because like you, I like to know what I'm spending for different things. I don't hold us to an extremely strict monthly grocery budget though. We do a lot of our grocery shopping at Costco and staples like rice or sugar bought there will cost more due to size but last a very long time. If we ran out of several staples at one time we'd have to borrow a lot from the following month's budget and keeping track of it would start to become time-consuming.
Instead, I have a basic spending level for groceries. Then, if we spend extra because of running out of staples or stock up because of a great sale, I know why. I arrived at the amount by averaging three months spending.
I do the same thing with clothes/shoes. If I find something on sale or at my favorite discount store, I will get it even if it's not technically in the budget because I may not buy any more clothes for several months.
Greta, sounds like you've come up with a good grocery budget solution, have a basic amount and then, a bit extra for stocking up. I think something like that would be helpful for me, too. I used to have a budget of $150/mo. when daughter was living with me and managed quite well for the most part. Then, when she went off to Berkeley, I decided that half of that, or $75 should be sufficient for me. And it probably would be, too, except I keep buying things for daughter, as well, to send with her when she comes for a visit or to take with me when I go to visit her! So, although I am budgeting for 1, I am buying for 1 1/2! LOL. It will all even out in the end, though.
DeleteI don't really have a budget for anything. I need to though
ReplyDeleteJess, it's a good tool for knowing how much is coming in, how much is going out and on what. For me, it prevents feeling guilty about spending, let's say $100 on clothes for me, when I know that I have budgeted $25 per month for clothing and saved it for 4 months before I went shopping. I can do a few posts on setting up budgets, if you like.
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