It is sometimes hard to figure out how to group stuff. My credit card company doesn’t do it the way I would like. They put all CVS purchases into health (and I mostly buy stuff like toiletries there which I would consider groceries). They put all my Target purchases in grocery (I almost never buy groceries in Target). Even I am at a loss when I shop at Walmart - my cart could have berries, an apple pie, cleaning products, paper products, a shirt, a cooking pot, a holiday decoration, etc. Always a hodgepodge.
My total included alcohol and drive-thru coffee though both are separate line items on my spreadsheet. They are consumables, so I included them.
So I was able to make it to the store last night and spend $42 so I could get my $20 reward coupon before my points expired. It took a lot of energy because I hate stopping after work. I am a Saturday morning shopper.
Got to get those savings where you can.
I didn’t include pets. For pet food, I’ll generally choose an online vendor that offers a substantial discount, often for autoship. For example, earlier this week I bought ~6 months worth of dog food at Petsmart for $44, after 40% autoship discount + 9% cashback. This works out to a little over $7/month. My dog is medium sized, but eats as many calories as typical large dogs due to her extraordinarily high activity level.
My previous dog lived to 17 and had a specialty prescription diet during her final year. I used a similar idea for her prescription food, buying online with a large discount. Prescriptions can be bought through Chewy and the like after contacting vet.
No pets here… so that means we can spend more on alcohol, right?
I did not include wine costs (we get them in large quantities for cooking). It did not help that H took an extensive cooking class in France and he does the cooking.
We have a $150/wk budget for food and a $25/wk budget for alcohol. I brew my own beer so that maybe $120/yr. and buy wine by at least half a case as we get a 10% discount when we do that. That includes toiletries but not eating out. We consider eating out part of our entertainment budget and prepare most of out own meals. Some weeks we go over depending on what is occurring (holiday’s, events etc.) Most weeks we come pretty close. I shop Trader Joes, Aldi then Kroger and there is local grocer that has excellent meats. I also shop at Sam’s and Costco for toiletries, rotisserie chicken, wine and occasionally meat if I’m having larger groups over and some frozen foods such as salmon.
We have discovered the $12ish 1.75L Barton Naturals vegan vodka. I’m not sure what makes it vegan (aren’t things like potatoes and wheat vegan to begin with…? And water?), so we kind of snicker at the designation. Regardless, one can make about, oh, 30 (?) cocktails with it. Only the first one tastes … not the best. After that it’s smoother sailing.
And, since we’re doing this at home, there is 0 chance we’ll bother anyone by driving. Worst we might do one day would be to stumble off the front porch. hehe
So you tend to see your money go up in … flambé?
We spend $600/month for 3 including OTC meds, paper goods & toiletry items. We budget $200 for eating out. November and December we spend a bit more; it’s expensive to fry turkeys!
Yup! Rules are rules!
Our grocery number ($1600) includes eating out, alcohol, pet food, paper goods, cleaning supplies, etc. It is a comprehensive number, we don’t split our expenses out as finely as others on this thread do.
Theresa has great legs. I’m jealous
Lol, wrong thread!!! But you’re right!!!
Lolol!
Dog food for the beagle: $50 for a 35 lb bag of NutroPro weight management. Lasts about six weeks. She says she’s starving.
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