Sunday, October 29, 2017

October Grocery Shopping: Month End Totals

October's grocery shopping has been a bit confusing, with trying to keep track of two separate budgets, one for the prayer gathering and one for the regular household groceries,  Most year, I just lump the two together and that's easier.  But, this year, I tried to keep the two separate because of the Shelftober challenge and because I had gone over the grocery budget in August and was trying to make up for it in September and October. 

I normally budget $75 per month for grocery spending.  However, I spent almost $71at the Sri Lankan store in August. I made up almost $49 of that in September and needed to make up the balance $22 in October.  Therefore, my October regular grocery budget was $53 ($75-$22 = $53).

The prayer gathering budget was $300, since I budget $25/month for it.  As I explained in a previous post, the amount was arrived at by allocating $1 per person for the approximately 25 people who used to be in the rosary group.  Since last year, however, the group has shrunk a bit, although I invited 21 people this time (22 including me; some of the people I invited aren't in the regular rosary group, but they attend when I host).  However, I didn't spend half of what I budgeted, so will be reconsidering the amount I budget for next year.

But here are the totals:

Prayer Gathering - Budget: $300
Spent:
9/18:  $4.49 for smoked sausage
9/27: $1.29 for 2 cans of mixed nuts
10/4: $10.97 for 2 whole chickens
10/7: $2.06 for 1 dozen eggs and 2 boxes of mint chocolates
10/10: $21.75
10/20: $86.18
10/21: $26.73
Total Spent: $153.47
Balance to carry forward: $300 - $153.47 = $146.53

I spent a little over half what I had budgeted for the prayer gathering!  I am sure this was because I used some items I already had on hand (such as the cashews) and I didn't have to buy any alcohol (again, I used what I had bought earlier and cousins brought more wine). 

I am rather pleased with what I spent on the prayer gathering.  I will use some of the balance leftover to augment my holiday budget, especially for baking supplies, etc., to replenish a few items that were used up and to stock up, and for more treats from the Sri Lankan store!

October Regular Groceries - Budget: $53
Week 1: $4.13 + $1.98 + $.61 = $6.72
Week 2: $5.94 + $12.04 + $3.85 + $6.56 = $28.39
Week 3 = $3.49 (of which $1.99 was for raspberries, some of which was used for the rosary dinner)

As of Week 3, I had spent: $4.13 + $1.98 + $.61 + $5.94 + $12.04 + $3.85 + $6.56 + $3.49 = $38.60
Balance left in the budget at end of Week 3 = $53 - $38.60 = $14.40

October Week 4 groceries:

Oct. 29 Groceries
Today, I went grocery shopping for bread ($.99), flavored coffee creamer ($1.99), bananas ($.76 @ $.49/lb), cold cuts ($3.00), a box of mac&cheese ($1), and two sponge cakes (@$.50).  By buying the cold cuts, mac&cheese, and sponge cakes, I broke my Shelftober rule of buying only bread, dairy, and fresh produce!  But, I think it doesn't matter, this close to the end of the month.  Plus, I've been wanting mac&cheese for a few weeks now, and I want to take sandwiches to office for lunch one or two days, this week.  


Oct. 29 Receipt
The receipt total includes a bag of cat food ($8.99 and tax on the cat food $.85 =  $9.84)

My groceries came to $8.74.

October grocery spending: $4.13 + $1.98 + $.61 + $5.94 + $12.04 + $3.85 + $6.56 + $3.49 + $8.74 = $47.34

Balance left in the October grocery budget  = $53 - $47.34 = $5.66

I had one of the sponge cakes and a banana when I came home from grocery shopping.  Dinner was mac&cheese!

I have made up the $71 I overspent in August and I will be carrying forward $5.66 into November.

How did you do with your October grocery budget?


2 comments:

  1. I ended up spending more than I thought I would in October. For whatever reason, the children have been starving to death and eating far more than they usually do. There is no rhyme or reason to this, but I just cooked more than usual. I was glad I had the money, and we have lots of food in the pantry to keep on cooking as much as we need to. I feel very blessed, so am not upset about it. I am, however, hoping to keep it lower in November, as we have some things, like property taxes, vehicle registrations, stuff like that, that need to be paid, so I'd rather retain the extra money for that.

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    Replies
    1. They are going through a growth spurt, I suppose. As long as you are able to spend a little extra, then, it should be alright. Hope you'll be able to keep the grocery bills lower in November - maybe eat more from the pantry?

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