Grocery Expenses for the Week

Well, hey.  I thought I spent $150/week on groceries and all affiliated food expenses.  Turns out that I went over.  WAAAAY over.

Expenses:
Produce Stand: $18.34  (Baugher's)
Grocery Store:  $24.56
Five Guys:        $33.21
Panera:              $10.90  (those community meetings don't come cheap)
Aldi:                  $61.21
Chik-Fil-A         $5.88
South Mountain Creamery  20.48                


Total:   $174.56

I was $24.56 over what I thought I was paying.  That's not a lot, but consistently going over by $25/week means I'm over budget by $100/month.

That adds up to over $1000 a year, which is the equivalent of 1 monthly tuition payment for middle child.

I've got to get this under control fast.

Fortunately, it's easy to see where I've gone over.  It's eating out.  We don't eat out often, but I did take the boys out to Five Guys last week - just because.  I also picked up dinner at Panera while I was there for a Girl Scout meeting.  I also stopped by Chik-Fil-A one afternoon when I was starved and wanted something fast and quick.

Let's take an even closer look - totaling up the fast food, I see that I spent $49.99 eating out in one week.  ONE WEEK!!!  Add that $50 up for a month, and that's $200.  Over the course of a year, that's well over $2,000.  Well, hello sailor!  That's TWO monthly tuition payments for middle child!  Out of 8 monthly payments, that's TWO taken care of!  TWO!!!

As I've discovered over the last couple of years, holding myself publicly accountable for my new years resolutions has helped keep me on track.  For the first time in years I've managed to carry out most of my resolutions.  It's a pretty outstanding track record!

So, from now on, I'm going to be posting my grocery expenses, and the meals we've eaten for the week on Tuesdays.

This is the easy way to make money tax free - by stretching out what we currently earn.  We've already been taxed on it once!  Let's make it all go as far as we can!