It's good to know that even after things got a little crazy (including Jack being home sick most of the week), everything worked out in the end. No big bargains this week. Just a simple shop that'll get us through the week on budget while still making sure that everybody gets their little treats.
Woolworths: $40.33
Coles: $59.79
Aldi: $79.03
Total: $179.15
My limit this week was $183.29 and I came in $4.14 under it, so that's sweet. My totals for the last four weeks were:
$274.99
$226.91
$274.81
$179.15
And my average for this month was $238.96. Cool cool cool.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Shopping Day: 22 June 2012
After being sick, I was back in action in time to do the shopping trip for the 22nd. Sort of. I didn't have much of a plan, but I had a list, but there were a few complicating factors. First of all, I wasn't entirely sane (long story, but basically I was on a junk food binge), and I was also buying groceries to give to the library to pay in exchange for fines.
It turns out that the four of us with library cards have managed to accumulate over $100 in fines for borrowing free books and then being incapable of returning them on time. But this month the library is letting people pay off fines with food ($2 per item), so we're trying to pull together a decent pile of non-perishable items that will cost significantly less than the $100 we owe. So I'm going to try to exclude those items from the totals, if I can remember which ones should be included.
Aldi: $4.75
Aldi: $96.95 ($16.92 for library)
Woolworths: $63.35 ($10.00 for library)
Coles: $82.09
Coles: $6.00
Aldi: 21.67
Total: $274.81
Over the weekly average again, but hopefully not by so much that it won't screw up the average for the month. Right now, it's at $258.90 for the three weeks, which means I need to keep next week's shop at $183.29 or less to stick with my $240 weekly average. That's only 10 cents less than what I spent for the fourth week last month, so it shouldn't be a problem.
And just as a little update on the point of the extra saving--the money we're setting aside for a vacation this summer--after this week's shopping we should've saved and deposited $500 since we started. Thanks to careful budgeting and a little extra work I picked up, we're already at $745.00
It turns out that the four of us with library cards have managed to accumulate over $100 in fines for borrowing free books and then being incapable of returning them on time. But this month the library is letting people pay off fines with food ($2 per item), so we're trying to pull together a decent pile of non-perishable items that will cost significantly less than the $100 we owe. So I'm going to try to exclude those items from the totals, if I can remember which ones should be included.
Aldi: $4.75
Aldi: $96.95 ($16.92 for library)
Woolworths: $63.35 ($10.00 for library)
Coles: $82.09
Coles: $6.00
Aldi: 21.67
Total: $274.81
Over the weekly average again, but hopefully not by so much that it won't screw up the average for the month. Right now, it's at $258.90 for the three weeks, which means I need to keep next week's shop at $183.29 or less to stick with my $240 weekly average. That's only 10 cents less than what I spent for the fourth week last month, so it shouldn't be a problem.
And just as a little update on the point of the extra saving--the money we're setting aside for a vacation this summer--after this week's shopping we should've saved and deposited $500 since we started. Thanks to careful budgeting and a little extra work I picked up, we're already at $745.00
Shopping Day: 15 June 2012
I was sick for a week and Karen did the grocery shopping, so things are a little confusing, but I'm trying to put it all together and to figure out what the hell happened. I think it didn't turn out too badly.
Here's what I've worked out, based on bank records:
Instead of a shopping trip on the 15th, she did one on the 14th, then another couple of smaller trips on the 18th and the 20th.
14/6/2012 Coles: $153.85
18/6/2012 Coles: $37.82
20/6/2012 Aldi: $35.24
Total: $226.91
She bought some weird stuff, and she bought things that were on sale but would've been cheaper elsewhere, but she kept the family fed and kept it under budget. I'm a happy man. :)
Here's what I've worked out, based on bank records:
Instead of a shopping trip on the 15th, she did one on the 14th, then another couple of smaller trips on the 18th and the 20th.
14/6/2012 Coles: $153.85
18/6/2012 Coles: $37.82
20/6/2012 Aldi: $35.24
Total: $226.91
She bought some weird stuff, and she bought things that were on sale but would've been cheaper elsewhere, but she kept the family fed and kept it under budget. I'm a happy man. :)
Friday, June 8, 2012
Shopping Day: 8 June 2012
Woolworths: $44.05
Aldi: $75.17
Supabarn: 8.80
Coles: 93.94
Costco: $53.03
Total: $274.99
This week didn't involve any exciting bargain-hunting. It was more about getting all the weird little items that people (mainly Karen) have been asking for and I've been holding off on buying, week after week. A new dish cloth. Plastic gloves. Stuff you can't eat. Stuff I don't care about. So I keep putting them off in favor of doing things like buying a dozen jars of peanut butter or 5 lbs of cheese. But not this week. This week I bought all the crap I don't care about and made my family happy.
And also kept the whole thing under $300, which will help me hit my target of a $240/week average.
One thing I thought about this week is that I haven't been figuring in the cost of petrol (gas) involved in driving out to Costco (nearly 10 miles), or even the IGA (over 4 miles) and Supabarn (nearly 8 miles). That's compared to the three shops in Gungahlin (Coles, Woolworths and Aldi), which are all about 1.5 miles away. I'm going to need to work out just how far I drive, and also how much it costs per mile/km to work it out, but with petrol over $1.50 per litre ($5.80 per gallon), I think it's clear that it's going to be a significant cost. Just guessing, but I think that if I'm not saving at least $5 by driving out to Costco, I'm losing money doing it. Because some of the thing I buy at Costco aren't available elsewhere, it's hard to say exactly how much I saved this week, but it was around $12, so I came out at least a little bit ahead.
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