October Budget Update: I’m an Aduuult
Here’s where I went wrong, here’s where I went right. Is that proper English?
Perhaps this will be a terribly boring post. It’s okay. It’s my notebook, and I’m not writing this for anyone else but myself and the billions of internet-connected humans who may peek in some day (ha, or not).
There are still a handful of days left in October, but we’re far enough through the month to be able say that it’s been an utter failure on the budgetary front. ALTHOUGH. That comes with a few caveats.
But first, the budget. Out of $500 budgeted, we’ve so far spent $811. So, just about $300 over budget. Which is not great.
Here are the caveats. First off, I did do a giant Costco meat &cetera purchase at the beginning of the month. The total for that was $341.95, and now we have all the meat, nuts, coconut oil, coconut milk, and almond milk we could ever want. (I also purchased milk and eggs, but the milk is already gone, and the eggs are running out. Which is fine.) If you take that out of the budget, we actually are in under $500. Just…meatless. Ha. Still, meat accounts for a large portion of the grocery spending, so that $341 will actually carry over for the next few months.
Second, we all got sick. I tried to push off all the Pedialyte and BRAT stuff to the medical budget, but we did a whole bunch of random Smith’s trips, so some of it got shunted over to Groceries.
Third (I forgot I had a third!), I’m doing this terrible elimination diet, and stocking up on the lamb for that was costly.
Now, I know that every month will have its unique monetary curveballs, but I’m declaring it now: next month will be better. Here’s what I’ll focus on:
- Cooking meals with ingredients we already have in our house. The deep freeze is ridiculously-well stocked, so there’s no reason I need to keep buying more meat.
- Keeping the fridge backlog low. This means using up leftovers and produce before it goes bad, rather than buying MOAR FRUIT because the kids obviously need a choice between bananas, kiwis, oranges, pears, pomegranate seeds, apples, blueberries, and strawberries. Or not.
- Spending our grocery budget on fresh produce and whole foods. I mean, this is what I try to do anyway, but it’s good to get the intention out there on paper. Er…pixels.
- Avoiding impulse purchases! We have a huge backlog of snacky things, so I need to curb my appetite and just use up what we have.
I think that’s really about it, but if I think of anything else I’ll add it. I will have an under-500 November! Let it be manifest!
Your turn: if you’re reading this and are so inclined, talk to me about your grocery budget. What do you try to stay within per month? What do you feel are your successes and failures in sticking to a budget?
mins
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