Friday, July 23, 2010

My Weekly Spending = Not so Good

I thought I'd share my weekly spending with my readers this week because I want you to know I'm not the perfect spender. I wish I would have taken pictures of my groceries but I wasn't planning on doing this post until I saw how over budget I was. If you're new around here I budget $60 each week for groceries. The last 2 months I've been actually staying around $50 a week and putting the extra $10 aside for when I need to buy vegetables/fruit for canning. Well this week that all blew by the wayside. 

Total Spent - $86.08
Total Saved w/Coupons - $125.47
Total Saved w/Sales - $94.71

I big chunk of my spending this week went to buy fresh produce. I bought 10# of blueberries for $23, a watermelon for $3.50, 1/4 peck of peaches for $3.75, bananas for $2.00, celery for $1.99, dz sweet corn for $2.50 and 1# fresh green beans for $1.25. I spent close to $37 alone on produce. I actually don't feel that guilty for going over budget because I know I was spending money on wholesome food. I had also made up my mind that just because I'm on a budget I'm not going to deny my children the privilege of eating fresh produce when it's in season. I wish I could say that the blueberries will last us several weeks. We'll be lucky if they last us a whole week. My kiddos absolutely love blueberries and beg for them all the time. It was also a big week at Kroger and I wanted to stock up on Kraft cheese and Gatorade since it was a good deal. Hopefully next week I'll be back on track.

How are you doing with your spending? Staying on budget or finding hard to with all the fresh fruit that's in season?

8 comments:

  1. Sorry Michelle, but it kind of makes me happy that you over spent. (If you don't look at me on Sunday, I will understand. \"/) As much as I enjoy coupon blogs, sometimes they depress me to no end! \"/ Because no matter how hard I try, I have no Kroger, no walgreens, and a CVS 30 minutes away.....

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  2. I am right there with you... I'm gonna overspend this month too!! Tis the season to be healthy with the produce! :) And there's extra stuff with freezing and canning...sugar for one thing. I've decided I'm not gonna feel guilty either! My children love blueberries too... we're gonna have to start ourselves a blueberry patch. :)

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  3. He-he Sara! Your honesty is hilarious... I agree it makes me happy too!

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  4. Sara, I appreciate your honesty and I will still look at you on Sunday. ;) The area you live in is just a little bit harder to get some deals.

    Grace, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one overspending!

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  5. Michelle, I went to the Farmers Market in Mt. Vernon today.....I was pleasantly surprised at the prices and qualilty of the produce. I wish I would have gone earlier!! :) There are some Amish vendors there and they have the best prices. I think I will go back. It's Saturday mornings from 9-12 thru October. It's on the square.

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  6. Our budget is a lot like yours, but we live in an area where prices are higher, and we also don't have children. In some ways our costs go down during the summer because the fresh produce is cheaper than packaged foods, and we also have a garden. But then there are the bigger purchases for things we don't grow like berries and other items that I buy a lot of so we can freeze them. I wonder if it all evens out in the end? Anyway, thank you for sharing your imperfection in the grocery game! :)

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  7. I am there with you Michelle! The last 5-6 weeks I have not paid paid much attention to the budget. I made a list for John and he pretty much shopped at Kroger only, which I didn't mind. But some stuff is more expensive than Aldi or Walmart. I decided I am gonna buy what I can eat. :) Hopefully I can start to get back on track again, now that I am starting to feel better again. :)

    Monica, I have gone to the Mt Vernon Farmers Market and thought stuff was expensive! What did you buy?

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  8. No, you are not alone. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be over budget this month. And am totally with you on the fresh produce thing. You know, budgets are just guidelines anyway, right?! :)

    And kudos for your honesty. I know we hard core couponers can soon start sounding depressing to people....as Sarah testified.

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