Wow, the middle of the week and a new month begins. Since a new month is starting I did our budget yesterday. Way under for groceries but over for household maintenance which covers cleaning products, paper products, and other such things. I am hopeful that once we finish (or I finish) stocking up on enough of those items to last us the year that will fall as well.
I am still using things up in the fridge freezer and that is going well.
Today was shopping and I am still overwhelmed by how much prices go up in just over two weeks. I happened to purchase my usual Degree Antiperspirant today and was amazed that the price has risen $1.00 and the package has gotten smaller.
Gas for the car has risen $0.20 a liter just since Christmas. Good thing we no longer use a lot. Combining errands and not shopping every day is helping us keep this under control.
Menu planning and using up all that we can helps in the grocery area. However sometimes one just has to pay full price. This is what happens when you live in a small city on the prairies and one reason moving to some place bigger could in fact lower this budget line. The bigger centers actually have yellow stickers on some items.
I did some baking this week.
I used up a package of frozen rhubarb to make a rhubarb cake.
Made a rather rustic apple tart to use up the remaining phyllo sheets, 4 rather wrinkled apples and the last few dried cherries. Harvey just loved it.
Continuing to use up, bake my own bread (thinking of doing my own English muffins as well), mend what needs mending, fixing things around the house, and just plain watching what we spend and how we are spending.
Everybody have a wonderful evening.
God bless.
Costs for food are on the rise here too, but we haven't noticed shortages. Mind you, we don't shop in person and rely on curbside pickup so maybe the shelves are empty for some things that we don't regularly buy. We try very hard to use everything up and most often make soup/stew to stretch our meat as far as we can.
ReplyDeleteYour meals look delicious! We are doing the same, using what we already have as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same here although petrol has fallen since an all time high. It's worrying even when one is on top of it - if one's expenditure on necessities is more than ones income, or very close to it, it must be seriously frightening.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your frugal like - thank you so much. xx
Here in UK the over 60's get a free bus pass, we live close to a bus stop and use the bus whenever we can, we don't use the car much locally. Prices are still rising here, and we still see gaps on the shelves.
ReplyDeleteI'm continually shocked by how much prices are going up week on week. I think people will have to just prioritise food, bills and fuel and spend a lot less on everything else if it continues. Your baking looks amazing. I'm not surprised Harvey loves it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been out to shop yet this week, but agree with the rising prices based on the flyers. I use the Flipp app to review these to identify sale items. I'm fortunate to live where there are four grocery stores within a 10 minute (max) drive of my home. I don't mind going to all the stores because I can do them in a short loop.
ReplyDeleteI haven't finished the budget worksheet for January, but know I'm under for groceries because I didn't revise it for the two weeks I was away. I'll have to pro-rate the number and see where I'm at.
Your treats all look delicious! Those rising food costs are the pits. I can't keep up with it. I've noticed that the Walmart canned mushrooms now cost twice as much as a year ago. Crazy! I stocked up quite a bit last month, so I'm hoping to take things easy this month. Retailers think that they're fooling us with smaller packages. I pay close attention to size & unit cost.
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