Now that I have kept a pricebook for a few months and because I have built up a stockpile over the same time period, I believe that I can set a monthly budget once again. When we lived in Arizona, I couponed alot and prices on everything but meat and fish were lower. Meat and fish are a lot cheaper here but everything else is much higher. In Arizona, we were easily able to eat on $150. per month. That is not the case here in WNY. We do not have the advantage here of many competitive grocery stores. Two places I shopped that I miss immensely are the $ .99 store and the cheap Produce Market up the street from where I lived. That said, I have had to work out a plan to deal with the expensive prices here and the diet we must follow.
So for the month of September I have set a budget of $ 50. per week for the two of us. I think DH and I can live on $ 200. a month for food, cat food and litter, HBA, and cleaning products. In order to do this, I will have to watch every item that I buy making sure that it is both a necessity and making very sure that I am buying it at the cheapest price possible without sacrificing quality.
You have seen the analysis that I have put on many of my grocery posts. That analysis will stay and be even more explanatory as I challenge myself next month. Each month I take about $ 500. cash out of the bank to cover groceries, gasoline, eating out, haircuts and the few incidentals we may pick up during the month. The new budget of $ 200. will be included in this figure. I will be using cash only for our groceries and when it is gone, it is gone. If I use it all in the beginning of the month, then I am going to have to be very creative the end of the month. Two things that will not be included in our grocery budget is eating out and alcohol. We eat out very little these days because of health concerns and we are cutting way back on any alcohol consumption. An occasional heart healthy red wine and an occasional beer is all the alcohol that will we will have. We don't need the calories but we do like the heart healthy effects of an occasional glass of wine or beer. We also occasionally have a lot of company staying here with us. When that happens, we will spend extra from our entertainment budget because I believe the $ 200. a month for us and extra mouths at the table every once in a while is all that will cover.
I have just one cat and she eats mostly dry food with a can of wet food thrown in as a treat once in a while. She also has to have her treats before bedtime. It is a ritual! The biggest monthly expense for her is scoopable cat litter. She weighs 17 lbs. so we go through a lot of litter. I will be looking for deals on this at both Petsmart and other places.
Being pretty well stocked on HBA at the moment, there is really nothing I need but I will buy it if it ends up being free so as to not deplete my stockpile. The biggest expense for us here is vitamins, fish oil and 81 mg. aspirin which we both use every day.
I have some cleaning products stockpiled but I mostly use water and microfiber cloths and homemade all purpose cleaners with bleach for cleaning and sanitizing. I don't like the chemicals in most cleaning products. The ingredients to make homemade cleaners cost just pennies.
I will be posting every thing that we buy all month long and letting you know what we are spending.I will do a full analysis of what we are buying and why. You will know what my menus are because I post them every Monday. This is an experiment that I hope will work out. If not, then I will have to bump up the food budget at the end of the month. I can't afford to skimp on our health. But I do believe that this budget is very doable for us.
Some of you may be able to do this for less money and some of you it will cost more. It all depends on what the cost of living is in your area. If you have any tips for me on how you purchase your healthy food, I am all ears. Please leave a comment and share with all of us.
