Thursday, April 29, 2010

Why I Went $40 Over My Grocery Budget this Month

Normally, I'm strict about sticking to our grocery budget of $300 per month. We use a cash-only system for groceries, and if we get to the last few days of the month and there is little (or no) money left in the envelope, we make use of what's already on hand to ride it out til the next month begins.

This month, I chose to go over budget in the final week of the month, because there were a few specials that were just too good to miss out on; the prices advertised were ones I knew I might not see again for at least a month, and likely much longer. So, I made an exception to my "absolutely no going over budget" rule to allow me to stock up on the following deals:

-3 lb bags of apples, *three* bags for $5.00 (normally priced 3.49/bag)
-2 fresh pineapples, 97 cents each (this is an unheard of price around here, I get excited when I see them for $1.99!
-3 1 litre cartons of coffee cream, $2.49 each (lowest sale price)
-3 seedless cucumbers, 77 cents each
-2 1 litre bottles of olive oil, $2.97 each (another unheard of price - typically the best sale price is $4.97/litre) I would have bought more, but we already had 3 bottles in our stash from another sale
-6 cans of Minute Maid orange juice, 99 cents each
-2 pork loin roasts, 99 cents per pound!

Total for the lot: $38.63

To compensate for spending extra this month, I'll adjust our grocery budget down to $275/month for the next two months. We'll be starting May off with a fairly well-stocked pantry, so this shouldn't be too difficult. The only staple items we are totally out of at the moment are red lentils, white beans, ground beef and mayonnaise, so I don't need to kick off the month with a big budget-busting shopping spree, just shop the sales. We'll hopefully be getting some greens from our veggie garden before the end of May, too, so we'll be able to save a bit on salad fixings!

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