Re: How much do you spend?
 

Do you not buy bathroom or laundry items & what about vegetables, coffee/tea, juices'/liquids, other dairy, as well as other fish or meat products including deli type items?

Do you always brown bag lunches?

Do you eat out ever?

Re: How much do you spend?
 

our October (31 days) grocery bill for 2 people based on usage, bought in bulk, on special with price match - remainder of bulk buys carryover into the pantry & freezer.

All cooking & baking is doubled up to make two or three leftover meals.

Meat/fish $63
Deli (meat, olives) $16
Breads/grains/spices $14
Flour/pasta/dry goods $12
Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, eggs) $44
Fruit/veg $35
Tea $6
Other liquids $22 (water, juices, wine, alcohol)
Canned anything (beans, pasta sauce, tomato paste, soup) $9
Condiments $3
Sweet tooth items $7
Laundry/Bathroom items $13
Personal care $21
kitchen items (dish washing, bags, cloths/scrubs, cleaners) $6
Medical (prescriptions/dental) $55

Total usage bill $326 or ~$10.52/day - $5.26/person/day

Entertainment (eating out, take away, movies) $39

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Your liquids are a little bit low ;)

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Doctor Shard has just read the test results. :lol:

Re: How much do you spend?
 

I would have thought that was high, then again we're not boozers.;)

we do not drink pop, wine is rare, a 12 pack beer (bought on a stateside shopping trip every 3 mths) is ~$7 for 12 cans & that would last 3 months. Juices on special $1.00 for a pure 960ml Oasis juice. We no longer buy 'no frills' bottled water. Wife takes it out of the tap puts it into a glass jug in the fridge.

:sneaky:Shard, what is your 'other liquids' part of your monthly grocery bill each month?

Re: How much do you spend?
 

:goodpost: OK, taking the micky :rofl:

how does your grocery bill stack up compared to ours on an all inclusive items basis?

Re: How much do you spend?
 

the utility bills for the last 12 calender months, average/mth tax included

Electricity $113.83
Natural Gas (includes water heater rental + furnace main't plan) $133.25
Water/sewer $59.33
Rogers $80.91
Bell $36.77

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Do you spend less on food than say thirty years ago? If so is it by necessity or because you consume less?

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Good question

Based on two people, I would say we spend less in today's dollars than we did 30 years ago. We have learned to be more frugal & consume about the same amount of groceries.

Old age discounts as well as price matching really helps. Milk is bought on seniors day at $3.18 for (3 bags) 4 litres 2%. We use 4 litres/wk

For our frugal lifestyle (no mortgage) we budget all-in $1500/mth, which includes the high property tax & high utility bills. We incur medical & dental costs not covered for seniors which includes an annual $200 deductible for seniors. Twice a year dental cleaning & check up. Free eye checks once per year. Neither of use wear glasses

UK living we figure the council tax would be lower, the grocery bill higher, the utility bill about the same. Petrol although higher we'd use less of & more free public transit. UK budget (owned house) we figure 700 pounds/mth based on our lifestyle

The car & house insurance as well as the grocery bill we consider low cost items.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Bought bathroom tissue paper last time when it was on sale 2 for 1 so stocked up on that, so didn't need it this time around.

Still had some chicken and fish and frozen vegetables left from previous trip.

We have to alternative each check in what we buy as our budget is quite low, when we need to buy for example laundry soap, dish soap and such, we have to reduce our food a bit since there is really no room to wiggle.

End of the month is always the hardest since rent is due which eats up a large part of the income.

Mid month is easier as there is more money and less expenses, so its when we tend to buy the other things we need.

We don't eat out on a regular basis, once a month usually when we have to go to Vancouver, but then it's usually a costco hot dog, as 2 people can eat there for 3.15

Liquid comes from the tap in the kitchen, its unlimited and doesn't cost us anything directly as water is included in the rent.

Once student loans for my GF are paid off (4 more months roughly) it will add 150 to our available income pool, so that will help considerably. Also at that time our income exemption will restart so she will get disability in full again for 6-9 months.

End of the year is a struggle since we end up over the exempted income amount, so her disability is deducted dollar for dollar now, so our income falls a lot in the last 3 months of the year.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

good info

you said up thread you spent $57.77 this past last week, so is that normal, average or low?

We always always buy bulk as well as price match & what I listed as the calendar month cost of those items, is the consumption of what we used & some items in the list (not necessarily bought in that month) may have come from the bulk buys or from the pantry.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

In the interest of comparison (James' weekly shop), here's my receipt from today's shop for 2. This will do around 2 weeks, with what whe already have in stock, plus feed the freezer.

Caveats: I have a freezer more or less full of (homemade) meals & lots of vegetables; I stocked up on fruit (apples) last week, ditto bog roll, soap & shampoo. I make my own bread.

Dijon Mustard (lasts around 6 months): 3.29
A gallon of white vinegar (used for cleaning/laundry): 2.99
450g cheddar cheese: 5.99
500g butter: 3.99
1kg breakfast sausages: 6.67
1.5kg minced pork: 5.55 (4 meals)
2kg chicken with giblets: 4.40 (special offer)
.5kg tomatoes: 2.55
4 peppers : 2.99
5 avocados: 2.99
1.5kg broccoli: 2.00
1 large cabbage: 2.00
5 bananas: 0.47
1kg carrots: 1.49
4.89l milk: 4.89

All above prices are supermarket; I usually get veg at farmers' market but missed it this week.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

It's about 30 dollars less then the norm which is around 80 or 160 for the month but October was a hard month due to non-planned expenses.



Things like that affect our spending. Unfortunately the only expense that is variable and can be adjusted is food/misc household stuff so when something arises that is not planned for, gotta reduce there to make up the difference.

Other then apples and banana's fruit is a luxury, only those 2 have reasonable prices everything else is far too pricey and doesn't provide enough for the cost.

Vegetables vary pending whats on sale, but those are mostly for my GF. I pick at vegetables but I don't enjoy eating them.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

Banana's must be cheap in your area.

Re: How much do you spend?
 

That's what I was thinking too.